The Mule Fan

Countdown to a Third Round Clash with Gregory-Portland

LOOKING AHEAD
Gregory–Portland Wildcats

Next up for Heights are the Gregory-Portland Wildcats. The game will be at Corpus Christi Calallen's field, essentially making this a home game for the Wildcats. For those of you unfamiliar with the coastal areas of South Texas, simply ask one of your buddies with a "beach home" in Key Allegro or Port Aransas. They've probably been through or within a stone's throw of Gregory-Portland many times. The good news is that the boys will travel in the fancy buses as they head south. As many of you may not know, on these long trips, the coaches pull over before getting to the stadium to allow the boys to stretch and get taped before arriving at the stadium. Since this Friday is a school holiday and no classes will be missed, the Mule Fan lobbied unsuccessfully for an early departure, and an educational trip to the State Aquarium and the U.S.S. Lexington. Therefore, the Mule Fan is pushing for the pre-game taping to occur at the beach. Likely this too will be shot down by the coaching staff, though if some gulf fishing was involved, we might have a shot.

The Wildcats come into the game with a record of 10 and 2. Gregory-Portland (let's call them GP from here on out) returned six starters on offense and three starters on defense from last year's team that was a regional finalist, having gone 6-0 in district. Once again, GP was predicted to finish first in district, and they did so in convincing fashion. Though some folks say that these gulf coast districts are not as tough – don't kid yourself, the Wildcats can play football. Leading the offensive line is tackle Chance Vernon, a 6'7", 335 monster in the middle. Yes, the Mule Fan checked the sources to confirm that both the height and weight were correct. On offense, the Wildcats return Joey Sanchez, a small but shifty running back who ran for 1200 yards last year, and quarterback Kyle Fishbeck, who also started last season for the Wildcats. On defense, Brett Parker is 6'3" and runs a 4.6 40. Joining Parker on defense are a slew of talented defensive tackles, including Gonzales who had 80 tackles last year, and linebacker Garza who had 75 tackles last season.

This season, GP started off the year going 2 and 2 in its non-district games. Then, as expected, GP ran through the district at 5-1, losing only once by one point to Port Lavaca Calhoun. GP scored 70 points in the game before that game, and following the loss, GP scored 42, 49, 42 and 38 points before being held to 12 last week. Over the last three games, the GP defense has become dominating, giving up only 6, 10, and 12 points. In the first round of the playoffs, GP beat San Antonio McCollum 38-10, and last week, the Wildcats beat an 11-0 Mission team by a score of 12-7.

Okay. Yada, Yada, Yada. What does GP do? What is their offense? What is their defense? On offense, the Wildcats are led by Fishbeck at QB and RB Sanchez. Fishbeck throws an average of 10 times per game for an average of 92 yards a game. So, how did they with so many ball games passing only 90 yards a game. Well, guess what Sherlock? They run the ball. Joey Sanchez averages 114 yards per game, Nikki Smith averages 113 yards per game. Johnson and Robeau each average 35 yards per game, and Fishbeck runs for another 20 yards per game. On total, the Wildcats average 272 yards per game rushing – more than any team Heights has faced. The offense is similar to San Marcos with many different runners touching the ball. The Heights defense must expect everyone except the water boy to carry the ball. Heights will face a team hoping to control the tempo with long drives (sounds like a team that plays at Orem Stadium). On defense, Polasek averages 10 tackles per game, Smallwood averages 11.5 tackles per game and Garza and Luna both average over 7.5 tackles per game. The Wildcats force about 2 turnovers per game. Justin McArthur (#1) is a threat on punt returns and kickoff returns – keep it away from him. As we've become more experienced, we've located more websites with statistics, so next year's Mule Fan writer will look intelligent right out of the gate.

Kickoff is 7:30 at Corpus Christi Calallen.


A Few Words with the Head Coach of the Mules – Don Byrd
November 24, 2009

Mule Fan: The Mules advanced to the third round with the 21-19 win with a big tip of the cap to the Alamo Heights defense for a fantastic effort. They forced turnovers, scored points, held Killeen to half their average yardage output and half their scoring average and of course get a huge game winning stop on the two point conversion at the end. To quote former NFL coach Dennis Green, “Was Killeen who you thought they were going to be on Friday?”

Coach Byrd: Oh exactly. You know they were a team that seemed to get better as the season wore on. Last year we got a good taste of the athleticism and their speed. They’re a well coached team and they are one of the top programs around right now. I think when it hits playoff time they play as well as anybody. The defense just played unbelievable. The defensive coaches did a great job of coming up with an outstanding game plan. They’re great coaches and the kids play hard for them and the kids went out and executed. It’s really hard to single one out. We got the interception with Thurmond and some other big plays but play in and play out every one of them was playing exactly the assignment with a lot of intensity and a lot of excitement.

Mule Fan: Take us through that last two point conversion attempt from Killeen which was obviously THE key play at the end to close it out. What were your observations from the sidelines?

Coach Byrd: Well they were going to the right. The quarterback had the option. Nelson (Skylar) went right through and just made an outstanding play along with Luke Maloy and the rest of them. It was just a play that was going to be close. We were just a little more aggressive and quicker off the ball than they were. Those were the guys who were at the point of attack but it was just a great play across the board with the entire defense. Skylar made a great play and Warren was there also. So it was just a great play out of our line backing corps and then Maloy coming up along with everybody else.

Mule Fan: What effect did the nasty weather have on each team’s game plan?

Coach Byrd: The neat thing about it is that playing on the new surface means that you have great footing no matter what the weather is so that worked out well for us. But it makes it harder to concentrate and it’s a little harder to execute on offense. Defense you get to react the same way you have all year. But it throws a little bit of the timing off. But all in all I thought the game unfolded about the way it should have no matter what the weather was. It’s a little harder to throw the ball and get to some of your outside game.

Mule Fan: The offense moved the ball well between the 30’s but struggled a little inside the “red zone” and had difficulty finishing particularly in the first half. Was that weather related, something Killeen put in front of you with their adjustments or just down to execution?

Coach Byrd: No you look at it and we had a lot of plays of four yards or better. You go back and look and each drive was either killed by a bad snap or a penalty. We had two holding calls that stopped drives and we jumped offsides. We had a bad snap. There’s four drives that ended right there. We just didn’t quite finish. It was just hard to get explosive plays down the field so you were going to have to have longer drives and against a team that talented it is hard to overcome any mental errors.

Mule Fan: In games like that you can always expect special teams to play a role and Heights got an outstanding night out of the kicking game with Stern’s punts and knocking in some good kicks while Killeen struggled with theirs. Does special team play seem to be amplified at this time of year?

Coach Byrd: Exactly and the punt team was unbelievable giving them (Killeen) a very long field in the shadow of their end zone. That cuts down on their play selection which helps our defense. Also on the kickoffs I thought he (Stern) placed them very well the majority of the time and the coverage was outstanding. So those were big, big parts of the game.

Mule Fan: On to Gregory-Portland now. This is as deep as Alamo Heights has been in the playoffs since the state championship run in 2006. You’re facing a 10-2 team that has only completed 58 passes all season but with a pair of backs that each average over 100 yards per game. Are we looking at a San Marcos type of offense here?

Coach Byrd: Yes it has a lot of similarities. Both of these coaches from San Marcos and Gregory-Portland worked under the same coach and they are disciples of the offense he runs. It’s going to be a condensed offense where they run right at you. They come off hard and low. They’re not one of the bigger teams. The thing that catches your eye immediately is how aggressive they are across the board. The kids just play hard from the snap of the ball to the whistle. So we’re going to have to match that intensity and make sure that we’re taking care of business because they’re a very well-coached team.

Mule Fan: Clearly they live and die by the running game but can you get into a situation where you clamp down hard enough on their backs to force them to pass because obviously they would seem to prefer not to?

Coach Byrd: Yeah you can get them out of their running game. The quarterback throws the ball very well. If you are fortunate enough to stop them and they start spreading things out a little bit more he can still hurt you with his passing not only in the spread formations that they run but his play action. You get so tied up in stopping the run that you can fall asleep and that receiver sneaks by you.

Mule Fan: So again with the running game, is it more of a grind-it-out, four yards at a time or do these backs get out in space and create on their own?

Coach Byrd: It’s a condensed formation where there are not usually the bigger gains or larger amount of yards. Then they do pitch it out on the option and get you in space so it’s a combination of both really.

Mule Fan: Any other trends you’ve observed either on film or from other exposure to Gregory-Portland?

Coach Byrd: We’ve played Gregory-Portland off and on for years. They’re very well coached and have unbelievable community support. They run the ball and grind it out. On defense they’ll play a pretty aggressive front. They’ve had to jump into man coverage against us in year’s past. I’m not sure if they’ll stay in their “cover four” which is two safeties and the corners backed off a little bit or what they’re going to do against us. But they’re just a very aggressive, well coached football team. There’s not much more you can say about them.

Mule Fan: The boys are out of school for the Thanksgiving holidays so you have their full focus and attention which is timely during this important part of the playoffs. What does this allow you to do differently from your normal routine during a school week?

Coach Byrd: During the school week when we try to watch films or lift weights there are always kids that have to meet with teachers and do things like that which they need to do. But this week with no school we get their undivided attention so that’s been nice. We get to work out in the morning and spend a little bit more time in the afternoon planning instead of the coaches having to run off and teach a class and so forth. So it’s kind of a nice setting. It’s a lot quieter around school when it’s just us showing up for practice and then everybody goes home in the afternoon. So it’s a neat setting and it’s nice to get back into practicing during Thanksgiving week.

Mule Fan: You have a walk-through scheduled for Friday morning before you leave which is typically done on Thursday. Will that give you and extra day on Thursday for a full workout or will that be more like a typical Thursday?

Coach Byrd: It’ll be kind of in-between. See we’re actually losing a little bit of time because we normally work out fourth period, our athletic period during the school day right before lunch where we get in eight five minute segments or about 40 minutes. We did not want to go much longer (in practice) so we’re trying to keep the same schedule Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then Thursday we’re going to add a few things that we didn’t accomplish during the week. So it’s a little different but we’ll get it all in by Friday.

Mules Playoff Radio: ESPN 1250 The Zone

If you can come to the game, please do. But it you cannot make it you can follow the action on ESPN AM 1250 The Zone. Airtime for the pre-game show this Friday is at 7:00 p.m. Ed Suarez and Dave Parker will call all the action. Please say thanks and patronize all of the generous sponsors. If you’re not in town, you can listen to the live broadcast on the internet at www.tsrnsports.com/index.html.

Go Mules!!!!!