Looking Ahead to O’Connor
The Mules-open up the 2010 football season at our own Harry B. Orem Stadium this Friday night against the O’Connor Panthers. It also happens to be Football Parent Night, so all of you footballs out there, please bring your parents! (OK, that was real bad)
O’Connor will be the first of four 5-A schools that the Mules will play before entering district play. Rather than take the Mack Brown approach, Coach Byrd understands the value of playing 5-A schools to prepare for district, where it counts. The O’Connor Panthers are coming into the 2010 season ranked 5th in District 27-5A. Last year they were 5-6 overall with a 4-4 district record. But don’t let rankings or last year’s record lead you believe that the Panthers will put forth a middle of the road effort. This is a big 5-A team with a lot of talent.
The Panthers have a new head coach this year, David Malesky, who looks to improve the Panthers intensity on the field. Malesky was promoted from assistant coach to the head coaching job after the departure of Danny Padron who left the Panthers to assume the head coaching job at Texas Lutheran. The Panthers return 24 lettermen and 13 starters from last season. O’Connor has a tough district this year which includes traditional powerhouses such as Clark, Brandeis and Stevens. The Mules will need to key on QB William Raba and Running-back Hasan Ali. Kickoff is at 7:30pm. It should be a great ballgame! See you there!
A Few Chirps from the Byrd, Coach Byrd that is…
August 26, 2010-Season Opener
Mule Fan :Coach Byrd starts his 16th season with the Mules in 2010.
He comes into this season with 38 seniors and 9 returning starters. 2 on offense and 7 on defense.
Mule Fan: What do you think about the district realignment? We lose Steele,
Coach Byrd: With UIL, you don’t have any control and it’s always a new adventure. It’s different not having
Mule Fan: How do you feel about the mental and physical preparation of the team going into this season?
Coach Byrd: I think we had a great offseason. Starting with boot camp, the kids had an outstanding attitude and worked hard. And summer conditioning saw the best turnout we have ever had. 7 on 7 went well, and so far, the start of the season looks very promising. Last years seniors are gone, but the new guys are learning how to lead and play together and the team is really coming together.
Mule Fan: Do you see yourself going back to a more traditional spread offense this year, being that Rosenthal was a special situation last year - giving you a kind of spread running offense? In other words, you had a viable 3rd and long running option.
Coach Byrd: The kids will show us here soon what we will be able to highlight. We did lose Justin, but I am excited about all 3 running backs we have now. They have had a great start (Thompson, Meyer, and Brooks). So we might not have Justin to run 39 times, but if you have three different backs run 13 times, we can do things like that. They will be fresh and can do a lot of things. Everyone talked about Justin and the yards he gained, 2,100 yards and all time leading rusher, but you look at the end of the season and we had about 2500 yards passing. And that’s what we want, a well balanced game that allows us to execute on our plan.
Mule Fan: Any defensive scheme changes due to some of the key losses on the defensive front?
Coach Byrd: We’ve got seven returning on defense, and yes we did lose some key guys up front. We will change some things around that fit our personnel a little bit stronger, but a lot of stuff will be the same. I’m excited how we look defensively.
Mule Fan: What’s O’Conner looking like tomorrow night?
Coach Byrd: They are a solid team and big upfront. We look forward to getting the season going and getting the first game jitters out. Always good to get the first one behind you and our boys are ready.
The Scrimmage Report- AH Mules vs. MacArthur Brahmas
I can tell you this: our boys were ready to play football!!!! They exchanged scoring blows with Mac for 2 hours in some pretty intense heat and came out of it knowing what they wanted: a 4A State Title.
This was a controlled scrimmage with each team taking turns running a set of fifteen offensive plays, starting with the Mac’s 1st team offense against the Mules 1st team defense, followed by the same cycle with the 2nd team.
The scrimmage did exactly what is was supposed to do: see how we match up; affirm our strengths; and expose areas we need to work on and improve - all without anyone getting hurt and not opening up the playbook on either side of the ball. When the above takes place, you walk away a winner.
Now to give you a few details and highlights: Mac is a big 5A school with a lot of talent and a few D1 prospects. Most notably is senior tight end Jace Amaro who has committed to Texas Tech. The first offensive drive for Mac resulted in a touchdown which was a wakeup call to our defense. And wakeup they did. Following the TD, senior defensive end AK Knowles started the next play with a sack. That’s when the defense started working the kinks out.
When the Mules 1st team offense got their 15 plays, they mixed it up and moved the ball well. Dean Meyer’s 25 yard run was followed by a 20 yard TD as William Thompson burst through a monster hole on the left side created by Zack Mullins and Jake Molak. On the next series, QB Steven Elder put one out for
The Mules 2nd team defense took to the field for the next 10 plays and just shut them down. Senior LB James Uhl had a sack and the rest of the Mules “D” swarmed the Brahma backfield, effectively shutting down the rest of their offensive series. The Mules 2nd team offense took the field next but Mac’s defense was pretty tough and the Mules weren’t able to put together a meaningful drive.
It was time again for 1st “D” to get back out there. I want to say that Mac played real well. They have a lot of talent on both sides of the ball and will have a good showing in the 26-5A district. They moved the ball this series, but with no TD. Garrett Hisle, Carter Thurmond, Jonathan O’Brien and Jack Newman locked the Brahmas down near the end zone, with the help of a good rush from the guys upfront. With the team fired up, the Mules offense took the field once again and quickly Elder and Truman Biggs connected for a 50 yard pass before Biggs was caught from behind on the 1 yard line. Meyer finished it off with a hard run to score.
After a brief player rest, the two team’s head coaches had a mid-field conference and a more game-like scrimmage followed. After a couple of offensive exchanges, one of the highlights was an Steven Elder to Garrett Iverson TD followed by Christian Stern’s extra point. As the scrimmage came to an end, it was capped off with an exchange of special teams, punts and extra points, with no active rush. I believe this day got everyone excited about what’s to come. The coaches seem determined and the players seem focused. We will break down the schedule and team in the next couple of days.
It’s August, its football, its
Junior Varsity
The JV also squared off with MacArthur in a scrimmage format. It was obvious that the JV has some great talent that we didn’t want rival scouts to identify as the team dressed out in practice blue jerseys that were absent any numbers. Either that or it was some sort of team fashion statement against individuality. It was effective, however, as even the Mule Fan editors had a tough time identifying who was who.
Overall, the Mules JV matched up well against Mac and both teams went toe to toe, both offensively and defensively. Other than a few missed snap exchanges, the Mules offense made some great plays and advanced the ball well. You can bet that coach Norment will have that snap problem worked out by the season opener. All three JV quarterbacks: Wes Yancy, Kevin Kujawa, and Kalen Brockwell, all made some big plays and it will be a tough decision as to who gets the starting nod at this Thursday’s opening game against O’Connor. It was also good to see Tommy “Brett Favre” Barrow decide to come back and rejoin the JV line-up at tight end. Other JV standouts were Alex Bathie, Ben Bass, and Warren Monnich.
The JV faces off against O’Connor in their season opener this Thursday night at O’Connor Stadium. The “A” team plays at 5:00pm followed by the “B” team at 6:30. Come cheer our JV on as they skin the panthers.
Freshmen
While the JV scrimmaged on one end of the field the Freshmen Mules also squared off against Mac’s freshman squad on the other end of the field. This was our first look at the new incoming Mules and they looked quite impressive. Offensive highlights included a beautiful touchdown pass from QB Scott Uhl to Robert Schuler and fellow QB Max Riemenschneider connected with Ben Lammers for nice yardage. Good defensive efforts were made by Christian Lalende and Corby Snow.
The Freshmen Mules take on O’Connor this Thursday at Harry B. Orem Stadium. The “B” team plays at 5:00pm and the “A” team kicks off immediately afterward at 6:30. Come show your support of our Freshmen Mules!
Editor’s Note:
It did not go unnoticed by the Mule Fan that only one volunteer showed up for work at Friday’s scrimmages at Heroes Stadium, and he thought it would be more profitable to charge admission than sell concessions on a 102 degree summer day. This Mule Fan would have given his left thumb - and five bucks for sure, for a cold bottle of water! Accordingly, the Mule Fan would like to take this opportunity to let all of our volunteer parents know how much we appreciate the time they sacrifice to help make all our Mule sports the best in town!
Announcements!
Don’t Forget! The Fall Kickoff BBQ is this Wednesday, August 25th, from 4:00 - 7:00 at our own Harry B. Orem Stadium. Come out and support the players, meet the coaches, and talk shop with other Mule sports families. The football and volleyball teams will practice (not together) from 4:00 to 5:00, which will be followed by a fabulous BBQ dinner and AHHS Band performance from 5:00 to 7:00. BBQ tickets are available at the door for $7.00 per plate. Proceeds benefit Mules Athletics. What a deal!
Season Tickets!
The time is now to PICK UP your season tickets from Patty Juarez in the athletic office. Patty will have them available until this Friday, 8/27 at 3:30pm. You will notice that the key phrase here is “PICK UP” your tickets. Patty, as nice and wonderful as she is, has informed us that making deliveries is not her thing. So make plans to stop by and say hi to Patty, and while you’re at it - get your tickets. Remember - There is a game this week!! Nuf said.
Mules on the Radio:
This season the Mules will again be broadcast live on ESPN 1250 AM "The Zone". Dave Parker will bring us all the action - home and away. One note: Dave is looking for corporate advertizing sponsors to help underwrite the broadcast, so if you are a Mules supporting business owner, or have some sort of influence over your company’s advertizing budget, please consider showing your support by advertizing during Dave’s Mules broadcast. Dave Parker can be reached at 210-602-3784 and his e-mail address is dpar77@aol.com.
Mules on Twitter:
Last year The Bobbys brought the Mule Fan into the new age by bringing you the latest Mule highlights on Twitter. Your new Mule Fan editors, Mo and Larry, have never tweeted, but are willing to twy. Once again, the Mule Fan is on TWITTER. Go to www.twitter.com/mulefanblog and sign up to follow the Mules in short burst of information…just like how we communicate with our wives! Activate Twitter on your mobile phones so we can try to act cool and tweet each other our pearls of Mule football wisdom and insight during the game. It’s an armchair quarterback’s dream come true!
