The Mule Fan

Looking Back:

AH Mules vs. O'Connor Panthers

"The Tale of Two Halves"

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, but in the end the Mules won 28-21 and that is what counts!!!!! There was no quit in our boys or our coaches and that is the character of true champions. No matter how ugly the game got, they just kept fighting, pushing and encouraging one another to finish strong, and that's what they did, and that's how they roll!!

The first half offensive miscues were offset by strong defensive stands that kept the Mules in the game. The Panthers started by receiving the opening kickoff and on the first play Peter Deluna recorded the first sack of the Mules season. The quick three and out by the Panthers was followed quickly by an O’Connor touchdown on an AH turnover on their first possession. After trading series back and forth for the remainder of the 1st and into the 2nd quarter, with 33 seconds left in the half, the Panthers put another score on the board to make it 14-0 at halftime. There were some great moments in the first half, though. Highlights included Jack Newman’s interception that stopped a Panthers drive, along with David Cantu's ability to get open and make extra yards after connecting with Elder several times.

Somewhere between when the first band started to play and the second band finished, there was a conversation or lecture in the locker room. Topics that were covered in a calm, soothing, almost Sunday school setting most likely revolved around focus, nerves, identity, championship, remembering what they have learned, and some form of rectal recovery of ones head. Then the 2nd half started....

After a short offensive series by the Mules to open the 2nd half, Jonathan O'Brian recovered the fumbled punt that led to an Elder to Richter touchdown from the 13 yard line. The ensuing kickoff resulted in another Panther fumble on the 18 yard line and was quickly converted into a touchdown by an incredible run by Andy Brooks. Everyone was breathing a little easier at 14-14. After couple of series, the Mules put a sustained drive together that was capped off by a 4 yard run by Thompson to put the Mules ahead, 21-14. The Panthers answered with a touchdown that started on their own 26 yard line, and with a few seconds left in the 3^rd quarter, it was 21-21. Early in the 4^th quarter, The Mules drove the ball down to the Panthers 18 yard line. That's when Andy Brooks provided the final score of the game with a fantastic run that put the Mules ahead, 28-21. Brooks had 11 caries for 118 yards and two touchdowns. On the receiving end, Cantu had four receptions for 83 yards. Elder had a good night and was 11-18 with 176 yards. The Mules defense held O'Connor to only 69 passing yards, due to a lot of pressure from up front and blitzing linebackers. Boatman put an end to the Panthers hopes with an interception that he ran back to the 46 yard line.

In short, it's good to have this one behind us and in the books as a "W". We can learn from this and move on to Clark.

A Few Chirps from the Byrd - Head Coach Byrd, that is.

The Mule-Fan: Great win on Friday night. The 1st and 2nd halves looked like two different games. It appeared that we were nervous and had a tough time settling into our game.

Coach Byrd: You’re right. It was our season opener, you’re playing at home, and it was parent night. So there were a lot of distractions before the game that take away time the boys need to get mentally ready. Also last week, Stephen (Elder) worked out hard on Monday and Tuesday and then we backed him off on Wednesday, and he didn’t really practice on Thursday. As a result, I think we lost a lot of momentum and I think it hurt us on offense - losing the momentum late in the week. But when you look at the stats, we had 359 yards of total offense, but we had 80 yards lost on snaps and 80 yards lost on penalties. Add that back in and we have over 500 yards of offense. I was really proud of our kicking team. When you look at the yardage they gained on kicks vs. what we gained on kicks, we picked up 110 yards of net gain. And that helps your offense tremendously.

The Mule-Fan: What did you say to the team at half time?

Coach Byrd: It was tricky because when you’re nervous you can’t just scream at somebody or they’re just going to get more nervous. They’re not trying to mess up. So we tried to talk about what we needed to do to become a good football team. It wasn’t anything more than trying to give them some self confidence. We said, “here are the plays that we’re going to start with….the plays that had worked well in the 1^st half”. And so we concentrated on laying out our gameplan - this play followed by this play. We talked about how we’ve got some plays we know are going to work, so let’s just take a deep breath and let’s take those plays, and then have some fun and get some momentum going. And then it took off!

The Mule-Fan: We certainly ran the ball more than in the past. How do you feel the three-back rotation worked?

Coach Byrd: Great! They never really got tired! Plus you had three different running styles. It’s kind of who we are this year. All of our running backs are doing a fabulous job. It’s nice to have fresh legs. It’s kind of funny; I had some people say that “boy, we were sure running well in the 2^nd quarter”. And well, yes, but his legs were just as fresh as the start of the game, and the defense was a half step slower now, and so in the 2^nd and 4^th quarters, I thought it really showed up.

The Mule-Fan: Again this year, we are playing a lot of 5-A schools before we get to district. Is there a negative to playing the bigger schools?

Coach Byrd: A lot of other teams might see it that way, but I don’t necessarily. For example: early in the season, Clark used to play Calallen, when Calallen was in their heyday, and Clark would get beaten, but end up deep in the playoffs later in the season. I think you get to play really well coached teams. You might not have the success of winning every time, but you’re kids are going to learn to play at a faster tempo and their not just going to run over other teams. We could schedule an easier team and win 42-0, but never realize that we were having snap troubles. And so playing bigger teams helps us to learn how to really play football.

The Mule-Fan: We play Clark again on Friday night. What should we expect from the Cougars?

Coach Byrd: Clark had a lot of success last year with a running quarterback, and they don’t have the running quarterback this year, so they’re kind of searching for some identity on offense. They are a young team, but they have very good size up front and their offensive line runs some schemes that can put you in a bind. Same way on defense. We’ve been playing Clark for the past few years and this year they seem to be varying it up so we’re not sure how they are going to line up against us.

The Mule-Fan: Good luck coach! It should be a very exciting game!

JV Mauls O’Connor Panthers 42-6

The JV Mules travelled to O’Connor High for their season opener against the 5-A Panthers. The game started with the Panthers fumbling the ball to the Mules on their first possession, only to have the Mules give the ball back on a first play interception. The Panthers struggled offensively the entire game as they were manhandled by the Mule’s defense, especially at the linebacker position. Great effort by linebackers Aaron Rogers, David Verette, Jimmy Russell and John Rascoe. In the 1^st quarter, QB Kevin Kujawa quickly scored on a 40 yard scramble. Time after time the Panthers offense was forced to punt as they were stuffed by the Mules defense. In the 2^nd quarter Mules QB Wes Yancy connected on a nice flare-out pass to slot back Cole Bailey which set up another Mules touchdown as Deon Demus made a nice reception and scored from 10 yards out.

In the 2^nd half, the Mules went to the running game led by running backs Coby Bailey and Christian Biedenharn, who each racked up big yards and touchdowns against a tired and struggling Panther defense. In the 3^rd quarter Kevin Kujawa again scored on a 20 yard scramble and QB Wes Yancey made an amazing fake on a counter to Coby Bailey to score from 20 yards out. In the 4^th quarter Christian Biedenharn and Coby Bailey each scored on some tough running.

The Mules shutout slipped from their grasp as a botched fair catch on an O’Connor punt resulted in a Panther touchdown with 40 seconds left in the game.

Freshman Fall Short in Season Opening Nail Biter

The Freshman Mules suffered a heartbreaking loss to the O’Connor Panthers at Harry B Orem Stadium 26-24. This is a freshman team that isn’t used to coming up short and they don’t like it! However, it was a great learning opportunity that will only help the freshmen improve as the season approaches district play.

It looked like it was going to be a long night for the Panthers when, on the opening kickoff, Zander Thomas caused a fumble that was quickly recovered by Benjamin McSween. This put the Mules in great field position for a quick score. Offensive highlights included two touchdown receptions by Robert Schuler and two key receptions by Danny Mays from quarterback Scott Uhl. Schuler was also responsible for a real crowd pleaser as he intercepted a Panther pass on a two point conversion and returned the ball 100 yards - stealing two points from the Panthers and turning it into two points for the Mules.

The Mules seemed to have the game in hand late in the 4^th quarter, driving the ball 40 yards on two plays. Trailing by 2 points and only one minute left on the clock, the go ahead touchdown seemed all but assured as the Mules found themselves with 1^st down at the Panther 3 yard line. But anything can happen in football, and as luck would have it, disaster struck in the form of a botched pitch that was recovered by the Panthers, who proceeded to run the clock out to secure the win.

Great effort by all the Freshman Mules. The coaching staff was very pleased with the freshman talent and look forward to an exciting season ahead.

Looking Ahead:

Mules Take on the Clark Cougars in Revenge Match

The Mules travel north to take on Clark this week in a rematch. Last year the Clark cougars escaped with a win, but the Mules outplayed them on both sides of the ball. Sure, they had quarterback, Hayden Greenbauer, but we contained him all night long. We had more first downs and more total yards, just a couple of fewer points. So the Mules are looking for revenge. Clark is another big 5-A school with a lot of size up-front. The Cougars will be angry this week after losing to Churchill 21-7 in last weeks Gucci Bowl. It’s hard to predict what kind of talent they will show us as only five starters return from last year. But one thing is for sure, it will be an exciting game! So we need all you yuppies with lake houses, beach houses, and ranches to put off your Labor plans for a few hours and come cheer on the Mules!

The Mules take on the Clark Cougars this Friday at 7:30 pm at Farris (Bueller?) Stadium.

Link to Directions to Farris Stadium

Tickets:

Tickets are available at the AHHS Athletic office Thursday and Friday from 8:30am - noon and from 1:30pm -3:30pm. Tickets are $6.00 for adults and $3.00 for students. Note that tickets bought at the gate at Farris Stadium will be $7.00 for both students and adults, so you get no discount for being young and attractive.

Pre-Game Get-Together:

All Varsity parents, and anyone else who loves the Mules, is invited to meet at Paloma Blanca from 5:00 - 7:00 pm before Friday's game with Clark. I can't think of a better way to get primed for a big game than to scarf down a bunch of spicy, onion filled, chili covered mexican food, chased down by a few beers. No one will want to sit next to you at the game and you will have lots of room to cheer at the top of your lungs. See you there!

Mules Photos:

Many thanks to Mary Candee for supplying the Mule-Fan with great photos of the Mules in action. Her photos are available for purchase at www.dulcedesigns.photoreflect.com. The Mule-Fan would like to remind all you Mules football fans out there that Mary works extremely hard to photograph all Alamo Heights sports, so please order your photos throughout the season. Her photos are far better than anything the average mortal can take and you will be so happy that you bought more than you needed when it comes time to put together that end of season scrapbook.

Write to the Mule Fan:

The editor's of the Mule Fan would like to hear your story ideas, even if they are stupid. If you have something you think we should be covering or if there's an interesting story idea (actually we'll be the judge of that) then send us a note:

Contact the editors at: jfeste@kmcapitalmgt.com or jeff@baileycommercial.com

Go Mules!!!

Mules on the Radio

Don't forget, if you can't get to the game on Friday night, you can listen to it on ESPN 1250 AM. Dave Parker and Ed Suarez will be bringing you all the action!!!!!!!!!

Mules on Twitter:

Last week The Mule-Fan attempted to stir up some action by Tweeting during the Mules comeback win over O’Connor. Sadly, the new Mule Fan editors aren’t sure they have mastered the art of the tweet. But we are twilling to twy. So we will twy to have the kinks worked out by Friday’s game against Clark. 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 as well!