The Mule Fan

Looking Back:

AH Mules vs. Smithson Valley Rangers

Alamo Heights vs. Smithson Valley. This was The Express New game of night in the San Antonio area and the winner would go on to claim the title for District 27-4A. It was the Mules dressed in all white against the Rangers dressed in all navy. White vs. Dark. Good vs. Bad. And that’s pretty much how Mules fans felt when the final gun sounded with the Rangers taking home the win, 41-15.

When you look at the final game numbers, the score was much more lopsided than the stats. On paper the Mules offense had a pretty good game. But the Rangers played their best game of the year and took advantage of mistakes by the Mules. The big difference in the game was #21, Smithson Valley running back Lawrence Mattison, who ran for 208 yards and two TDs and caught a pass for an additional 32 yards.

But let’s not get too worked up about the loss to Smithson Valley. The Mules will likely advance to the playoffs as the top district seed in Division II and Smithson Valley will advance in Division I where they will probably face Lake Travis in the 2^nd round like they did last year. That will be a great game, but Lake Travis is the odds-on favorite to win it. Too bad, so sad, Smithson Valley.

The game started well for the Rangers with good field position at the Mules 40 yard line. Their first drive was highlighted by two big plays by Lawrence Mattison: one was a 37-yard reception, and finally a 12-yard spinning touchdown run that gave the Mules a taste of what all the Mattison hype was about. But the Mules fired right back and scored on their first offensive possession. QB Dub Yarborough, playing the entire game instead of splitting time with fellow quarterback Wes Yancy who was out with a knee injury, hit wide receiver Truman Biggs on a 46 yard pass down the right sideline. He then found Biggs again in the endzone to tie the score 7-7. That had Mules fans thinking; “OK, we can play with these guys!”

But that would be all the scoring for the Mules during the first half. One of the Ranger strengths all night was their kicking game, something that Coach Byrd had predicted would play a big part in the game. Whether it from Ranger kickoffs or punts, the Mules found themselves starting their drives deep in their own territory with a long field ahead. Conversely, Smithson Valley seemed to have good field possession most of the night. The other annoying part of the Ranger’s kicking game was that every time the Rangers kicked-off, Mules fans had to listen to their lounge act announcer tell everyone to get their guns up. Yuk! It sure made you appreciate the announcing of our own Rick Shaw (owner of La Fonda for before and after every home game…plug). Smithson Valley would capitalize on their good field position the rest of the first half, and behind the running of Mattison, the Rangers put two more touchdowns on the board and went into halftime up on the Mules 21-7.

The second half was pretty much the same as the Rangers again outscored the Mules 21-8. But things got a little ugly in the 3^rd quarter. After Garrett Iverson made a nice kickoff return to the 32-yard line (the Mules best starting field position of the night), quarterback Dub Yarborough engineered a tough and gutsy drive. Andy Brooks would spearhead the drive with 3 good runs totaling 33 yards. Andy would cap off the drive with an option pass to Christian Biedenharn in the back of the endzone. The two-point conversion was good on a pass from Yarborough to John Geibel and the score was 35-15 with time running low in the 3^rd quarter. But the real story of the drive was the Ranger assault on Yarborough. Play after play, what appeared to be late hits on Yarborough had angry Mules fans crying foul and Coach Byrd on the field, livid at the officials. Time after time, Yarborough would get to his feet in obvious pain, hanging his left arm. It smacked of unsportsmanlike play and really left Mules fans with a bad taste for the Rangers. I know this Mule Fan was anxious for revenge and thoughts of the 1974 Burt Reynolds movie, The Longest Yard, came to mind. You kind of felt like the Guards had been playing with brass knuckles, and it was time for the Mean Machine Mules to run the old “Split Right, Ball Curl” play!

The Rangers would get one more score to extend their lead to 41-15. But that wasn’t enough. With a four-touchdown lead, Ranger’s coach Larry Hill decided to go for two. Mules fans shook their heads at the two-point play call. As fate would have it, Mules linebacker Nick Uretsky blew through the line and sacked the Ranger quarterback, driving him to the ground and knocking his helmet off. And coach Hill felt it necessary to come onto the field and cry foul! It was a high-five moment for Mules fans who were still worked-up over Yarborough’s treatment on the previous series. Now, the Mule Fan isn’t advocating violence, but hey, it was a great hit by Uretsky. Just sayin!

The game ended with the final score 41-15. But this was a team-building game for the Mules as they head toward the final two games of district and then into the playoffs. Offensively, the Mules played solidly, but two interceptions cost the Mules 14 points. Yarborough was 18 of 29 passing for 287 yards. Truman Biggs and John Geibel were the two big receivers of the night, but all of the Mules receivers had catches in this game. Defensively, the Mules played tough. The defensive line of Warren Monnich, Danny Garza, Chase Stockton and Frankie Alvarez tangled with a Ranger offensive line that heavily outweighed them. Linebackers Skylar Nelson, Blake Klumpp, Lucci Vizza and Nick Uretsky, along with safeties Blake Rosenthal, Alex Cisneros and Ben Bass, worked hard to contain Ranger running back Lawrence Mattison. But Mattison had by far his best game of the season, rushing for over 200 yards. This was a big, strong Smithson Valley team that is near the end of its two-year term in 4A. Smithson Valley will likely move back to 5A next year, leaving the Mules without an opportunity to seek revenge of this year’s loss in what has quickly become a district rivalry. Next up, the Mules will take on the Lobos of Kyle Lehman at home this Friday evening. Go Mules!

District Standings - Week 4

		Won	Lost
1	Smithson Valley Rangers	3	0
2	Alamo Heights Mules	3	1
2	Buda Hays Rebels	3	1
3	NB Canyon Cougars	2	2
4	Clemens Buffaloes	1	2
5	Lockhart Lions	0	3
5	Kyle Lehman Lobos - Bye	0	3
Friday's District Results
	Smithson Valley 41, Alamo Heights 15
	Buda Hays 41, Lockhart 7
	NB Canyon 24, Clemens 14

Chirps From The Byrd - Head Coach Byrd, That Is:

Mule Fan: The loss to Smithson Valley was probably not what you expected. What were some of the contributing factors?

Coach Byrd: Smithson Valley has a great team, but they have two kids that are special: one on offense and one on defense. #21, Lawrence Mattison, has been playing decently, but that was his best game of the year. Defensive tackle #34, George Schwanenberg, has been playing great like that all year long. Tackle-to-tackle, with Schwanenberg in there, we couldn’t run it inside a whole lot. We also had to be very selective throwing the ball down the field because we knew we weren’t going to have a lot of time to throw it. And they have a good kicking game. Defensively, they got us on our heels and we couldn’t come back. Their offensive line was good and when somebody gets blown out of their position, then another player feels like he needs to start making tackles over there and that opens up his area, and it just dominoes. And then you start playing slow, where they are trying to do more than they are capable. I thought going into the game if we could get 28 points I thought we would win the game. We had 15 points and we were down there near the endzone two other times and had an interception and just couldn’t get the score. We had about 350 total yards and then we lost about 40 yards on sacks. So we could have had close to 400 total yards. I was hoping that we would have given them a better game. The kids played hard, no doubt about it, but we didn’t play the responsibilities we needed to be in a game like that.

Mule Fan: Do you think it got a little unsportsmanlike in the 3^rd quarter?

Coach Byrd: Yes, I thought so. I thought they got away with some late hits. After the game coach Hill came up and said that they really weren’t trying to hit our quarterback with anything extra. And then they went for two on that last touchdown because he missed the prior extra point. So in his mind, he’s wants to get back to 7s. When we got two on that crossing route after our last touchdown, that made him mad. And then when he went for two and we laid his quarterback out pretty good, I’m sure he was worried because he doesn’t have a backup. His backup is #19 that played in the secondary, and he hasn’t had many snaps. That could get them in trouble quickly if they lose that quarterback.

Mule Fan: Smithson Valley used to be 5A, then they dropped down to 4A. What caused that?

Coach Byrd: In October of 2009, when the UIL set the enrollment limit for 4A, the cutoff was 2040 students for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Smithson Valley said they made the cutoff by 4 students that year with an enrollment of 2036. But their enrollment grew above the limit by the time the 2010 season started, but it was already set at that point. This happens in places like Smithson Valley that are in high growth areas. Think about the number of homes that came on-line in the span from October until school starts in August. Then you have another year of residential growth during your second year in district. That is where they are now and their enrollment is up to 2180. They wanted to come down to 4A thinking they could win another a state championship. But the difference between 5A and 4A is not that much. I think the top teams in 4A can play, day-in and day-out, with the top teams in 5A. The difference is that in 4A, there are about 12 really special teams, and in 5A there are double that. There are just more teams at that top level in 5A. There’s not a whole lot of difference in the type of ball they play. I think Smithson Valley has seen that when they get to the playoffs and they have to face Lake Travis and Cedar Park. Alamo Heights enrollment is at 1509. It looks like Lake Travis will go up to 5A; Cedar Park will go up; Smithson Valley will probably go up; and Canyon has a decent shot at going up to 5A.

Mule Fan: How does the UIL figure out the districts?

Coach Byrd: Every two years the UIL will make a list of every high school starting with he greatest enrollment all the way down to the smallest one. They will say we need 228 5A schools. So they will count out 228 schools and see if there is a natural break in the list. That will then be enrollment line for the 5A schools. Then they take 228 schools for 4A and they will look for a line. And then they do the same for 3A on down.

Supposedly they used to take a state map and they would stick a pin for every high school and then they would take rubber bands and create districts based on how schools looked grouped together. Now supposedly they use some software that the telephone company uses that, based on populated areas, it determines the lines that are the most convenient for districts. In my prediction, what they do in our region is they start first with the Valley. They know the Valley is going to have two 4A districts. Corpus is probably going to need two districts. Then they move up to San Antonio. San Antonio and Edgewood make up 8 schools so they are going to be a district because they are so close together. And then they figure out how many schools are on the west side with Uvalde going up I-10 to Kerrville and Fredericksburg. Then they look up I-35 to Clemens, Canyon, Lehman and Hays. If you don’t get into either of those two districts, then you could end up south of town in Floresville, Beeville, Pleasanton - even as far as Victoria.

District realignment is coming up again this year and we should know sometime in February where we will be for the next two years. For a number of years, we were in the district with Uvalde, Kerrville, Boerne and Fredericksburg. But last realignment, for some reason they moved us with Hays, Canyon, and Lehman. We could go back to our old district out west. So if we don’t get into that west district then we are going to have be driving again. It doesn’t matter to me team-wise who we play. I just hate all the travel and fighting traffic on I-35 on a Friday.

JV Gives Rangers A Run For Their Money:

This past Thursday Smithson Valley came calling on the JV Mules. They had us out numbered and out sized but as is always the case with this bunch, The Mules did not care. I will go ahead and give it away, the outcome was not what we wanted, but this Mules team gave those boys a lot to think about. It is clear that the Rangers will not be looking past the Mules any time soon.

The Rangers held us to several 3 and outs and scored on a pretty convincing long drive to take a 7-0 lead. If you had not watched this group all year, you would have probably readied yourself for the worst. However, this group does not quit, ever. After holding the Rangers to a 3 and out, Scott Uhl got his number called and made the most of it. He scampered up the middle for 50 yard TD on a QB draw. The line opened up a great hole and Scott did the rest. The game stayed 7-7 until the very last of the first half when the Rangers punched one in to take 14-7 lead. The score would have come earlier if it were not for an incredible diving one-armed tackle by Tommy Tyng to save a touch down. Another highlight of the first half was a crushing tackle on punt coverage by Josh Arnold

In the second half, there was more great play from the Mules secondary. Daniel Mays made a beautiful solo tackle to save a sure TD by the Rangers. The Mules also stopped the Rangers on a 4th and one. Unfortunately the Rangers scored a gain on a long sustained drive. Being cocky, or just bad at math, the Rangers went for two and were denied. As usual The Mules would not lie down. Uhl to Wiegel for 20 yards and a 50-yard Sweep by Brandon Wasson led to the Mules second Touchdown of the game. 20-13 Rangers. Unfortunately the clock ran down on our boys. We did not really lose, we just ran out of time. Next up is Lehman and I am sure or boys will be ready to roll.

Looking Ahead:

AH Mules vs. Kyle Lehman Lobos

Friday, October 21st - 7:30 PM

Alamo Heights Harry B. Orem Stadium

From Coach Byrd: "Lehman stared out a much better team. They started out winning their first 4 games and then they got into district and they have lost 3 games. But they have had some injuries. They have a very good running back that is out with a concussion. They have another good running back that has been out with some disciplinary problems. They might be back, we don’t know. They are coming off their bye week so they have had two weeks to get ready for us. But they are good team, mainly because their offensive line. On defense, they are going to either bring an all out blitz and be in our face, or they are going to drop back with two safeties high, so we’ve got be smart. On the all out blitzes, we’ve got to make plays quickly. They haven’t had as much success with their kicking game. They are real erratic so its hard for us to work on that in practice when you don’t really know where the kick is going to go. But it is going to be a good test. We haven’t had a week off. Coming off a loss like last week, it’s a little hard to get the guys back mentally. But we’ve had a couple of good practices, so hopefully we will go out and take care of business on Friday night."

Last year, the Mules beat the Lehman Lobos 63-14. But this is an improved Lehman team that started off their season strong by beating San Antonio Edison 40-0, Austin Crockett 44-0, and then San Antonio Jefferson 41-12. Against Buda Hays, the Lobos only lost that game by one point. But as Coach Byrd mentioned above, injuries have plagued them since and we won't know for sure the strength of their lineup until we face off on Friday night. This will be our last home game so don't mis the opportunity to come cheer your Mules. See you there! Go Mules!