Alamo Heights 47 Clark 34 September 6, 2013

Mules Even Record With Win Over Clark

Alamo Heights opened the home part of their schedule with a solid 47-34 win over the Clark Cougars on Friday extending their win streak to four games over the Cougars and leveling their season record at 1-1.  The Mules first win of the young season featured balanced production on both sides of the ball.  Defense opened the scoring with Mitchell Abramson’s first of two interceptions which he toted 24 yards to get the Mules on the board before the offense touched the ball in the first quarter.   The Mules defense forced turnovers and kept pressure on the athletic Cougar quarterback Trenton Ford all night. It also overcame a big rushing night from Clark running back Branden Valle who ripped off 198 yards in 31 carries and a 57 yard touchdown haul in the first period.   Mules quarterback Dalton Banks connected with receiver Robert Schuler for two touchdowns in the first quarter for 18 and 22 yards.  Banks was 13 of 21 or 174 yards and one interception for the game in his second varsity start and spread his passes around to five different Mules led by receivers Schuler, Jake Osborne and Noah Hernandez.  The Mules running attack played a role in opening up the passing offense with senior running back Byron Proctor scampering for 163 yards on 16 carries and three scores highlighted by a 56 yard touchdown early in the third period.  QB Banks led the offense on a time consuming drive late in the third period and finished it with a one yard TD plunge in the opening moments of the 4^th.

SA Express News Honors to Abramson

Alamo Heights junior defensive back Mitchell Abramson was recognized this week as the Defensive Player of the Week in the San Antonio Express News.  As mentioned above, Abramson snagged two interceptions for 30 return yards and one touchdown.

All Photos Courtesy of Mary Candee - Dulce Design Photography

Eagle Pass Comes to Orem Stadium

Next up for the Mules is their third consecutive 5A opponent as the Eagle Pass Eagles (really, what other mascot could they be?) make the trip to Harry Orem Stadium for a 7:30 matchup with the Mules on Friday September 13.  The Eagles, from District 29-5A are winless in their first two outings having lost to Weslaco East and Nixon.  The Eagles were shut out by Nixon 6-0 last Friday at home.  Eagle Pass finished 5-5 in 2012 and 4-2 in their league for 3^rd place.  Alamo Heights is rated as the Eagles’ toughest 2013 regular season opponent according to www.maxpreps.com.  This is the Mules final tune up before starting district play on September 27 against Boerne Champion at home.  Alamo Heights has an open date on Friday September 20th.

“His Inside Voice” 

A weekly discussion with Coach Mike Norment

Mule Fan:  Congratulations on the Mules’ first victory on Friday.  Let’s begin with a look at the offense, which overcame penalties and turnovers and were able to roll up an impressive 47 points.  What were you able to do this week that got your offense going and get the production you had?

Coach Norment:  Well one thing is we were able to run the ball better.  And one thing that helped us was that the quarterback was able to read the running game and we were able to get some yards there.  And we did some short throws that turned into some long yardage runs.  We were able to throw the ball a bit better.  We had better protection.  Clark didn’t blitz a whole lot.  O’Connor blitzed more than Clark did.  So we gave more protection and had some success there.  The defense did a real good job and gave us a short field several times.  They (the defense) scored a touchdown.  And we had a good punt return which gave us a short field.  It is much easier to go 30 yards than 70 yards and that happened a bunch also.  The offense clicked a lot better this week and that is what should happen between game one and two and hopefully we continue to get better in between games two and three.

Mule Fan:  The defense faced a lot of run pressure chasing around two good athletes from their backfield.  It seems like the defense has put together two solid games.  How did you see the defensive effort?

Coach Norment:  The defense has been on the field a lot.  We’re trying to figure out ways to get them off the field more based on what we do offensively and help them out.  But defensively they played really good.  Coach Moody (Defensive Coordinator) talked about forcing turnovers.  Well they forced three turnovers against Clark, which really helped us.  They gang tackled. They were able to make adjustments to take away some of the things that Clark wanted to do.  And Clark did pose some problems because they would line up in their “big” formations to do what they’ve always done which is run the ball out of a double-tight and wing (set).  Then they would spread them out.  That poses a challenge to a defense to be able to stop both of those.  Our defense overall did a very good job. 

Mule Fan:  This is the first time in several years that Alamo Heights has had a junior starting at quarterback.  What are your observations about Dalton Banks progress in his first two varsity starts as a junior?

Coach Norment:  He did better in the second game than he did in the first.  That’s just going to come with game experience.  It’s a lot different playing on the JV than playing on the varsity.  It’s much faster and opponents spend more time (preparing) for the varsity so they’re going to give you a lot more and different looks and you have to be able to read all these things.  He will improve throughout the year.  That’s what is good about having a junior quarterback.  We’re fortunate that we have two good quarterbacks.  So if anything happens to Dalton we have a senior back up (Scotty Uhl) who is getting on the field at another position.  So we’re lucky.  A lot of teams don’t have one quarterback and we’re fortunate to have two.  That’s one of those things that Alamo Heights has always had.  Everyone wants to talk about our starters but we’ve usually had a pretty good backup.

Mule Fan:  The Mules will now face its third consecutive 5A opponent.  This has been a practice that has gone on for many years going back to Don Byrd’s years at least.  What is your philosophy about playing this level of non-district talent?

Coach Norment:  Well this schedule was set with Coach Byrd when he was the head coach.  But I agree with that being with Coach Byrd as long as I was.  You don’t learn anything about your team when you’re playing easy teams.  You have to be put in adverse situations.  So I like adversity.  We want adversity. And we’ve had a lot this year. And we’ve learned a lot about this team. If you’re not put in an adverse situation until the fifth game of district you don’t know what the team is going to do.

We want our team to be put in adverse situations from the get-go.  So we learn a lot about that.  The defense was put in an adverse situation when we fumbled the ball on the 15-yard line (against Clark) and they stepped it up and did a great job.  So there we learned a little bit about the defense.  Last week against O’Connor we had three terrible offensive series and had to have a discussion on the sideline.  We learned a lot about our offense when they came back and went on an 11 play drive and scored.  We want to do that against good football teams.  When you’re going against a team that is not very good, you don’t learn a lot about your team.  That’s my philosophy and it was also Coach Byrd’s philosophy.

Mule Fan:  This is the last tune up game before district play with a 5A school that made the playoffs last year. They are 0-2 this season and were shut out last week.  What are you expecting from Eagle Pass this week at home?

Coach Norment:  There are a scrappy bunch.  They have a lot of guys back.  I think they have six returning starters on offense and seven on defense. They’ve had a couple of bad breaks.  Offensively they do a little bit of everything.  They’re mostly a shotgun team but they will line up in some heavy sets and run the ball.  Defensively they like to play a lot of man coverage and blitz people from different directions.  So that’s going to cause a challenge for our offense to be able to see that and make the reads and hit the hot route.  So we simplified our game plan a bit for that.  At the same time defensively we’re going to have to play good sound defense and hopefully be able to contain them.

"MEET THE COACH" 

We circulated an insightful yet nosey questionnaire to the coaching and training staff so that Mule Nation can get to know our coaches better.  Coach Norment gets extra credit for turning his in early and fittingly gets the first feature in the Mule Fan.

 MULES HEAD COACH MIKE NORMENT

 Name:   Mike Norment                     Position Responsibility:  Head Coach/TE’s                                            

Hometown: San Antonio

Spouse: Tracey            Children/Ages: Kasey 23, Lindsay 21, Haley 17, Carly 13

High School: Churchill H.S.            College/Degree: Texas A& M University, B.S. in Agriculture Economics, Texas A & M-Kingsville Masters in Education Administration

Sports played in high school/position/titles: Football (O-Line) and Track (Shot and Discus)

Best coaching advice you ever received:

Have fun and be yourself.

Favorite food that is good for you:

Strawberries

Favorite food that isn’t good for you:

Chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and cream gravy

Favorite high school era song/artist:

ACDC Back in Black

Favorite Saturday morning cartoon show character:

Bugs Bunny

All time favorite movie:

Caddyshack

Do you have a comic book in your home?

No

Favorite book that you’d recommend to your students:

Into Thin Air by John Krakauer

Oldest song on your iPod/iPhone/CD in your vehicle:

Something by Frank Sinatra  (Editor’s note:  Sinatra always called this his favorite “Lennon-McCartney” tune even though it was written and sung by George Harrison.  Good choice Coach.  Great song.  Especially the drum solo.)

Non-traditional pet you’ve owned or wish you’d owned (ex: Monkey, Python, African Grey bird, Manatee, etc.): 

Duck named Daffy

If forced to sing karaoke, what song could you nail:

You Never Even Called Me by My Name by David Allan Coe

More About Mules Head Coach Coach Mike Norment

 “He is... The Most Interesting Coach in the World”

He has been called the "Human Subwoofer."

Headsets fear him.

He has been credited with creating a vowel that only whales can hear.

His bedtime stories have been known to simultaneously put kids to sleep…..in Belgium.

He can break down game film that has not yet been shot.

His favorite song is Boom Boom Pow by the Black Eyed Peas.

Foghorns come to him for training.

He can yodel the national anthems of 36 countries.

Coach Norment:  “I don’t often lead cheers.  But when I do I prefer to get my Mules and put ‘em up!”

Thanks to Mule Fan Alumni Editorial Staff

Our thanks to decorated former Mule Fan Editor Jeff Bailey for taking time out from getting in his winter wheat crop to update this year’s Mule varsity and JV rosters and 2013 schedule on www.mulesfootball.com.  

Mule Mail Bag

Thanks for the kind words and comments on last week’s post.  As we said, we’re happy to take on all comments and suggestions. Public, private, constructive, destructive, cruel, inflammatory, thought provoking, cowardly, uplifting, cuss word laden invective, sugary sweet compliments, you name it.  In fact, some of you did weigh in privately with some dang timely topics.  Without revealing your identities, we thought we’d publish a few of these exchanges as a public service.

Note #1

Angry Reader:  Why didn’t you put my son’s name in the blog?

Mule Fan:  What’s your son’s name?

Angry Reader:  Well if you’re gonna get technical about it……

Note #2

Reader:  Why isn’t there any JV or freshman football coverage yet?

Mule Fan:  As we have said, we are short staffed.  This reporter is flying solo and will not be able to be at all the freshman and junior varsity games what with the cooking and the washing… In fact, my day job has me on some special assignments.  Why just last week I was off covering the Mouse Riots in Refugio.  That’s a load.  And management of this rag has a reputation of asking for a little more and a little more and a little more. Before you know it, you’re reading the Sunday comics to them and getting paid nothing more than the occasional backhanded compliment such as “is that Hai Karate cologne you’re wearing?”   You can’t eat that.  To quote The Who, “We won’t be fooled again.”  I need a freshman and JV correspondent(s).

As always, we are happy to consider all of your comments.  Feel free to express your concerns, comments and ideas in the comment box below or tear us a new one privately at bobcohen@sbcglobal.net.  We can handle the criticism and have the thin skin to prove it.  We pledge to respond in a truly positive and mature manner once we finish with a reasonable tantrum.

Cliché Corner – Cuz lernin’ is gud!

Impress your friends, baffle your enemies with all this nawlidge.

Choose the football cliché.

      A.     “Gotta Getta Stop”  B. “Tax Free Weekend”

Answer A.  To seek a defensive stand

Thanks to Dulce Design Photography

The Mule Fan management clods have only provided the staff with a Kodak Insta-matic camera with a flash cube. The publisher got it for his 10th birthday and couldn't figure out how to work it.  Those don't take good photos at football games and it is hard to find film and more flash cubes.  But the pressure is off because Mary Candee has incredible gear and makes a living taking great photos.  So she is so kind to share some of her great game shots with us.  There's more where that comes from.  So go to her website and find some awesome action shots of your little sweaty darlings and save those memories.   http://dulcedesigns.photoreflect.com

Mules on Radio and Online

Again a reminder that if you can’t get out to the stadium, follow the Mules on KBUC 92.5/93.3 FM or www.TSRNsports.com.  Tell your mom and them.

 Punt, Pass & Kick Fun on Sunday

The annual Mules Punt, Pass & Kick event was held on Sunday at Harry B. Orem Stadium.  Kids from around our community came to have fun and practice some football skills with the big boys.  Here are few video clips of the day's fun activities.