Alamo Heights 22, Port Lavaca Calhoun 46 December 7, 2013

Port Lavaca Calhoun Ends Mules Season 46-22 in San Marcos

-Sandcrabs Move on to Semi Finals vs. Brenham

-Mules Proud of 10-4 Season and Now Look Ahead

(San Marcos, Texas)—Everybody knows the feeling.  You enter the season full of enthusiasm and excitement, twist and turn during the journey, experience the highs and lows as a community, and all but one team and its fandom end on the down.  But now that we’ve all had a few days to get it in perspective, our chins are up and we celebrate a terrific Mules season that was a ton ‘o fun!  Yeah sure we would rather have made it to the mountaintop but it ain’t an easy climb.  This season ended three steps from the top as Port Lavaca Calhoun sent the Mules home 46-22 at Bobcat Stadium in San Marcos on a frosty day.  We get our Mules and put ‘em up for every step and congratulate the Alamo Heights Mules for giving us our 10^th consecutive year in the playoffs (an irrational fantasy to anyone associated with Alamo Heights from any decade prior to the 90’s), a 10-4 season and a team that was a heckuva lot of fun to watch.  We here at the Mule Fan are proud, as we know you all are.

Photos courtesy all season of Mary Candee. Thanks Mary!

The Sandcrabs executed a potent triple-option offense throwing size, strength and “vewy cwafty deception” at the Mules as Elmer Fudd might say.  Statistically, Port Lavaca poured 485 yards of rushing offense all over Alamo Heights, which managed only 62 yards on the ground.  When Calhoun lead rusher Cory Williams signed off, he had booked 194 yards in 32 carries and a touchdown.  Quarterback Hunter Boerm stacked 85 yards and two TD’s on top of that.  Plenty of understudy backs got into the act as well faking into the line, taking pitches and diving into the end zone.  It was an offense that the Alamo Heights scouted well but were certainly not able to duplicate their power in practice.

See these shots and many more great ones at
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In spite of the heavy hit the Mules took through two and a half quarters, the defense got some big stops and the offense started to turn it on in the third putting themselves in a position to flirt with a two possession game with ample time. But a long effective drive fell short with a tipped ball and interception at the three yard line by a Sandcrab linebacker putting down the Mules threat.  The Mules did get a 94 yard returned blocked extra point by special teams wiz Cameron Dawley, an exciting touchdown from Jake Osborne on a 61 yard catch and score on a Dalton Banks pass, and an 82 yard fumble recovery and score from defensive tackle Juan Alvarez with time running out but that was about all that was on the menu on Saturday.  

So thanks go all around to the seniors listed below (and there’s a bunch of them), to whom we wish the best of luck, for their leadership and contributions to the Alamo Heights football program and to the coaches, trainers, student trainers, athletic staff, band, Spurs and cheerleaders for all their effort this season and throughout the year.  It’ll be an exciting off season with plenty of intrigue as districts realign and new schedules with new opponents are finalized. 

This Week’s Canned Hams?  Who Else? The Seniors: 

Armando Tamez, Jake Osborne, Juan Pablo Olazaba, Scotty Uhl, Wesley Sparr, Daniel Mays, Noah Hernandez, Ted Zuzula, Robert Schuler, Jay Hargrove, Tommy Tyng, Byron Proctor, Jacob Cilfone, William Faz, Adam Luna, Brandon Wasson, Austin Jaramillo, Nick David, Kaw Ka Pow Htoo, Bruno Fontana, Robert Durbin, Zander Thomas, Parker Hollingshead, Connor Gates, Ben McSween, JD Janicek, Matthew Wilkes, Zach Guney, Joey Gonzales, Chris Magallanez, Juan Alvarez, Zach McConnell, Connor Peoples, Camilo Garcia, Max Molak, James Lockwood, Riley Zander, Christian Lalinde, Jeffrey Dubrof, and David Andrade.

“His Inside Voice” 

A weekly discussion with Coach Mike Norment

Mule Fan:  During the playoffs you’ve talked about always having to “up your game” and top your last effort with your best game of the year.  On Saturday the Mules didn’t have their best game of the year and Port Lavaca probably did.  What do you think was the bigger factor, Calhoun’s execution of their triple option or Alamo Heights not hitting on all cylinders offensively?

Coach Norment:  It was a combination.  In the first half we struggled offensively and that allowed Port Lavaca to be on the field a lot.  They were much bigger than we are and we didn’t want the defense to be out there as many snaps as they were. So that led to them being up three scores at halftime and that’s definitely what we didn’t want to do.  In the last two games we were able to jump on the other team and play with a lead. This game didn’t work out that way so they were able to play their game of ball control and pretty much be able to do what they wanted to do.  We were playing catch up and having to throw the ball almost every down. That’s not what we do.  We are able to mix it up so we became one dimensional so it was a combination.  Plus Port Lavaca was a very talented team and played very, very well so when you combine us not playing our best with them playing very good you get a score like we had this week and unfortunately we were on the losing end.

Mule Fan:  You had their offense scouted well.  I saw a few minutes of a few practices last week and recognized all the formations and plays from scout team but they were a very physical team.  What can you do when you can’t simulate size and strength in a scout team environment in practice?

Coach Norment:  Yeah they were very big and very strong and you really can’t simulate that at all.  You just have to do the best you can.  They were very physical on both sides of the football.  That just shows that we have to work on that in the off season and try and get a little stronger and be able to hold up against teams that want to do that to us.

Mule Fan:  With all of that, the defense started making some stops in the second half, the offense started getting tuned up a little bit and then there was the drive in the third that ended with the tip and the interception after scoring in the previous possession. Had you scored you were looking at a two possession game and plenty of time. Were the guys feeling that?

Coach Norment:  I think so. We had a lot of momentum.  They were on their heels.  And you don’t know what’s going to happen but I do know that had we have scored there you don’t know what would have happened but it would have been better than what happened.  You could just feel the wind get out of us.  That was unfortunate because we had a great season and I like the fact that our kids never gave up.  It would have been real easy to say all right that’s it and fold the tent but they didn’t.  And you expect that from Alamo Heights but you want to make sure the kids do that and they did so I’m very proud of how they finished the game.

Can't do these with an iPhone.  Thanks again to Mary Candee!
http://dulcedesigns.photoreflect.com

Mule Fan:  We know there’s only one team that finishes the year happy but your team accomplished a lot this season especially in the wake of last year’s early exit from the playoffs.  I know you’re proud of that.  What do you think was the biggest reason that they achieved what they did?

Coach Norment:  Well they really bought into the team motto and they understood that everybody was a part.  We talked about that a lot. Everybody was a part of this team. The JV had to give us a great effort in scout team and when they did they were reminded that they had to give us a great look and at the same time they were getting better for next year.  You know we had so many injuries and other things that we had to grab people that maybe weren’t starters and maybe didn’t think they were going to play as much and all of a sudden they’re getting lots of playing time and they actually bought into that.  So we always talk about not being the weak link and we talk about that in the off-season.  Well we can actually say that there weren’t weak links out here.  When the person was called on to step up they were able to step in and do the best they possibly could and we didn’t lose that much.  So I think those are the factors that really made this team be able to go as far as they did is the fact that they bought into the concept of team.  Everybody’s got a position and a role on the team and they fulfilled that.

Mule Fan:  For many years, whether you’ve had more talent or less talent, more size or less size the teams have had great chemistry.  You guys have been able to inject that into their approach.

Coach Norment:  It does help that we are a school district where a lot of these kids grow up with each other.  You may play on different YMCA teams or they play on the same teams. The majority of them go to the junior high and so we have a small town feel even though we’re surrounded by San Antonio.  That gives us an advantage over some of these other schools maybe that don’t give that. But at the same time our kids are good kids and they’re very accepting, they see everybody as blue and gold, they’re a Mule and so we have really good team chemistry at all levels including the freshmen.  We get kids that move in or maybe come from the Academy and they’re welcomed in.  They’re assimilated very quickly and that’s a positive for the program.  It was going on way before I got here and it still continues today.

Mule Fan:  Can you share with us what you said to the guys after the game?

Coach Norment:  It’s always disappointing especially for the seniors because it’s over.  You grow very, very attached to these seniors especially these guys who you’ve coached and you’ve seen grow from young, and this is a term of endearment, “idiot freshmen”, to young men who are seniors who are about to go out on their own and you get very attached. We see them cry because it meant so much to them.  It is tough.  It’s tough as a coach but I told them I was so proud of them for what they accomplished.  It is hard to feel great right now but if you really look at it we had a great season. We did better than most people thought we would and I told them that they would always be my guys.

The sad thing is watching these guys leave. But it was very heartening to be in San Marcos and see all these former players there that you remember were seniors two, three, four, five and many more years ago come back and support the program and see how they’ve grown up and become young men, husbands, fathers that hopefully this football program has helped them be a little bit better of a person because of it and that it taught them about hard work and things.  So it is difficult to see the seniors leave but you get a new crop and you can’t really think about it a whole lot. You’ve got to get those guys ready because we’ll be doing this again next year.  So it is a continuous thing and that’s what makes high school football coaching fun because it is a constant cycle.  But seeing the seniors go is always the toughest for me.

Mule Fan:  Can you take us through what happens in the off-season program?

Coach Norment:  We’ll pick up the equipment and do some testing before we leave for Winter break.  I want to have numbers.  What’s their bench press and all that stuff so we have a starting point.  And then when we come back from the break we’re going to have a boot camp. And this is something we started many years ago when I first got here back in 1996.  There were one or two years when we didn’t do it. The head coach always talks to the seniors to find out what’s good, what’s bad and what can we do better and I remember Don Byrd talking about that being one of the biggest things that the senior class thought was an important thing in the program.  We’ve done it for the last ten years.  We’ll change it up a little but basically I like to say “a rubber band doesn’t have any value unless you stretch it”.  Well you stretch a player during boot camp. They’re doing things that are not fun and are physically demanding but we also put a mental aspect to it to show them what they are capable of doing. We’ll do boot camp for 2-3 weeks and then start the off season where we’ll do weight lifting inside everyday and some sort of agility and running outside every day and we’ll do mat room.  We’ll do that pretty much up until March when we start doing football skills and of course late April we’ll go into spring training and spring ball.  And that is it in a nutshell.  It is going to be imperative since we’re losing so many people (40).  We can’t really say right now but when we get testing done we’ll have an idea where we have weaknesses and the things that we need to work on.  Port Lavaca Calhoun was very physical and very strong and that is one area we definitely need to work on is getting our strength up and getting some size.  If you just look at the scores from last year we’ll probably need to get some speed so we’ll be pushing that.  But we’ll try to target the players a little more specifically and see where each player is weak and concentrate on those and turn them into strengths.

Mule Fan:  This is a transition year for district.  When do you expect that information to be out there?

Coach Norment:  That will come out in the beginning of February.  We already know the numbers.  The UIL has done that so we know basically what schools are in what classifications.  There’s not a whole lot we can do now.  Looking at the numbers there will probably be two Valley districts, two Corpus, two San Antonio area and two around the Austin area in 4A.  What district we’re in we don’t know and that’s also still in process.  We’re working on schedules for the non-district games.  I’m pretty sure I’ve got that pretty close to solid and I’ll make calls in January to make sure before the realignment takes place.  When that takes place we’ll be scrambling and making sure we get the schedule and the home games and get that taken care of.  So there’s a lot of work that goes on in the spring that you don’t hear about.  We’ll be gearing up for 7-on-7, Mules In Training (summer program) and before you know it football season we’ll be here which is always great because it’s always better to be in football season.

How to Sum it All Up??

This reporter and his loyal team of crayon toting scribblers have enjoyed bringing you this propaganda each week. We thank all the coaches and staff for the access that they give us and hope you feel you got good value for money.

As I watched the players file out of the Bobcat Stadium locker room on Saturday, some with big ‘ol tears coming down their faces, and parents with lumps in their throats, it brought back a familiar feeling. Somebody with a memory of this reporter’s previous exploits suggested I reprise a little piece that I wrote at the conclusion of the 2009 Alamo Heights season.  After some consideration and consultation with my agent, I concluded that it might still work.  Just know that it has not been altered at all.  It deals with the end of the 2009 season. But these are new eyes on it with the same emotions.

The context was this.  This reporter’s oldest son had just finished his senior season, coincidentally in the same danged stadium and in similar climate conditions (brrr!) against Lake Travis, the eventual state champion.  It was the end of a terrific and exciting season, a close game, and none of us were ready for it to end. But end it did.  Some of us knew we would get another bite at the apple in a few years.  Others knew that was it.  Next chapter starts now.  While the piece was a personal reflection, it was written thinking it would resonate with all parents of seniors.

“The Drawer”

A Reflection by Bob Cohen

While looking in my son’s closet for one of my shirts recently, I opened “the drawer”. Not “a” drawer. It was “the” drawer. After a pause, the realization of what I was seeing hit square. I’ll bet nearly everyone reading this has one of these drawers as well. Folded up inside the drawer, or wadded up to be truthful, were pants, jerseys, sweat bands, belts, 8 ½ inch long shin guards, mouth guards small enough to fit a puppet, socks and more representing the game gear from a career in kid’s sports.

How is it possible that my oldest son has played his last game? All the 8:00 am Saturday soccer games, the nights at the Little League fields, spring afternoons in the batting cage, the weekday fall afternoons watching football practice and then finally those indescribably wonderful Friday nights under the lights in all those stadiums in all those places. Poof-over! Only the intramural fields await but I won’t see any of those contests, not without causing nearly irreparable embarrassment anyway.

Obviously this is a moment that is typically reserved for the parent of a senior, or at least a senior that isn’t moving on to the next level of organized athletics. But most of us are having our own little moments like this right about now. While I watched it all wind down last Friday night in that cold stadium in San Marcos, I struggled hard to put a period on the sentence. Can you be ready for that moment? Those were hard yards…

I stood there silently with all of the other dads, moms, grandparents and friends surrounded by my own emotions and a teary wife. Mentally it felt like being yanked out of that stage of my life into the next (with this kid anyway). I watched him kneeling down on the goal line watching the other team's celebration and wondered what he was thinking. Did he realize that he would probably never again experience the feeling of “team and camaraderie” in quite the same way? Did he recognize that he had shared an experience and a journey that he will always remember with some guys with whom he will remain life-long friends and some with whom he will lose touch? He’ll remember them all and that includes the coaches. It’s a different memory than the one about the guy who sat next to you in biology.

From running up and down a soccer field at the age of 6, right arm thrust in the air shouting encouragement to teammates while staying as far away from the ball as one can and still be in-bounds to the first year of pads and getting into a three point stance that looked like something from a Three Stooges episode to locking up in the biggest game of his life with a defensive lineman with a weight and height advantage and probably a future of playing on Saturdays…these are the images that will be etched in this parent’s memory.

There are people to thank and I’ll leave some out but not mean to do so. You fill in the blanks with your own list as you look into your drawer. Thanks to all the dads who coached him early and gave positive encouragement and constructive criticism. Thanks to the moms who cheered from the camp chairs on the sideline and who car-pooled to practice and who went to Vivroux for the umpteenth time for another batting glove or mouth guard. Wait a minute; come to think of it Vivroux should probably thank me. There was enough merchandise in that one drawer to cover their rent for a month! Thanks to the trainers and docs for keeping him patched up especially for that all-important senior year. Thanks to all the parents and grandparents and other dads for the camaraderie. These are kindred spirits brought together for an experience that is naturally shared from the inside out. To all those people who were sick of the football parents who could seemingly talk about nothing else for four years, thanks for your understanding. It will ease off now we promise. Thanks to the boys for all of the time and effort spent making themselves the best players they could be and for the priceless memories. Yes it sometimes was a hassle to tell us about every syllable that was uttered by the coaches at halftime and after the game. We’re not sorry. It was as close as we could come to a do-over. And finally, thanks to the coaches at the junior high and high school. When we hand off to you, you play a vital role. In my very ordinary high school sports career I had a few good coaches and a few that were dreadful. I remember each of them. I personally am grateful, and I know others are as well, for the experience, skills, values, lessons and confidence that this Mules coaching staff imparted to our kids from junior high on up.

If you haven’t done so yet, approach “the drawer” with caution. Do it because you have to eventually cross over. But give yourself a few minutes and reflect on the importance of the moment. Don’t just open it and shut it like you would the one just above it. Remember the hours in the backyard tossing the football or baseball, tackling the guys in the hallway in their pajamas before bed, hauling the juice boxes and donuts on your snack day, painting their helmets, throwing batting practice, car-pooling to practice, playing H-O-R-S-E, and all the rest. Then close the drawer. Maybe you can use the stuff for the younger brother. If this is truly the end of it, I hope you soaked up every minute of this year and stored the memory in its own special place. I did.

 

A final thought from the Mule Fan…

On behalf of our underpaid editorial staff we want to thank you for your continued support.  Without your subscription, management would not be able to continue drip-feeding us our meager wages.  When we hear the coins drop into the can outside our offices, we leap to it faster than the tongue of a Komodo lizard.  We’re just days away from beginning our now familiar negotiating dance with these senior management dorks who think they know something about this business.  We’ll get through it.  They already missed the renewal date on the contracts of all of the writers.  One staff writer has decided he is going into sheet metal fabrication; another is finally going to pursue being a shepherd, yet another is putting his mobile harpsichord tuning service truck back on its route and yours truly is currently knitting curtains for all of the press boxes in south Texas to support us over the long winter.  Our future with the publication is, as usual, up for grabs.  We’ll see.  Stay tuned. 

Meanwhile, from our emaciated Mule Fan family to yours, we wish you all the best for a happy and healthy holiday season.  Thanks for a fun year and….. 

GO MULES!!!

Bob Cohen