Bye Week Update - Next Up-Floresville Tigers

Alamo Heights vs. Floresville Tigers-Friday, October 31, 2014-7:30pm Harry B. Orem Stadium

Scores from October 24

Boerne Champion 57 Lockhart 27

Kerrville Tivy 62 Seguin 34

Floresville 42 Memorial 0

San Marcos 51 Kennedy 27

Alamo Heights idle

27-5A Standings

Boerne Champion  6-0

Alamo Heights  5-1

Kerrville Tivy  5-1

Floresville  4-3

Lockhart  4-3

San Marcos  2-4

Seguin  2-4

Memorial  0-6

Kennedy  0-6

Floresville Notes:

Floresville is coming off of a district win against Memorial, one of four district wins.  They’ve also beaten Kennedy, San Marcos and Seguin…The Tigers are 3-1 on the road…Floresville averages 31.9 points per game and gives up 23.2 ppg (Alamo Heights is averaging 39 points per game and giving up 16)…in their win against Memorial, junior running back Alex Mermea logged 244 yards on 21 carries and scored three touchdowns…fueled by Mermea’s big night, the Tigers rolled up 307 yards of rushing along with 132 yards passing and gave up 176 yards on defense…Floresville will complete it third straight winning season no matter what happens against the Mules.  The last two seasons produced 8-3 records…They made a first round playoff appearance against Port Lavaca (remember them??)  last season.  That was Port Lavaca’s first victim…the Tigers returned 19 lettermen off of their 2013 squad, 3 returning offensive starters and 2 returning defensive starters…this is Floresville’s first season in 27-5A coming over from 29-4A (5A now)…They finished 6-1 in district last season…Floresville has faced Alamo Heights twice with the Mules victorious both times…the last meeting was in 2005 and Mules won it 48-7…the Mules are unbeaten at home this season and come into the Floresville matchup riding a four game win streak…Floresville has an off week on the last week of the regular season so this game will be its last before playoffs begin.

Area Leaders

Express News Sub 6A area rankings haven’t changed in weeks.  It is still 1. Boerne Champion 2. Alamo Heights 3. Kerrville Tivy.  Dalton Banks ranks #8 in total offense with 2,255 yards and #7 in area passing stats.  Greer Shetler is still in the table at #19 in receiving yards with 529.

Mule On Radio

Follow the Mules all season on KBUC 92.5 FM and online at www.tsrnsports.com with Ed Suarez, Dave Parker and Albert Gonzalez.  

See you on Friday!  Go Mules!!!!  Happy Halloween!!

 

Alamo Heights 45 Memorial 0 October 17, 2014

Mules Pound Memorial Minutemen 45-0 for Fourth Straight District Win

            -Bye Week Next Before Last Home Game with Floresville

By Bob Cohen, Senior Editor in Pleats

            (San Antonio)—A close game with Memorial would not have been good news and indeed it was not close.  Alamo Heights took care of business again in a game it was supposed to win and did so with great efficiency on Friday at Edgewood Veterans Stadium 45-0 to up its season record to 6-2 and 5-1 in district. 

The Mules let the Minutemen know immediately what kind of night this was going to be when Mitchell Abramson took the opening kickoff 37 yards after a pitch from the initial recipient Holden Daum to give the Mules a short field to work with on their first drive.  Nine plays later Deryl Reynolds scored on a 3-yard plunge over the line for the Mules first score.  Reynolds finished his night with 84 yards on nine carries. On the following possession for Memorial, Mules’ senior defensive back Anthony Sotelo stepped in front of a Memorial pass and returned the interception to Memorial’s 36-yard line to give the Alamo Heights excellent field position to set up its second score on a 15 yard Dalton Banks pass to a wide open Greer Shetler in the back of the Memorial end zone. 

The Mules offense continued pin sharp throughout the game and scored on each of its seven possessions.  On the eighth possession, it was the final ticks off the game clock that prevented to Mules from scoring again as the second half approach was to huddle and bleed the clock as much as possible.

Alamo Heights played a smothering defense as well allowing negative two yards passing on two completions, 68 rushing yards, forced four punts, picked off two Memorial passes and limited them to only three first downs.  It was a long night for the Minutemen offense as was expected. 

The Mules spread the scoring around in the first half.  In addition to the Reynolds and Shetler touchdowns, Zach Ford and Cole Yeoman also got into the act.  Yeoman popped Memorial on a ten yard TD reception after contributing a 24-yard reception earlier that same drive.  Yeoman led Mules receivers with four catches and 60 yards on the night.  Ford scored on the fourth possession on a 14-yard strike.  Alamo Heights rolled up 190 passing yards for the game with Banks and Jack Woodland sharing QB responsibilities. 

Coach Norment was able to get action for most of the team that made the trip beginning in the second quarter and keeping it that way throughout the rest of the game. Alamo Heights kept mostly to the ground in the second half to keep the clock moving and in the process showcased additional depth at running back.  Sophomore Justin Barselou rushed for 68 yards on 13 carries and scored twice in the third quarter on runs of one and 13 yards.  And senior defensive back Isaac Chesler got some action on offense and showed flashes of speed on his way to 52 yards on nine carries. With Cameron Dawley taking the weekend off to heal some bumps and bruises, Koll Rada (a JV move up last week) belted some long kickoffs and banged through a 19-yard field goal in the early moments of the fourth period.  Zach Leal handled point after duties and picked up six extra point kicks.    

With the off week next, the Mules will have a chance to get some rest before the last two district games and heal up the usual bumps and bruises the team would acquire by this time of year.  The extra time should also give the Mules training staff some time to treat the dizzying array of extra bumps and bruises that one would hope there wouldn’t be this time of year.  Even better, the Mules will have two weeks to prepare for a Halloween night meeting with Floresville to keep the unbeaten string at home alive for 2014. 

District 27-5A Scores

Floresville 28 Seguin 27 (OT)

Lockhart 40 Kennedy 14

Kerrville Tivy 48 San Marcos 14

Boerne Champion idle

District 27-5A Standings

Boerne Champion  5-0

Alamo Heights  5-1

Kerrville Tivy  4-1

Lockhart  4-2

Floresville  3-3

Seguin  2-3

San Marcos  1-4

Memorial  0-5

Kennedy  0-5

“His Inside Voice” 

A weekly discussion with head coach Mike Norment. (With a special Halloween Treat at the end!)

Mule Fan:  Against Memorial, the defense allowed three first downs, no passing yardage and very few rushing yards.  The offense scored every time it had the ball except when time ran out.  And there were no injuries.  Could it have gone much better for Alamo Heights?

Coach Norment: No it was exactly what we wanted.  We wanted to start fast and play good.  There are still some things we need to work on. When you watch film, you’re never as good as you thought you were and never as bad as you thought you were.  But overall I think at this point in the season I thought it was a good game overall.

Mule Fan:  You’ve been able to get a lot of kids into the action and really have been able to in recent weeks, which is good news considering the Kennedy game was cut short.  Let’s talk about what you’ve seen out of the group that is really going to be your team in the coming years.  What sense do you have of what kind of squad you’re going to have after watching them in game action?

Coach Norment: It’s hard to tell because when the game is already somewhat out of hand the mental edge is not there.  So I’m glad that the defense was able to stop Memorial from scoring and the offense was able to move the ball.  And that’s always a good sign.  I think really in the last couple of years, everybody on the team realizes that you could be called upon at any moment.  And especially the last two years it just seems like we’ve had to go deep in the roster.  So I think that means a little more intensity on the part of the backups and it is also a reward. We’re sacrificing stats and playing time for the starters.  But we talk about sacrifice and they’re sacrificing for the backup players but it is for the greater good of the team.  So it is hard to see what we’re going to have in the future but as for right now I’m happy with how we’re playing.

Mule Fan:  We always talk before the first game of the season about what it is like for players to get under the lights for the first time and take varsity snaps.  So is it fair to say that getting the backups into these regular season games, regardless of the score, plays a dual role.  On the one hand, you’re rewarding them for their hard work during the week and two, you’re getting them used to Friday night lights?

Coach Norment:  Yes for the young ones definitely and for the older kids it is a reward for sticking with the program and keep coming every day and doing a great job in their role, whatever that role is.

Mule Fan: You’ve given the kids Saturday and Monday off.  Will you spend the rest of the off week in game prep or is that held off until next week?

Coach Norment:  We’ll look at some things we want to work on and work on some things that we’re not doing good enough.   Some things we’re not executing like we need to. Basically this week is for getting healthy and getting back into shape.  I think we’ve gotten a little out of shape this time of year because we have to keep our legs underneath us when we have a game coming up. We don’t have a game this week so we can maybe run them a little bit more.  And also we’ll get back to basics on a few things that maybe have slipped a little.

Mule Fan:  I imagine you’ll scout this weekend but with two regular season opponents left, how concentrated will that effort be for this week?

Coach Norment:  It’ll be similar to when we played on Thursday a few weeks ago.  We’ll probably have scouts at several different places trying to get a handle on what is going to happen in the future.

Mule Fan in Halloween Mode: What was the dorkiest costume you trick or treated in when you were a kid?

Coach Norment:  Casper the Friendly Ghost

Mule Fan: Were you ever a super hero?

Coach Norment:  Does Roger Staubach count? Then yes.  I went out as Roger Staubach.

Mule Fan: Favorite Halloween candy then and now?

Coach Norment: Butterfingers and Baby Ruth

Mule Fan:  Strangest thing you ever got in your trick or treat bag that wasn’t candy?

Coach Norment: I can’t remember but I am old enough to remember when you would actually get a full candy or caramel apple wrapped in foil.  Those were awesome.

Mule Fan:  Did you ever use a pillowcase as a trick or treat bag?

Coach Norment: That’s the only thing I ever had.  On a good Halloween, I’d have to go back and empty the pillowcase twice.

Mule Fan:  Did you ever carve a pumpkin?

Coach Norment: Yes

Mule Fan:  Traditional face or something goofy?

Coach Norment:  Traditional always.

Mule Fan:  Costume from your youth that your kids would be embarrassed to see you in?

Coach Norment:  Probably that Casper outfit.

Mule Fan:  Has your voice every scared anybody?

Coach Norment:  Possibly.

Area Leaders

No change in the area Sub-6A Express-News rankings for the umpteenth week.  It’s still 1. Boerne Champion  2. Your heroes  3. Kerrville Tivy…..Dalton Banks still ranks #6 in total offense with 2,255 yards and #6 in passing with 1,793 yards and 18 touchdowns. Blowout wins give a lot of kids a chance to play but tend to dent up stats and so it goes this week.  Plus the Mules have been primarily a running team the last couple of weeks.  Greer Shetler ranks #13 in receiving yards with 529.

The Playoff Picture

Winning either of the next two regular season games should firm up a playoff berth for the Mules.  The Mule Fan will try to provide a view of the playoff picture as it develops and as the information becomes available.

Memorial Ham

We think the Mr. Porky deserves to parachute into the Sotelo household. Senior defensive back Anthony Sotelo had a big first quarter interception and was around the ball a lot on defense.  Congratulations!

Cliché Corner – Halloween Edition

Cuz  bein’ stupid is fritening.

Pick the football cliché.

A.     Ghost formation

B.     Candy Corn

C.     Wax Lips

Answer:  A. Ghost formation – an empty backfield behind the quarterback

Halloween Rock n’ Roll Tidbits

Surely you’ve heard these big holiday hits…

I Wish They All Could Be California Ghouls – Beast Boys

Uptown Ghoul – Bully Joel

Your Mummy Should Know – The Beatlesjuice

Fat Bottom Ghouls – Queen of Pain

Big Ghouls Don’t Cry – Fergie (Couldn’t think of any way to make that scary)

She Used to Be My Ghoul – The Ow-Jays

California Dreamin’ – The Mummies and the Papas

My Boney Lies Over the Ocean – Eddie Munster and the Skele-Tones

No Opponent Preview in this Issue

As you know Mule Nation, this is an off week so no real point in previewing Floresville quite yet.  If we get around to it, we may just come back in next week and throw a little more info your way.  As it turns out, when we signed our new contract for this year, we failed to look at the schedule so the bozos in management got over on us and convinced us that we need to file a story next week and we agreed.  We probably will.

Have a good off week Mule Nation and thanks for paying the subscription!  By the way, the secret phrase for this week is “wax flutes.” Remember that.  There will be a quiz.

Seguin 9 Alamo Heights 31 October 10, 2014

Alamo Heights Secures Convincing Homecoming Win Over Seguin Matadors 31-9

            -Ground Game Effective in Victory

            -Road Game Next at Memorial

            (San Antonio)—Alamo Heights stayed unbeaten at home on Friday with an important 31-9 district victory over the Seguin Matadors at Harry B. Orem Stadium.  The Mules used a highly effective ground game to keep possession of the football for long stretches and scored on the ground, through the air and with field goals to secure their fourth district win and fifth overall (5-2, 4-1).  In addition, a smothering defense limited the Matadors to 12 first downs and recovered two of three fumbles.  They held Seguin’s talented quarterback Henry Young, who thinks run first, to one touchdown pass late in the game with the game’s result no longer in question and kept all 103 of his rushing yards from ending in the end zone. 

All photos courtesy of Mary Candee
http://dulcedesigns.photoreflect.com

            As mentioned in this space a week ago, the Mules young offensive backfield of Deryl Reynolds and Brendon McClinton have been making impressive progress this season and had their best game of the year against a team that features a lot of large boys.  Reynolds carried 23 times for 126 yards and scored the Mules first touchdown on a five-yard run in the second quarter.  Reynolds and Brendon McClinton platooned as they have all season. Both were effective.  McClinton added 109 yards on 13 carries.  Mule drives were methodical and the offense moved the chains for 27 first downs with not a single punt necessary all night.  Quarterback Dalton Banks chipped in 73 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown of his own just as the second half got underway on a 12 yard run.  Banks passed when necessary but that was only 23 times for which he connected 13 times for 141 yards and connected for two touchdowns, a 22 yarder to Greer Shetler and a short two-yard strike to Zach Ford.

            Again Alamo Heights was able to get some earned playing time for backup players although not all of that news was good as the injury bug continues to bite the Mules hard particularly on offense.  The Mules will get an off week soon to help get some players healthy.  But in the meantime, some younger players are getting their shot in games that matter as the Mules head into their stretch run.

“His Inside Voice”

A weekly conversation with Mules head coach Mike Norment 

Mule Fan:  Friday was a good business-like district win for the Mules against one of the bigger teams you’ve faced this season.  The guys seemed to handle it well offensively and defensively in particular with their big offensive line.  How did it grade out in your analysis?

Coach Norment: The defense played really well.  We contained an explosive offense.  Seguin is a team that has a brand new coach and they are getting better each week.  They were definitely improved from what we saw on film earlier in the year.  Offensively most times we were clicking and taking what the defense gave us and the defense was giving us the run so we ran the ball definitely a lot more than we threw.  That’s something that we’re going to do.  I was very happy with the offensive line and the offense on the whole.  And like I said, the defense played well and contained an explosive offense.  So towards the end of the game we had some backups in, and we want to get our backups in as much as possible, because they’ve earned it.  They work hard every week and we’re trying to get them ready so in case something happens to the person in front of them, they’re ready to step into the game.

Mule Fan:  One of the story lines is how the running game is being used more and how it is developing.  One of the positions that completely turned over from last season bringing back no varsity experience was at running back.  McClinton and Reynolds both had over 100 yards and Banks got three quarters of the way there.  What were the highlights to the running game from your perspective and the key to the effectiveness of the running game on Friday?

Coach Norment:  Well there were a couple of things. First of all, the offensive line has done a really good job over the last few weeks of really realizing that they have to come off the ball harder, lower, stay on the blocks, stay square and they’ve done a much better job of that.  At the same time, the running backs have gotten much better at really pressing the hole and then hitting that crease really hard and exploding through it and then start to make some cuts.  So it’s a combination of those things and then having the threat of the throw that make defenses a little leery about coming up too quick.

Mule Fan:  Everybody expects Alamo Heights to pass and pass well.  But how important is establishing the run for Alamo Heights as we hit the stretch run and move towards the playoffs?

Coach Norment:  Sometimes the quarterback is going to be off or a receiver is going to drop and you just don’t know what is going to happen.  So the passing game is not one of those things that is a hundred percent all the time.  But if you can run the ball you can put pressure on a defense.  Every year that we’ve been successful here at Alamo Heights, we’ve been able to run the ball.

Mule Fan:  The injury situation has meant that there are guys getting playing time and even on the varsity roster that probably wouldn’t have imagined it in the summer as they prepared.  You’ve always talked about the “next man up.” I expect you have some real believers in that locker room now.

Coach Norment:  I think it started last year because we had several situations last year where that happened.  That’s something we preached all off-season and we’ll do it again this coming off-season.  We have real life examples. They can sit there and say they don’t know what this coach is talking about.  We can show them a guy who was second-string junior varsity and is now getting varsity reps. It is a mentality that “I better practice hard because when my time comes, I’d better be ready so I don’t let the team down.”

Mule Fan:  Memorial is up next and they’ve really struggled this season but it is a district game and all district games are important obviously.  What will you see this week and what will your approach be to try to win this game?

Coach Norment:  We’ve been following Memorial, which means that the team that we play next will have played Memorial the week before they play us.  We’ve seen a lot of film on Memorial.  And they’ve gotten better. They have some good athletes. They play hard.  They have some good schemes.  So we have to go into the game prepared to play hard and get after it because if we don’t, it could make Memorial’s season to be able to play with us or beat us.  So we have to go into the game with the mentality that we have to play really good for four quarters to able to beat Memorial.  They were off last week so they’ve had two weeks to prepare for us.  So that’s something else you have to be aware of. They’ve had two weeks to come up with what they want to do to Alamo Heights.

District 27-5A Scores

Floresville 42 San Marcos 35

Boerne Champion 49 Kennedy 0

Kerrville Tivy 62 Lockhart 10

Memorial idle.

District 27-5A Standings

Boerne Champion  5-0

Alamo Heights  4-1

Kerrville Tivy  3-1

Lockhart  3-2

Seguin  2-2

Floresville  2-3

San Marcos  1-3

Kennedy  0-4

Memorial  0-4

Area Leaders

No big changes here.  SA Express-News sub-6A area rankings are still 1. Boerne Champion (wouldn’t you like another crack at them?) 2. Your heroes  3. Kerrville Tivy…Quarterback Dalton Banks ranks #4 in total offense with 2,098 yards and 6^th in area passing…Mule receivers among leaders are #13 Zach Ford (31), #15 Greer Shetler (28), #18 Colton Courtney (27)…Shetler is also 10^th in receiving yards.

Memorial Notes:  The Minutemen were 3-7 and 1-6 in District play in 2013 and have won only seven games in the last 10 years. Their last playoff appearance was a first round appearance in 1999…The Mules are 2-0 all time vs. Memorial and last faced the Minutemen in 2007 which was a 55-0 victory for Alamo Heights…Memorial is averaging 14 points per game and allowing an average of 45 points per game…They had 11 returning lettermen from last year’s squad, four on offense and five on defense.

This picture was not taken by Mary Candee.
But she wishes she did.  Now that's art!

Give this Week’s Winners a Ham!    

We’re going to stick with the running back theme for our porkuliciousness this week.  Sophomore running back Deryl Reynolds and junior running back Brendon McClinton had their best games against Seguin with a big assist from an offensive line that opened up some nice breezy holes to run through.  See the game story above for their stats but this reporter can’t remember when two backs pulled off 100-yard games in the same night for the Mules when one of the backs was not the quarterback.  Admittedly, this reporter hasn’t done much research on the subject and it is possible that the memory is failing us but what the heck.  It was a heck of a game for these two young men and ham they should have.

Dine Out Day

Go and eat or take out at Cheesy Janes this Thursday October 16^th because 25% of all sales go to Alamo Heights Football.  You know where it is but just in case, it’s on Broadway and Hildebrand.

All photos courtesy of Mary Candee
http://dulcedesigns.photoreflect.com

Road Trip Tickets

The Mules play across town this Friday against Memorial at 7:30 at Edgewood Veterans Stadium, 1650 W. Thompson Place, San Antonio 78226 (former Frank Mata Stadium).  Tickets are available in advance from the Alamo Heights Athletic office for $5 for adults and $3 for students.  Price for admission is $5 at the gate for all tickets.  Selling hours this week are Wednesday-Friday 8:30am-12:00pm and 1:30pm-3:00pm.  On Thursday Patty Juarez will also be selling tickets at the JV game at Harry Orem Stadium from 4:30pm-6:00pm.  The JV game begins at 5:30pm.

Cliché’ Corner

Cuz lurnin’ means a lot to ur fewchur.  

Identify the football cliché.

A.     Pin their ears back

B.     Pinterest

C.     Pen a sonnet

Answer: (Ever wonder why we don’t turn these answers upside down like some quizzes do?) A. Pin their ears back – this is coach speak.  Analogy to what a horse does when they’re on a sprint and focused on nothing but going in the direction they want to go and fast.  Use in a sentence: “They have to decide they have the ‘want-to’ to go out and pin their ears back and put a lick on somebody.”

Mules on Radio

KBUC-FM 92.5 is where you hear Mules football on the radio or online at www.tsrnsports.com with Ed Suarez, Dave Parker and Albert Gonzalez.  They’ll be there to describe the action, give you all the numbers and the analysis you need to feel like you are there if you can’t be or even if you can be or if you just like the sound of their voices, that’s nice too. 

 GO MULES!!!

Alamo Heights 43 San Marcos 7 October 2, 2014

Mules Make Road Kill of San Marcos Rattlers on the Road with 43-7 Win

            -Take Handy Two Game Win Streak into Homecoming

By Bob Cohen, Senior Mule Fan Editor-In-Cheap

            (San Marcos)—The short week proved no obstacle in the Mules approach to an important district game with the San Marcos Rattlers on Thursday night at Texas State’s Bobcat Stadium in San Marcos as the Mules drilled the Rattlers 43-7 at the halfway mark of the District 27-5A schedule.  A smothering Alamo Heights defense coupled with superb special teams play led the Rattler hunt.

All photos courtesy of Mary Candee
www.dulcedesigns.photreflect.com

            Once again the Mules defense was called on to stop a potent running attack with key stops to limit big play damage.  It chased Rattler quarterback David Hamilton from one side of the field to the other. With the exception of one stunning third quarter touchdown run of 68 yards, Hamilton’s impact was blunted in spite of a 182 yard rushing night.  He was limited to only five of 15 passing for only 17 yards and couldn’t shake Mules X-Ray vision equipped defensive back Mitchell Abramson who picked off a Hamilton pass in the second quarter, stepping in front of the only receiver Hamilton had time to look at, then put a nice move on Hamilton and finished off a 69 yard “pick six” for the Mules’ second score of the night. 

Adding to the Rattler’s misery was the superb performance of the special teams with safety/kicker Cameron Dawley in the lead role.  If you like watching great punts, you were asking for a curtain call on Thursday as Dawley banged out four for a 50 yard average. (By the way, backup Dakota Brokaw also had a great punt late in the game.)  When he wasn’t playing great defense and mortaring San Marcos with his punts, he ran in a low snap on a point after attempt and knocked in five other extra point boots.  It’s a good thing his name isn’t either hard to pronounce or spell.  And, oh yeah, almost forgot that Dawley picked off a San Marcos pass in the 2^nd quarter as well.  (I’m catching a whiff of a certain nice tasting canned meat.)

The Mules offense put together a methodical and business-like evening and had to overcome some untimely penalties in the process.  But in the end, it rolled up 371 total yards balanced between running and passing.  Ground game scores from Banks, and the quickly maturing young backfield of Deryl Reynolds and Brendon McClinton.  Reynolds carried eight times for 47 yards and a 19-yard touchdown scamper on an option pitch around left end.  He also tacked on 51 receiving yards on five catches.  McClinton carried 13 times for 53 yards and a nice one yard TD through a hole in the middle of the offensive line in the third period. 

All photos courtesy of Mary Candee
www.dulcedesigns.photreflect.com

The Mules scored through the air twice and one additional TD pass reception called back for a penalty.  The Dalton Banks-Greer Shetler combination was the point producer through the air.  Shetler scored from 14 and 25 yards and had a nice 80 yard striked called back on the first possession.  Banks finished 17 for 32 and 189 yards to go along with the two touchdown passes and one 28 yard rushing TD.  The rushing TD was a beaute as Banks rolled right on a option read, saw the defense was going to take Deryl  Reynolds on the pitch, cut up inside and sliced his way through the secondary for the pay station.

The Mules (4-2, 3-1 district) will now come home for a Homecoming game against Seguin on Friday October 10 at Harry B. Orem Stadium.  Homecoming week is always exciting for the community and a two game winning streak will help. 

"His Inside Voice"

A weekly conversation with Mules Head Coach Mike Norment

Mule Fan:  The scoreboard tells part of the story with the win on Thursday.  The Mules defense played lights out holding San Marcos to seven points, the offense grinded a bit in the first half but came around and special teams played a big role. It seemed like the three phases of the game in end were balanced. How did you see it looking back?

Coach Norment:  Special teams did great.  We kicked off very well, got all of our extra points, and we changed field position tremendously with our punting.  Defense really did play “lights out”.  They gave up a couple of big plays to a quarterback who can run.  Offensively at times we looked very good and other times we struggled.  Overall it was a great game.  It was a short week.  We really only had two days to practice with the Thursday game.  Overall I was pleased. There are definitely some things we need to continue to get better at and some things I feel very good about also.  I think we’re exactly where we need to be at this time of the season and need to keep on getting better.

Mule Fan: What did you think of your punter’s performance on Thursday?

Coach Norment:  Like I said, he (Cameron Dawley) changed field position several times.  He put them into the hole. Twice he kicked it inside their ten-yard line.  Then we brought in our backup punter (Dakota Brokaw) and he was able to do that same thing.  When you can do that, you put a lot of pressure on the other team.  The fact that they’ve got to go 90 plus yards; percentage-wise that doesn’t happen very often. 

Mule Fan:  Once again you faced a great athlete and running quarterback in David Hamilton who performed as advertised getting 182 yards.  But what was the approach to keep him from doing any real scoring damage?

Coach Norment:  Well we preached gang tackling all week and also trying to funnel him back inside where we had more players. That was the key.  We tried to not allow him to get to the outside because if he gets to the outside untouched he’s dangerous.  So we tried to keep him inside, stay in our lanes, gang tackle and get a hand on him. 

Mule Fan:  You had a long touchdown called back and a pass dropped in the end zone.  As we said earlier, it felt like the offense was grinding a bit yet when you looked up at the scoreboard at halftime, there were 22 points on the board.  Some of that was defense of course.  And at the end there were 43 points on the board.  So how did you see the offensive production and where are you at this point in the season?

Coach Norment:  After the Boerne Champion game we realized we needed to make a commitment to run the ball so we’ve changed some of the things we’ve done there in the last two games.  We’ve run the ball a lot more.  Not because we’re just saying that we’re going to do it but because that’s also what the defense has been giving us.  San Marcos was dropping six, seven and one time eight or nine into coverage.  So we have to be able to run the ball in those cases.  So we need to continue to run the ball and at the same time we can’t have the mental errors that we had in this game like the drop and the touchdown called back because those are two scoring opportunities that you don’t know if you’ll get back again.  One time we were able to overcome and another time we weren’t.  So just because of that we have to continue to get better and that includes the mental aspect.

Mule Fan:  You had a Friday night free last week and we don’t often get those.  Something tells me you weren’t home watching a movie.

Coach Norment:  All the coaches basically went someplace.  We scouted three different games.  We saw Seguin and Memorial since those are our next two opponents.  We saw Tivy-Champion and Floresville-Lockhart.  We just wanted to get a feel for what we are going to see the next few weeks.

Mule Fan:  You said before that seeing the game live gives you chances to see things you can’t on film.  Remind us about what you’re looking at.

Coach Norment:  You only get to see the play on film or maybe a few seconds before and after.  You can’t see possible players that are hurt and how severely they might be hurt.  You see the atmosphere and things like that which you can’t get from watching film.  We’re also limited to watching the game before we play a team.  The junior high coaches usually go and scout the game before our next one.  So this was good to see some teams a couple of games out from what we’re going to see over the next month or so.

Mule Fan:  Looking to this week with Seguin, what does this homecoming matchup look like for the Mules?

Coach Norment:  They have a new coach.  He’s trying to change the culture. They’re very athletic like always.  They have great athletes and big offensive linemen. They’re going to get after us.  Offensively they’ll look very similar to San Marcos because Coach Boykin was the offensive coordinator at San Marcos.  We’ll have somewhat the same game plan against them.  Defensively they like to blitz so we’ll have to make sure the offensive line is ready to pick up the different looks that we’re going to see and the different blitzes we’re going to see.  Seguin has always given us a good game.  Even if you look at the record some years, they’ve always played us tough.  We’ve never been able to take this game for granted.  It’ll be like that again.  We’ll have to play well against a really good team.

Alamo Heights Players Among Area Leaders

SA Express News Sub-6A rankings still have it 1. Boerne Champion 2. Alamo Heights 3. Kerrville Tivy…Mitchell Abramson sits among a bunch of players in the area with three interceptions.  The leader is by himself with four…Quarterback Dalton Banks ranks fourth in total offense with 1,884 yards and fifth in passing with 1,495 yards with 109 complains in 178 attempts…Zach Ford is the only Mule populating the receptions leaders at #16…Greer Shetler is ninth in receiving yardage.

Seguin Notes: Alamo Heights won last year’s matchup 54-41 at Seguin…the Matadors come in with an overall record of 2-3 with wins against Memorial and San Marcos…Seguin’s leading scorer is junior running back Avion Dora with five touchdowns (three rushing).  He averages just over five yards per carry…the Matadors are averaging 28.8 points per game and allowing 31.2…conversely, the Mules are averaging 39.3 points per game and allowing 20…Seguin has not finished a season over .500 since 2006 when they went 9-2, which was also their last playoff appearance…the Matadors ended the 2013 season with a 3-7 overall record and were winless in district 27-4A play at 0-7…Seguin started the season with 15 returning lettermen; four each on offense and defense.

Cliché’ Corner

‘Cuz lurnin’ stuff makes u more hansom.

Name the football cliché’.

A.     Cover two

B.     Cover Girl

C.     Ground cover

Answer: Cover two-A strong safety and a free safety have deep coverage responsibility freeing up more defenders to cover short routes and the run

District 27-5A Scores

Boerne Champion 42 Kerrville Tivy 33

Lockhart 31 Floresville 17

Seguin 62 Memorial 22

Kennedy Idle

District 27-5A Standings

Boerne Champion  4-0

Alamo Heights  3-1

Lockhart  3-1

Kerrville Tivy  2-1

Seguin  2-1

San Marcos  1-2

Floresville  1-3

Kennedy  0-3

Memorial  0-4

Canned Ham Time  

We kind of gave you a little foreshadowing above. We realize that. But let’s make it official.  Senior safety and kicker Cameron Dawley had himself a game on Thursday.  His punting was breathtaking bashing four punts for over a 50 yard average.  He scored seven extra points himself and also tacked on an interception.  Oh yeah, he contributed to a defensive effort, which yielded 24 yards (not a typo) passing for San Marcos.  The kid did everything but bring a super model onto the team bus and save a kitten.    Congratulations!

Mules on Radio

Sometimes you might not be able to get to the game.  Then there are grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, old girlfriends, and the list goes on of folks who might live out of town and can’t get to the games.  Well the action can come to you in two special ways.  KBUC 92.5 FM is where you hear Alamo Heights Mules football and online anywhere on the planet on www.tsrnsports.com.  Ed Suarez, Dave Parker and Albert Gonzalez will be in full throat this week and every week to cover the action.