AH Mules Football, 2015 Version, Ready for Action

Mules Set for Road Opener vs. New Braunfels August 28  

     -Mule Fan Blog Staff Says Welcome Back Mule Nation

      By Bob Cohen, Editor-In-Cheap

                       (San Antonio)--Awaken Mule Nation! The sun has risen again on another Alamo Heights Mules football season.  After another playoff ending affair at that house of post-season horrors called Bobcat Stadium in San Marcos, the page is turned to a fresh chapter complete with a fresh batch of new characters to blend in with familiar names.  And by the way, what else can we possibly face in that building really?  Frogs? Locusts? Blight? Happy Meal toys?  The Mules have been finished off three times in recent years in San Marcos on the Texas State University campus playing either in arctic temps or biblical gully washers.  Last year it was Austin LBJ that moved on and left your Mules to contemplate what might have been had it not been for the taint of a fully hydrated afternoon of a frustrating football game, which LBJ won 20-13.  Well, a few months help us sponge off and we come in sparkling clean and ready for the 2015 season. 

                      Welcome to the unofficial editorial accompaniment to Alamo Heights Mules High School Football simplistically named the “Mule Fan.”  Yes you can go to the games, buy a souvenir program, check out the SA Express News for some stats and game stories.  But for real value and to bathe yourself in the weekly twisty bits and folderol of a blue and gold high school football season, we hope you make the Mule Fan a part of your weekly routine.  After all, we get paid on a per subscriber basis. We’ve worked tirelessly under the yoke of miserly management, hot sun and a writing office that would make a Northern Irish political prison cell seem posh, to make this a pleasant experience week after week.  

                     So what have we here? We suspect that some of you readers who casually followed the Mules up until now are looking for more of a 360 degree experience now that your little darlings and grand darlings are playing under the lights.  The Mule Fan is on a mission to give you riveting prose each week laced with keen amateur insight, hyperbole, satire, humor, heaps of sarcasm and fact-finding dogged determination to reach the bottom of each and every football issue from a super-charged batch of dedicated veteran reporters.  The Mules coaching staff gives us unrivaled access to the program and lots of football cliché’s which we carefully parse and spit back out to you all so that you will be the focus of outsider attention at parties and full of exaggerated bullcorn at the office.

                   In the fifth year (good heavens, can it be?) of a five-year contract, your editor is limbered up, knuckles cracked and ready to go.  But how did this all begin?  Let’s go back to the early days.  The Mule Fan was born in the glorious state championship season of 2006. It was felt that in this day of the Internet, there was a way to do more than just wonder aloud about how the Mules were doing.  And in that year in particular, the fan base craved more. A rotation of football crazed fathers of varsity players helmed writing duties through the first few seasons.  Writers were typically fathers of juniors, so as not to distract from the steely-eyed all-business focus of a senior player parent.  The pattern was organically altered at one point.  Here’s how the conversation played out when your current editor was forced, err recruited/signed, to the senior editor post.

Note: Olde English not for effect.  It is our recollection that this is how people spoke in those days.

Mule Fan Publishers (MFP):  “Approach us squire.  For what purpose dost thou seek the counsel of such an august body of publishing prowess?”

Mule Fan Cohen (BC):  “At your pleasure m’Lord. Your humble servant has been urged by some, perhaps shamed, to step in to the role of scribe for the blue and gold warriors.  Others who might have volunteered have cut and run.  Me thinks it is not clear what is required.”

MFP:  “Didst thou partake of the mead served in frosty mug prior to your willingness to consider this challenge?”

BC:  “Possibly.”

MFP: “Whatever.  Wilst thou make the football words?”

BC:  “But I am a simple man with only one pen, albeit a nice one.”

MFP:  “One pen is all that is required.  And a thesaurus.  And a smartphone app called Hudl. And Tuesday nights free to view a filmed summary of the previous week’s clash with enemies known far and wide narrated by the general. And a time to exchange pleasantries with the general about his innermost thoughts regarding his troops. Then time on the seventh day to tell the tales on papyrus or Big Chief tablet.”

BC:  “But what shall I write?  What wouldst be acceptable and result in great riches?”

MFP:  “Thou shouldst write the words worthy of the attention of our nation of Mule followers.”

BC:  “If thou requirest me and my staff to write straight sports, I must then say phooey.  Been there, done that in lands to the north in another time.  If thou desireth us to put quill in hand, we must be permitted to make the words with satire and possibly humorous twists and sarcasm lesteth it be no fun and become drudgery for your humble servant standing before you.”

MFP: “Very well. Perhaps thou shouldst consider whimsical tales to accompany thy missives.  By the way, we remembereth not mentioning a staff.”

BC:  “But there are others who would come and write.”

MFP:  “Very well then.  Since you are the father of an offensive player, we requireth balance in thine editorial approach.  Thou must seek the scriptology from a person from whose loins has sprung a defensive player.”

But alas, no father with defensive offspring showed himself.  Only another father of an offensive player who eventually retired leaving yours truly on his own.

BC:  “And the, uh, great riches? Dost thou have a figure in mind?”

MFP:  “In due time, thy staff (snicker) and you will be showered with our warmest personal regards and an occasional Kiolbassa Sausage wrapped in the warm round loaves of our people. Shouldst thou require more, we are a union shop.  Your steward must seek to rub the cold shoulders of our brethren negotiators.  And these heathen negotiators have been known the pick their teeth with the sorry bleached bones of your ilk.”

BC: “But the sausage thou mentioneth, while danged tasty, and a quality product in every way, is the lowest coin in the realm for an effort so sincere.  When might your humble scribe expect an answer from the negotiations of which you speak m’Lord?”

MFP: “When all thine male offspring have completed their eligibility and gone away from Mule Nation. Or if we fire you for any transgression or a misspelling, then thou shalt reap the great harvest of cash coming your way.  In the meantime, hast thou enough now to make an informed decision and commit to make the football words?”

BC:  “But thou art assuming I make the words for a good many years with no true commitment to feathering mine own nest or that of my writing associates.  Me believeth that thou art “taking the mickey out” as my brethren down under might sayeth.  Dost thou take me for a fool?”

MFP: “Perhaps my good man.  Perhaps we are.  In fact, without question we are.  But we know thou cannot resist putting pen to parchment and the promise of great riches in the form of a weak promise of balloon payment. Thou art a sports crazed father of a varsity player with another one to follow in the years to come.  Thou cannot resist putting thine hands into the deep muscle of the program and this honorable chore facilitates the channeling of your energies, does it not?”

Or something like that.

And so it went and goes on to this day.  For sure the farewell tour begins for your scribe as well.  The final edition from this keyboard will be written hopefully sometime in mid-December and another, perhaps better informed and worthy word maker will take the baton and run with it in the future.  In the meantime, welcome in. Tell your friend about this site. Bookmark it.  Check in usually around Tuesday sometime for fresh new copy.  Every now and then, it’ll be Wednesday.

For you newly minted varsity parents and grandparents who are now clued in to this site, get ready for the most fun you can have. These are fun days.

Follow Alamo Heights Football on Twitter @ahmulesfootball

There’s another way to follow the Mules.  Mules Tweetmeister, coach Bryan Narvaez, reminds that there’s a lot of good stuff on the Mules twitter feed with many contributors.  Make sure and follow the mules @ahmulesfootball.  The Mule Fan is definitely following.

Season Tickets

When the Mule Fan needs to report on the business of Alamo Heights Football, it goes to one key source and only one.  Patty Juarez is that smiling face you see in the AH Athletic office.  She knows stuff.  If she doesn’t know it, it isn’t known.  That’s why we call her the ‘Mule Whisperer’.  The Mule Fan made its pre-season trek to the mountaintop and has returned with the following proclamation from the high priestess herself.

Remember last spring when you wrote that check for season tickets?  Well now you need to go pick them up from the AH Athletic Office.  They’re ready now hot and fresh.  They’ll be available until September 4 at the athletic office.  Season tickets will remain on sale until August 28.  Generally the athletic office hours are 8:30am-noon and 1:30pm-3:00pm.  Monday-Friday.  During these early days of the school year when administrative and academic staffs are doing in-service training, it is best to call in advance to make sure that Patty is at her post 210-820-8855, extension 5717.  We know that Patty has rescued kittens from trees in the dark of night using nothing but an old tricycle tire and an empty syrup bottle but she doesn’t do home delivery. After August 28, reserved seat tickets will be on sale on a week-to-week basis.

Tickets for AH vs. New Braunfels

The Mules open on the road against New Braunfels on Friday, August 28.  For each road game, tickets are available at a discount if purchased in advance from the AH athletic office.  The Mule Fan will always update pricing and availability in the weekly blog.  The Unicorns offer advance tickets to adults for $7 and $3 for students.  Show up without a ticket in der hinterlans on Friday and be prepared to have a Unicorn wrench $8 out of your pocket and into theirs whether you are in kindergarten or nearing your hundredth birthday.  Tickets will be on sale on Wednesday and Thursday August 26-27 from 8:30am-12:00pm and 1:30-3:00pm.  and from 4:00pm-7:00pm at Orem Stadium during the JV game on Thursday Aug 27.  On game day, tickets will be available from 8:30am-3:00pm in the ticket office.  After that you’re paying retail.

Fall Kickoff BBQ – August 26

The annual benefit is scheduled for this Wednesday August 26^th from 5:00pm-7:00pm at Harry B. Orem Stadium. The annual Mule Team fundraiser benefits AH athletics, band, Spurs, Cheerleaders and ROTC programs.  Barbecue plates will be on sale for $10 each at the gate.  You can get a plate to go but you’ll want to stay to see the program introductions at 6:00 and performances by the Spurs, the AH Band and Choir.  Donations are being taken now for underwriting which includes acknowledgment on banners, which will hang in Orem Stadium and Muledome.  Check out www.muleteambarbecue.com for more information.  Come out and support the Mules!

Mules on Radio and Online-Home and Away 

We know that sometimes you just can’t make the game.  Everyone gets busy with the cooking and the washing or perhaps there are warrants for your arrest in certain counties where we play.  We understand and we’re not judging.  But we don’t want you to miss the action.  Or you CAN make the game and you want a side order of riveting commentary to enhance your enjoyment of the game. So again this season, the Mules action can be heard in two ways.  Out of the left ear and out of the right ear.  Seriously, on the radio at 1160 AM KRDY Radio Luz (That’s Spanish for light, not the phonetic spelling of lose) or streamed at www.tsrnsports.com and on the TSRN mobile app.  Dave Parker returns for his 477^th season at the mike for the Mules along with his faithful companion Albert Gonzalez who can cipher stats faster than the tongue of a Kimodo lizard.  Check ‘em out and tell all those relatives who live in faraway place that they can be a part of the action.

Merchandise

What will the well dressed Mule fan be wearing this season?  Something blue, something gold, perhaps something with a number on it?  As we start the season and the first hints of fall arrive (snicker) it may even be a mohair turtleneck.  Well, check out all the fine piece goods that Mule Moms have curated for some serious football watchin’ in style.   The Mule Fan editorial staff has seen the togs and ephemera and they are stunning.  Caps, hats, t-shirts, mini-footballs, noise makers like clappers and cowbells.  You can’t get any more original than that! These are gifts that will last a lifetime.   But wait there’s more.  How about an AH Foam Finger (after all, it is the digital era) in brilliant blue and gold.  Breathtaking.  What style.  Check it all out at the merchandise table just inside the entrance to the stadium. 

New Togs

Speaking of fine piece goods, wait ‘til you see the dazzling new game uniforms that our warriors will be sporting this year.  Here’s a glimpse:

“His Inside Voice”

         A Weekly Conversation with Coach Mike Norment (Season Preview Edition)

Mule Fan:  Let’s take a look back at the offseason, spring football, 7 on 7, Mules in Training and the rest.  How do you feel things went since last season ended?

Coach Norment:  This off-season was an interesting one since I wasn’t around as much (Coach had some knee surgery last spring. He’s good as new now.) as I wanted to be.  But it also shows what a great coaching staff we’ve assembled because for most of the spring, they had to run the program.  I missed over four weeks.  So they did a great job.  Also, we had great senior leadership to keep the guys going.  When the chief’s away, the little Indians can play and they really didn’t do that.  They did a good job of keeping on task.  We had a great spring.  We changed our spring practice to where we practiced in the morning.  So it was cooler.  And we were also able to utilize some of the varsity baseball players.  We didn’t do a whole lot with them but at least they were exposed to football while they were still in the playoffs and they had a great run.  And then we had a great turnout during summer workouts.  We had a good 7 on 7 and made it to the state tournament. That went really well. Then the football season started and we’ve had a good two weeks.  We’ve had some injuries. That’s going to happen.  We’re going to get some people back. But right now we’re in a good situation.

Mule Fan: You’ve been in the spring football pattern for a number of years now.  And now the kids are practicing in the intense heat of the late summer.  Does that reinforce for you the value of spring football or do you sometimes get anxious that you don’t have the extra week now before the kids start school?

Coach Norment: Not really.  Yeah we could’ve gotten some more stuff in. But then you have to worry about the scrimmages.  Because with scrimmages you can get guys hurt if you had two of those. I think spring ball is great for the young kids.  You can really lay a foundation.  There’s not that threat of a game coming up and trying to get a lot of things on.  I think it really sets the tone and also for going into the summer for 7 on 7 so I really like the spring ball aspect because of that.

Mule Fan:  You mentioned the coaches a moment ago. You’ve got some new faces on your staff.  Tell us about the addtions.

Coach Norment:  We have two new people.  Nick Hillman was a volunteer coach and he’s in a paid position now.  He’s doing a great job and is a great young coach.  He’ll be working with both the offensive and defensive lines and with the freshmen.  Jared Jung will be our new inside linebacker’s coach.  He’s been around for a while. We’ve actually coached against each other when he was over at New Braunfels Canyon. He’s been a good addition.  We also have Weston Heiligman.  He’s familiar to Alamo Heights because two years ago he student taught here and helped out with the baseball team.  Last year he was at Medina Valley.  We’re fortunate to get him back here at Alamo Heights.

Mule Fan:  Let’s get to the team now.  Unlike college, you don’t get to recruit to shore up your depth chart. So let’s see what hand the community and demographics have dealt you this year.  Obviously your biggest hole to fill was quarterback as Dalton Banks heads to the next level after two fine seasons in the role.  And the other skill positions which have changed.

Coach Norment: At quarterback we’re fortunate to have two good ones.  We have senior Jack Woodland and a junior in Will Chaney. They both did very well in the spring, in summer and so far in camp and in the scrimmage. Both are going to get playing time definitely early in the year.  We might make a decision (to go with one over the other) or we might not. We might play with two and we might play with one. Especially early on. We want two experienced quarterbacks so the more experience we can get the better we’ll be.  At receiver we have quite a few seniors as opposed to last year when we lost everybody.  Nobody had any varsity experience.  This year, we have some varsity experience.  We’re fortunate that right now we have some depth both at outside and inside receiver with a combination of juniors and seniors. Antoine Cole will start at one outside receiver as a senior and Michael Kelleher will start on the other side.  Inside we’ll have Brendon McClinton who played a lot of running back last year will run one of our slots. Caleb Williams, who is a move in, but familiar with the area and played when he was younger with some of these kids in youth football leagues. He’ll probably be the other slot.  The good thing is we’ve got backups in all these positions where in the past we haven’t been as fortunate. We feel very comfortable with our receiving corps this year.  We’ve got depth at running back returning with Newcomer of the Year Deryl Reynolds.  But we also have senior Jack Heydenreich and junior Tucker Azar who is healthy and he’s running really well. We have a really good group of JV running backs. So if something happens, we feel confident that we can move one of those guys up to help us out if we need it.  On the offensive line we’re experienced in the middle.   We have Benji Cohen at center who is a three-year starter and Duncan Bartlett who is basically a three-year starter. Travis Winn is the other starting guard and he played quite a bit last year. At the two tackles, they’re pretty new, but at the same time, we had so many injuries at tackle last year so they got a lot of playing time so if you look at it the offensive line is probably our most experienced position right now.  We need to work on the backups right now so we feel confident that if something happens we can stick somebody else in and that’s what we’re working really hard to do.

Defensively, we had quite a few sophomores that got lots of playing time on the varsity last year. So our secondary is very experienced. Almost all of them had some playing experience.  Now we’ve moved some positions around a little bit. But we only have two seniors starting on defense right now with Trem Carr at defensive end and Stone Tarver at defensive tackle. Besides that everyone else will be juniors and all these juniors got playing time as sophomores.

On special teams, we’re still working on it. We’ve practiced it but I feel confident we’re going to be able to do that.  If nothing else we may just have to get some starters in there. I’d rather have some people who aren’t playing as much possibly on special teams. But like I keep on preaching, we have to do what we have to do for the team. Everybody has a role and hopefully we can get some of these guys who aren’t getting as much playing time on offense and defense to take an active role on the special teams.

Mule Fan:  It was an “enthusiastic” scrimmage on Friday with MacArthur or one might even call it “chippy.”  But the team moved fast and seemed to execute as well in a scrimmage environment as we can remember in the last few years. What was your view?

Coach Norment:  With the experience coming back I think that definitely helped. Yeah it was probably a little chippy. I’m not sure we’ll do the chicken finger eating contest again (staged a couple of days earlier at Cane’s, evidently to more trash talk than one would typically observe at Cane’s).  That probably didn’t help.  There was some talking going on at Cane’s on Wednesday.  (Editor’s Note: Who knew that Cane’s could be such a flashpoint.  It’s a good thing we don’t have a Medieval Times Restaurant here in San Antonio. That could have gotten very ugly.  Although we’re not sure who in our group can handle a lance.) But it was good. We executed well and that’s what should happen when you have some experience.  So many people had gotten playing time last year and with spring ball and getting all the practice that we do, I think we’ve slowly built up some momentum and some experience there. Our goal is to try to identify where these kids are going to play.  We try not to move people around very much but it’s going to happen. The reps they’re getting as a freshman and a sophomore and junior are going to pay dividends in their junior and senior years.

Mule Fan: With the move to the new district a year ago, we obviously lost one non-district game.  So you condense that part of the season into two games. Apart from a win, what are you most looking to get out of a non-district game or an opener for example?

Coach Norment: I want to get better. We preach that every day.  I’m not really concerned about New Braunfels. I’m worried about Alamo Heights and are we getting better? Of course you want a win. I’m somewhat of a competitive person and I definitely want to win. But at the same time, if we get better, we’re accomplishing that key goal.  Getting better is also figuring out and learning how to win the game. We’re going to try to get some people some experience if we can because that’s going to pay dividends later on in the year.  Football is a contact sport and people are going to get banged and bruised.  The more reps you can get in a game situation in the first two games, it’ll pay dividends in week six through ten and hopefully after that.

Mule Fan:  We know these first games are always weird and unpredictable. How do you get between the kid’s ears and get them ready for their first time under the lights on a Friday?

Coach Norment:  We expect the guys that have been there to help the young ones out. We really do. That’s a good thing about Alamo Heights. The older kids really do try to help the younger kids out. If you come to the practice field you can see the older kids coaching up the younger ones. That carries over. They can give them an idea of what’s going to happen. But when the lights come on and the first time they’re out there, there’s going to be some big eyes and they’ll be a little nervous.  Heck I’m nervous. If you’re not nervous before a game, something’s wrong. But it’s a good excitement. We tell them that you’re going to make mistakes and don’t make that same mistake more than once.

Mule Fan:  Let’s preview New Braunfels. You pitched a shutout at home last year. They play in a tough district.  You’ve just started your game prep on them. What can we expect?

Coach Norment:  Quite a few of our coaches went up there and saw them scrimmage in the morning (Friday) against Dripping Springs.  They’re going to better than they were because this is Coach Mangold’s second year. He was new to the program so he was changing some things.  Now he’s had his coaching staff and the players a full year of off-season so they’re going to be better. It looks like they’ve changed their defense a little bit. They were a 3-4 and this year it looks like they’re a 4-2-5.  Just definitely better at throwing the ball around a little more. We’re going up there.  New Braunfels has a great tradition with the mystical beast. They’re going to pat the Unicorn on the rump, on the swarm. They really take pride in their defense and the “swarm”.  A scrimmage is a scrimmage. They’re going to be much better when we see them Friday night out there in New Braunfels.

Mules Give Back

Hats off to the Mules for doing a great job at Morgan's Wonderland earlier this month.  This has turned into a great tradition, is great for team building and serves the community. This year, the boys went to Morgan's Wonderland and did some good work on the grounds.   Great job guys!!!

Go Mules!!!!!!  See you in New Braunfels!!