- Eyes on District Opener with Kennedy Rockets
By Bob Cohen - Senior Editor-in-Need
(San Antonio)—Here’s the thing about schools with enrollment
of 3,400. Unless they’re from
Lilliput, they probably have cafeteria workers who could strike fear. So on Friday O’Connor broke out a bunch
of warehouse club sized teenagers who were physical and talented and the Alamo
Heights Mules played like threatened mama bears. At the end of this brawl, with an Arena League score on the
board, the Mules had a lot to be proud of and be hopeful about in spite of
their first loss of the season to the Panthers 60-49.
Though
the Mules yielded 60 points, the defense played hard until the final horn
against about 1600 pounds and 43 feet of offensive line and a blue chip running
back named Jamontae Edwards. The
non-district game did rock, and we mean rock, back and forth and felt like a
late season clash in its pad-popping intensity and big plays. Who would have expected 109 points on
the board and over a thousand yards of offense? The Panthers exited the third quarter with a 44-30 lead but
there were still 35 more points to come in the 4th quarter and the
Mules battling away to try and snap a four game losing streak to the 6A
opponent. In a game, which pivoted
on offensive surges and big plays, it clearly made a difference which defense
was ultimately going to be able to make timely stops. O’Connor won that battle
in the end using a lot of different weapons.
Panther’s
senior Jamontae Edwards, who will be playing somewhere on Saturdays next fall,
was a tough project for the Mules tallying 153 yards on 20 carries and three
touchdowns. Between Edwards’
efforts, the Panthers also wove in a big night from running back Brandin
Bradford who busted out 95 yards including a 56-yard touchdown run to close out
the first half. O’Connor sophomore
quarterback Roel Sanchez was a handful as well with 95 yards in 13 carries, a
15 yard touchdown run and five for seven passing night including a TD pass.
The
Mules offensive potency was mid season-like in its execution and its tempo. Alamo Heights put together 516 yards of
total offense and presented a diversified portfolio of quarterbacks in senior
Jack Woodland and junior Will Chaney.
Each threw for two touchdowns as the Mules racked up 407 yards in the
air. Chaney busted out a 19 for 26
night for 277 yards in the air and rushed for 80 yards on six carries including
a 43-yard beauty that put the Mules ahead in the second period. With receivers
blanketed, Chaney jumped out of a previously comfy pocket and picked his way to
open field to find the end zone.
Chaney zipped one of his TD passes 40-yards delivering it in stride to
Brendon McClinton early in the third period, a play which was followed by a
high snap from center on the PAT attempt which O’Connor collected and returned for two
points to wet down the Mules’ momentum.
Chaney chipped in a 40-yard strike on a screen pass late in the game to
junior Michael Kelleher. Woodland
was on target with his game as well Friday finishing 12 for 15 with two scores
as mentioned above and 130 yards in the air. He also dialed up Brendon McClinton late in the second
quarter for a highlight touchdown of 32 yards and one earlier to Caleb Williams
for 19-yards.
Mule
receivers overall were strong again on Friday in the loss. Antoine Cole collected 12 balls for 195
yards. Caleb Williams had another strong night in triple digits with 147 yards
on 10 catches and a score. Alamo
Heights flashed out to an early lead though with the running game. Running back Deryl Reynolds got the
Mules on the board in their first possession with 10:47 on the clock. Reynolds darted off a nice block from
left guard Travis Winn and bolted 51 yards for the first score of the
game. On the following possession,
the Panthers got a big pass play to get them into a position to tie, which they
did on the first of three TD runs by Jamontae Edwards. This is how it went most of the night
until O’Connor cushioned their lead later in the game.
Each
team enters their third week of the season with 1-1 records. The Mules enter district 27-5A play on
Friday September 11 against Kennedy on the road at Edgewood Stadium at 7:30pm.
Mules Enter District Play against Kennedy Rockets
Alamo Heights made easy work of the Rockets last year with a
41-0 win at home in the district opener.
The Rockets struggled last season with one win all season and a 1-9
overall record. They return seven
starters on both offense and defense.
The Rockets are also 1-1 so far in the 2015 campaign losing their opener
to Victoria East 55-7 and evened their record last week with a 14-6 win over
Burbank. They share a home stadium
with district mate Memorial Minutemen.
Ticket Information for Kennedy
Usually you can save hard-earned cash by making an early
trip to the Alamo Heights athletic office before showing up at the gate and
paying premium ticket pricing. At press time, we were unable to secure the details for any potential ticket transactions with the Edgewood School District and the Kennedy game. We'll check back in later and update this section if we get the word from Patty Juarez that she will indeed be peddling tickets. In the old days, the Mule Fan would hold the presses for this kind of info but in our advanced age, we've tended to launch it, laugh it off and hopefully you don't feel too significant a void with the incompleteness of the reporting.
“His Inside Voice”
A Weekly Conversation
with Coach Mike Norment
Mule Fan: The
Mules played hard in a physical yet wide-open game last week. On most nights 49
points will win a game but this wasn’t that kind of game was it? You talk about learning from these
non-league games against 6A teams and getting better. What did you learn from this one?
Coach Norment: We didn’t give up even when they got a couple of scores
ahead. So I was proud of that.
There are some things we need to improve on offensively and defensively and on
special teams that we could have done better. Overall I saw a lot of good
things but at Alamo Heights we don’t play for moral victories. It was a loss. O’Connor played better than us and
we’ve got to make adjustments on all three phases from the head coach down to
the third string backup has got to do a better job.
Mule Fan: What
did the team do better this week over last week?
Coach Norment:
There was improvement.
Offensively we went faster.
I saw good hustle on special teams and defense. We made a lot of plays on defense but a
lot of times we couldn’t put three plays together to get them off the
field. Those are things we need to
do better on. Last week we were
able to make the three plays and get them off the field. This week we’d make two and they’d
convert on third down so we have to get better at that.
Mule Fan:
You’re not likely to see the combination of that kind of size and a blue
chip back again until you get down into November and December. What’s the takeaway that you’d bring
back in to planning should you see another group like O’Connor?
Coach Norment:
We made some changes because of what we saw. So you use that and the
kids remember. We can always go
back to this game and say “this is what we’re going to see again” and hopefully
we see a better team than that. We have to be able to make those adjustments
and be able to come out a little bit better.
Mule Fan: Did
it surprise you how wide open the game was on both sides?
Coach Norment:
Yes and no. I felt
confident that our offense was going to be able to score some points. Just having one film on them, I knew their
offense was good but didn’t realize how good it was and I expected their
defense to be a little bit better. We started clicking on offense. There were a couple of times when we
didn’t. Right now when our offense
is going fast and throwing the ball around and showing all the different things
we can, we can be potent.
Mule Fan: You
already mentioned pace and tempo when the offense was going well. You used two quarterbacks
successfully. What fueled the
success of the passing game since you had good results?
Coach Norment:
Combination of things. It’s
the first time we’ve had all four of our “starting receivers” out there which
gives us some speed. We had
success running the ball early which forces them to put more people closer to
the line of scrimmage which opens up the passing game. And the quarterbacks did a really good
job of reading the defense.
Mule Fan: How
much confidence does it build this early in the season to put up those kinds of
numbers on offense?
Coach Norment:
We told them it was a great job and that we want to build on that. Don’t be happy with that. We need to
continue to build.
Mule Fan: Have
you seen the much talked about hit that the John Jay players put on the
official in their game against Marble Falls last weekend?
Coach Norment:
I saw it briefly. I was going out to eat lunch with my mother and sister
and my daughter showed it to me. I
didn’t know it was Jay. She just said someplace in central Texas. I didn’t realize until Monday morning
that it was John Jay.
Mule Fan: How
does that happen?
Coach Norment:
I don’t know all the information and without the information it is hard
to comment on it except for the fact that those two players were completely in
the wrong and I’m sure that Jay and Northside will be taking corrective
measures.
Mule Fan: If
you are on the UIL disciplinary committee, if it even makes it there before the
school and the district take care of it, do those kids play again from your
perspective?
Coach Norment: Without
knowing anything more, and of course they’re saying there were some derogatory
comments going on, but I have a hard time letting them back on a team if that
was my players. But like I said I don’t really know without all the
information.
Mule Fan: Yes there have been unconfirmed reports that the referee might have made derogatory comments on the field. If a
referee was making derogatory comments to a player or players on the field what
do you expect your players to do?
Coach Norment: They come and tell me. I stop the game and bring the head
official over. I explain to him what’s going on and it better stop.
Mule Fan:
Unfathomable that it could ever happen here but still, do you address it
with your kids?
Coach Norment:
No because we address behaving correctly all the time. It’s never about the other guy. It’s always about us. I don’t care what
the other team does. We had to address
that at our scrimmage against MacArthur and we will continue to do that. We
will do what Alamo Heights does and I don’t care what other teams and other
people do.
Mule Fan: Let’s
look at this week and your district opener against Kennedy. Aside from getting a win what do you
want to get out of the Kennedy game?
Coach Norment:
We have to get better and again it’s not about Kennedy. It’s about Alamo Heights. We can’t control their team at
all. All we can control is what we
do. And what we have to do is use
this week to get better so we can keep building each week and get better
throughout the year so we’re playing our best football in week 10, 11 and 12 as
opposed to week three, four and five.
We have to get better in all three phases of the game and on the
coaching staff. So that’s what we’ll push and talk about this week.
Mule Fan: Same
routine in preparation this week even with the holiday?
Coach Norment:
It will be the same routine.
We did most of what we needed to do on Monday even though we didn’t have
the athletic period. Tuesday and Wednesday will be normal. The only difference is this week we
have Back to School Night so the varsity will only lift weights one time this
week as opposed to two which isn’t anything major. We’ll do the normal Thursday
prep along with the JV and Freshman games.
Cliché Corner – Because sharin football nawlidge is
really gud.
Each season, the Mule Fan does its part to raise your
football IQ with some simple lessons.
Some of you may be hearing lingo with which you’re just not familiar.
Wouldn’t it great to try and hold your own in these circles of football
blabber? We’ll do our part to help
with this week’s lesson.
Name the football cliché.
A.
Hot receiver
B.
Hot fourth grade teacher
C.
Hot bubble bath
Answer: A. Hot receiver: the receiver prioritized to receive
a pass on a play
Canned Ham Award
This week’s porky prize goes to Mules junior quarterback
Will Chaney who put in some quality time on the field against O’Connor and
moved the offense with a fast paced attack mixing in the run and pass and
scrambling his way to a productive night passing for 277 yards on 19 of 26
attempts and two touchdowns, running 6 times for 80 yards including a 43-yard
touchdown that would’ve taken the curl out of the tail of any pink porker.
Important Dates to Remember in Mule Nation
Two anticipated events of every football season at Alamo
Heights are fast approaching and both on the same weekend. Mark your calendars now for the annual
Mule For a Day event at Harry B. Orem Stadium on Sunday, September 27. Details will follow. There were concerns raised last year
that participation in Mule For a Day would negatively impact eligibility to
participate on a future US Olympic team.
We have confirmed that there is nothing to fear in this regard. So make
plans now to have your future Mules on hand to learn from the varsity. This is not on every kid’s bucket list
– but nearly. Next, or really before, is the Mules Car Wash event. Some of us may be very tidy and some of
us pure slobs in our daily lives but there is no excuse for a dirty car. Especially when you can have a Alamo Heights
football player clean your car to that factory-fresh look and feel with
craftsman like aplomb. Both of these events are fundraisers so come out and
support the Mules. We’ll remind
you later with all the details.
But save those dates!
Leaders? We Got 'Em
Alamo Heights retains its position in the Express News Sub-6A area rankings at #2 behind Kerrville Tivy (Oooohhhh that's going to be a fun one! "Stop looking ahead Mr. Editor"). Boerne Champion falls to 6th after starting their year 0-2. Jack Woodland ranks 14th in passing with 392 yards. The Mules have a group deal going in receiving rankings. Antoine Cole is in a three way tie for first with 18 catches, 242 yards and a 13.4 yard average. Caleb Williams right behind him with 16 and Brendon McClinton amongst four others with 13 catches at fifth. Cole and Williams are 5th and 6th in receiving yards.
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.
Mules on Radio and
Online-Home and Away
Each and every Mules game is on the radio and online. You know how we know? Cuz we heard it on the radio. Follow the action of Mules football home and away on 1160 AM KRDY Radio Luz or streamed at www.tsrnsports.com
and on the TSRN mobile app. Dave Parker and Albert Gonzales paint the word pictures and deliver witty banter. Don't miss a syllable.
Don’t Forget Film Night in the Oaks on Campus
Coach Norment reviews game film with interested fans and
parents each Monday night at 7:00pm after a game. This week, because of the Labor Day Holiday, film night is
on Tuesday. You can get a feel for
how it is for the players to watch game films and a chance to ask Coach Norment
things you’ve always wanted to ask.
Anything’s fair game in this info packed session each week. It shouldn’t
be missed. Make it your Monday night habit before going home to watch Monday
Night Football or even having dinner with the family. It’s time to lock down your priorities.
JV Mules Host Kennedy Thursday
The Mules Junior Varsity will play on Thursday September 10
at Harry B. Orem Stadium at 5:30 pm.
Go Mules!!! Get a district win vs. Kennedy!!
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