Memorial 0, Alamo Heights 56 October 16, 2015 and "Off Week Update and Floresville Preview"

IMPORTANT ALAMO HEIGHTS FOOTBALL UPDATE:
Several items of importance to communicate to you today.  By now you will have heard that Floresville experienced some severe storms and tornados on Friday morning October 30.  Due to all that mayhem, the game at Floresville was cancelled for Friday BUT RESCHEDULED FOR SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31 AT HARRY B. OREM STADIUM AT ALAMO HEIGHTS AT 2:00pm.  Any tickets purchased already for the Floresville game will be accepted at the gate on Saturday for general admission on our side of the stadium.  All seating and all tickets will be GENERAL ADMISSION ONLY. If you have season tickets in one area, someone else's tush may be in 'em when you get there, probably mine. Unless you can produce title, don't whine about it.  Play like you're in someone else's ballpark.  It will be officially a home game for Floresville but we can also play like it's our home game.

Radio:  Well with all this hoohaa, we had to change radio stations for this week because there is a knitting tournament in spanish on KRDY-AM 1160 at our new kickoff time.  We move down the dial to KSLR 630 AM and as always on www.tsrnsports.com for the live webcast and you can download their app as well.  Broadcast time is 1:30pm for keen insight and pre game festivities.

More Radio:  Coach Mike Norment will be making an appearance on the radio on Sunday morning November 1st, which you can watch live at the Lion and Rose British Restaurant and Pub on 5148 Broadway (near Sorrento's and Satel's). You can call them at 798-4154 if you don't believe me. The live broadcast on CBS Sports Radio 860 AM is called SA Football Weekly and airs from 10am-12noon and this week, Coach Norment is the honored guest.  You're invited to Sunday brunch. It's AH Mules Day, for boosters, cheerleaders and players.  Of course, you loyal Mule Fan readers are used to reading Coach Norment's here each week. But why not show up and show him some love and hear his velvety voice.  And get some Shepherd's Pie and a pint (must be 21 to do that bit, the pint, not the pie.)

Okay, that's all the business points we have here late in the week. Show up at our park on Saturday.  No excuses now. Trick or treating is later on. Too wet to mow the lawn.  GO MULES!!!

Mules Take Care of Business With 56-0 Blowout of Memorial

            -Win Streak Extends to Three

            -Off Week Arrives for Mules As Prep Continues for Stretch

            By Bob Cohen, Senior Editor-Working-Off-Week

            (San Antonio)—Alamo Heights celebrated another great Homecoming Week last week and capped it Friday with an expected lopsided win over the Memorial Minutemen 56-0 in front of a great home crowd at Harry B. Orem Stadium.  As Coach Norment often says, it’s not really about the other team in these games but about Alamo Heights.  And Heights made the most of the opportunity to showcase as many players as it could in front of a few reunion classes and folks attending who might not see the Mules play every game. 

            With a bit under two minutes to go in the first period, most of the Mules starters were removed from the game as the clocked ticked towards a 28-0 first quarter lead as the horn sounded.  The game didn’t start that way as Memorial pooched kicked on the opening kickoff and fielded the ball.  So with the Mules defense on the field earlier than they expected to be, and with Memorial in Alamo Heights territory, the defense quickly put things right. On the second play of the Minuteman possession, Memorial’s quarterback threw into the corner of the end zone and a double team of Riley Carew and Nik Proctor.  Proctor secured the interception giving the Mules the ball back at their own 20.  Alamo Heights went to work on plays featuring the running of Deryl Reynolds and a deep ball from Will Chaney to Preston Taylor getting them into position for a two yard Deryl Reynolds bump into the end zone for the Mules first score.

            After the first of many “three and outs” for Memorial, the Minutemen got to see Nik Proctor again as they punted from their own 26 yard line.  Proctor fielded at the 35 and after trying a right step and a left step, settled on another try right following the blocks of Riley Carew and Justin Barsalou, the latter of whom laid the last available defender out giving Proctor his fourth special team return touchdown of the season.  Once again the Mules defense held without yielding a first down and it was running back Tucker Azar’s turn to feature on a drive and 13 yard touchdown run, his first of two first half scores.  And again the Mules defense stuffed the Minutemen back for another three and out.  For the last score of the quarter, Will Chaney followed blockers for 14 yards for the Mules fourth touchdown.

How big is Parker?  Soooooooo Big!

            It was more of the same in the second period as Memorial found no openings in the Mules defense.  On the night, Memorial managed only eight first downs to the Mules 27.  Alamo Heights scored on the ground for the rest of the half and the game.  With the Mules substituting liberally at this point, they added another touchdown run from Azar from three yards and a three yarder from Jack Heydenreich with under a minute in the half.  Alamo Heights  took a 42-0 lead to the halftime locker room as Homecoming activities took the field.

            With an exhausted opponent forced to play most of their personnel both ways, the Mules slowed down the pace and ran the clock and the ball most of the second half.  Alamo Heights piled up 273 yards on the ground while the defense held Memorial to 16 ground yards and 113 in the air.  It forced four Memorial punts and three fumbles.  The Mules spread the running booty around.  Azar and Heydenreich had 75 and 74 yards respectively, while Reynolds, Will Chaney and Parker Taylor tacked on the rest.   Mules backup quarterback Will Chaney, played most of the game at quarterback and picked up 197 yards passing on 16 completions on 21 attempts.  Parker Taylor came in for a spell at QB late in the game and rushed for a 20-yard touchdown. 

            The Mules (5-3, 4-2) kept Memorial winless on the season and now have an off week before hitting the road on Halloween Eve to take on Floresville.

October 16 27-5A Results

Lockhart 42, Kennedy 7

Seguin 25, Floresville 22

Kerrville Tivy 48, San Marcos 14

Memorial 0, Alamo Heights 56

Boerne Champion idle

Standings after October 16

Kerrville Tivy 5-0

Lockhart 5-1

Boerne Champion 4-1

Alamo Heights 4-2

San Marcos 3-2

Seguin 2-3

Floresville 1-5

Kennedy 0-5

Memorial 0-5

Schedule for October 23

Boerne Champion @ Lockhart

Kerrville Tivy @ Seguin

Kennedy @ San Marcos

Floresville @ Memorial

Alamo Heights idle

Remaining Schedule After The October 23 Weekend

Boerne Champion 10/30 vs. San Marcos, 11/6 @ Seguin

Seguin 10/30 @ Kennedy, 11/6 vs. Boerne Champion

Kerrville Tivy 10/30 vs. Memorial, 11/6 @ Alamo Heights

San Marcos 10/30 @ Boerne Champion, 11/6 vs. Lockhart

Lockhart 10/30 idle, 11/6 @ San Marcos

Floresville 10/30 vs. Alamo Heights, 11/6 idle

Kennedy 10/30 vs. Seguin, 11/6 @ Memorial

Memorial 10/30 @ Kerrville Tivy, 11/6 vs. Kennedy

Alamo Heights 10/30 @ Floresville, 11/6 vs. Kerrville Tivy

Area Leaders

In this week’s Express-News Sub 6A rankings, Kerrville Tivy and Boerne Champion remain 1-2.  Alamo Heights maintains its ranking of 6^th.  Tivy is ranked 6^th in the state 5A rankings moving up one notch this past week.  Individually, Antoine Cole ranks 3^rd in pass receiptions and 12^th in receiving yards.  Brendon McClinton is tied for 8^th in receptions and Caleb Williams is ranked 14^th in receptions.  Mules quarterback Jack Woodland is ranked 14^th in passing.

“His Inside Voice”

A Weekly Conversation with Coach Mike Norment 

Mule Fan: You always talk about having your guys not focusing too much on the other team but more on Alamo Heights, which is especially important in games such as the Memorial game.  So in addition to the win, what did you get done on Friday against Memorial?

Coach Norment: Well we got a lot of players in which is always good.  We were able to look at some things and overall we did a pretty good job.  There were some things that we didn’t do that are correctable.  We want to get everybody in but we want to do everything correctly.  It doesn’t matter what the other team does.  We want to run the defense right, run the correct plays and do all those things right.  We’re getting to the point in the season where we have to be getting better every week.  I was pleased overall.  It’s really easy to come out, after we had the successful first half with a big lead, to do what a lot of times teams do and that is have a complete letdown in the second half. The guys who were in the game in the second half kept on playing hard. That’s what I was really pleased with.

Mule Fan: The starters, at least the offensive starters, weren’t in the game long at all. In fact it seemed they were out even quicker than they were in the Kennedy game. With the off week approaching, were you thinking you could get them even more rest?

Coach Norment: That was definitely one of the things, you know to get them some rest and make sure nobody gets hurt. But also we wanted to get the rest of the kids some reps because at some point in the rest of the season, if a “one” goes down, we want to get the ”two’s” some reps that we have not been able to get them so far in the year since we’ve had so many close games.  This gets them more prepared so that if they go into a game, they’ll be ready.

Mule Fan: As we said, you’re in the off week. You gave the kids Saturday, Monday and Wednesday off. What else have you done differently during the off week?

Coach Norment: We’re still lifting weights. We practice during fourth period just like we always do. The only difference we’re not practicing Monday through Thursday like we would a regular week. We’ll just practice two times.  Just a little bit less pounding on each other.  We’ll use this week to try and get people healthy, get the bumps and bruises healed up a little.  But at the same time, I told the kids this is not just a “take off” week, this is a “get better” week. So when we’re out there we are working with high intensity and getting after it.

Mule Fan: Will every coach be out this week looking at a game?

Coach Norment:  Pretty much. We have two games left on our schedule so we’ll go hit two of those games involving those teams and see what’s going on.

Mule Fan: What’s on your mind as you look at the schedule for this week and the remaining games?

Coach Norment:  Well the big thing is that we control our own destiny so we’re worrying about Floresville and that’s all we can think about right now because we have to win that game so we’ll be at that game against Memorial. They’ve been struggling a little bit this year (Floresville), but their game with us will be their last game and their playoff game. Because their bye week is week #10.  We’re playing there. It was a close game last year. In some ways they feel they could’ve beaten us last year. I guarantee you they’re going to be up for us and getting after it so we have to worry about those guys. Then we’ll look to Kerrville. Then hopefully if we get those two taken care of and we’ll be in the playoffs.

Mule Fan: Floresville faces Memorial this week. They had a close one against Seguin last week, which they lost. They had three winning seasons coming into this year but have managed only one win so far. What’s changed over there?

Coach Norment:  You really don’t know. We just started watching a little film on them.  There could be a number of reasons like injuries.  As we know with injuries, a couple of injuries at key positions, we can’t go recruit like the colleges, and a couple of key positions on offense or defense can really affect you especially if your defensive scheme or offensive schemes are revolving around those players. That throws a huge wrench into the system.  Just looking at it so far, I can’t really tell. I have watched and they get after it.  We’ll break down the film we just received a little more. And we have to realize that we have a tough district. When you’re playing Kerrville Tivy and Boerne Champion, they’re pretty good teams. They are struggling but at the same time, teams that are struggling are dangerous and we can’t take them lightly.

Cliché Corner-Cuz Chix Dig Dudes hu no Football Frazis

Name the football cliché.

A.     Load the box

B.     Loaded diaper

C.     Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

A. Load the box – to put most of the defensive players inside to protect against the run

Mules Dine Out Day

This week, you can dine out at the new BurgerFi near the H-E-B at Oak Park behind Thundercloud Subs at Nacogdoches and Rockhill on Friday, October 23.  Mules Football gets 20% of sales between 5pm-9pm as long as you put your receipt the Mules Football bucket.

Mules on Twitter

There’s a lot to be said about these Mules and another way to follow Alamo Heights Football is on Twitter @ahmulesfootball.  Don’t forget to follow.

Floresville Preview Ahead-Check Back Next Week

The miserly management buffoons that run this rag put a clause in our contract that the only time off we get during the off week is for lunch.  So we wrote the regular version this week and will provide a preview on Floresville and updates to standings and other items next week. So check back for some more information during the prep week for Floresville. We’ll have ticket information at that time as well.  In the meantime, management has demanded that we cover the shrimp boat races near the Bolivar Peninsula this week.  Enjoy your Friday night off this week Mule Nation.

Off Week Update

October 23 Results

Floresville 43, Memorial 0

Kerrville Tivy 52, Seguin 18

Boerne Champion 47, Lockhart 26

Kennedy 6, San Marcos 48

Alamo Heights idle

Standings after October 23

Kerrville Tivy 6-0

Boerne Champion 5-1

Lockhart 5-2

Alamo Heights 4-2

San Marcos 4-2

Seguin 2-4

Floresville 2-5

Kennedy 0-6

Memorial 0-6

October 30 Schedule

Alamo Heights @ Floresville

Seguin @ Kennedy

Memorial @ Kerrville Tivy

San Marcos @ Boerne Champion

Lockhart idle

Floresville Preview

Alamo Heights travels to Floresville to take on the Tigers on Friday October 29 at 7:30pm.  It is an important district game for the Mules who are chasing a playoff berth and resume action after a bye night on October 23.  Floresville won on the road last week against Memorial 43-0 raising their season record to 2-8 and 2-5 in district play. Their other win was against Kennedy.   The Tigers are suffering through their first losing season since 2011. In 2014 Floresville finished 6-4 overall and 4-4 in district play. The Tigers are 0-3 all time vs. Alamo Heights having faced the Mules in 2014, 205 and 2004. They average 28.5 points per game and allow 43.2 ppg.  The Mules won in 2014 in an offensive showdown 47-43.  Floresville returns 10 starters from last year’s team, six from the offense and four defensive. They are led by two three-year starters, quarterback Koby Wilkerson and running back Alex Mermea both of whom were all district first team selections in 2014.  Mermea rushed for over 1,200 yards last season.

Follow the Mules on Radio

When you can’t be at the game, follow along on KRDY 1160AM with Dave Parker and Albert Gonzales providing lead vocals and harmony.  You can also listen online at www.tsrnsports.com and on the TSRN mobile app. It's the same guys doing it just out of a different device.  Please patronize the sponsors and thank them for making it possible for the Mules to hit the airwaves.

Alamo Heights 42, Seguin 7 October 9, 2015

Mules Convincing in Important District Road Win at Seguin

-Defense Sticks its Chest Out to Help Preserve Win

By Bob Cohen, Senior Editor, Sayer of Things

            (Seguin)—One of our jobs here at the Mule Fan is to articulate what is likely in the minds of Mule Nation.  So here is this week’s blinding glimpse of the obvious.  With that unexpected wet burp the Mules suffered against Lockhart, every game carries a lot more weight now.  And with that in mind, the Mules (4-3, 3-2) have paired together a couple of needed wins including Friday’s win on the road against the Seguin Matadors, which they won convincingly 42-7. 

            One nice new wrinkle was that in this game, it was the defense that put its collective hoof on the neck of the Matadors right out of the chute.  The intensity has been there on that side of the ball for weeks but the football gods have been frowning and dropping one in the Mules mess kit at seemingly each and every opportunity.  Not Friday as the Mules nearly pitched a shutout.  Alamo Heights got the ball first against the Matadors and confidently pushed the ball to the deepest edge of Matador territory but Seguin managed to say “we don’t want any” and kept the Mules out of the end zone when it appeared it was going to be an automatic six points.  So a fired up Seguin offense took the ball back deep in their own territory relieved to be still tied.  With that opportunity, the Matadors were on the receiving end of three defensive highlights for the Mules.  The first was slobber-spraying sideline pasting from freshman linebacker Maki Carabin on a scrambling quarterback Marc Garcia. That was followed by a high snap over a wildcat set, retrieved by running back Dora who was tracked down by Trem Carr as he desperately sought the line of scrimmage.  With fourth down and 10 from their own 23, Seguin attempted the rugby punt.  Junior defensive lineman Brandon Peterson blew through protection to get both mitts on the punt attempt, which was snatched from the air by Holden Daum followed by Seguin alertly punching it out of Daum’s control and fallen on by Gabriel Cervantes in the end zone.  So the combination defensive/special team effort got the Mules on the board first. 

            On the next series, the Mules defense responded again with defensive lineman Joey Gonzalez breaking through to sack quarterback Garcia followed by another by Gabriel Cervantes dropping Garcia 15 yards deeper and putting Seguin on its own one yard line.  Seguin was forced to punt from within an inch of the end line in their own end zone and launched one that, including roll, traveled about 88 real yards and eventually into the arms of Mules uber-returner Nik Proctor. After calmly collecting the ball, Proctor manufactured a 34 yard sawblade return, helped by a sinus clearing block from Riley Carew on a Matador in pursuit, to get the Mules back into Matador territory.  After one false start, Mule QB Jack Woodland spotted Antoine Cole, who had put 4 yards between himself and the defender, down the left hash hitting him in stride with a beautifully delivered 41-yard hoist. It took two Tucker Azar thrusts into the line to get the ball into the end zone to stretch the Mules lead to 14-0 after the PAT.

            Before the half, with Mules backup quarterback Will Chaney getting his first action since being sidelined by a concussion a few weeks earlier, the Mules got two touchdown passes into the hands of Antoine Cole, one from 13 out and one from 15. The second one came after the Mules defense came up with another turnover on Holden Daum’s interception of a Marc Garcia pass.  The Mules went to the break up 28-0.

            Alamo Heights kept the pressure on in the second half with two fourth quarter touchdowns, one in response to Seguin’s lone touchdown of the night.  The Mules answered with a pass into the flat from Chaney to running back Deryl Reynolds who scampered 48 yards for a score.  Azar tacked on another short touchdown plunge to cap the scoring for the night.  Alamo Heights put up 312 yards in the air.  Chaney made up for lost time with 16 completions on 22 attempts for 225 yards and three touchdowns.  Cole scored twice and nearly hit triple digits again in receiving yards with 97 on six catches.  Brendon McClinton yanked down five for 63 before going out at the half with an injury. 

            A strong night in all phases of the game and a needed shot in the arm for the defense and the Mules have two wins in a row as they look to Memorial this weekend for Homecoming.

           

District 27-5A Results

Kerrville Tivy 52, Lockhart 17

Boerne Champion 63, Kennedy 0

Floresville 14, San Marcos 34

Memorial idle

Next Week’s Schedule

Seguin at Floresville

San Marcos at Kerrville Tivy

Lockhart at Kennedy

Memorial at Alamo Heights

Boerne Champion idle

District 27-5A Standings

Kerrville Tivy 4-0

Boerne Champion 4-1

Lockhart 4-1

San Marcos 3-1

Alamo Heights 3-2

Seguin 1-3

Floresville 1-4

Kennedy 0-4

Memorial 0-4

“His Inside Voice”

A Weekly Conversation with Coach Mike Norment  

Mule Fan:  How did the Seguin game shape up in your eyes in terms of execution in the three phases of the game?

Coach Norment: Defense played much better.  The players have now had two weeks to play after having moved some people around and have had the players now playing the positions for a couple of weeks. They’re starting to learn it so they get much better.  Special teams had some huge plays.  A blocked punt for a touchdown and some good returns.  Offense struggled at times and then clicked at times.  Like I told the kids, we haven’t played a complete game yet and one of these days hopefully soon we get a complete game and we’re going to need to in these next few weeks of the season.

Mule Fan: It seemed that the defense got the game THEY had been wanting for several weeks.  They got the interception. You talked about special teams getting the block. There were timely sacks on Friday and a lot of pressure. What did they do well specifically to get the kind of performance they had against Seguin?

Coach Norment:  The more reps you get the better and they’ve gotten more in the last couple of weeks in new positions. We’re starting to get a few people back off of injuries. We had a player come back and as we continue to get more of them and they keep playing hard some things will go well for us.  When things are going well, they feed off each other and it’s just a better complete game.

Mule Fan: And it’s not just the games is it?  They get the reps in practice at new positions and the coaches can concentrate on helping them learn their positions right?

Coach Norment: Yes that’s correct. And when you’re struggling you lose some of your confidence and I think they’re getting their confidence back.

Mule Fan: You had Seguin on their heels early. Offense got in a position to knock on the door and Seguin holds.  After they held, then the defense got a sack, a punt block, hustle to the loose ball and points.  How big was that sequence?

Coach Norment: It was huge. It set the tone for the defense and the defense played great. At the same time, it showed the offense that if they’re clicking, they can move the ball down the field. We made some mistakes down there in the red zone that we’re going to have to correct. But the whole thing of how we scored with special teams and defense really fired them up and it showed the offense that when we’re clicking we can move the ball also.

Mule Fan: The offense was clicking but it seemed at times that one could tell you were really trying to get the tempo up from where it was but things were getting in the way.  I’m sure you would have like to step up the pace some.  What was preventing that?

Coach Norment:  There were a couple of things.  Sometimes referee crews use different mechanics. Our kids weren’t used to not getting the ball back (quickly). If the ball went outside they were switching balls out which slows things down and it is something that we as a team and coaches have to recognize. And there were quite a few injuries on Friday, which slows the tempo on both sides. We had some penalties, more than we’ve had for a while. And all that gets you out of rhythm and we’re a tempo and rhythm team.

Mule Fan:  On the other hand, with the exception of the first drive, when you needed to score you were able to get the ball downfield and score even though it might not have been the pace you wanted. Where did you feel you had the biggest edge offensively on Friday?

Coach Norment:  We had a good scheme. They were going to outnumber us in the box and almost force us to throw the ball. We did a good job hitting the underneath stuff and throw deep in a timely way. We were able to throw deep a couple of times. That really helped us out.

Mule Fan: Speaking of throwing deep in a timely way, we’d like to talk about Antoine Cole.  It seems like when you need a deep ball, Antoine seems to get his hands on it a lot.  Almost every game he’s been at or near triple digits in receiving yards.  Antoine is a quiet guy. Did you see this coming with Antoine? What has he done to improve his game?

Coach Norment: Right now we’re fortunate to have four good receivers. It’s hard for them to put two guys on Antoine because of the other three. But he had a great spring. He’s worked hard and it’s showed. He’s been able to blossom a little bit this year as opposed to being a backup last year.

Mule Fan: It’s Memorial this week and a chance to build on a win streak but as we’ve said, they’re all huge now. What do you think you really need to keep that intensity level up as you get ready to try and build on that streak and look ahead to the off week?

Coach Norment: This is going to be a tough week because it’s Homecoming week and we have a holiday and PSAT testing so there will be a lot of distractions.  We addressed it on Saturday morning. There are a lot of ways to make excuses if we don’t have a good practice. I challenged the kids to be smart. Let’s not sleep until 1:00pm on Monday and throw their bodies out of whack and not have a good practice on Monday afternoon. Let’s get up a little earlier and get moving around so we can get up here and have a good practice.  Same thing on Wednesday.  It’ll be really easy for the seniors not to get up early because they don’t have to be in school until 12:55.  Unlike the teachers who have to be up here at the regular time. So we have to just challenge them to not let the distractions get in the way.  Like I tell them every week, it’s not about the other team.  It’s about Alamo Heights. We have to get better to continue building on what we’ve got.

Mule Fan: But you’ve got to get in their heads because this week because these are the kinds of games where you could have a letdown if you don’t keep them completely focused.  What does each coach have to do this week?

Coach Norment:  Well we’re going to have to stay on them.  It starts right away. I’ll be able to tell you from the first 10 minutes of practice on Monday afternoon. These are the weeks that if we’re not having a good practice we’ll have to get their attention some way.

Area Leaders

Alamo Heights moved up one spot to sixth from seventh in the Express News Sub 6A area rankings. Kerrville Tivy and Boerne Champion are still 1-2.  Kerrville is ranked seventh in the state.  Jack Woodland is seventh in total offense and ninth in passing. Antoine Cole is 13^th in receiving yards and tied for third in total receptions. Brendon McClinton is tied for fifth in receptions and Caleb Williams is at nine in receptions.

Next Up-Memorial Minutemen Happy Homecoming

The Mules take on Memorial High School Friday at 7:30 at Harry B. Orem Stadium. The Minutemen have suffered through years of losing but picked up their first win since 2013 in this year’s opener against Carrizo Springs.  In all, Memorial has won eight games in 12 years. In 2014 they were winless at 0-10 and 0-8 in district. They are 1-5 this season and 0-4 in district play. Losses have come at the hands of Seguin, Boerne Champion, San Marcos, Lockhart and Pearsall.  The Minutemen average 15.2 points per game and allow 47.5.   Alamo Heights averages 46.0 points per game and are giving up 30.9 points per game.  The Mules blanked the Minutemen in 2014 at Edgewood Stadium 45-0.

Cliché Corner-Cuz speekin clerly abowt football reelie empressiz the wimin.

Name the football cliché.

A.     Behind the sticks

B.     The River Styx

C.     Sticks and Stone

Answer: A. Behind the sticks – being more than 10 yards away from a first down and being behind the 10 yard chain.

Homecoming Festivities

There are heaps of Homecoming activities this week including Howdy Night on Wednesday from 4:30pm-6:30pm at the high school, one of the biggest social events of the season followed by a pep rally at the stadium and a fiery display of our logo.  A Homecoming king and queen and duchess, dukes, jesters and squires will be named at halftime of the game. A few classes will have reunions this weekend including the reunion of the senior class of your editor.  Not that anyone really cares but my Alamo Heights education helps me figure out that the number is divisible by 10, 4, 2, 20, 1 and 40 to name a few.  As mentioned a few weeks ago, this class started at AHHS when Richard Nixon was still in office.  In the editor’s senior year, the Mules were 4-6 with wins against McCollum, Marshall, Edison and Holmes.  The head coach was Harry McBain.  The biggest guys on the team weighed about 60 pounds and were five feet tall. (I jest). There was no Mule Fan blog of course.  There was a Hoofprint and the North San Antonio Times to go along with three daily newspapers. We live in different times.  We take all this stuff a little more seriously now of course, the community is more involved and we have traditions that are solid blue and gold.  I wouldn’t trade this time and the way this community and school are now for those by any means. This is waaaay better. But that was the way things were. It is fun to be nostalgic. We had fun on Friday nights and made lifelong friends.  FYI, lucky for the Mules, your editor was not a football player at that point but rather a baseball guy with root beer league abilities, a 57 mph “fastball”, a curveball that broke a knee-buckling 4.75 inches from high atop a mound that sits about where Pei Wei’s restrooms are now at Lincoln Heights, and a promising grasp of how to keep a pristine scorebook. During football games, the Mule Fan senior editor sat perched in a small press box radio booth about where Rick Shaw sits now squeaking out something resembling play-by-play at an embarrassing octave into a 3M tape recorder borrowed from the Spanish department and called in game reports to local radio stations including one I later operated for many years. The “broadcast crew” consisted of your editor and your current Texas Speaker of the House. Your editor and the Honorable Joe would each take a half of play-by-play and the other would provide witty and stunningly cogent color commentary for young men of such limited experience and perception.  Your editor went on to start a career yammering into a microphone in college and pro sports and eventually moved on to other media posts but definitely highlighted by a soon-to-expire editorial role with the Mule Fan.  The other announcer now swings a mean gavel in Austin and has about 50 microphones shoved in front of him every time he turns up somewhere as he serves the people of the Great State of Texas.  Those tapes exist and are around somewhere deep in a box in a garage well guarded by some of San Antonio’s largest roaches.  One doubts they are in any kind of shape that they could be heard even if you could find a reel-to-reel tape recorder to play them.  The concept is frightening. 

Speaking of Radio…

Whereas your editor and his partner once may have confidently considered themselves the “(very high) Voices of the Mules,” the real title is arguably split between the legendary voices of Rick Shaw for stadium throating and Dave Parker on radio today.   When you can’t be at the game, follow along on KRDY 1160AM with Dave Parker and Albert Gonzales providing expert commentary.  You can also listen online at www.tsrnsports.com and on the TSRN mobile app.  Please patronize the sponsors and thank them for making it possible for the Mules to hit the airwaves.

Mules on Twitter

There’s a lot to be said about these Mules and another way to follow Alamo Heights Football is on Twitter @ahmulesfootball.  Don’t forget to follow.

Another Dine Out Day

Eat a yummy dinner on Thursday October 15 at Freddy’s at the Quarry from 5pm-9pm, drop your receipt in the football bucket prominently displayed and the football program gets 20% of sales.

Food Drive at the Stadium – Please Help

The Alamo Heights Theatre Arts department is sponsoring a food drive on Friday night to benefit the San Antonio Food Bank.  Please bring canned goods to the stadium.  Don’t dig in on the way to the game. They won’t be able to take the food item if it is partially eaten.  Please donate!

Fenley Trophy Golf Tourney

Mark your calendars for the 12^th Annual Fenley Trophy Golf Tournament on Wednesday October 21 at 1:00pm at the Quarry Golf Club.

This tournament is in honor of the late Gaylard Fenley who served, taught and mentored our students and staff as our Athletic Director1983-2002• All tournament proceeds benefit Basketball, Cheerleading, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Lacrosse, JROTC, Soccer, Special Olympics, Tennis, Track, Volleyball.  It is not true that it helps support the Mule Fan blog.  For more information, contact bill.dehlinger@worthaminsurance.com. He’ll get you a brochure and make sure you have all the info you need to make an informed decision.

Canned Ham

Plenty of pork to go around to defenders this week.  The Mule Fan recognizes the Mules defense with strong performances from Maki Carabin, Trem Carr, Gabriel Cervantes, Holden Daum, Joey Gonzalez and Justin Barsalou to name a few.  Happy chomping.

Speaking of the Canned Ham award, the Mule Fan received a “nasty gram” from the Pork Board.  We don’t shy away from these things as you know so we publish the letter below in its entirety.

Dear Mr. Fan,

We’ve written before to express our displeasure with your approach to our product and its use as an award for the efforts of football players.  While we like the publicity, we detect a level of sarcasm, which has convinced us that, at its roots, your portrayal of our product is laced with disrespect. 

Your consistent referral to our product as a canned meat product is confusing to consumers who may believe you are referring to deviled ham, which as you know is also delivered in a can.  That product is dramatically different from a canned ham.  As you know, a deviled ham comes encased in a can and a white paper wrapper.  Our cans stand on their own two split feet within a container that can be opened by a key. How many other products can you identify that take security so seriously?  

And please refrain from your slang-like reference to our product as a “pink chunk.” This misleading reference to our “cut” of meat indicates no planning or thought was put into the shaping, carving and careful selection from the hog as if we grabbed a handful of meat and ripped it from the skeletal frame of any swine with our bare hands and plopped it down into some can we found at the city dump.  While this may have been the case in the past, is is now believed that we have the problem relatively under control. 

Would you consider taking on rabbit as the meat for your reward next year?  If you don’t change your ways, we must squeal. 

Sincerely,

Sammy McSwine

         

Our response…

Dear Mr. McSwine,

Thank you for your constructive suggestion, about going with rabbit as our reward meat for the future. Our management will take it under consideration but we must tell you that the Gerbil Council recently made a very compelling case for their representation in our blog. 

Until then, think pink.

Warm regards,

The Mule Fan

Sorry for the Late Post

Mule Nation, we are posting the Mule Fan later than normal this week.  Two reasons. One, since Monday was a holiday, our management cut it a little short on the ink barrel order expecting that we’d have some on Monday.  We didn’t get our shipment until Tuesday at lunch.  And two, it was mentioned above that it is a reunion week for your editor and we were busy dying my hairs.

GO MULES!!! Beat the Minutemen!!  Happy Homecoming!!

San Marcos 53, Alamo Heights 63 October 2, 2015

Mules Bounce Back Strong with Crucial District Win Over San Marcos

            -Alamo Heights Lights Scoreboard to Break Streak

            By Bob Cohen, Senior Editor, Teller of Tales

            (San Antonio)—When the Beatles were getting their early chops playing clubs in Hamburg, Germany, the nightclub bosses used to urge them to “Mak Shau, Mak Shau (Make a Show, Make a Show).”  So they’d hop around on stage and pound out rock music for six to eight hours a night, developing their style, repertoire and stamina.  Anyone shopping around for a big night of entertainment could’ve done a lot worse because both teams did their own version of Mak Shau and gave fans good value for money.  Alamo Heights prevailed in an important district 27-5A game that produced an Arena League score of 63-53 at Harry B. Orem Stadium. Back to the value discussion, that’s six cents per point on a seven-dollar ducat.

            High offensive output continues to be a growing trend in high schools and colleges with the advent of the “hurry up, no huddle” offense.  Defenses have even more pressure on them and a lot less time to adjust off an offense set or substitute.  You wonder why anyone would huddle anymore but some do.  Maybe it’s just for the social benefits.  It’s more personable to chat between plays.  Well I digress.  Neither team stopped the other on Friday until well into the first half.  Up until that time, points came on every single possession on both sides with video game like variety.  Fortunately the Alamo Heights defense held San Marcos to fewer points than they had been accustomed to scoring when they forced the Rattlers to kick a 24-yard field goal in the second period just after the Mules scored on a screen pass from Jack Woodland to Antoine Cole that went for 31 yards to grow a lead. 

            The Mules beefed the lead with 9:50 to go in the second period when Woodland used plenty of protection to study his options and select receiver Caleb Williams for a pass that Williams eventually stretched into a score. This was an important score for Alamo Heights, which San Marcos answered with a 13-yard touchdown run from quarterback David Hamilton.  There was one fumble on Friday and it came next series when QB Woodland lost the handle on the football while flushing right. The Rattlers recovered but the Mules defense held and forced a punt, which produced one for the highlight reel as Nik Proctor handcrafted a 77-yard return for a score.  San Marcos shaved the lead down with a score at 4:01 on a Julian Applewhite touchdown reception.  The Mules preserved a 35-31 lead at the half.

            The penalty flag bit San Marcos hard as they put 105 yards of debits on the account.  Combine that with a lethal dose of a pin sharp Mule offense, the eye-popping special team return game, and timely stops by the defense got the Mules a huge win to level their district record at 2-2 and 3-3 overall.  The Rattlers fell to 2-1 in district with the loss.  Led by quarterback David Hamilton, San Marcos traded blows with the Mules all night.  Hamilton displayed great field vision and a frustrating knack for wriggling off the hook whenever the Mules defense had him close to the cooler.  Hamilton escaped the Mules clutches and produced a night at about his average pace going 13 for 26 in the air for 201 yards and three touchdowns, picking up 91 yards on the ground on 13 carries finishing two of them for touchdowns.

            The good news is that while Hamilton was a load, the Mules offense or special teams typically answered.  When Hamilton and San Marcos jabbed, the Mules typically swung back with a blue chip play of its own. 

            Mules quarterback Jack Woodland was on the giving end of three touchdown passes. He dialed up two for Caleb Williams of 35 and 13 yards and one to Antoine Cole of 31 yards.  Woodland’s body of work for the night also included a 40-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, which put the Mules ahead for the second time in the first quarter and was one of three first quarter touchdowns for Alamo Heights.  Woodland finished on impressive 18 of 23 in the air for 293 yards and three touchdowns.  But the plays that really made the Rattlers woozy came from Alamo Heights running backs Tucker Azar and Deryl Reynolds.  Azar loosened a few fillings with some rugged inside runs off of good offensive line work.  Azar had 115 yards on 15 carries and key touchdown plunges of one and four yards in the fourth quarter.  Deryl Reynolds topped up his totals with a 130-yard night on 12 carries and two excellent touchdown runs.  His first one was a blinder.  At third and four on the Mules first possession of the game, Reynolds pierced a pile of bodies in the middle, kept pushing and squirted out the back side of the heap en route to 55-yards of clearing and the Mules quick first lead.  Later, he scored the second of three unanswered and crucial fourth quarter touchdowns sandwiched between Azar’s two touchdowns with a 28-yard scamper.  (Incidentally, Reynold’s long TD run is up for the News 4 WOAI Play of the Week.  The Mule Fan strongly encourages you to vote for this one and has made it easy with this easy opening link: Click here to vote for Deryl Reynolds: Play of the Week.  We’ll wait while you click on the link and vote. The Mule Fan will be here when you return.)

            So the Mules move on now with a road trip to Seguin to face the Matadors on Friday, October 9 for another important District game.  Ticket information is shown below.  See you in Seguin.

Last Week’s District 27-5A Results

Lockhart 21, Floresville 10

Seguin 48, Memorial 20

Kerrville Tivy 65, Boerne Champion 49

Kennedy idle

27-5A Standings

Lockhart 4-0

Kerrville Tivy 3-0

Boerne Champion 3-1

San Marcos 2-1

Alamo Heights 2-2

Seguin 1-2

Floresville 1-3

Kennedy 0-3

Memorial 0-4

“His Inside Voice”

A Weekly Conversation with Coach Mike Norment

Mule Fan:  The last thing we talked about last week was that the team needed something good to happen to it.  What went right on Friday night?

Coach Norment:  The kids never give up. We talked about that the whole week that we need to come together as a team and good things and bad things are going to happen.  San Marcos made some plays and we didn’t get down and kept on fighting. When we kept on doing that, we’d make a play or the defense got a stop or special teams made a play.  We were able to feed off each other and were fortunate to come out with a victory.

Mule Fan:  What didn’t quite go so right but went better and where have you seen the progress as you’ve progressed through the year?

Coach Norment: We developed more confidence because the defense got stops. We led most of the game but when they took the lead at the beginning of the second half we didn’t let it phase us and we came back. Now I wish there had not been a kicking game and defensive error back-to-back to give them the lead again. But we answered and kept on fighting and that’s what we’re going to have to do the rest of the year.

Mule Fan:  Did you get a sense during the week of practice that intensity and focus had ratcheted up after last week?

Coach Norment:  I think the intensity was there last week. We had some things happen this week that I think brought the team together in some ways and I think that helped as well.

Mule Fan: I joked with you after the game on Friday asking if you used every play you had but after reflecting on it, I suppose it was more a case of just having so much personnel involved. Was that the case or did you pull out a lot of different things Friday?

Coach Norment:  Not really.  We did some things in special teams that we were forced to do because of some situations. But offensively we had some plays that we executed early but in the second half we ran the plays that we worked on basically this whole year.

Mule Fan:  That had to do a lot for the confidence of your offense to score and get first downs almost on demand.

Coach Norment: Right now our offense is clicking pretty good.  We’re going to have to keep that up because the district is not getting any easier so we have to keep on doing what we’ve been doing.

Mule Fan: Neither team made a lot of stops defensively but the Mules made a couple of huge defensive stops when you had to have them.  You’ve had a lot of changes and moved people around.  That had to give them a boost as well.  How did you feel about their game?

Coach Norment: The defense has been playing hard.  It’s not like it is a lack of effort. We’ve gone against some different offenses.  We’ve gone from Champion to Lockhart to San Marcos.  All of them were challenges. They (the stops mentioned) were huge. The thing was that when the defense got a stop, the offense was able to execute and get some points whereas in the past two weeks, the defense got some stops but the offense wasn’t able to get the points and that was the biggest difference.

Mule Fan: And when you look at it, the defense would seemingly and quite often get their quarterback (Hamilton) in a jam and he’d squirm out of it. How tough an assignment was he?

Coach Norment: If you give him an area to work with, he’s able to use it. Like I said last week, he’s probably one of the best athletes in the district. Overall I think we did a pretty good job on him keeping him contained.  He made some plays.  He’s scary.

Mule Fan:  It was another big night for your special teams too.  As we said earlier, it’s nice to have that weapon available this year isn’t it?

Coach Norment: We were fortunate. We needed a big play out of them and got the punt return for a touchdown. And we did a good job on kickoffs all night.  And we were fortunate to get an onside kick that really wasn’t going to be an onside kick. It was just supposed to be a short kick and we were able to get it because of the hustle and that was huge.

Mule Fan:  Let’s look at Seguin.  As we are recording this earlier in the week than typical, you probably haven’t had a lot of time to look at film although you may have seen them on some of the other team’s films you’ve watched.  They have designs on improving from a year ago and getting one of the available playoff spots.  What do you expect from them?

Coach Norment: They’ve gotten better each week with a lot of new faces on the varsity. They’ve been growing as the season has progressed. They’re somewhat explosive on offense and are pretty big up on defense and play hard. And we have to go there. Seguin has always played us tough and especially on their stadium so we’ll have to execute in all three phases again and have a good week of practice to prepare for them.

Seguin Notes

The Matadors are 1-4 overall and 1-2 in disrtict play.  Alamo Heights won last year’s matchup at Harry B. Orem Stadium 31-9. The Matadors return five letterman on both offense and defense from a 2014 team that went 3-7 for the season and 3-5 in district play.  Seguin has not won more than four games in the last eight years. The Matador’s one win this season was over Memorial. They have losses to San Marcos, Lockhart, New Braunfels, and Vista Ridge. The Matadors are led by quarterback Marc Garcia who converted to quarterback this season from fullback.  The Matadors score 22.2 points per game and give up 33.4 points per game.

Area Leaders

Not too much change in the area leader report for this week.  Alamo Heights remains in the seventh position in the Express News Sub 6A Area rankings.  Tivy and Boerne Champion are still 1-2.  Quarterback Jack Woodland is ranked 16th in total offense and 8th in passing.  Antoine Cole is ranked third in total receptions and Brendon McClinton comes in at eight.  Antoine Cole is also ranked 10th in receiving yards.

Canned Hams

There were some fine performances on Friday night leading us to request a bigger shipment of hams from the manufacturer.  Fortunately they travel well in their aluminum first class compartments.  So we push pork onto the plates of Mules running backs Deryl Reynolds and Tucker Azar along with a few hunks shared by the Alamo Heights offensive line which opened some spacious holes for the aforementioned runners and gave secret service style protection to quarterback Jack Woodland.  Defensive performances of note came from freshman linebacker Maki Carabin and junior defensive back Travis McEldowney.

Seguin Tickets

In your enthusiasm to get to Seguin on Friday, don’t forget the tickets. Oh sure you can get them at the gate.  But why would you when you can get them early at the Alamo Heights Athletic office and save hard American currency in the process.  Tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for students in advance.  Probably around $7 at the gate but their price floats with the Chinese Renminbi so who knows?

Ms. Patti Juarez will be on hand to vend tickets to you on the following schedule.  On Wednesday and Thursday from 8:30am-12:00pm and 1:30pm-3:30pm at the office.  On Thursday there will be bonus selling at the stadium during the JV football game from 4:30pm-6:30pm. On Friday, tickets will be on sale from 8:30am-3:00pm. 

Mules on Radio

When the Mules take to the road, it is always a good time to remind you that if you just can’t make it over to Seguin on Friday, you can catch all the action on KRDY 1160 AM with play-by-play sung in full throat by Dave Parker and some serious analysis from Albert Gonzales.  You can also listen online at www.tsrnsports.com and on the TSRN mobile app.  Please patronize the sponsors and thank them for making it possible for the Mules to hit the airwaves.

Cliché Corner- Becuz wen you no football wurds, ure not as dum as wen you dunt

Choose the correct football cliché.

A.     Pancake block

B.     Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity

C.     All-You-Can-Eat

Answer: A. Pancake block-when an offensive player takes a defender to the ground on a block

Mules Dine Out Day

This week it’s at EZ’s at Sunset Ridge where 20% of your meal goes to the Mules Football program on all receipts collected in the football bucket between 5pm-9pm on Thursday, October 8. 

Mules on Twitter

There’s a lot to be said about these Mules and another way to follow Alamo Heights Football is on Twitter @ahmulesfootball.  Don’t forget to follow.

Homecoming October 16

The Mules return to Harry B. Orem Stadium on Friday, October 16 with the Memorial Minutemen visiting for a 7:30 kickoff. Tickets are selling well as it is also Homecoming. There will be many Homecoming festivities next week and we’ll tell you about those next week. But make plans to be there. The average age of fans in attendance will grow significantly that night, as several classes will celebrate reunions. Hopefully the Mules will be riding a two game win streak.

Halloween Gallery

The Mule Fan will (hopefully) feature some danged cute photos of current Mule players, coaches and athletic staff in Halloween costumes from their youth in an upcoming issue of the Mule Fan blog.  Our staff is challenging the coaches and athletic staff to go ahead and call mom and get some of the old sepia-tone photos out of the attic, scan ‘em or take a shot on your smart phones and send them to bobcohen@sbcglobal.net.  We’ll collect them and caption them appropriately we must warn you.  But current Mule parents are urged to get us some of shots of your little darlings in the Halloween finery.  We seem to recall Coach Norment went out early as tweety bird.  We’d value that picture like none other. 

Fenley Trophy Golf Tourney

Mark your calendars for the 12^th Annual Fenley Trophy Golf Tournament on Wednesday October 21 at 1:00pm at the Quarry Golf Club.

This tournament is in honor of the late Gaylard Fenley who served, taught and mentored our students and staff as our Athletic Director1983-2002• All tournament proceeds benefit Basketball, Cheerleading, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Lacrosse, JROTC, Soccer, Special Olympics, Tennis, Track, Volleyball.  It is not true that it helps support the Mule Fan blog.  For more information, contact bill.dehlinger@worthaminsurance.com. He’ll get you a brochure and make sure you have all the info you need to make an informed decision.

Go Mules!!  Say Olé to the Matadors!!!