Mules Fall to District Champ Kerrville Tivy in 71-57 Season
Finale
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Playoffs Down to Wire but Mules Locked Out
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Mule Fan Management Express Relief Troublemaker
Soon Silenced
By Bob Cohen, Senior Retiring Editor
(San
Antonio)—Surreal is a word seemingly created for last Friday in Mule
Nation. Let’s start with the most
surreal part of all. We just wrote
the words “last Friday in Mule Nation” for 2015. It has been a very long time since a football season
ended after a regular season game on the Harry B. Orem turf. That of course
means that the Mules will put away their pads next week at a time of year when
almost nobody can remember doing so.
That’s how long it’s been.
Alamo
Heights didn’t go quietly in fact, quite the opposite. It played the state’s sixth ranked
Kerrville Tivy Antlers like their families were threatened in a most remarkable
high school football game that Kerrville prevailed in winning 71-57. And that was without a shot clock! A win for Alamo heights would have
erased our lead above because that would have meant the Mules moved along to a
first round playoff berth. But a
loss created a crazy list of possible outcomes that was as long as a Cheesecake
Factory menu. But the key was a loss also meant loss of control of that
outcome. With about 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, everyone in 78209
knew the “crazy town option #4” from the San Marcos vs. Lockhart game was now a
reality and meant that the Mules only hope for an 11th game was to win
the one they were playing.
Conveniently,
at about the time it was clear what was going on up in Lockhart, and after a
lot of ammo had been spent by both the Antlers and the Mules, the game was tied
57-57 after a two-yard Tucker Azar scoring run followed by a crucial two point
conversion on a pass from Will Chaney to Antoine Cole who snuck along the end
line to get open for the tying points.
With the Alamo Heights sideline still in full bloom with excitement from
clawing its way back into neutral, Tivy’s Hayden Schreckenbach took a first
down handoff from Tivy quarterback Cade Dyal, stepped around a Holden Daum
corner blitz and lit out 67 yards untouched to replace the Antler lead and go
up 64-57 after the extra point.
After a penalty on the first kickoff attempt, Kerrville backed up and
booted it again, this time into the hands of the Mules’ first option on
returns, Nick Proctor. Moving towards the home stands, Proctor faked a reverse
handoff, found space and bolted down the sideline on a remarkable 44 yard
run. While the return was
seemingly just what the doctor ordered, the problem was the last yard. With Proctor’s available real estate
down to a half inch on the sideline, the freshman return man attempted to leap
over the tackler. With Proctor
en route to an out of bounds landing, the ball was still in bounds when it was
separated from his possession and came under the influence of the Antlers. Now the Mules had to hold to keep it a
one possession game having found a way to stay in Kerrville’s mirrors all night
from about that distance. But at
4:51 in the final quarter, Kerrville’s Schreckenbach finished a controlling
short-field drive with one-yard poke into the end zone to put the night’s 127th
point on the board and establish a fatal two possession game which the Mules
could not overcome.
It
was an amazing high school football game.
There were 128 points, 1,440 yards of total offense, 69 first downs
(probably the most first downs, PA throat Rick Shaw has ever had to call), 223
plays and a heap of guts, sweat and tears. The Mules had no answer for the Tivy ground game as
Kerrville piled up 477 yards. Tivy
running back Ian Ronan and quarterback Cade Dyal owned the first half. Dyal threw bubble screen after bubble
screen to Ronan who consistently collected bulk yardage after the catches. When
that wasn’t happening, Dyal was stacking on rushing yards on keepers. Dyal, Wyatt Trahan and Schreckenbach
each had over 100 yards in rushing.
Dyal passed for 345 yards on 22 for 29 attempts for the night. Schreckenbach
scored five times. It’s no small
task overcoming 822 yards of total offense. Yet, Kerrville never was assured of
their unbeaten regular season until the last four minutes of the game.
The Mules were in a game they’ll not forget and should have
been proud of their tenacity. Have you heard that phrase “Pride comes before a
fall?” Actually the only time your humble scribe has heard it is in a Beatles
song (I cannot mention the title of the song because it does not apply to this
team.) The seniors weren’t going to let the Mules go out without a gritty
effort. With that senior leadership clearly in view and many chances to ask for
the check, the Mules hung in, and answered with a remarkable night of their
own. Quarterback Will Chaney
completed 26 out of 46 attempts for a career high 423 yards and three
touchdowns. Chaney’s key targets
were seniors Antoine Cole and Brendon McClinton, who were doing “big play football”
on Friday, and had 172 and 145 yards receiving respectively. Running backs Deryl Reynolds and
Tucker Azar each scored two touchdowns.
Kerrville
Tivy is clearly the real deal as the sixth ranked team in the state. As plump
as the Mules stat line was for the night, Tivy’s was obese. The Antlers burrowed through their
regular season and finished 10-0 overall and 8-0 in district play. Heights
finished 6-4 overall with a 5-3 district mark, which this time wasn’t enough to
carry on. The rivalry continues.
The Lockhart Bit
By
now you readers have probably heard how Lockhart behaved to secure their place
in the playoffs. We can whine all we want but here we are. As repulsive as the events in San
Marcos might have been on Friday, the real damage was inflicted on the Mules on
a September night in Lockhart when the Mules were treated to a 44-36 ice water
enema to a celebrating Lions squad that had only beaten the Mules in their
dreams. We here at the Mule
Fan at that time felt that loss would leave a long-lasting nasty welt and
indeed it did. The only thing that
was going to stanch that wound was a five
game winning streak. Unfortunately, the Alamo Heights win streak only reached
four. Here’s how this district has been for a while now. You’re spotted one
loss. Lose two and you’ve likely
lost control. Lose three and you’ve effectively wet yourselves. And so it goes. The district will restack again with
realignment in February and we’ll see how things line up. If it makes you feel any better, you
can hope Lockhart doesn’t get much of a playoff run. One might think it will be tough for them to get far in
Texas high school football playoffs with an offense you’d only expect to see in
black and white, good running back or no.
Anyway,
like we said, here we are.
November 6 27-5A
Results
Kerrville 71, Alamo Heights 57
San Marcos 35, Lockhart 17
Kennedy 17, Memorial 14
Boerne Champion 40, Seguin 17
Floresville idle
Final Standings
Kerrville Tivy 8-0
Boerne Champion 7-1
Alamo Heights 5-3
San Marcos 5-3
Lockhart 5-3
Seguin 3-5
Floresville 2-6
Kennedy 1-7
Memorial 0-8
27-5A Playoff
First Round Playoff Matchups (All Friday)
Kerrville Tivy vs. McCollum at Alamodome
Boerne Champion vs. Sam Houston at Boerne
Highlands @ Lockhart
San Marcos @ Harlandale
Some Thoughts From
Your Retiring Editor
If
you’ll permit, your editor would like to break format and speak to you in first
person. Management will hate it since we’re required to use AP style, but we
depart from it often enough where it won’t be too much of a shock. And heck,
what can they do to me now? These roly-poly buffoons in management have had
their way for too long anyway. And
since a lot of the comments from yours truly will have a personal angle, it’ll
just be easier.
Missing the
Playoffs
Gotta
say, nobody is happy about it. But it’s a momentary glitch. The work ethic, the
commitment, the kids, the coaches, the administration, the TRADITION is too
strong now. Back to work. We’ll be
right back there. This ain’t your
editor’s Alamo Heights athletics. This is something we never would have dreamed
of in the 70’s. Incidentally, if you want to really know how far we’ve come, I
encourage you to dig into the Mule Fan archives to a two-part interview we did back
in 2009 to go along with the Alamo Heights Centennial Celebration about the
modern history of Alamo Heights Football and how we transformed to a place
where we expect to be in the hunt for a deep playoff run every year. It begins with the September 26, 2009
post. I remember it was a lot of
work at the time, but I’m glad we did it. I learned a lot particularly about
years where I was too busy with an early career and little kids to keep up too
closely with the goings-on at Harry B. Orem Stadium. Like I said above, it wasn’t always this way. Read it and appreciate what we have.
Dang
I didn’t think I’d be writing this last post so soon. The pain will fade. I feel bad that the seniors went out
this early. That’s football. I’m sorry that the families of Mule
seniors playing their first varsity season didn’t get to experience playing
football on Thanksgiving week and beyond.
It is indescribably fun and loaded with great memories. That’s a tough break. Oh well. The playoff experience will happen
again and again in the future. And
of course, at the end, there’s only one team and one coaching staff and one fan
base that’s happy anyway. Let’s
keep it in perspective. The boys played hard and overcame a lot. The coaches
and trainers worked their tails off.
I worked in the NBA for the Kansas City Kings (now
Sacramento) right out of college and traveled with the team most of the time. I
have a memory of one night in the dead of winter, leaving an arena after
getting blown out on the road somewhere. Climbing on the bus right behind me
was a creaky and aging veteran center from Mississippi named Sam Lacey. Lace was always good for a
philosophical line or two. That
night he slapped me on the back as we walked up the stairs to the bus and said,
“You know Bob, sometimes you’re tasting the wine and other times you’re picking
the grapes.”
It’ll All Just Go
On
When Mule Fan Mama and I paused after #50 headed off and #52
was still developing his skills at the junior school, we sat up in the stands
at a game after nearly three seasons of vein-bulging locked-in enthusiasm and
of course vividly understood that it all just goes on with new Mule Nation
mommies, daddies, grandparents, girlfriends, boyfriends, band, cheerleaders,
etc. Admittedly, it’s not quite
the same when you don’t have a kid in the program any longer. That said, we won
state when #50 was a freshman. He
got to be on the field in street clothes charting offense with Coach Byrd that
night (so very much in the thick of it) and helping in warm ups. I remember
telling him to soak it all in. That this was a BIG DEAL. I’ve been lucky to be at some big
sporting events through my career. The state title game at the Alamodome was
the single most exciting night I’ve ever had as a sports fan-full stop. I hope to experience it again.
Mule Fan Contract
Goes Dark at Midnight November 9
This is the 87th post of this rag under my
watch. I was “invited” to do this
with a buddy four days before the season started in 2008. I didn’t even know the blog existed
when I was asked to do it. I
signed a deal that had an evergreen clause in it that my agent and I missed. So
here we are all this time later.
We put up with horrible writing conditions surrounded by sweat-lined
sooty walls, no heat or air, very little running water, a smelly dog sitting
nearby and an old Maryland Club coffee can for a toilet. And that’s just when I write at home.
The office is worse. I’m sick of eating canned ham. Nobody ever claims those awards. We were promised a lot of dough at the end so I’m standing
by. I’m discouraged that I have
placed 12 calls to management since Friday night and not a single one has been
returned. I’m feeling a little
squishy about it.
Seriously though, it has been a lot of fun to do this. I
enjoy the writing process. I truly appreciate all the kind words through the
years. It started out a two-man
shop and became a solo effort during the #52 years. It was never meant to be
just a dry play-by-play of the previous week’s game. I did it in a way that would be fun to write and hopefully
worth a read. If you scroll down
to the bottom of this page you’ll see a little counter. That gizmo made it worth doing. It told us that we weren’t wasting our
time. We didn’t want to do a diary.
Knowing you read it was enough especially if it deepened the connection
to Mules Football. And it kept my “crazed
football dad energy” channeled into a productive outlet.
I wrote this fish wrap in all different circumstances. I wrote it 30,000 feet over the Pacific
Ocean more than once and a pre-dawn airport lounge in Istanbul once I recall as
well. I posted it from hotel rooms
in Sydney, Australia and McAllen, Texas.
It went up early in the morning and late at night (but never on company
time). I thank Don Byrd and Mike
Norment for the access and the trust.
They knew this wasn’t hard objective journalism. It was for our
fans. They gave me the access and
everything I needed to do it.
Thanks to the training staff for their help. Thanks to Gene Phillips and Patty Juarez in the athletic
office. Of course, I have to thank
Mule Fan Mama for understanding when I staggered to bed at midnight or later
after working on this cyber babble for a couple of hours on a school
night.
Finally, thanks to our hard working coaching staff. We know
the punishing hours y’all put in.
We appreciate it. The coaches are the only teachers our boys have for
four years. We’re lucky these guys care and help mold these boys. My forever thanks to Coach Byrd,
Norment, Troilo and Ferrara in particular as the two head coaches my boys played for and their position coaches.
And finally….
A few years ago, I penned a little piece, which some folks
have remembered and have asked if I would put it in one more time for old times
sake. It has now become somewhat
of a tradition I suppose.
Consultation with my agent raised some questions of royalties and
copyrights and our ongoing struggle with management. But I’m out after the last line so what the heck. I thought about not putting it in since
we’ve done it a few times now but there are folks who haven’t seen it and it
still works we think. Plus I
haven’t had time to think of something new to go with. So we’ll go for it.
First some context for those who don’t know what the heck
I’m talking about. This was originally written after the gut-wrenching
conclusion to the 2009 season in San Marcos’ Bobcat Stadium where we’ve ended a
few seasons. This reporter’s
oldest son had just finished his senior season, in the state quarterfinals,
against Lake Travis, the eventual state champion. It was the end of a terrific and exciting season, a close
game, and none of us were ready for it to end. But end it did. Some of us knew we would get another
bite at the apple in a few years, including your humble scribe. Others knew that was it. And now for
yours truly, this truly is IT. Next chapter starts now. While the piece was a personal
reflection, it was written thinking it would resonate with all parents of
seniors.
So remember that it has not been altered at all from that
original form. But these are new
eyes on the same emotions that many surely would have felt on Friday night
after the Tivy game.
A Reflection by Bob Cohen
“The Drawer”
While looking in my son’s
closet for one of my shirts recently, I opened “the drawer”. Not “a” drawer. It
was “the” drawer. After a pause, the realization of what I was seeing hit
square. I’ll bet nearly everyone reading this has one of these drawers as well.
Folded up inside the drawer, or wadded up to be truthful, were pants, jerseys,
sweat bands, belts, 8 ½ inch long shin guards, mouth guards small enough to fit
a puppet, socks and more representing the game gear from a career in kid’s
sports.
How is it possible that my
oldest son has played his last game? All the 8:00 am Saturday soccer games, the
nights at the Little League fields, spring afternoons in the batting cage, the
weekday fall afternoons watching football practice and then finally those
indescribably wonderful Friday nights under the lights in all those stadiums in
all those places. Poof-over! Only the intramural fields await but I won’t see
any of those contests, not without causing nearly irreparable embarrassment anyway.
Obviously this is a moment
that is typically reserved for the parent of a senior, or at least a senior
that isn’t moving on to the next level of organized athletics. But most of us
are having our own little moments like this right about now. While I watched it
all wind down last Friday night in that cold stadium in San Marcos, I struggled
hard to put a period on the sentence. Can you be ready for that moment? Those
were hard yards…
I stood there silently with
all of the other dads, moms, grandparents and friends surrounded by my own
emotions and a teary wife. Mentally it felt like being yanked out of that stage
of my life into the next (with this kid anyway). I watched him kneeling down on
the goal line watching the other team's celebration and wondered what he was
thinking. Did he realize that he would probably never again experience the
feeling of “team and camaraderie” in quite the same way? Did he recognize that
he had shared an experience and a journey that he will always remember with
some guys with whom he will remain life-long friends and some with whom he will
lose touch? He’ll remember them all and that includes the coaches. It’s a
different memory than the one about the guy who sat next to you in biology.
From running up and down a
soccer field at the age of 6, right arm thrust in the air shouting
encouragement to teammates while staying as far away from the ball as one can
and still be in-bounds to the first year of pads and getting into a three point
stance that looked like something from a Three Stooges episode to locking up in
the biggest game of his life with a defensive lineman with a weight and height
advantage and probably a future of playing on Saturdays…these are the images
that will be etched in this parent’s memory.
There are people to thank
and I’ll leave some out but not mean to do so. You fill in the blanks with your
own list as you look into your drawer. Thanks to all the dads who coached him
early and gave positive encouragement and constructive criticism. Thanks to the
moms who cheered from the camp chairs on the sideline and who car-pooled to
practice and who went to Vivroux for the umpteenth time for another batting
glove or mouth guard. Wait a minute; come to think of it Vivroux should
probably thank me. There was enough merchandise in that one drawer to cover
their rent for a month! Thanks to the trainers and docs for keeping him patched
up especially for that all-important senior year. Thanks to all the parents and
grandparents and other dads for the camaraderie. These are kindred spirits
brought together for an experience that is naturally shared from the inside
out. To all those people who were sick of the football parents who could
seemingly talk about nothing else for four years, thanks for your
understanding. It will ease off now we promise. Thanks to the boys for all of
the time and effort spent making themselves the best players they could be and
for the priceless memories. Yes it sometimes was a hassle to tell us about
every syllable that was uttered by the coaches at halftime and after the game.
We’re not sorry. It was as close as we could come to a do-over. And finally,
thanks to the coaches at the junior high and high school. When we hand off to
you, you play a vital role. In my very ordinary high school sports career I had
a few good coaches and a few that were dreadful. I remember each of them. I
personally am grateful, and I know others are as well, for the experience,
skills, values, lessons and confidence that this Mules coaching staff imparted
to our kids from junior high on up.
If you haven’t done so yet,
approach “the drawer” with caution. Do it because you have to eventually cross
over. But give yourself a few minutes and reflect on the importance of the
moment. Don’t just open it and shut it like you would the one just above it.
Remember the hours in the backyard tossing the football or baseball, tackling
the guys in the hallway in their pajamas before bed, hauling the juice boxes
and donuts on your snack day, painting their helmets, throwing batting practice,
car-pooling to practice, playing H-O-R-S-E, and all the rest. Then close the
drawer. Maybe you can use the stuff for the younger brother. If this is truly
the end of it, I hope you soaked up every minute of this year and stored the
memory in its own special place. I did.
Go Mules!!!
Good Luck!
Bob Cohen – November 2015
