Kerrville Tivy 71, Alamo Heights 57 November 6, 2015

Mules Fall to District Champ Kerrville Tivy in 71-57 Season Finale

-       Playoffs Down to Wire but Mules Locked Out

-       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 11^th 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 127^th 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 87^th 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