Mules Buffalo Hunt
Successful; Clemens Falls to Alamo Heights 31-10
-Trade Buffalo hide for playoff slot in 27-4A
-District title game next for the Mules at Buda
(San Antonio)—The Alamo Heights
Mules bench has resembled a M.A.S.H. unit from time to time this year. Friday night was one of those
times. But the Mules responded
with one of their inspiring performances of the year and secured a spot in the
playoffs by knocking Clemens off their perch 31-10 on Homecoming Night at Harry
B. Orem Stadium. Clemens (7-2,
5-1) came in ranked number two in the Express News Sub-5A rankings and the
Mules (7-2, 5-1) ranked number three.
The Mules are always well prepared
and when preparation and execution meet, good things have happened this
season. There was much talk about
the Clemens strong defense all week but the Mules were up to the task putting a
knot on their heads early. Heights
put seven on the board before the Buffalos even knew what hit them. Alamo Heights moved the ball down the
field with efficiency and good protection for quarterback Dalton Banks. Tight end Christian Lalinde took a 31
yard pass from Banks under two minutes into the game to cash in the Mules’
first points. This was set up earlier in the drive after Banks and Jake Osborne
hooked up for a deep route. Osborne
finished the night as the game’s leading receiver with five catches for 99
yards. Then the Mules defense went to work and stopped Clemens on a fourth and four
play when Jay Hargrove intercepted a pass from Buffalo QB JJ Elkins, the first
of four he would give up on the night.
This led to the second successful offensive drive, which culminated in a
TD pass to running back Brandon Wasson from nine yards out.
Wasson had come into the game when
the area’s leading scorer Byron Proctor, went out with an apparent ankle
sprain. Proctor tried coming back
in but quickly realized he was done for the night. It was to be a stellar night for Wasson who piled up 121 hard
yards of rushing, the nine yards receiving which resulted in one of two
touchdowns and a gutty performance on an unsettled gut.
The Mules defense stopped Clemens
on the following drive when free safety Cameron Dawley, one of the other
stars of the night, came off the edge to sack Clemens quarterback JJ Elkins to
stop a drive and force a field goal attempt of 31 yards which got the Buffalos
on the board for their only offensive score of the night. Dawley also stopped the final scoring attempt
of the first half when he picked off an Elkins attempt in the end zone to keep
the Mules lead at 14-3.
The Mules maintained their
intensity coming out of the halftime locker room with an effective ball control
drive featuring mostly runs and finishing with a 27 yard field goal from Robert
Carter. The third quarter yielded
Clemens’ only touchdown of the night when Jacob Ferguson recovered a fumble and
rambled 46 yards for a touchdown.
The key offensive drive for the
Mules in the second half occurred midway through the third quarter and again
featured a steady combination of pass and run which got the Mules down deep
inside Clemens territory when suddenly running back Brandon Wasson needed to
leave the field after executing and end around lateral. As it turns out, Wasson had a bit of an
upset stomach and needed an answer for that, which occurred for all to see just
before the snap. Wasson took a one
play break and after scoffing down a couple of breath mints and the field was
cleaned up, came back into the game and finished the drive with an eight yard
touchdown run for his second score of the night in the most unusual drive he
may ever experience.
Effectiveness of their own on
defense was a key for the Mules as the last score of the night to seal the
victory came on a blocked Clemens punt by Cameron Dawley, who has been so close
so many times this season, and was gathered up by Zach McConnell who rumbled 36
yards for the score. This play was
set up after a very sore senior defensive end Ben McSween blew around a Clemens
tackle to get a key sack and end a Buffalo drive. The Mules defense picked up
four interceptions in the game and held Clemens to 12 first downs.
Offensively, Wasson’s second half
107 yard effort was a highlight.
QB Dalton Banks had another strong game going 16 for 28 for 262 yards
and two touchdowns. Receiver
Robert Schuler hauled in six passes for 70 yards. In addition to tucking away a playoff berth, the win for the
Mules sets up an opportunity to win the District 27-4A crown outright when they
travel to Bob Shelton Stadium to face Buda Hays on Friday November 8 at 7:30
p.m. Each time comes into the game with one district loss.
“His Inside Voice”
A weekly discussion with
Coach Mike Norment
Mule
Fan: Three things about the win over
Clemens that come to mind. The
defense didn’t allow a touchdown and forced turnovers. Special teams got a turnover and scored
a touchdown. Then it seems the
biggest accomplishment of the night is that you knew Clemens’ strength was
their defense and you handled their defense seemingly with ease. Did this come off to you as the Mules
most complete game of the year?
Coach
Norment: This one and probably
Boerne were the two most complete games we’ve had because of all three phases
of the game came together. We’ve
had different phases throughout the year but this is when it all came together
and we’re playing some good football right now. We played good against Lockhart and against Clemens and
we’re on a little bit of a roll.
We’re feeling good. We’re
starting to get healthy again.
We’ve got depth because we’ve had to play some other people so hopefully
we’re hitting our stride. We
haven’t peaked and we’re going to the playoffs.
Mule
Fan: We heard you tell the kids in
the locker room that this is what happens when you have a week of good
practices. You hear coaches talk
about that a lot. What helps you
determine that it has been a good week of practice when you look back over a
week?
Coach
Norment: We’ve had two good weeks
of practice. First of all you have
to have a great attitude. Mondays
are always going to be the roughest days because that’s when you’re putting new
schemes on; you’re making a few changes so those are always going to be the toughest
days. The second day, hopefully
some of the things you’ve put on (in practice) Monday are starting to get a
little clearer and the kids are starting to understand better and execute
better. By Wednesday they’ve gotten most of that taken care of. At the same time you’ve got to have
great attitude and be flyin’ around and giving great effort. It’s a combination of knocking out
mistakes and getting crisp in your execution. At the same time having great attitude and flying around and
we’ve had two weeks of that. Like
today (Tuesday) we weren’t perfect by any means but we were flying around and
had a good attitude and were better than we were yesterday. So that’s our goal and hopefully we’re
better tomorrow than we were today.
Mule
Fan: As you have said in Film
Night, it is hard to get a blocked punt or field goal at this level. Cameron Dawley has been close so many
times this year and he finally got his claws on one on Friday and we “scoop and
score” off of it. What about the
operation allowed him to get to this one this time and get the block?
Coach
Norment: First of all there are a lot of things that are going on. The person next to him has to engage
the end at the line of scrimmage so that he can’t block out or widen to make
the outside man, or Cameron in this case, go wide. If you go wide, you won’t get it. So we did a great job of occupying him. We came right off the defender’s butt
and had a great angle. On the
other side we’ve got to have somebody be ready for the ball to be able to pick
it up and run with it after it. So
we block the punt and if we didn’t have that then we would have recovered the
ball but we wouldn’t have scored and you don’t know what’s going to
happen. So there are several
things that are going on at the same time and it all worked perfectly and we
were able to occupy the last man, come off the edge, block it and the next man
(Zach McConnell) from the other side pick up the ball and score. Looks great but they all had to do the
things that they’ve been working on this whole year for that to come about.
Mule
Fan: Now the playoff berth is sewn
up but there’s more at stake this Friday with Buda Hays is there not?
Coach
Norment: Well first of all it is
for the outright district championship.
Alamo Heights hasn’t been outright district champ since 2007. We shared several in that time
period but we haven’t been outright district champs. And also it goes down to seeding. We’re going to be “small school” (division) no matter
what. The four schools are already
set. Hays and Clemens are “big
school” (based on enrollment numbers when district’s realigned two years ago)
and Heights and Tivy are the small schools. If we win we’ll be the number one seed and if we lose we’ll
be the number two seed. You just
want to go into the playoffs on a positive note and on a roll. So that’s what we’re looking at. We want to go out there and play well
going into the playoffs.
Mule
Fan: If you could to choose at the
beginning of the season, would you rather have three pressure packed games at
the end of the season to sharpen up rather than the most important games at the
beginning?
Coach
Norment: Pressure packed and you
win them is much better than pressure packed and not winning. I like the fact that after the Tivy
game we picked it up some. We
talked about having to win two out of the next three to get into the playoffs
and we knocked the two out right away.
We always talk about how you respond to things. Clemens picks up a fumble and scores
and cuts the lead to seven and then we go down and score. We responded. So it’s always great to
see how a team responds to different situations and we’ve responded so far
really well. I’m curious how we’re
going to respond to this situation of going out there not really having a whole
lot to play for besides seeding purposes going into the playoffs. I really think this team is very
focused. I truly believe that the
Tivy game opened their eyes a little bit.
Mule
Fan: So with the district title up
for grabs we come upon Buda Hays, which has been one of the strong teams of the
district all season. What do you
see out of them that has given them the success they’ve had and what can we
expect this Friday?
Coach
Norment: Every coach I’ve talked
to says they’re real physical.
They’re going to come up and hit you offensively and defensively so
that’s going to be a challenge. Another challenge is that on defense we’re
going to see a 3-4, which we haven’t seen in a while, many weeks in fact. So we have to go back and talk about
how we block that defense. They do a lot of slanting and lot more blitzing than
we’ve seen so it is curious to see what’s going to happen as the game
unfolds. Offensively they have a
couple of different schemes. They
run a jet sweep which is a guy coming across the formation handing off to him
that we have seen. But then
they’ll actually run a triple option veer that we haven’t seen. So with those
two things our defense will have some challenges. They’ll be well coached and their special teams are going to
be solid so we have to prepare for that too. It will require a good game in all three phases to have a
chance to beat those guys.
Other District 27-4A Results
November 1, 2013
Buda
Hays 38, Boerne Champion 7
Kyle
Lehman 40, Lockhart 9
Kerrville
Tivy 51, Seguin 15
District 27-4A Standings
Alamo
Heights 5-1
Buda
Hays
5-1
Clemens
4-2
Kerrville
Tivy 4-2
Boerne
Champion 3-3
Kyle
Lehman 2-4
Lockhart
1-5
Seguin
1-5
Upcoming District 27-4A
Schedule 11/8/13
Kerrville
Tivy at Lockhart
Seguin
at Boerne Champion
Kyle
Lehman at Clemens
Alamo
Heights vs Buda Hays (at Bob Shelton Stadium in Kyle)
Playoff Scoop:
The Mule Fan was on top of the developing playoff picture this week seeking out the finest and most reliable and respected sources in the land who all said this is how they believe things will look. Here's how things break down.
The Mules will face Brennan, Burbank or Lanier first round. Highlands plays Brackenridge and Lanier plays Burbank this weekend. If Highlands wins and Burbank loses this weekend (both have to happen), the Mules will face Brennan in the small school division. If Highlands loses or if Burbank wins the Mules will play either Burbank or Lanier. In this circumstance, if the Mules win, they'll play the loser of the Burbank-Lanier game. If the Mules lose, they'll play the winner of the Burbank-Lanier game.
This will all be sorted out by Sunday because Burbank and Lanier play on Saturday night. Stay tuned. Just don't make any plans for a weekend getaway next week.
A Mule Fan Exclusive Behind the Scenes Look
Your Mule Fan editors were granted special access to the fragrant and elated post game locker room after the Clemens victory. Here's your chance to see what goes on after a victory with these exclusive videos. Especially a big victory. We're sorry we can't give you the full effect with a special "scratch and sniff" pad. But that technology doesn't exist yet. Trust us. In this case, you've been spared. Enjoy the gleeful footage.
Mule Notes:
As expected, the Mules swapped places in the area sub-5A rankings with Clemens are now ranked #2 behind Brennan at 10-0…Mules QB Dalton Banks is 10th in the area in total offense with 2,265 yards. He's 4th in area passing yardage with 1,986…receiver Robert Schuler is 4th in area receiving with 50 catches…Byron Proctor expectedly dropped out of the scoring lead in the city due to having to sit out almost all of Friday's game against Clemens but still ranks 7th with 120 points…defensive back Mitchell Abramson sneaks into the interception chart at 11th with four picks.
Ticket Office Hours
for the road trip week of 11/8 are Wednesday and Thursday from 8:30am-12:00pm
& 1:30pm-3:00pm and Friday from 8:30am-3:00pm. Tickets are priced at $6 for adults and $3 for
students. Tickets are $7 from
kinder and up if you buy them at the gate. Leave your favorite umbrella at home. They don’t allow them into the
stadium.
Cliché Corner –
Cuz learnin’ is gud!
Impress your friends;
baffle your enemies with all this nawlidge.
Choose the football cliché.
A. He’s so
tough, he eats rocks an bleeds gravel
B. If rash persists, call a physician
Answer: A. The player is tough but may need dental
work
Mules on Radio and
Online
It’s a road trip and the Mules could use some noise at the
stadium. But if you can’t make it,
follow the Mules on KBUC 92.5/93.3 FM or www.TSRNsports.com. Ed Suarez, Dave Parker and Albert
Gonzalez will call the action and keep the numbers straight.
Gene, Gene the
Southwest Conference Scoring Machine
Our very own Gene Phillips, Alamo Heights Athletic Director
and Head Coach of the girl’s varsity basketball team, was honored last week
with a great honor as he was inducted into the Southwest Conference and Texas
Sports Hall of Fame. Gene was a
legendary college basketball player at SMU and holds a record for the most points
scored in a Southwest Conference game with a 51-point effort on the University
of Texas. He was called the purest
shooter in SMU history. This
reporter used to walk past a big photo every day, as we walked to our office in
the concourse of the historic Moody Coliseum on the SMU campus, of Gene knocking
in a baseline shot against an SWC victim. In high school, Gene dumped in a record 81 points in a game,
which survives today as the most points scored in a Texas high school
game. Phillips also has some great
stories about his two-year pro career with the ABA Dallas Chaparrals, the team
that moved to San Antonio and became the Spurs. Congratulations Gene!
The Alamo Heights community is very proud and happy for Gene on this well
deserved honor.
This Week's Canned Ham(s)…are well deserved by two winners. 
For their efforts, Cameron Dawley and Brandon Wasson collect the swine. Dawley finally got his mitts on an opponent's punt which Zach McConnell scooped and fled chasers for a 36 yard touchdown return. Dawley also had an interception. And Brandon Wasson overcame his bout with nausea and his eventual urp to turn in the 121 yard rushing performance scoring one touchdown running and one touchdown receiving. Eat up boys!
For their efforts, Cameron Dawley and Brandon Wasson collect the swine. Dawley finally got his mitts on an opponent's punt which Zach McConnell scooped and fled chasers for a 36 yard touchdown return. Dawley also had an interception. And Brandon Wasson overcame his bout with nausea and his eventual urp to turn in the 121 yard rushing performance scoring one touchdown running and one touchdown receiving. Eat up boys!
Editor’s Note (disclaimer): We will say it and own this right up front. As far as senior running back Brandon
Wasson is concerned, he had a heroic night and we hope you agree that we have
treated nearly every bit of his
performance on the field with the deepest respect and admiration. But we cannot ignore the circumstances.
(And truly, what is about to follow is only slightly about him but more about
the act of barfing on a football field which few of us get to experience. And we are heartened by Brandon's sense of humor on the topic as evidenced in his comments to the San Antonio Express News.) The Mule Fan editors were gabbing
amongst themselves after the game debating how to treat the topic involving
bodily functions in this week’s post.
Should we ignore it? Uh uh. We must address it. As we hope you know by now, your
editorial staff tries to entertain you
each week. Occasionally, we must
entertain ourselves and
identify community health topics that are relevant. (It is nearly the cold and
flu season). Too much was bubbling up (sorry) in our minds and we just had to
let it out (I know, I know…).
When we unrolled Saturday’s San Antonio Express News and saw
that not only did Lorne Chan (the Express News man covering the high school
beet [sp!!]) devote two paragraphs and a quote to Wasson’s blow-by-blow night
(somebody please stop me), the EN sports desk editors used it in their
headline??!!! Really!!??? Well,
it’s on. We will not be outdone by
the schlemiels at the local daily. After all, we are classically trained in this area. And when we are offered up nuggets (I’m ashamed and so out
of control) like this, we must pounce.
We are imagining the conversations you are having at home
right now. Something like this
perhaps….
Mule Mom reader to Mule Dad: “He’s going too far with this isn’t he? Enough already. It’s already overdone. Is he nine years old or something?? What's next? Hawaiian nose humming?”
Mule Dad reader to Mule Mom: “No he is right on target. And to be fair, this clown typically spews forth {so, so
sorry, :)} what we are all thinking. We know
we can count on him. He is
rounding into playoff form.”
A note about the aftermath: Once the Mule Fan editorial staff realized what had
happened, the synapses opened up so that we could make keen observations about
social behavior in our species. To
begin with, we didn’t hear one person say “bless his heart, his tummy hurts.” Well
maybe a few of those. There was confusion as to why the players were taking a
knee and collective worry that we typically see when a blue and gold uniform is
laying out on the turf. We
had already had plenty of that on this big night. Your editors were wondering in our own minds where the Haz
Mat unit was going to come from.
Suddenly from the bench, the Mules’ brave assistant athletic trainer
Amanda Boyd stepped out onto the field with a nice white towel. She will now have a good career story
to tell at Thanksgiving this month and for many years to come about how she
collects evidence and examines symptoms before deciding how to treat
things. Interesting though how
head athletic trainer Mike Post was nearby, but principally in a supervisory
role. Notably, he has a reputation
of being a superb delegator and on this night his acumen was on full
display. One must pay their dues
right? As always, he was supportive.
What’s on the Menu:
The subject then reverted to what the lads had dined on earlier at the
traditional Friday varsity lunch.
And we think we found the problem.
It was revealed that the bill o’ fare was chili cheese dogs! What?? No side order of beef stroganoff and
mashed peas?? At that point, why
hold back? Had it been an early September game, this situation could have been
biblical in proportions.
Fortunately it was not a hot night. (No offense intended to the hosts.
It was an honest effort and I would have eaten three of them. And in fairness the chili and cheese
was optional so the players bear some responsibility in their choices. We are told that the coaching staff
wisely passed on the chili, which had to be difficult to do.)
Note to future varsity lunch hosts:
Although a batch of larrupin' chili cheese dogs are a good, yummy and respected stadium comfort food,
it is better that they be fed to tailgaters and out of concession stands and
not to guys who will be doing 2½ hours of wind sprints with 25 pounds of
padding on their bodies. To be
safe, this week we think the hosts should ladle out bowls of chicken noodle
soup accompanied by all the saltine crackers they can eat, some club soda for
the beverage followed by popsicles and be done with it.
Okay that’s enough.
We think we’ve coughed up enough on this subject. :)
