Jack Pardee, 1936-2013

» Daily Cougar: Legendary former coach dies at 76

Sad news for the day, but we knew the day was coming. It would probably be enough for me to look at Pardee’s track record at my alma mater and be proud enough to claim the Aggie as a sports hero. There were a number of great players developed by Pardee on the field around the time I went to school there. And while the team fared poorly after he left for the Oilers, there was still some great talent that he brought in. All good and well.

But what I remember most about Pardee’s time was the aftermath of the Jeff Alm suicide in 1993. By every account, that was a moment when Pardee’s character was needed most and by all the recollections that I have of the era, the players spoke highly of his handling at the time. That it came in the midst of a season with David Williams’ “Babygate” episode and the Ryan v Gilbride sideline boxing match during the same season should have been enough to phase most teams. But it’s hard to image many things that would phase Pardee. Texas lost a good one this week.

The Kevin Kolb Era: Let’s Try This One More Time

» Buffalo News: Bills add Kolb to quarterback mix

I can’t say I’m crazy about the fit, but it’s a gig and as good of an opportunity that I think Kolb can find these days. I’m not sure what kind of offense Chan Gailey runs up north, but I’ve always seen Kolb as a good fit for anything that favors a high-percentage passing office (Philly’s West Coast style was as good as the NFL offers). Injuries, of course, are perhaps a bigger issue with Kolb. Proving he can go through a majority of the season as the designated starter would be a very welcome first.

But in any event, I’ll be watching Bills games with more interest than I have since Jim Kelly left the USFL.

JerryWorld 2012: Belated Saturday Night Lights

Saturday went so well that I had a chance to get to the stadium before I even woke up … errr, collected my notes for the teams playing that day. So this’ll obviously serve as a recap for whoever spends their holiday free time reading blogs.

On the whole, the games this day were all entertaining from start to finish. I still get the most enjoyment from watching small schools play for a title, but the schools that look like a decent college program on the field didn’t disappoint this year. Each game had a lot to offer.

» Denton Guyer v Georgetown … I saw Guyer lose to Cibolo Steele last year. This time around, I had little idea what to expect from Georgetown, but their defense made for some great viewing early on. That was before 2014 UT commit Jerrod Heard blew things open. This was the only time I recall seeing a team change momentum in the game, still be behind by four points in the third quarter, but had a sense that the game was all but over because Guyer was beginning to get their offense in sync. UT could be scary whenever it’s Heard’s turn to be under center. Great two-way threat. The final was 48-37

DMN: Guyer QB Jerrod Heard accounts for 7 TDs; Wildcats erase 16-point deficit to win 4A-I title over Georgetown

» Katy v Cedar Hill … For me, it felt odd rooting for Katy since I’ve never been much of a fan of theirs. But they were definitely the favorite and the entire weekend was shaping up to be big for the extended Houston area with Navasota and East Bernard already winners. I’ll give Cedar Hill credit for proving me wrong to think that the real championship was played between Katy and Cibolo Steele the week before. The Tigers won their 7th title on more than the legwork of Adam Taylor, who should give some reason to take notice of Nebraska in the years ahead. Cedar Hill managed to put Katy in the rare position of trailing in the second half for a brief period of time. I think that speaks volumes for the quality of play Cedar Hill brought. In the end, it was 35-24 Katy and another trophy for the dynasty.

Chron: Katy runs through Cedar Hill for 5A Division II state title

» Houston Lamar v Allen … Pure underdog scenario for Lamar in this game. Yet they managed to acquit themselves nicely in front of 48,379 fans in the stadium (1,500 shy of the unofficial record set in 1977). In the end, the Allen buzzsaw won out 35-21 on the arm and legs of sophomore (read: 15 yr old) QB Kyler Murray.

As an indicator of how nuts high school football in Texas is, consider this …

FWIW, #Katy RB & #Huskers commit Adam Taylor was trending on Twitter. Not in Texas. Not nationally. Worldwide. es.pn/Tgzm5H

— Damon Sayles (@DamonSayles) December 23, 2012

Chron: Resilient Lamar sees title dream dashed by Allen

The DMN has some other choice nuggets from Day Three. I’ll definitely say that it was one of the better overall full days of football that I’ve seen in the three years I’ve done this marathon.

Next year’s tournament will not only have one extra game to fit in, but there’s a chance that it might take place in Houston. If nothing else, I truly hope they keep the single-site option for as long as I can keep up the habit of attending these. There’s not a better value for what you get to see and it’s well worth the vacation time. I just hope I get to see my alma mater back in a title game soon enough.

JerryWorld 2012: Friday Night Lights

The Dallas Morning News crew does a decent job of the one-stop overview of today’s games at JerryWorld. It seems to be a pattern that the smaller the schools, the more interesting the games based on my scan of the teams involved today. Today’s lineup offers a good contrast in school sizes as we get one game each from 2A, 3A, and 4A.

Yesterday’s 1A games definitely lived up to the billing and the handful of college recruited players on display showed they can own a game at the 1A level. Munday’s Dee Paul played injured. Stamford’s Hagen Hutchinson won the game MVP award for both offense and defense (announced as a first). The late game was more one-sided, with East Bernard leading Corsicana Mildred 28-0 at the half (which was my cue to leave). The final ended at 56-14 and was a good showcase opportunity for EB’s Troy Slanina (TCU) and Mildred’s Nic Shimonek (Iowa). Most of what I saw Shimonek do was run for his life in the backfield while Slanina ran a pretty disciplined old-school running offense.

I’m a few minutes away from heading out for Day 2 of some great football. And, again, I’ll be keeping tabs on twitter and facebook.

JerryWorld 2012: Thursday Night Lights

Below is my cheat sheet on today’s championship games on players to watch for. I’ll be tweeting at various points in the games and posting some pics on facebook as events amuse me. Feel free to check in if football means anything to you this weekend. I’ll likely update this as I get in more research right before the game.

1A-D2

» Munday Moguls
(averaging 58 points and 467 total yards per game)

QB/DB Dee Paul – headed to SMU. Rushed for over 2,000 yards as a junior. Paul is the AP Defensive Player of the year.
DL Lawrence Collier
RB Roddrick Taylor – rushed for 1497 yards and 25 TDs this season.

» Tenaha Tigers
(defeated Stamford 34-27 in regular season)

RB Chavis Gregory – Junior player who has 1465 rushing yards, 22 TDs this season.
LB DeAaron Roland

1A-D1

» Stamford Bulldogs

QB/FS Hagen Hutchinson – dual threat QB who played in last year’s championship game, throwing for 353 yards after being unable to throw due to an injury the week before. This season’s passing yardage is 2,153 with 33 TDs. On the ground, he gained 994 yards with 13 TDs. His dad is the head coach for Stamford. No scholarship info that I’ve run across, but there’s a report that he’s interested in Brigham Young.
LB Ty McLemore

» Mart Panthers
(coach’s name is Rusty Nail … seriously, how cool is that?)

QB NeNerian Thomas – only a sophomore.
WR/DB/K Quentin Bryant
LB Collin Nail – coach’s kid, won All-State honors last season as a Freshman.

2A-D2

» Corsicana Mildred

RB/DB Draylon Sterling
DB Jeremy Ballard
QB Nic Shimonek – Iowa commit, has over 2500 passing yards this season and 842 on the ground.

» East Bernard
QB/DB Ty Slanina – headed to TCU next season, where he’ll play slot receiver.
LB Trevor Long
DB Grant Aschenbeck

Return to JerryWorld

Later today, I’m off for what seems like a new annual tradition of catching the High School Football championship games in Arlington. Oh, and there are also parents to visit and catch up with for a portion of the holidays.

For the sportier option, here’s what’s on tap …

Thursday – December 20th
————————-
1A-D2 – 12pm – Munday vs Tenaha
1A-D1 – 4pm – Stamford vs Mart
2A-D2 – 8pm – Corsicana Mildred vs East Bernard

The small schools were the most fun to watch last year and I expect them to be as entertaining this year. If you’re any kind of football fan and you’re not up for the full marathon like me, I’d easily recommend the Thursday batch of games. The 1A-D2 game is a rematch of last year’s game won by Teneha. This year, Munday is the team returning a lot of seniors and possibly the favorite. Stamford is a repeat appearance from last year, when they lost to Mason. Along the way to last year’s appearance, however, Stamford beat Mart in the semi-final game. And the 2011 championship game was between these same two schools. So there should be plenty of familiarity and bad blood to go around. I have no idea what to expect this time, but I’ll be shocked if the 4pm game is a disappointment. I know absolutely nothing of the 2A-D2 schools and that’s my homework for the vacation.

Friday – December 21st
———————-
2A-D1 – 12pm – Daingerfield vs Cameron Yoe
3A-D2 – 4pm – Gilmer vs Navasoto
4A-D2 – 8pm – Lancaster vs Cedar Park

This will be the first chance I’ve had to see either of the 2A-D1 teams, but both have been mainstays of the top teams at that level in the past. Ditto for the 3A-D2 schools. I’m only vaguely familiar with the 4A-D2 schools, which takes some doing since I tend to at least have some familiarity with the better programs at that level. That entire field didn’t strike me as particularly strong once it was set. But a large part of that is due to a number of programs moving up to 5A and even a few notables moving down to 3A. One of those – Stephenville – won their 3A championship game last week. It’s definitely a new decade in 4A football. Hopefully, next year won’t see me lose out on free time for following Friday night action.

Saturday – December 22nd
————————
4A-D1 – 12pm – Denton Guyer vs Georgetown
5A-D2 – 4pm – Cedar Hill vs Katy
5A-D1 – 8pm – Allen vs Houston Lamar

This is just going to be a great day of football. Obviously, the Houston area is well represented here. I suspect that Lamar is a sacrificial lamb in the big game. Katy should be favored, but just as last week’s big game against former State Champs Cibolo Steele showed, the level of competition is enough to make the game interesting. Denter Guyer is a repeat appearance from last season and arrives this year after a shootout against Tyler John Tyler High. I’m a little disappointed that I don’t get to see the UH QB commit from Tyler, but I’ll live.

All in all, not a great deal of major rooting interests. Manvel lost a heartbreaker to a subpar team and Euless Trinity failed to make it through the buzzsaw of great Region 1 teams in their bracket. Finally seeing Gilmer in action is a bit of a treat.

It’s not lost on me that the folks at Reliant Stadium have purchased a new carpet to try and compete for these games in the years ahead. I’d obviously love to see that, but I’ll have to get a little creative about finding some time to trek back up to DFW for some family time.

Linkage …

» Chron: Story lines to follow at high school football title games
» DMN: What you need to know: UIL 5A, 4A, 2A state football championships
» KTXS: Stamford ready for bright lights of Jerry World this time around
» WF Times Record: Tenaha took its lumps early on
» WF Times Record: AP picks Paul as Defensive MVP in Class A
» Star-Telegram: Texas APSE Class 2A and 1A all-state football teams

What’s Left of High School Football Playoffs

Euless Trinity. Out. Manvel High. Out. I’m not sure that I have much of a rooting interest left in anyone for the remainder of the high school football playoffs. I’m starting to scope out what I might have to look forward to at the JerryWorld High School Football Woodstockapalooza later this month. For a day, though, I’m greiving the loss of the two schools I wanted to see play there.

That said, the games left in 5A-D1 to settle on half of the bracket are each marvels in scheduling. Allen vs Dallas Skyline and Southlake Carroll vs Desoto will only end up with one team in the championship game. With apologies to HISD’s Lamar High, I’d expect Galena Park’s North Shore to be on the other side of the field for that last game. Even if they manage to get upset, I think there’s going to be a good team from the DFW area crowned for this title. All along, this was a tough bracket for Euless Trinity to get to JerryWorld from in a year when they didn’t have as solid of an offense to go any deeper. My standard M.O. is to root against whoever’s playing against Southlake Carroll. And for the record, the only loss on SLC this season was at the hands of Allen High. If there’s a rematch of that game, I’m hunting down an internet radio feed. And rooting for Allen.

In 5A-D2, Katy is the 800-pound gorilla. They’ll likely face Cibolo Steele the week after next. That’s essentially a title game for all intents and purposes. I’d love to see that scheduled at Reliant, but it probably won’t happen. Austin Westlake is likely coming out of the other side of the bracket. That should make for another great title game, if it pans out that way.

The entire 4A field in both divisions strikes me as far more of an unknown this year. In large part, that’s because so many of the interesting teams in years past have either moved up to 5A (Manvel) or down to 3A (Stephenville, La Marque). Nederland pulled off a nice upset of Pearland Dawson at Reliant this weekend, so maybe they’re playing a hot hand. We’ll see who makes it to Arlington. Sometimes the games you know the least about end up being among the more entertaining.

The 3A fields will end up with championship games on two separate weekends. That means I’ll miss out on the D1 game, which is likely to have a better matchup. I’ll pick this as ending up with Carthage vs Stephenville. Two great football towns that will miss out on playing in front of 30-40,000 people. But they’re at least more proximate to Arlington, so they should travel well and maybe play in front of 10-12,000. Division 2 has a few solid programs still in the hunt. No chance of seeing La Marque play for a championship again, though.

For the smaller school brackets, it’s a study in contrasts. 2A has a lot of programs left playing that I’m not terribly studied up on. But both 1A brackets still have potential for a rematch of both games played last year. As much as I like to see new schools from time to time, I think I’d find a complete 1A rematch setup pretty interesting for once.

In memoriam, here’s the profile KHOU ran on Manvel High. I’m not ready to call it a jinx, but I’m not over the narrow loss they suffered Saturday, either.

In better news, there seems to be a fair chance of Baylor being offered an invite to the Meineke Bowl here in Houston. One of the other predictions out there seems to suggest West Virginia as a possibility, instead. Either way, I think Art Briles or Dana Holgorsen coming back to Houston for a game would be some fun football to watch.

Kevin Kolb > Tom Brady

Things that amuse me greatly …

Kolb starts the season, nominally, with a 2-0 record now. His stat line certainly wasn’t better than Brady, nor was it in line with what you’d expect of an Andy Reid-taught QB to produce. But the season goes one week at a time. It’ll be interesting to see how much this fuels a legitimate QB controversy in Arizona.

The Other Ex-Coog To Win Off the Bench …

Kevin Kolb wasn’t the only ex-Coog to look good coming into the game for an injured starting QB. Terrance Broadway finally got an opportunity to shine for his new school: Louisina-Lafayette.

In this case, the starter went down with bruised ribs. There’s a chance he’ll be back next weekend.

The Kevin Kolb Era … v2.1

» AZ Republic: What a relief: Arizona Cardinals QB Kevin Kolb takes short route to redemption
» AZ Republic: Arizona Cardinals edge Seattle Seahawks in Week 1 of NFL season

Not quite how it was scripted, but for the few of us remaining Kevin Kolb fans … we’ll take it.

All Kolb did is what Skelton made a habit of doing a year ago: directing a scoring drive from an offense that tends to spend whole quarters in dormancy.

Many of the 60,032 in attendance booed when Kolb entered with 8:18 remaining, and it didn’t help when he overthrew receiver Larry Fitzgerald on the first play.

But using a no-huddle scheme, Kolb quickly found a rhythm. He completed 6 of his next 7, including a 6-yard touchdown to Andre Roberts that gave the Cardinals a 20-16 lead with 4:59 left.

“It was pretty special, I’m not going to lie,” Kolb said. “To win a game in that fashion, after the way the preseason went, I’ll definitely enjoy it.”

It appears Kolb will be the starter for at least the next several weeks. The Cardinals will know more about Skelton’s condition Monday, but the best scenario seems to be that he has a high ankle sprain.

No definitive word on how long Skelton is out. But the early ballpark estimates seem to suggest 3-6 weeks. If nothing else, it sounds like Kolb will have some time to show what he’s made of by the time Skelton is fully ready to play.

Oh yeah … and the Texans won and the RGIII vs Luck comparisons begin with RG in the lead. I think I managed to catch the end of the Green Bay v 49ers game over the opening weekend. Improvement is definitely needed on my part.

2012 HS Weekly: Week One

Another week … and a turnaround of fortunes for Trinity High.

 1.  Dallas Skyline      Arlington Martin   W 37-34   2-0
 2.  Lake Travis         NB Canyon          W 49-7    2-0
 3.  Allen               Cedar Hill         W 37-20   2-0
 4.  Katy                Alief Taylor       W 23-9    2-0
 5.  Cibolo Steele       Converse Judson    W 42-35   2-0
 6.  DeSoto              Jenks (OK)         W 46-27   2-0
 7.  Southlake Carroll   Midland            W 63-3    1-1
 8.  Euless Trinity      Union (OK)         W 21-18   1-1
 9.  Manvel              North Shore        L 28-56   1-1
10.  Abilene             Duncanville        W 26-8    2-0
11.  Hewitt Midway       A&M Consolidated   W 34-27   2-0
12.  Arlington Martin    @ Dallas Skyline   L 34-37   0-2
13.  Pearland            @ FB Kempner       W 24-0    2-0
14.  Cedar Hill          @ Allen            L 20-37   1-1
15.  The Woodlands       FB Hightower       W 30-7    1-1
16.  Spring Dekaney      ## bye ##                    1-0
17.  GP North Shore      @ Manvel           W 56-28   2-0
18.  Longview            ## bye ##                    0-1
19.  SA Reagan           @ SA O'Connor      W 49-42   2-0
20.  Austin Westlake     @ Temple           L 42-49   1-1

The two Texas teams managed to hold court over Oklahoma during Saturday’s festivities at Pennington Field. I seem to recall that next year will have the same four teams, but with the interstate matchups flipped. The top-tier upset, however, involved the other team I’m pulling for this year – Manvel. Unfortunately, the defense coughed up 49 unanswered points. I guess North Shore’s back. There likely won’t be a ton of movement in the Top 10, but it’ll be curious to see how many first place votes Allen gets since they’ve managed to pour it on two good teams in their new stadium.

 1.  Tyler John Tyler   @ Lancaster         L 21-26   1-1
 2.  Aledo              @ Stephenville      L 28-41   1-1
 3.  Leander            @ Hendrickson       W 35-0    2-0
 4.  Pearland Dawson    Montgomery          W 28-7    1-0
 5.  CC Calallen        Weslaco East        W 21-7    2-0
 6.  Denton Guyer       @ C'ville Heritage  L 38-54   0-2
 7.  Cedar Park         Abilene Cooper      L 14-17   0-2
 8.  Highland Park      Monterrey Tech      W 34-23   1-1
 9.  Angleton           Brazoswood          W 69-28   2-0
10.  Kerrville Tivy     @ SA Madison        L 14-44   1-1

When we last checked, three of the top four teams in 4A lost in Week Zero. Now, the top two teams lose. I seriously have a hard time thinking of Leander as the best that 4A has to offer. Dawson & Callallen are a bit more believable.

 1.  La Marque              @ Texas City     W 34-21   2-0
 2.  Coldspring-Oakhurst    @ Navasota       L 8-36    1-1
 3.  Navasota               C'spring-O'hurst W 36-8    2-0
 4.  Wimberley              Giddings         L 26-31   1-1
 5.  Waco La Vega           @ Hutto          W 35-9    2-0
 6.  Carthage               Lindale          W 38-21   1-1
 7.  Stephenville           Aledo            W 41-28   1-1
 8.  Gilmer                 Prestonwood      L 12-42   1-1
 9.  Abiline Wylie          Bridgeport       W 42-0    2-0
10.  Argyle                 @ FW Nolan       W 28-7    1-1

So far, so good for La Marque. Gilmer’s loss seems a bit unexpected, but I can’t say I’ve spent enough time digging up info on this year’s team. Since only four of these teams are likely to make it to the championship games, I might need to rectify that soon.

Cougar Aggre-blogging

A pretty busy weekend in extended Cougar sposts …

» Chron: Piland, defense suffer through season opener to forget
» Chron: UH changes offensive coordinators in reaction to Texas St. loss
Brutal day and a dizzying turn of events watching a coach hired after an extensive Google search by Coach Levine. Here’s hoping things turn around fast. For whatever team failings are going to reflect on Levine, the lack of returning starters is a bigger issue in my mind. I’m not sure how many of the kids we have lining up now are likely to be multi-year lettermen, but this isn’t the first time we’ve been at the start of a four-to-five year project with unproven talent in the first year. I’m waiting and I hope to be seeing. Soon.

» AZ Republic: Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kevin Kolb knows there is time to make amends
Also brutal. I’ll be shocked if Kolb doesn’t get some starting time for the Cards at some point in the season. The O-line is just too iffy for the team to see them going through only one QB. What Kolb shows off the bench will likely determine how much of a career he has from this point on.

» Chron: Case Keenum clears waivers; signed to practice squad
» Detroit Free Press: Lions reportedly sign CB Drayton Florence; add Patrick Edwards, Ross Weaver to practice squad
Elsewhere, RB Michael Hayes ended up getting cut by the Chargers (Jackie Battle is still in their backfield, however) and LB Sammy Brown was a late cut by the St. Louis Rams. Of the four, I’d have probably picked Edwards to take his talents to the UFL or CFL to prove what he can do. Nice to see Detroit being smart enough to hold onto him. There’s some good history there with short receivers.

» Chron: Legendary UH athletic trainer Wilson dies at 85
Even our training staff at UH was legendary.

2012 HS Weekly: Week Zero

Tis the season. And once more, I’m going to try my darndest to keep tabs on just enough football to skate by until the playoffs are upon us. Here’s what the first week of games looks like for the teams ranked by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football.

 1.	Dallas Skyline       The Woodlands      W 42-28   1-0
 2.	Lake Travis          @ Converse Judson  W 47-13   1-0
 3.	Southlake Carroll    @ Allen            L 0-24    0-1
 4.	Katy                 Klein              W 48-7    1-0
 5.	Euless Trinity       @ Bellevue (WA)    L 24-31ot 0-1
 6.	Allen                Southlake Carroll  W 24-0    1-0
 7.	Cibolo Steele        @ SA Madison       W 41-21   1-0
 8.	DeSoto               @ Arlington Martin W 47-13   1-0
 9.	Longview             Coppell            L 8-41    0-1
10.	Arlington Martin     DeSoto             L 13-47   0-1
11.	Manvel               @ Spring           W 35-21   1-0
12.	The Woodlands        @ Dallas Skyline   L 28-42   0-1
13.	Hewitt Midway        @ Bryan            W 34-7    1-0
14.	Abilene              @ Hebron           W 13-10   1-0
15.	Pearland             @ Houston Madison  W 33-3    1-0
16.	Spring Dekaney       Strake Jesuit      W 41-0    1-0
17.	SA Madison           Cibolo Steele      L 21-41   0-1
18.	Cedar Hill           @ Denton Guyer     W 54-28   1-0
19.	Converse Judson      Lake Travis        L 13-47   0-1
20.	Mansfield            @ Arlington Bowie  L 43-59   0-1

I watched most of the Trinity-Bellevue game online. The Trojans definitely seem a bit thinner behind the lines than they have in years past. And this loss essentially came due to the starting QB getting his bell rung on a sack near the end of regulation, forcing the backup to come in for OT. Said backup then threw an INT that ended the game. Ah well. I didn’t expect Trinity to be 3-0 after a tough opening schedule. Hopefully, they can finish in the plus during non-district games.

Allen’s opening game in their new stadium was impressive. We’ll see next week whether they were really that good or if the adrenaline was carrying them over the defending champs. Either way, I’ll go out on a fairly sturdy limb and suggest that Region One could simply come down to an Allen vs Skyline game in the playoffs.

The other big game this week included an impressive 4th quarter comeback by Skyline against The Woodlands. Looks like those kids from Dallas are for real this season. For all my quibbles with DCTF’s rankings, I had no problem viewing Skyline as the best team going into this season vs the AP’s choice of Southlake Carroll.

And for all of the big-ticket games on tap for Week Zero, I find the Cedar Hill win over the #1 4A school to be pretty impressive among the down-ballot teams. It still feels like Region One isn’t quite the beast it’s been in the past. But there are still some beastly teams from Region One still capable of ending the season with a championship. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Cedar Hill ranked above Trinity next week with a win like the one they opened with and I still expect to see some great matchups in that bracket by the time the playoffs start.

Cibolo Steele is, once again, the only bright spot in San Antonio-area football. Expect them to be the only team from the region in the Top 20 next week. If any other SA-area school creeps back in, expect another tirade about how skewed the DCTF staff are in trying to keep each part of the state happy enough for magazine sales.

As for the Houston area, I could get real accustomed to Manvel showing as the second-best Houston school going into the playoffs. Let’s face it, nobody would rank Katy outside of the Top 5 unless they lost a third game.

 1.	Denton Guyer         Cedar Hill         L 28-54   0-1
 2.	Cedar Park           @ Westlake         L 7-21    0-1
 3.	Tyler John Tyler     Lufkin             W 35-21   1-0
 4.	Highland Park        Aledo              L 12-31   0-1
 5.	Pearland Dawson      --- bye ---
 6.	Leander              @ Connally         W 35-7    1-0
 7.	Wichita Falls Rider  @ Abilene Cooper   L 36-43   0-1
 8.	Aledo                Highland Park      W 31-12   1-0
 9.	CC Calallen          @ Mercedes         W 40-13   1-0
10.	Angleton             @ Montgomery       W 28-18   1-0

Tough opening week when three of the top 4 teams fall. Looks like the smart ones here were the Dawson High schedule-makers. Denton Guyer took a punch to the gut with their loss, but the program should be strong enough to rebound. I’d still rank them in the Top 5.

 1.	Stephenville         Monterrey Tech     L 17-27   0-1
 2.	La Marque            Galveston Ball     W 35-12   1-0
 3.	Carthage             Jacksonville       L 30-34   0-1
 4.	Coldspring-Oakhurst  @ CE King          W 21-13   1-0
 5.	Navasota             @ Willis           W 42-0    1-0
 6.	Argyle               Wylie              L 14-31   0-1
 7.	Wimberly             @ Llano            W 27-26   1-0
 8.	Henderson            Prestonwood        L 21-56   0-1
 9.	Waco La Vega         @ Palestine        W 24-23ot 1-0
10.	Celina               Melissa            L 13-18   0-1

The only thing more surprising than seeing two of the top three teams fall in the first week of play is seeing a Texas HS powerhouse program lose to Monterrey Tech. I remember hearing for years about how MT was supposed to be the Southlake or Katy of Mexico. But every result I’ve ever seen against top-tier talent made them look more like the Washington Generals of HS football. Beating a team like Stephenville is huge. I still say that 3A football in Texas may be one of the more exciting levels of play with the teams that have moved up and down from their division last season. The Carthage-Jacksonville and Celina-Melissa games are early indicators that there are some great matchups on the schedule. Here’s hoping that a few of them have an internet audio feed in the weeks ahead.

Some Un-Cartographic Aggreposting …

Well, so much for continuous mapping through the week. Yesterday got away from me and I’m presently doing some coding and databasing that I was hoping to have done a day and a half ago. First world problems, for ya. Anywho … he are a few links worth noting before they go under-reported by me.

» Chron: Texans’ Keenum appears cut from the same cloth as Kubiak
It sounds as if Keenum will be the third QB in the game and playing with the second unit offense in tonight’s game. I didn’t bother catching the first preseason game against Carolina since I didn’t think Case would play (he did). I’ll be looking for an online feed of this after church tonight to get what I hope is not a last-gasp dose of watching Case chuck a football.

» Chron: UH QB Piland ready to put valuable experience to use
I’m not sure what to expect for this year’s Cougar football team. For starters, I don’t know any of the receivers. Charles Sims appears to be one of the better skill players to return. And as if David Piland’s alma mater wasn’t problematic enough for me, the up & coming running back hailing from arch rival L.D. Bell has me in a complete state of confusion this year. Nothing a good 8-0 start to the season wouldn’t fix, I’m sure.

» ESPN: Kevin Kolb gets some slack for rough start
» AZ Republic: Arizona Cardinals quarterback competition will continue at least a week
» ESPN: Tommy Kelly Rips Kevin Kolb
I’ve said this before … Kolb is the kind of guy who really needs three solid years to settle into a starting role with a team. Sad as it may be, he might not get that unless he shows some major indicators of being healthy and solid in the job this second season with the Cards.

» New Republic: I Was a Teenage Objectivist
Good for a daily laugh here. I made my way through one and a half Ayn Rand books during college. By the time I was approaching graduation at UH, the Daily Cougar editorialists were hard core objectivists. And a considerable number of friends were college libertarians of the Ayn Rand ilk. There was nothing about any of that compelled me to find selfishness and individualistic sociopathy as a worthwhile endeavor.

» Chron: Growth of Hispanic business doesn’t match population
Worth going back and reading this for some additional perspective.

» FW Star-Telegram: Texas risks losing $31 million in federal transportation funding
Some interesting insights into federal budgeting here.

» NY Times: ‘Al’ and ‘Joe’ Lead the Spam Squad
Interesting reading for those interested in online and/or political communication. I’m pretty sure that I’m subscribed to almost every email list under the political sun (and several non-political ones as well). I’ve definitely seen the emails in question for this write-up and tend to loathe the deadline flurry of emails that multiple campaigns send out. But I’m also sure that my inbox is at the extreme end of the spectrum. I’m mostly interested in saving examples that I might want to copy an idea or two from. As for the qualitative disputes with the extent that campaigns hit “send”, I’m not sure I’m seeing as good use of it this cycle as was on display in 2008. I think a big part of that is due to Team Obama’s perspective of being an incumbent with a big, hefty list that they’re interested in milking diminishing returns from. In 2008, the Obama group was new, fresh, and looking to rebuild many of the tools that were started up in halfway form in 2004. When multiple challengers run for an open seat in 2016, it’ll be interesting to see if anyone challenges the existing vendors out there for online communication. And I hope it involves something better than relying on multiple emails a day on fundraising deadlines. If it puts an end to clients asking me if they can sign email blasts as being sent from their iPhone, I’ll be all the happier.

» Foreign Affairs: The New Great Game in Central Asia ($)
Interesting if you’re into Asian/China stuff.

The Kevin Kolb Era: Now or Never

» Arizona Republic: Kevin Kolb injured as Arizona Cardinals lose to New Orleans Saints

Ugh …

Quarterback Kevin Kolb’s first pass was intercepted, and he suffered a bruised rib muscle and diaphragm on his fourth attempt and did not return.

Coach Ken Whisenhunt said the injury didn’t appear serious and that it was possible Kolb would practice this week.

The Cardinals looked like a team playing its first preseason game in the 17-10 loss Sunday at Fawcett Stadium.

The Saints did not.

Unfortunately, this was supposed to be the third consecutive season that Kevin was either functionally or officially tabbed as the starting QB. I’m obviously rooting for him. So you can imagine my pain in seeing another outing like this.

Prep Season Prep ’12

High school football is gearing up with the recent 7-on-7 tourney leading to some early rumor-milling about “Who’s hot that maybe we didn’t think was as hot as THIS, but ….” and so forth. Aside from my annual ritual of reviewing the latest issue of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, I’m feeling like this season is a bit different. At least in terms of the type of things I normally like to watch for.

For starters, my alma mater returns as few starters as I think they ever have (3 on each side). Normally, that’d be considered a “rebuilding” year. But when your old school is now considered an annual powerhouse, they simply “reload”. Except that, this season, there doesn’t appear to be a standout offense leading the way. It’ll all happen in the trenches, it seems. Three yards, two black eyes, a few hundred divots, and a cloud of dust. The historical pattern for similar teams of ours has been to start off very undisciplined, pile up a bunch of penalties in early games, smooth out the rough patches and get better in time for a deep run into the playoffs. Hopefully that last part happens … again.

But the district games against LD Bell and Colleyville Heritage might be a bit more interesting than in years past. And the non-district games look as tough as can possibly be: a Washington State powerhouse, an Oklahoma powerhouse, and a tough DeSoto team on 4 days rest. I’m not putting any money on an undefeated season.

Elsewhere, it looks like a much thinner year for Region 1 schools on offense. There’s still some talent: Southlake Carroll’s Kenny Hill was impressive in the championship game last season. But it just seems that there are fewer and fewer automatic D-1 offensive stars to point to this time. We’ll see how that pans out by season’s end.

Closer to home, the next two football seasons will be “All About the Klinglers” for me. Cory playing offensive line at Manvel, and Luke looking to get more time at QB at Cinco Ranch. Manvel moves up to 5A and is coming off a healthy showing at the 7-on-7 tourney in College Station. They’ll have a big district showdown with another quality Pearland team. If there’s one game I’d look to head to Pearland for, that’d be one. Lacking that, the news reports and social media updates will have to suffice. Here’s a small sampler of what’s out there …

» TX Monthly: The Negotiation

» Chron: For seniors, high school football season starts now

» YHN: Bellaire football passes the Trey, hoping to continue success

Among the games of interest for me …

8/30 – Euless Trinity vs Bellevue, WA (Memorial Stadium)
This’ll have to caught on TV or radio since its taking place in Washington State.

8/31 – St. Pius X vs Kincaid (Parsley Field)
I haven’t paid much attention to the small privates around town before. Aside from mocking the alumni friends from them, that is. But Kincaid is supposed to be pretty good with a decent QB. And SPX is worth a preview because …

9/6 – St. Pius X vs Sealy (Parsley Field)
Sealy’s QB is supposed to be damn good. And this is a nice chance to catch him in the Houston area.

9/8 – DeSoto vs Jenks, OK (Pennington Field)
9/8 – Euless Trinity vs Union, OK (Pennington Field)
Contemplating a trip up to DFW for this double-header.

9/13 – Euless Trinity vs DeSoto (Kincaide Stadium)
Should be interesting to see how well these two teams respond on short rest. Not sure that I’ll make it up for back-to-back games, but this one should say the most about how good Trinity is this season. Coaching trivia: The DeSoto coach left to take a gig at Univ. of Houston, but returned to DeSoto. Not sure what that says about DeSoto or UH. But it’s interesting, at least.

9/14 – Manvel vs Bellaire (Butler Stadium)
One and only chance to catch Manvel in the nearer-Houston area. I’ll be there for this one.

11/2 – Manvel vs Pearland (The Rig)
Ought to be a great game that tells the story of where Manvel is in terms of 5A rankings.

11/9 – St. Pius X vs St. Thomas (Granger Field)
Not sure that I’ll really want to see SPX three times a year unless they’re really impressive to watch. But since the HISD schools are really lacking in football sightseeing, this may be one of the few decent games to see late in the season.

Revisiting the Next Generation of Klinglers …

» Rivals: Class of 2014 Brings Next Wave of Klinglers

Its never too early to look toward football season …

Two decades after David and Jimmy Klingler lit up scoreboards across the Southwest while quarterbacking Houston’s run-and-shoot offense, their sons plan to continue the family tradition.

But this next generation of Klinglers offers a twist.

Luke Klingler, the son of former Cincinnati Bengals first-round draft pick David Klingler, plays his dad’s old position at Katy (Texas) Cinco Ranch. But his cousin Cory Klingler, the son of former Houston quarterback Jimmy Klingler, is forging his own path as an offensive tackle at Manvel (Texas) High. Both are participating Sunday in the Rivals Underclassmen Challenge at DeSoto High School near Dallas.

One look at Cory Klingler explains why he opted against playing quarterback. The 16-year-old simply outgrew the position.

“When Cory was in kindergarten, he was six inches taller than every kid in his class and 30 pounds heavier,” Jimmy Klingler said. “He was always the biggest kid for his age group, and he was always the youngest one. I knew he was going to be big. I just didn’t know how big he was going to get.”

How big did he get?

Well, he’s only 16 years old, yet he already is about 6-foot-4 and 270 pounds. For comparison’s sake, Luke Klingler said he’s 6-foot-2 3/4 and 196 pounds.

Cory also got a namedrop in Dave Campbell’s Texas Football as a player to watch for Manvel. Last season, Luke was the third QB in a 3 QB rotation for Cinco Ranch. He looked the rawest of the three, but he was only a sophomore. He’ll have time to develop and I’m guessing Cinco Ranch continues with the rotating QB system that seems all the rage these days.

I managed to catch Manvel at the state championship game. Tough luck of the draw going up against Aledo, but they made a game of it in the second half before Aledo’s Jonathan Gray went nuts and ran all over everyone. This year, Manvel moves up to 5A and is in the same district as Pearland High. They square off at the Rig the day before my birthday. On a related note, I only have one birthday wish this year … revenge for my 2010 Trinity Trojans!

This year, I’ll likely be able to catch Manvel when they travel near my neck of the woods to play Bellaire at Butler Stadium. I’m not sure that I’ll have a chance to get over to Rhodes Stadium in Katy to check out Cinco Ranch, but they should have a date at Strake Jesuit for Luke’s senior year.

I’m not panicking over the Baylor shirts the kids are pictured in. Hope springs eternal that both will get offers to play for Houston and my bargain with a higher power probably means I’ll have to buy season tickets for four or five years in exchange. Neither has a scholarship offer just yet. But it sure would be nice if Coach Levine would get on the phone with these kids now.

Video report from the article …

SIDENOTE: The boys may not have scholarship offers yet. But the next generation of Klinglers have already gone off to college with an athletic scholarship. Courtney Klingler, an all-state softball catcher for Manvel, is now off to Campbell College in South Carolina on scholarship. And yes, I will be posting updates on college softball next season. I never thought it would come to this, either.

SIDENOTE #2: HCN took notice of Luke Klingler last offseason, focusing on David’s involvement with the 7-on-7 tournament.

Big Day In Houston Football …

» Chron: Experienced Piland Gets QB Nod
I admit, I like the move. I assume it wasn’t for nothing that Piland beat out the one-time star prospect Terrance Broadway two seasons ago. And given the head start he had during his redshirt season, it sounds like he had as good of a mentoring as one can get. And just to add one bit of re-assurance, Piland becomes (possibly) the third consecutive four-year starter (sorta) for the Cougars. Now to find a way to get over my loathing of Piland’s alma mater, Southlake Carroll, for three seasons.

» Chron: Timing was right for UH to refresh identity with new look
Not exactly on-the-field matters here, but worth noting. I do like the updated UH logo since it strikes a happy balance between the skinny UH that I grew up with and went to school with and the more modern, telegenic, fat UH that we’ve had for several years now. As for the Penn State ripoff idea for Shasta, that’s far less welcome than the remote, live Shasta that we’ve added.

» Chron: New coach Shealy eager to put HBU football on field in 2013
» Chron: HBU plans to build 10,000-seat on-campus football stadium
I can’t say that I’m well-versed in the history of Houston Baptist’s new coach, Vic Shealy. But I’m happy as a clam to see things moving forward since the school is within walking distance from home. The talk of a few “exhibition-type” games next season does nothing to quell that enthusiasm.