 A
Houston Chronicle Article
Plots, color plentiful as
24-5A opens play
Sept. 26, 2001, 8:33PM
By L. SCOTT HAINLINE
Chronicle correspondent
After a fumble-prone 1999 season on the freshman team, the Alvin
Yellowjackets' coaches decided to move running back Michael White to defense.
"We moved White to defense, and he started out at outside
linebacker as a sophomore on varsity last season," Alvin coach Mike Bass said.
"But during the offseason, our running backs coach Jimmy Grmela talked me into
bringing White back to our offense. I'm very glad I listened to him because it's turned
out pretty good."
After three games, and three wins for Alvin, White, a junior, leads
all area rushers with 609 yards on 80 carries (7.6 average) and has scored nine
touchdowns. He rushed for 115 yards in the season-opening 21-0 victory against South
Houston. Then came a career-high 278 yards in a 36-33 triumph at Sam Rayburn. Last week,
in a 42-28 win against Baytown Sterling, White added 216 yards and scored four times.
Throw in Alvin senior quarterback Josh Kohler, 24-5A's top thrower
with 523 yards on 27-of-62 passing, and the Yellowjackets have a potent, well-balanced
attack.
"We've been very fortunate. The players have really done a good
job this season," Bass said. "First of all, you have to take your hat off to our
offensive line, and to my assistant coaches. They've done a tremendous job of giving White
some lanes to run through, and giving Kohler a lot of protection to throw the ball.
"Receivers coach Henry Grosch has done a great job this season.
I've basically turned the passing game over to coach Grosch and quarterbacks coach Robby
De Santo. They've communicated so well with the skill players, and really got that going.
And coach Grmela has done a tremendous job with White."
Bass said his team's success wouldn't be possible without the kind
of coaching staff in place at Alvin.
"This is a staff with no egos at all," Bass said. "I
tell everybody that this is our program, and I listen to my guys all the time."
Despite Clear Lake's 1-2 start, Bass knows his Alvin team is in for
another tough battle with the Falcons in Friday night's 7 o'clock league opener in
District Stadium. It's also Clear Lake's 2001 homecoming game.
"Clear Lake does a great job defensively," Bass said.
"Even though they've given up some points this year, you have to look at who they
have played, and it's been some great teams. The one thing that has always set Clear Lake
off from a lot of schools is that they are relentless on defense. They come and attack
you, they're very aggressive, and they try to intimidate you."
The Falcons opened the season with a 14-7 win against Fort Bend
Austin, but have dropped consecutive games to North Shore 43-3 and to Baytown Lee 28-7.
Clear Lake recorded a 24-3 victory at Alvin last season.
"They scored on an interception return and on a blocked punt,
and we had another early turnover against Clear Lake last season, and that was the
difference," Bass said. "Clear Lake has caused us to have lots of turnovers over
the years; we had five last season. That's why it's so important for us to play our style
of football, and not turn the ball over on offense. We just need to execute, go out and
execute and get after it.
"It was one of our goals to be 3-0 going into district, and
we're very pleased, but like we told the kids, now everyone in our district is 0-0. It's
time to start over again, and it's a whole new season. You have seven more games to take
care of business."
Bass pointed out the contributions of senior defensive tackle
Gilbert Torres (5-9, 210) and senior wide receiver Bryan Farthing.
"Torres has earned a starting position and has really played
well this season," Bass said. "Farthing blocked well and caught a late touchdown
pass last week."
Junior Zach Muzzy leads all Yellowjacket receivers with 14
receptions for 260 yards (18.6) and one touchdown.
Clear Lake coach Troy Aduddell isn't surprised with Alvin's 3-0
start.
"Alvin is putting a lot of points on the board, and their
running back (White) and quarterback (Kohler) are two of the main reasons," Aduddell
said. "After leading early, and then losing the lead, Alvin came back strong to beat
Baytown Sterling last week. Alvin is throwing well, they're running well and they're
playing well right now."
As for his Falcons, Aduddell continues to watch a young team grow
up.
"We just have a lot of new kids on both sides of the
ball," he said. "When you bring back only two on defense, you have to revamp
with nine new kids. We're only starting three seniors on defense. We've gained some
maturity during pre-district, and we've faced some good teams.
"It was 7-3 against North Shore in the first half, but it got a
little out of hand (21-3) by halftime. I think our kids got a little deflated, but that
comes with maturity. Our players have to mature into their roles. When something goes
wrong, you can't sit there and dwell on it. You have to put it in the past and get going.
"We had six turnovers against Baytown Lee, and when you do
that, you're not going to win."
Clear Lake's three senior defensive starters are Azzie Beagnyam and
Ryan Mast at the ends and cornerback Marshall Priest. The Falcons' lone offensive lineman
with varsity experience is junior Matt Niemczak.
Like he did for five games last season, senior Brian Howard has
stepped in at quarterback for Clear Lake. Junior Michael Fritz, who was expected to start,
continues to recover from an injury suffered during baseball season last spring.
"Howard is a competitor, and he's doing a good job,"
Aduddell said. "We just have to settle in on some plays and what we want to do. We're
trying to find their niche of what we can run with our all-new-but-one offensive line.
"We've only scored 14, three and seven points in our games, so
we'll have to control the football against Alvin, and if we can do that, and keep our
young defense off the field, I think we'll be all right."
Aduddell isn't surprised with Alvin's quick start.
"We figured Alvin would be 3-0 coming in, and coach Bass and
his staff will have them ready to go," he said. "Alvin is one of a bunch of
24-5A teams that is pretty good. We're going to try to see if we can maintain and win the
ones we're supposed to, and slip up and maybe beat someone we're not supposed to.
"We don't really know how good or how bad we are right now.
We've played some high-quality teams in North Shore and Baytown Lee, and when you play
those types of teams, you just hope you've learned something. Our kids have to realize we
have played some tough teams, and they don't need to let our 1-2 record get them down
because district games are the ones that count towards the playoffs."
Friday's other District 24-5A games include Clear Brook (0-3) at
Pearland (3-0) and La Porte (0-3) at Ball (3-0) in 7 p.m. kickoffs. Brazoswood (3-0)
visits Clear Creek (2-0) tonight at 7.
Despite having opposite records, Pearland Oilers coach Tony Heath is
taking nothing for granted when the Clear Brook Wolverines come calling at The Rig,
Pearland's new stadium.
"I really believe Clear Brook is a sleeping giant, and I hope
they don't wake up against us," Heath said. "They have a lot of talent, and
their size, they're just huge. It's the biggest team we'll face, and we'll probably look
like junior high players lined up against some of them. We'll really have to take care of
business."
The Oilers have done just that this season with wins against
Angleton 28-14, Spring Woods 42-0 and C.E. King 41-0 in last week's homecoming triumph.
"We opened up our passing game against King, and I see our
offensive attack becoming a little more balanced," Heath said.
Pearland's senior quarterback Noah Allen threw five touchdowns on
18-of-24 passing for 230 yards with no interceptions against C.E. King, which came in with
a 2-0 record.
"Allen really spread the wealth around, completing passes to
six different receivers, and throwing touchdown passes to three different players,"
Heath said.
Zach Golden and Matt Phelan each snagged two TD tosses, while Chris
Conklin had one.
Heath also sees his defense rallying around junior linebackers Scott
Derry and Brandon Farran.
"They are the core of our defense, and defensive tackle Lee
Faulk and defensive back Raymond Chappie are also playing very well," Heath said.
"Defensively, what I really like is that we've been able to go out and play, and then
make adjustments during the game. The kids have really responded to the adjustments on the
go. That tells me our kids are playing intelligently."
The Wolverines have dropped games to Beaumont West Brook 23-15,
Baytown Lee 33-13 and to Deer Park 54-0 last week.
Pearland defeated Clear Brook 26-17 at District Stadium last season.
The Ball Tornadoes will be looking to avenge last year's
district-opening 33-20 loss to La Porte in Friday's home game at Kermit Courville Stadium
in Galveston.
The Tors feature senior Roshawn Pope at quarterback. He's run for
480 yards on 45 carries (10.7) and scored four rushing touchdowns, as well as passing for
another.
Ball owns wins against La Marque 27-13, Beaumont Central 33-6 and
Texas City 14-7.
La Porte is winless after falling to Nimitz 16-3, Aldine 34-6 and to
Terry 37-10 last week. |
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