Avoiding a letdown

Hornets have to put last week’s win in past, concentrate energy on tricky Magnolia team

By Tom Waddill

Huntsville cornerback Erroll Hodge sounded a lot like his head coach Thursday afternoon. Following an hour-long workout, Hodge spoke briefly about last week’s win over Montgomery, then turned his complete attention to tonight’s game against Magnolia.

“It felt good to get that win,” Hodge said, “but we’ve got to get focused and ready for the next game. We’ve got to leave the past in the past. The most important game is the next one, and that’s Magnolia.”

Huntsville head coach Mitchell Coey couldn’t have said it better himself. Coey hopes all of his players have the same kind of focus, and the same kind of tunnel vision.

“We’re dealing with young men who played a big ballgame last week,” Coey said after the Hornets concluded their normal Thursday workout on the main practice field at Huntsville High. “They beat a pretty good football team in Montgomery, one of the best teams in our district.

“Magnolia has two losses, and one of those losses was to Montgomery. Our kids might be thinking that because Montgomery beat Magnolia, and because they beat Montgomery, they should beat Magnolia, no problem,” Coey added. “That’s not how it works.”

Coey said the Hornets (3-1 in District 18-4A play, 4-3 overall) will have to show up tonight with the same kind of determination that helped them knock off Montgomery if they want to run their winning streak to three games. It’s not going to be easy trying to slow down the Bulldogs’ tricky wishbone offense, an offense that keeps coaches like Coey awake at night with worry.

“We brainwash our kids and tell them to run to the football — attack the football,” Coey stressed. “Against the wishbone, you can’t run to the football. Everybody can’t attack the football. Here we are in midstream of the district season and we run into this doggone wishbone team. That’s enough to drive you crazy. Somebody’s got to take the quarterback, somebody’s got to take the dive and somebody’s got to take the pitch.”

To prepare the Hornets for the Bulldogs’ option game, Huntsville defensive coordinator Shane Martin devised a practice plan in which the scout team offense ran plays without a football.

“Our scout team gave us a pretty decent look at the wishbone this week,” Martin explained. “We practiced some with no football. It looks a little goofy, but defending the wishbone is assignment football. We wanted everyone to take care of their own responsibility, and they did that pretty well when they didn’t have a football to worry about.”

Magnolia (2-2 in 18-4A play, 5-2 overall) has plenty of players who can hurt the Hornets. A run-first team that wants to control the clock, the Bulldogs feed the ball to sophomore fullback Chance David, senior utility man Dennis Dunbar, sophomore wingback Chase Gragert and junior quarterback Jordan Schuetz.

David leads the Dogs with 665 yards on 105 carries. He has scored five touchdowns.

Dunbar, who plays tailback, quarterback and receiver, has rushed for 436 yards and six scores. Schuetz has picked up 229 yards on the ground and 358 more through the air. Gragert has rushed for 186 yards and three touchdowns on only 13 carries.

“They have some big, old kids and they run that offense we don’t really like to defend,” Coey said. “We’re hoping to put enough pressure on them to get them out of the wishbone. We want to make them go to the spread. We’ve seen the spread a bunch and they’re not really a spread team. Coach (Andy) Sexton has been down there for four or five years and they’ve been running the wishbone the whole time.”

The Hornets say they’re ready to tackle the Bulldogs and get one game closer to their season-long goal: a return trip to the Class 4A playoffs.

“We’re going to run a lot of stunts at them,” Huntsville defensive tackle Kaleb Green said. “Our linebackers will back in and out and try to throw them off a little.”

Sounding like a coach again, Hodge added, “Everybody’s got a responsibility. We can’t be selfish. We’ve just got to take care of our individual jobs on defense.”

Hornet football notes and quotes

Tight race in 18-4A — Seven teams are battling for four playoff spots in District 18-4A. Brenham, the only unbeaten team in the district, is pretty much a lock for the postseason, and Caney Creek, at 0-4, is probably playing for next season.

Between those two teams there are six teams fighting tooth and nail for three spots.

Huntsville, at 3-1, sits alone in second place. The Hornets can take a huge step toward a second consecutive playoff trip with a win at Magnolia tonight.

Heading into tonight’s game with the Hornets, the folks at Magnolia High are probably feeling a little heat. At 2-2 in district play, and with the league leaders from Brenham still on their schedule, the Bulldogs know exactly how important tonight’s game is to their postseason hopes.

Tied with Willis, Magnolia West and Montgomery for third place, coach Andy Sexton’s team desperately needs a win over the Hornets.

“Their backs are against the wall,” Coey told his players Thursday. “They have to beat you to stay in the hunt. They’re going to come ready to play.”

In other action tonight, Magnolia West battles at Montgomery, while Willis plays at Waller and Brenham hosts Caney Creek. Waller’s Bulldogs, who walloped Magnolia West 32-8 last week, can get in the thick of things with a win over the Wildkats tonight.

Hornets’ offensive coordinator starting to smile — After the Hornets turned in their most complete effort to date in their win over Montgomery, Huntsville offensive coordinator Kane Harris wore a smile everywhere he went this week.

The Hornets picked up 180 yards on the ground and they threw for 136 more on 8-of-16 passing last week. Huntsville picked up 18 first downs and converted on five third-down plays, plus two short fourth-down plays.

“We were better. We were definitely better,” Harris said. “We got some first downs and only had one turnover. Five penalties, I think that was another season-low. We’ve just got to keep getting better. Hopefully we’ll continue moving the ball and have no turnovers this week.”