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October 22, 2009

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

By Tom Waddill The Huntsville Item Thu Oct 22, 2009, 11:44 PM CDT

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.”

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Hornet Sports

Back to work
Tick tick tick. Tick tick tick tick.
It won’t be long until the alarm goes off early Monday morning, signaling the start of high school football practice in Huntsville.
Freshmen hit the field at 8 a.m. Monday and Hornets head coach Shane Martin can’t wait. Huntsville’s defensive coordinator the past two years, Martin has been waiting seven long months for the first day of serious summer workouts.

July 31, 2010 1 Photo
Huntsville ISD hires new volleyball coach
On paper and in her head, Stephanie Branch quietly took notes while sitting in the stands at Bryan High School on Thursday night. She paid particular attention to the team from Huntsville, because in a little more than a month that bunch will be her’s.
The daughter of a teaching and coaching couple, Branch, 31, was hired this week as the Lady Hornets’ new head volleyball coach. She replaces Brittany Brumbelow, who stepped down from her position at the end of the school year to spend more time with her family.

June 17, 2010
High school notebook: Brenham boys edge Hornets at state track meet
Round one went to the Brenham boys. The Cubs won the District 18-4A boys track and field title last month in Willis.
The Huntsville boys took round two. Led by state qualifiers Justin Gilbert, Brodrick Hadnot, Henry Ford, Dimitri Collier and Cameron Simmons, the Hornets evened the score by outscoring the Cubs at the Region III track meet in Huntsville early this month.
In Austin last weekend, the Cubs edged the Hornets in the unofficial battle for track and field supremacy in District 18-4A.

May 18, 2010
Going for gold
It wasn’t that long ago. RaKira Turner stood in the shot put ring and with all of her might, flat-footed she heaved the heavy ball forward.
Her first throws from the discus ring were even more memorable. With no idea about how to hold the strangely shaped disc, Turner did her best but the results were far from pretty.

May 12, 2010 1 Photo
Hornets finish strong
They easily could have gone through the motions.
Sitting eighth in the team standings after a miserable first day at the UIL Boys Golf State Championships, the Hornets could have trudged around the Jimmy Clay Golf Course without a care.
They could have turned in another big score, gotten back on the bus and hit the highway headed home to Huntsville.
These Hornets had too much pride to mail in the second round of the tournament. On Tuesday, the Huntsville boys made a huge turnaround, shooting a team score of 307, which moved them up to sixth in the team standings.

May 11, 2010
Difficult district
The Lady Hornets played their best round of golf Monday at Raven Nest Golf Club. Unfortunately for the Huntsville girls, they are stuck in District 18-4A with two, and probably three, of the top teams in the state.
Led by junior Madison Ward, who shot a solid 79, Huntsville’s varsity team posted a 349 team score during the first round of the District 18-4A tournament. That total puts the Lady Hornets in fourth place behind Montgomery Gold (310), Montgomery Purple (313) and Magnolia A (319) heading into today’s final round.

April 12, 2010 1 Photo
Hornets finish first at Dayton track meet
The track teams from Huntsville High School did exactly what their head coach wanted them to do last week in the final tune-up before the all-important District 18-4A meet.
The Hornets finished first and the Lady Hornets placed third in the team standings at the Bronco Relays in Dayton.

April 12, 2010 2 Photos
Gilbert advances to 100-meter finals at Texas Relays
Huntsville senior Justin Gilbert booked a spot in the main event. With a sizzling showing in the prelims for the 100-meter dash, Gilbert earned a place in the finals of the Texas Relays this afternoon in Austin.
Hopefully, he will have some company as some of his teammates try this morning to advance to the finals at Mike Myers Stadium at the University of Texas.

April 2, 2010
‘I’m going to be nervous’
Austin’s Mike Myers Stadium is the place to be this weekend. The top track and field athletes not only in Texas, but from across the United States, will be competing inside a stadium full with the sport’s most passionate fans.
As a reward for weeks of hard work, and also to act as a possible tune-up for next month’s season-ending state meet, Huntsville High School is sending its best athletes to Austin, too.

April 1, 2010 2 Photos
Top-ranked Cubs bring big bats to Huntsville
On a night when Brenham’s Chase Wellbrock nearly threw a no-hitter, Huntsville head coach Jeff Brumbelow shook his head more about the Cubs’ impressive hit parade.
Brenham came to Kate Barr Ross Park on Wednesday and quickly took control on the District 18-4A baseball game against the Hornets. The top-ranked Cubs banged out 16 hits in the first three innings and scored 13 runs on their way to a commanding 18-1 win over Huntsville.

March 17, 2010
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Avoiding a letdown

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

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