It would be a serious mistake, Hornets head coach Mitchell Coey says, to judge the Hays Rebels on their overall record this season. Huntsville’s bi-district opponent brings a 4-6 mark into Saturday’s playoff game, but Coey warns that records can be deceiving.
The Rebels are a dangerous bunch, a team that is playing its best football right now. After an 0-5 start, Hays won four of its next five games. The Rebels’ only loss during the second half of the regular season came in overtime to Del Valle, the eventual District 17-4A champ.
“They’re a lot like us in that they struggled some early in the season,” Coey said Wednesday while the Hornets worked out on the turf at Bowers Stadium. “Looking at them on film, they’ve got a lot of different personnel on the field now. They had to search for folks and put people in the right positions. Once they did that, they started winning.”
Coey has watched the Rebels on tape, plus he’s talked to other coaches who have seen coach Bob Shelton’s team live. For Huntsville (7-3) to knock off Hays and advance to the area round of the playoffs, it’s going to take a complete and solid effort.
“They’re a well-coached team. They don’t have any real stars, but they’ve got two really good running backs,” Coey said of senior Trace Gandy (821 yards and five touchdowns) and junior Anthony Garza (713 yards and five scores).
“Their coach (Shelton) has been there a long time and he’s been very successful. They’re not going to beat themselves.”
Wing back Torrance Smith, a junior, may be the Rebels’ most potent offensive threat. He has rushed for 304 yards and 13 touchdowns, plus he’s caught 21 passes for 383 yards and one score.
“He has a lot of speed,” Huntsville quarterback/cornerback Justin Gilbert said. “He can hurt us.”
Defensively the Hornets are preparing for a team that does a little of everything. The Rebels try “lots of stuff,” according to Coey, and try to pinpoint their opponent’s weaknesses.
“They’ll run the veer and they’ll run some option stuff,” Coey said. “Their main thing is the inside and outside veer, but they’ll get in the gun and they’ll throw the ball. They’ll run the dive, they’ll get in the I-formation, an offset I and the wishbone.
“It looks like they’ve got five or six main plays, but they’ll line up in a thousand different formations. We’ve got to line up right. That’s a concern of our coaching staff.”
The Hornets, who have won five in a row, say they’re ready to tackle the Rebels. They’ve been waiting since late last year to rid themselves of that filthy taste left by a bi-district loss to Lockhart.
“We’re going into this game confident, but not cocky,” Huntsville lineman Forbes Baggett said. “Last year we came out of the regular season as district champs. Maybe we were satisfied with that. This year we’re co-district champs and we know there are bigger and better things in the playoffs.”
“This is what I’ve been doing all my life,” Gilbert added. “I’m not trying to end my senior year in the first round of the playoffs.”
Hornet football notes and quotes
Hornets hop on bus after bell rings early — School let out at noon Wednesday, which meant an early workout for the Hornets. Coach Mitchell Coey saw an opportunity to simulate game conditions, so he loaded up his players and took them to Bowers Stadium for a couple of hours.
“We wanted to practice at the time of day of our playoff game Saturday, two o’clock,” Coey said. “We’re getting familiar with the environment we’re going to be playing in Saturday.”
The Hornets said they accomplished a lot on the Bowers Stadium turf Wednesday.
“They’re getting us physically and mentally prepared,” senior cornerback Patrick Major said. “We had a great workout.”
The Hornets adjusted their workout schedule a bit, moving practice back a day since they don’t play until Saturday this week.
“We watched some film during the (athletic) period, but more or less we took Monday off,” Coey said Wednesday. “On Tuesday, we stressed focus and mental preparation. So far, we’re looking pretty good.
“Today we’re doing our normal Tuesday workout. We moved everything back a day. On Friday, we’ll do our walk-through and we’ll be ready.
“We brought some of our younger kids up from the JV to help us with our scout team,” Coey added. “Those guys are getting after it. They’re making the varsity kids work.”
Sports
Related Photos
-
D.J. Shafer/The Huntsville Item
Discussion
Watch out for Rebels
Hornets preparing for a talented Buda Hays team that is rolling into playoffs
- Sports
-
-
Outright champs, again
Even with a little bit more difficulty, the Lady Hornets weren’t going to be denied another outright district championship, especially not on their own floor. Despite a first quarter filled with turnovers, the Huntsville girls turned up the heat and eventually wore down Kingwood Park on Friday night. Led by seniors Ceidra Coleman, Breanna Fuller and Dequayla Terry, the Lady Hornets beat the Lady Panthers 64-43 to clinch their second straight outright District 18-4A girls basketball title.
-
Hornets struggle in 4-1 loss to Pasadena Dobie
The problems with Huntsville’s boys soccer team are fixable, head coach Robert Taylor said after a 4-1 loss to Pasadena Dobie on Friday night.
-
Lady Hornets make progress in shortened golf tourney
The Huntsville girls cut a substantial amount of strokes off their score from a week ago and finished fourth in the College Park Invitational that was shortened to one round because of wet conditions at the River Plantation Country Club in Conroe.
-
Bulldogs primed for today’s powerlifting meet
The first-year powerlifting program at New Waverly High School is embracing the underdog role, especially at today’s meet in Shepherd.
-
Rivalries Renewed
Starting this fall, Huntsville will be back in a district that includes Montgomery, Magnolia, Magnolia West and Waller. The new District 18-4A also will include Bryan Rudder and Brenham. That’s going to make it tough on all sports, from volleyball and football in the fall, basketball and soccer in winter, to softball, tennis, track, baseball and golf in the spring.
-
Not many changes for Bulldogs
Bulldogs athletic director and head football coach M.K. Hamilton couldn’t sleep for nervousness Wednesday, the night before the latest realignment plan was released. It happens every two years, when the University Interscholastic League announces its classification and alignment adjustments by conferences in each region around Texas. As a result of this year’s realignment, the Bulldogs will travel less during the football season, where the district remained relatively intact, but substantially more in all other sports.
-
Hornet wrestlers ready for district
The Hornet wrestlers enter the District 20-5A meet today with a high level of experience compared to this time last season. Huntsville wrestlers have more than 20 matches under their belts, whereas they only had eight a year ago. That experience, the Hornets believe, is what allows them to have a little more confidence than expected as they travel to Conroe today for a meet that begins at 9:30 a.m.
-
Hornets RB Ford and OL Long headed to Kingsville
Huntsville teammates Henry Ford and Aundra Long knew exactly what they were going to do after taking a visit to Texas A&M-Kingsville. In limbo about where their college football careers would kick off, Ford and Long found a home as soon as they stepped foot on the campus in Kingsville.
-
Huntsville's Blount, Hazlewood and York earn academic scholarships
Huntsville linebacker Bridge Blount described the recruiting road he recently trudged as rough and rocky at times, full of twists, turns and changes in direction. When Blount finally reached the end of the road Wednesday morning and accepted a preferred walk-on offer from Sam Houston State coach Willie Fritz, he was thrilled beyond belief.
-
Bearkats building for the future
On the heels of a trip to the Football Championship Subdivision title game, Sam Houston State coaches had very little time to square away their 2012 recruiting class. In a span of less than a month, Bearkats coach Willie Fritz and his staff did some last-minute selling and signed 17 recruits on Wednesday on national signing day.
- More Sports Headlines
-
Killer of Fla. Girl Found in Landfill Gets Life
Army Orders Bradley Manning Court-martial
Cancer Charity Revives Breast-screening Grants
Heavy Snowstorm Hits Colorado On Its Way East
2nd Teacher From LA School Arrested on Sex Claim
Prosecutors Close Armstrong Inquiry, No Charges
Sights and Sounds: Football Fans Pour Into Indy
Unemployment Rate Down to 8.3%
Obama: Still Far Too Many Americans Need Jobs
GOP: Jobs Numbers Welcome, Can Do Better
Fla. Man Adopts Girlfriend in Legal Battle
More Deaths As Egypt Clashes Continue
Raw Video: Prince William in Falklands
Egpyt Protesters Blame Police for Soccer Deaths
'Lucky' 9-Year-Old Receives 6-Organ Transplant
Raw Video: Michelle Vs. Ellen in Pushup Contest
First Person: Will Peyton Manning Stay in Indy?
Egypt Shaken After Deadly Soccer Riot
New Suits, New Starts for New York's Unemployed
Hall of Famer Dorsett Speaks Out on NFL Injuries
