By Gene Schallenberg
ITEM — New Waverly closed the season on a five-game winning streak and ultimately won a second straight outright district title. How do you feel the Bulldogs are playing heading into the postseason?
CRAIG — I’d have to say that we’re better now than we’ve been all year. I think we’re as good now as we were all last year. I couldn’t be happier with where we are. You still have to get out there on game day and execute the things that you’ve worked on all week and all year. I expect we will. I think the kids are pretty focused.
ITEM — How big of an advantage is it to play a playoff game at Huntsville’s Bowers Stadium, so close to home?
CRAIG — Only having to drive a short distance is a definite plus. You still have to pack up. It’s an opportunity for a lot of the people around the area that have read about us or would like to see us and might not be able to make the long trip. They’ll have the opportunity this week because Huntsville plays on Saturday. It’ll give us a nice opportunity to play in front of a really nice crowd.
ITEM — Is preparation for playoff games much different than it is during the regular season?
CRAIG — There’s not really a whole lot different from what we do normally. The routine got changed up Monday because we took the trip up to Sam Houston to get adjusted to the turf. There’s certain aspects of the routine that you change because you don’t want to become bored with what goes on. There are some things that you stay pretty constant in. We still accomplished the same things. You learn your opponent and what their strengths and weaknesses are.
The rest of the practices are pretty much the same as what we’ve been doing for the past month and a half. You wish you had more time to concentrate on the little things of the game. The kids know how to prepare themselves.
ITEM — What are you expecting to see from Woodville?
CRAIG — They have a very athletic quarterback. Everybody I’ve talked to about him has said that he’s an explosive player. He’s got great speed. He’s got good vision. He runs the ball well and makes people miss.
We’ve got to be able to be disciplined in our positions and trust your teammate, because if we try to do too much, he’s going to get loose on us. We have to limit that. If we allow him to make some explosive plays, we could get into trouble.
ITEM — Last season, the Bulldog players advanced to the regional semifinals without having played in the playoffs before. How important is having that experience going into the postseason?
CRAIG — I think it’s a big advantage to have been there. Last year, everything was new to everybody. We were successful and that made it better for those that came back this year. They understand what it takes in preparation and in execution.
For those kids that were not there and had moved to varsity from subvarsity last year, it’s great to have the leadership from the ones that had gone before them.
It’s also good because you’re not going in so wound up and tight and nervous that you can’t play. You learn how to handle this added adrenaline and this atmosphere. The younger ones can also look to the older ones to see how they handle it.
— By Gene Schallenberg
