Houston Chronicle 25-3A Preview

[CTS]

http://www.chron.com/sports/highschool/article/Sealy-aims-to-stay-on-top-in-23-5A-football-3773836.php

I disagree with 1-2 teams. I think El Campo wins this district.

[regaleagle]

A very tough district to pick the winner, to be sure. Something just tells me that Seals-Jones is gonna be the difference-maker for Sealy this year, and give this team the kind of season a coaching staff dreams about. I know there are some seriously good contenders in this district, but my money's on Seals-Jones and the Sealy Tigers this year. One ultra-talented player CAN have this kind of effect, if some of the other talent steps up too.

[Bull's-eye]

Who is Grady "Howe"?

[Tiger Dad]

A very tough district to pick the winner, to be sure. Something just tells me that Seals-Jones is gonna be the difference-maker for Sealy this year, and give this team the kind of season a coaching staff dreams about. I know there are some seriously good contenders in this district, but my money's on Seals-Jones and the Sealy Tigers this year. One ultra-talented player CAN have this kind of effect, if some of the other talent steps up too.

RSJ should have a great year. I don't expect him to play nearly as much qb this year. He is too valuable at reciever. Every team will have to double cover him, unless they have a 6'5 db who can really jump. I think when we throw to him chances are he will either catch the ball or be interfered with. We have some other very talented skill kids that he will open things up for. I look for Davis to have a Huge year at rb. Our big question is will we finally have a defense that can shut someone down. We have had some great single games on defense but we need to be more consistent.

['Necks 2013-14]

http://www.chron.com/sports/highschool/article/Sealy-aims-to-stay-on-top-in-23-5A-football-3773836.php

I disagree with 1-2 teams. I think El Campo wins this district.I am with you CTS. El Campo is consistently GOOD if not somtimes great.

[Manso/V8]

http://www.chron.com/sports/highschool/article/Sealy-aims-to-stay-on-top-in-23-5A-football-3773836.php

I disagree with 1-2 teams. I think El Campo wins this district.

I understand the 4a drop down bias, but at this point, the district championship is a toss up between Bellville, El Campo, and Sealy.

[CTS]

I understand the 4a drop down bias, but at this point, the district championship is a toss up between Bellville, El Campo, and Sealy.

I'm not sure what 4A drop own bias is but when Sealy and Bellville play Manvel, Terry, Angleton etc like El Campo did and competes/beats them year in and year out, then they get my humble vote. They are just not playing the same competition that El Campo has, plain and simple.

[Bull's-eye]

Any updates from the Bellville Midnight Madness?

[HEMOTOXIC]

Any updates from the Bellville Midnight Madness?

Hey Bull's-Eye, my dad wants to know who Bellville is scrimmaging.... I think we will try to catch one.

[Bull's-eye]

They go to Yoakum on 8-18 & then host Bay City on 8-23

[HEMOTOXIC]

They go to Yoakum on 8-18 & then host Bay City on 8-23

Thanks! Time for the Bay City?

[Bull's-eye]

Thanks! Time for the Bay City?

7:30 pm for varsity

[HEMOTOXIC]

7:30 pm for varsity

thanks

[Manso/V8]

I'm not sure what 4A drop own bias is but when Sealy and Bellville play Manvel, Terry, Angleton etc like El Campo did and competes/beats them year in and year out, then they get my humble vote. They are just not playing the same competition that El Campo has, plain and simple.

listing a bunch of 4a teams that El Campo played back when they were a 4a school seems like 4a bias........but anyway, from what I have read, I think(not sure) El Campo was fourth in their district last year, graduated the house, and maybe has 2 or 3 2nd team all-district players returning? I have heard they have a good program and tradition, and are usually pretty competitive. You can say the same thing about Bellville and Sealy. I am pretty sure, El Campo doesn't have anymore speed than Bellville and Sealy, and it doesn't seem like they have overwhelming size, maybe more depth........but nothing I have heard, other than they use to be 4a indicates they have the upper hand. I would call it even at this point. I guess we will know more when the season starts.

[HEMOTOXIC]

I still like El Campo and Bellville to battle for the championship with Sealy playing spoiler.

[CTS]

listing a bunch of 4a teams that El Campo played back when they were a 4a school seems like 4a bias........but anyway, from what I have read, I think(not sure) El Campo was fourth in their district last year, graduated the house, and maybe has 2 or 3 2nd team all-district players returning? I have heard they have a good program and tradition, and are usually pretty competitive. You can say the same thing about Bellville and Sealy. I am pretty sure, El Campo doesn't have anymore speed than Bellville and Sealy, and it doesn't seem like they have overwhelming size, maybe more depth........but nothing I have heard, other than they use to be 4a indicates they have the upper hand. I would call it even at this point. I guess we will know more when the season starts.

Caldwell, Lockhart, Cuero, Sweeny, Needville, La Grange, Columbus, Sealy, Brookshire Royal, Stafford, Giddings & Coldspring

I don't see ONE of those opponents that could stay within 3 TD's of Manvel, Terry or Angleton last year. Point made that Bellville and Sealy are about to encounter a program that continually competes with and beats these people. It appears you haven't seen El Campo play. I'll be eager to hear your opinion after you have seen them. As far as having speed to match up with Sealy/Bellville...they had more than enough to play 13-1 Angleton (4A bias alert) and 15-1 Manvel (4A and now 5A bias) to a 36-34 game this year. I think they will find a way to match up with all the speed of bi-district Sealy and area Bellville.

[BRfalconfan]

Well not much expectations for royal this year I see. I think they beat wharton needville and columbus they are better then teams expect for them to beat sealy el campo or bellville would be great and is possible its all about match ups and injury. give the boys some credit lol

[Manso/V8]

Caldwell, Lockhart, Cuero, Sweeny, Needville, La Grange, Columbus, Sealy, Brookshire Royal, Stafford, Giddings & Coldspring

I don't see ONE of those opponents that could stay within 3 TD's of Manvel, Terry or Angleton last year. Point made that Bellville and Sealy are about to encounter a program that continually competes with and beats these people. It appears you haven't seen El Campo play. I'll be eager to hear your opinion after you have seen them. As far as having speed to match up with Sealy/Bellville...they had more than enough to play 13-1 Angleton (4A bias alert) and 15-1 Manvel (4A and now 5A bias) to a 36-34 game this year. I think they will find a way to match up with all the speed of bi-district Sealy and area Bellville.


I guess you are now talking about last season? OK. I don't know that much about the Manvel, Terry, or Angleton teams last year (they were all 4a teams last year). However, I am pretty sure that between Bellville, Coldspring, and Sealy, one or more of those teams could have have stayed within 3 TD's of Manvel, Terry, or Angleton. If any of them were a run oriented team, I am POSITIVE Bellvillle and Coldspring could have stayed within 3 TD's.

Those are some really impressive w-l records you listed. I don't where to search out their opponents last year, but I imagine some of those wins included those powerhouse HISD teams. It is hard to compare the teams you listed, since Bellville or Sealy didn't play any of them. But let me try to pull together a small string to give you perspective, it's sketchy, but the best I can do without heavy research. Sealy did play Wimberley tough last year, losing by 1 point, and Wimberley dominated Dripping Springs((4a alert!) in a pre-district game, and that relatively weak Dripping Springs team stayed within a TD of Calallen(4a alert!) in the playoffs, and Calallen later stayed within 3 pts of the beloved Manvel(4a alert!) in the Semis. If you want me to add Bellville in to that string, we played Sealy pretty tough and stayed within a TD, holding the offense, and their D-1 bound backs Seals-Jones and David to fewest yards they tallied in any game last year (ok, i am not sure about their playoff game against Navasota, but I think it still holds true)

Also, it is almost like you are dissing Sweeny, when earlier this week, you were singing their praises and talking about how powerfull your new district is this year. Well, since you are on the subject of last year's teams, with all due respect to the fine Sweeny program, they just were not that great of a team last year. Bellville dominated them in Sweeny, in the post-game handshake line some Sweeny players said they "thought" we were a 4a team.........imagine that.

I think you find I will be brutally honest about my opinion of El Campo after I get a chance to see them play. They may be better than Bellville and Sealy. I don't think they will be faster, maybe just as fast, they might be a little bigger, we've got 260 lb and 280 lb kids too, just not as many. I am told they are well coached, so are we. If anything, since they are a well-coached team with bigger numbers, depth may give them an advantage.

I didn't say Bellville or Sealy was better, I said at this point it, based on what I know, I consider it a toss-up. My opinion will change after learning more about the teams and seeing them play.

The fact that El Campo was a senior-laden, decent team in 4a last year doesn't mean they will dominate their 3a district this year (afterall, they are just a plain ole' 3a team now!), maybe they will dominate? I am really looking forward to our district schedule this year, I think it will be one of the most competitive districts in 3a (non-4a alert!) and I am not looking past district at this point.

Conisider this your Welcome Wagon visit since moving to 3a. In my experience, when new people move to town, things go better for them if they don't keep talking about how great things were where they used to live. I guess the same thing applies to moving from 4a to 3a.

Honestly, best of luck to La Marque this season and go Cougars!

It will be fun to see how this all plays out.

[CTS]

I guess you are now talking about last season? OK. I don't know that much about the Manvel, Terry, or Angleton teams last year (they were all 4a teams last year). However, I am pretty sure that between Bellville, Coldspring, and Sealy, one or more of those teams could have have stayed within 3 TD's of Manvel, Terry, or Angleton. If any of them were a run oriented team, I am POSITIVE Bellvillle and Coldspring could have stayed within 3 TD's.

Those are some really impressive w-l records you listed. I don't where to search out their opponents last year, but I imagine some of those wins included those powerhouse HISD teams. It is hard to compare the teams you listed, since Bellville or Sealy didn't play any of them. But let me try to pull together a small string to give you perspective, it's sketchy, but the best I can do without heavy research. Sealy did play Wimberley tough last year, losing by 1 point, and Wimberley dominated Dripping Springs((4a alert!) in a pre-district game, and that relatively weak Dripping Springs team stayed within a TD of Calallen(4a alert!) in the playoffs, and Calallen later stayed within 3 pts of the beloved Manvel(4a alert!) in the Semis. If you want me to add Bellville in to that string, we played Sealy pretty tough and stayed within a TD, holding the offense, and their D-1 bound backs Seals-Jones and David to fewest yards they tallied in any game last year (ok, i am not sure about their playoff game against Navasota, but I think it still holds true)

Also, it is almost like you are dissing Sweeny, when earlier this week, you were singing their praises and talking about how powerfull your new district is this year. Well, since you are on the subject of last year's teams, with all due respect to the fine Sweeny program, they just were not that great of a team last year. Bellville dominated them in Sweeny, in the post-game handshake line some Sweeny players said they "thought" we were a 4a team.........imagine that.

I think you find I will be brutally honest about my opinion of El Campo after I get a chance to see them play. They may be better than Bellville and Sealy. I don't think they will be faster, maybe just as fast, they might be a little bigger, we've got 260 lb and 280 lb kids too, just not as many. I am told they are well coached, so are we. If anything, since they are a well-coached team with bigger numbers, depth may give them an advantage.

I didn't say Bellville or Sealy was better, I said at this point it, based on what I know, I consider it a toss-up. My opinion will change after learning more about the teams and seeing them play.

The fact that El Campo was a senior-laden, decent team in 4a last year doesn't mean they will dominate their 3a district this year (afterall, they are just a plain ole' 3a team now!), maybe they will dominate? I am really looking forward to our district schedule this year, I think it will be one of the most competitive districts in 3a (non-4a alert!) and I am not looking past district at this point.

Conisider this your Welcome Wagon visit since moving to 3a. In my experience, when new people move to town, things go better for them if they don't keep talking about how great things were where they used to live. I guess the same thing applies to moving from 4a to 3a.

Honestly, best of luck to La Marque this season and go Cougars!

It will be fun to see how this all plays out.

And consider this your howdy right back...in my experience when you move to town there is always "that guy" who thinks he knows it all and proceeds to be the longwinded expert on everyone in the neighborhood......

I was actually looking forward to your longwinded response my friend...this is awesome....because in my experience there is always "that guy" that you can touch a nerve and set him off on some incessant rant...I guess you could compare it to a kicker looking at which guy on the front line he is going to make his target on the onside kick...and I do believe I have found that person in Manso/V8.

Don't let your emotion get out there so much because your team wasn't picked in the top 2 by the Chronicle...it will be ok....the game is played on the field. Most people would acknowledge there is a nice program there; just in my opinion (and again it is one man's humble opinion) you are going to have a really hard time lining up and running that Slot-T over El Campo. That is based on purely football logistics, because I have seen these teams play and am somewhat familiar with what they run; not an expert, but somewhat familiar.

My listing of the 3A schools on your schedule was sarcasm at your 4A listing comment, but I would guess I'm right to assume that in your 5 step paragraph formulation and foul nature of the perceived snub from the Houston paper that went over your head.

Again, in your role as designated greeter to 3ADL, thanks for the hearty welcome. Best of luck to your group as well. Now, with all due respect could you get back off my lawn and tend to your business. :)

[LHPfactory]

Caldwell, Lockhart, Cuero, Sweeny, Needville, La Grange, Columbus, Sealy, Brookshire Royal, Stafford, Giddings & Coldspring

I don't see ONE of those opponents that could stay within 3 TD's of Manvel, Terry or Angleton last year. Point made that Bellville and Sealy are about to encounter a program that continually competes with and beats these people. It appears you haven't seen El Campo play. I'll be eager to hear your opinion after you have seen them. As far as having speed to match up with Sealy/Bellville...they had more than enough to play 13-1 Angleton (4A bias alert) and 15-1 Manvel (4A and now 5A bias) to a 36-34 game this year. I think they will find a way to match up with all the speed of bi-district Sealy and area Bellville.

Remember that West Columbia, Wharton, etc were all 4a back in the day with El Campo, Brazosport, Friendswood, and Bay City. I played for one of the above in the late 80's (and played against all the above including Sweeny), El Campo has always been a good competative program.

However, Old 4A WC was better than El Campo in my opinion, they dropped due to UIL pushing the numbers up. I am saying this to make the point that WC didnt drop to 3A and beat everyone with ease, wait you will soon see, the game is played on the field. Remember 4A WOS in the 80's (Most successful 4A to drop to 3A), still very good, but no hardware in 3A.

I believe El Campo will continue to be a very good program, but it wont be a walk in the park, Old School 4A is slowly realigning as the current 3A.

[speedbump]

[QUOTE=LHPfactory;1684661]Remember that West Columbia, Wharton, etc were all 4a back in the day with El Campo, Brazosport, Friendswood, and Bay City. I played for one of the above in the late 80's (and played against all the above including Sweeny), El Campo has always been a good competative program.

However, Old 4A WC was better than El Campo in my opinion, they dropped due to UIL pushing the numbers up. I am saying this to make the point that WC didnt drop to 3A and beat everyone with ease, wait you will soon see, the game is played on the field. Remember 4A WOS in the 80's (Most successful 4A to drop to 3A), still very good, but no hardware in 3A.

I believe El Campo will continue to be a very good program, but it wont be a walk in the park, Old School 4A is slowly realigning as the current 3A.[/QUOTE

WC had a 4 game streak from 1985 through 88. Other than that it's pretty much been EC. Overall it's the Ricebirds 30 - 13 and winning eleven of the last twelve. There were some really good teams in 3A before this year and now there are three more.

[Football DAD]

I guess you are now talking about last season? OK. I don't know that much about the Manvel, Terry, or Angleton teams last year (they were all 4a teams last year). However, I am pretty sure that between Bellville, Coldspring, and Sealy, one or more of those teams could have have stayed within 3 TD's of Manvel, Terry, or Angleton. If any of them were a run oriented team, I am POSITIVE Bellvillle and Coldspring could have stayed within 3 TD's.

Those are some really impressive w-l records you listed. I don't where to search out their opponents last year, but I imagine some of those wins included those powerhouse HISD teams. It is hard to compare the teams you listed, since Bellville or Sealy didn't play any of them. But let me try to pull together a small string to give you perspective, it's sketchy, but the best I can do without heavy research. Sealy did play Wimberley tough last year, losing by 1 point, and Wimberley dominated Dripping Springs((4a alert!) in a pre-district game, and that relatively weak Dripping Springs team stayed within a TD of Calallen(4a alert!) in the playoffs, and Calallen later stayed within 3 pts of the beloved Manvel(4a alert!) in the Semis. If you want me to add Bellville in to that string, we played Sealy pretty tough and stayed within a TD, holding the offense, and their D-1 bound backs Seals-Jones and David to fewest yards they tallied in any game last year (ok, i am not sure about their playoff game against Navasota, but I think it still holds true)

Also, it is almost like you are dissing Sweeny, when earlier this week, you were singing their praises and talking about how powerfull your new district is this year. Well, since you are on the subject of last year's teams, with all due respect to the fine Sweeny program, they just were not that great of a team last year. Bellville dominated them in Sweeny, in the post-game handshake line some Sweeny players said they "thought" we were a 4a team.........imagine that.

I think you find I will be brutally honest about my opinion of El Campo after I get a chance to see them play. They may be better than Bellville and Sealy. I don't think they will be faster, maybe just as fast, they might be a little bigger, we've got 260 lb and 280 lb kids too, just not as many. I am told they are well coached, so are we. If anything, since they are a well-coached team with bigger numbers, depth may give them an advantage.

I didn't say Bellville or Sealy was better, I said at this point it, based on what I know, I consider it a toss-up. My opinion will change after learning more about the teams and seeing them play.

The fact that El Campo was a senior-laden, decent team in 4a last year doesn't mean they will dominate their 3a district this year (afterall, they are just a plain ole' 3a team now!), maybe they will dominate? I am really looking forward to our district schedule this year, I think it will be one of the most competitive districts in 3a (non-4a alert!) and I am not looking past district at this point.

Conisider this your Welcome Wagon visit since moving to 3a. In my experience, when new people move to town, things go better for them if they don't keep talking about how great things were where they used to live. I guess the same thing applies to moving from 4a to 3a.

Honestly, best of luck to La Marque this season and go Cougars!

It will be fun to see how this all plays out.

I think Bellville problem may come with an inexperience offensive line and a revamped defense. They lost the entire offensive line except the center and tight end. As for as defense I think they return two or three members. I will wait and see. The test will be Sweeny??

[Manso/V8]

I think Bellville problem may come with an inexperience offensive line and a revamped defense. They lost the entire offensive line except the center and tight end. As for as defense I think they return two or three members. I will wait and see. The test will be Sweeny??

Your are right that the OL needs to prove they can perform. The strong side guard and tackle graduated, both were key last year. The starting left guard also graduated, but he actually played OLB most of the time and a sophomore took 75% of the snaps at left guard, so you can add him back in almost returning starter. That kid has also gotten bigger, stronger, and faster. The left tackle will likely be a junior, who saw significant playing time last year and I think is at least as good as last year's left tackle. In most of our games last year, the second team offense played almost the entire second half, so even the new starters have pretty good game time experience. It looks like the center will be moving to strong side guard (6'3"/maybe 260), and a junior (6'2"/275?), probably the quickest of the bigger kids will be at strong side tackle. The new center will a big athletic kid that played LB last year. The starting tight end 6'3"/240?)returns as well. Last year was the first year to run the new system. With a year under their belt, I expect blocking scheme execution to be improved. Overall, I feel pretty good about the OL. The backs will be stronger and more powerful this year, and should be an improvement over last year. With the return of the 2010 starting QB,
I would expect our passing game to be better.

On defense, I count 4 returning starters, with 2-3 of those returning as third year starters at CB and LB's. I am not sure who will be be playing on the D-line, But again, most of the kids filling the vacated slots saw plenty of varsity playing time last year and the most of the kids that started on the D-line last year hardly saw the varsity field the year before. I expect(hope) the defense to be good, but we won't know until they get a real test. Out pre-district is Caldwell, Kinkaid, Giddings, and Sweeny. Caldwell was way down last year, don't know much about Kinkaid, unless Giddings is down this year, I would expect the Buffs to be a test. I read Sweeny lost some key kids to WC, so I don't know how they stand at this point. Last year we played both Giddings and Sweeny and Giddings was definately the stronger of the two. I think District 25 will be a challenge and I hope our last district game at Sealy this year will be for more than rivalry pride. I thought almost all the Sealy offense was coming back, but read a recent article that led me to think you had some holes to fill? What can we expect from the Tigers?

[Football DAD]

Your are right that the OL needs to prove they can perform. The strong side guard and tackle graduated, both were key last year. The starting left guard also graduated, but he actually played OLB most of the time and a sophomore took 75% of the snaps at left guard, so you can add him back in almost returning starter. That kid has also gotten bigger, stronger, and faster. The left tackle will likely be a junior, who saw significant playing time last year and I think is at least as good as last year's left tackle. In most of our games last year, the second team offense played almost the entire second half, so even the new starters have pretty good game time experience. It looks like the center will be moving to strong side guard (6'3"/maybe 260), and a junior (6'2"/275?), probably the quickest of the bigger kids will be at strong side tackle. The new center will a big athletic kid that played LB last year. The starting tight end 6'3"/240?)returns as well. Last year was the first year to run the new system. With a year under their belt, I expect blocking scheme execution to be improved. Overall, I feel pretty good about the OL. The backs will be stronger and more powerful this year, and should be an improvement over last year. With the return of the 2010 starting QB,
I would expect our passing game to be better.

On defense, I count 4 returning starters, with 2-3 of those returning as third year starters at CB and LB's. I am not sure who will be be playing on the D-line, But again, most of the kids filling the vacated slots saw plenty of varsity playing time last year and the most of the kids that started on the D-line last year hardly saw the varsity field the year before. I expect(hope) the defense to be good, but we won't know until they get a real test. Out pre-district is Caldwell, Kinkaid, Giddings, and Sweeny. Caldwell was way down last year, don't know much about Kinkaid, unless Giddings is down this year, I would expect the Buffs to be a test. I read Sweeny lost some key kids to WC, so I don't know how they stand at this point. Last year we played both Giddings and Sweeny and Giddings was definately the stronger of the two. I think District 25 will be a challenge and I hope our last district game at Sealy this year will be for more than rivalry pride. I thought almost all the Sealy offense was coming back, but read a recent article that led me to think you had some holes to fill? What can we expect from the Tigers?

I will just wait an see what happens. Like I said, I'll wait til we play Sweeny.

[LHPfactory]

Don't let your emotion get out there so much because your team wasn't picked in the top 2 by the Chronicle...it will be ok....the game is played on the field. Most people would acknowledge there is a nice program there; just in my opinion (and again it is one man's humble opinion) you are going to have a really hard time lining up and running that Slot-T over El Campo. somewhat familiar with what they run; not an expert, but somewhaADL, thanks for the hearty welcome. Best of luck to your group as well. Now, with all due respect could you get back off my lawn and tend to your business. :)[/QUOTE]

Careful with the Slot-T talk , My guess is that you haven't seen it much, it takes quite a bit of fine tuning, but if Belleville perfects it, its hard to stop. It demoralizes defenses and the ball control aspect keeps offenses on the sideline. If run proper the Nasty Slot is harder to defend than a spread.

[HEMOTOXIC]

Don't let your emotion get out there so much because your team wasn't picked in the top 2 by the Chronicle...it will be ok....the game is played on the field. Most people would acknowledge there is a nice program there; just in my opinion (and again it is one man's humble opinion) you are going to have a really hard time lining up and running that Slot-T over El Campo. somewhat familiar with what they run; not an expert, but somewhaADL, thanks for the hearty welcome. Best of luck to your group as well. Now, with all due respect could you get back off my lawn and tend to your business. :)

Careful with the Slot-T talk , My guess is that you haven't seen it much, it takes quite a bit of fine tuning, but if Belleville perfects it, its hard to stop. It demoralizes defenses and the ball control aspect keeps offenses on the sideline. If run proper the Nasty Slot is harder to defend than a spread.[/QUOTE]

:iagree:

[957tiger]

Sealy scrimmage Navasota last night. Stands were packed in anticpation of RJ-S's senior season. He played WR and QB he looked pretty good. Obvious he has hit the weights in the off-season. Navasota appeared to stay away from him on defense. The rattlers scored several times on big runs. Several turnovers by Sealy as well. Defense struggled a little but held the gains to 3-4 yards. Navasota has a Jerome Bettis style runner who was tough to bring down. Sealy's Jowan Davis looked good as his straight ahead running produced a couple big gainers. Big hits by both squads. Sealy travels to Bastrop next week to take on Liberty Hill