WOS92
07-19-2004, 02:23 PM
All Eyes On Blue
The offseason brought big changes to WO-S football, and expectations are high
WEST ORANGE — Almost two weeks remain until the first day of two-a-day practices begin, but Dan Hooks can already feel the eyes of Texas high school football lovers aimed his way.
And it’s not just his imagination.
Unofficial ratings publications such as Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine and the website www.texashsfootball.com have already pegged perennial 4A contender West Orange-Stark as their preseason favorites to win it all.
By dropping to 3A, returning several star players, playing very well in the 7-on-7 competition and bringing back two legendary former Mustang coaches during the offseason, Hooks and company have raised the collective eyebrows of prep football prognosticators around the state.
But as a coach who has won it all twice and taken his team to the big dance four times in 4A, Hooks knows not to let the hype inflate any blue-and-silver helmets.
This will be a tough road.
“There are some great 3A teams, and none of them are going to roll over for us by any means,” Hooks said. “We’ll find that out in the first week when we play Jasper. It’s not like we’re going to show up and win in this league, and I hope our players realize that.”
Of course, the last time the Mustangs dropped classifications — from 5A to 4A in 1986 — they pulled a number on their new peers, winning the state championship in 1986 and 1987 before finally relinquishing the crown to Paris in the 1988 state title game.
But that was then, and this is now.
Just ask fellow former 4A powers Jasper. They dropped to 3A in 2002 and had their eyes on the big prize.
They fell short, losing to Burnet in the semifinals each of the past two years.
Still, dropping to 3A should prove to be advantageous to the Mustangs, who have been playing the little guy for far too long in week-in, week-out David and Goliath battles.
“It’s been a numbers game for about the last six years,” Hooks said. “You’ve got good players at every level, but you just have more of them — more depth — at the bigger schools. In 3A, you’ve got some fine, fine athletes. You just don’t have as many of them to pick from. You have a lot of guys going both ways and things that you don’t see as much in 4A. That’s the biggest change.”
While some of the Mustangs’ district opponents often had close to 40 seniors, the typical WO-S varsity roster had between 28 and 32 players altogether, Hooks said.
“It’s like in boxing,” he said. “A 120-pound guy doesn’t fight Mike Tyson. You fight in your weight class, and that’s what we’re doing now.”
But WO-S has taken on the “David” role pretty admirably over the past few seasons, reaching the 4A state finals in 2000 and owning a 3-1 record against perennial title contender Bay City for the last four years.
Last year, the Mustangs knocked out Bay City, Beaumont Ozen and previously-undefeated Port Neches-Groves on their way to their second straight 8-2 record — which, thanks to a crowded district and complex tiebreaker system, was not good enough to get them into the playoffs.
For the first time since 1986, West Orange-Stark will be facing a district schedule largely composed of new opponents, such as Hamshire-Fannett, Anahuac and neighbors Orangefield.
“Coach Martel at Anahuac has that program going good, the coach at Hamshire is good, Hardin-Jefferson has some excellent athletes, especially in track,” Hooks said. “Orangefield should have beaten LaGrange last year, and that would have put them in the third round. So that’s a good ball club.”
Bridge City is the only familiar opponent on the district slate. The Mustangs are undefeated against the Cardinals.
“There will be some instant rivalries built with Orangefield and Bridge City,” Hooks said. “We can almost walk to both places. If you draw a straight line from Bridge City’s practice field to ours, it’s probably not three miles. That’s going to be really interesting and good for the area. It’s a great setup.”
There will be quite a few familiar faces on Hooks’ pre-district schedule, including such powerhouses as Bay City, Nederland, Jasper, Beaumont Central and Newton.
“We play a tough schedule every year, but I think I overdid it this time,” Hooks said with a smile. “We have scrimmages with Dayton and Ozen before the season, so there’s going to be about a seven-week grind there before district starts where we’ll see if we’re any good or not.”
With such a tough schedule, Hooks said one problem might be keeping confidence from waning if the team hits a stumbling block or two.
“You look at Atlanta last year,” he said. “They were 1-4 coming out of the preseason, but you look at who they played. They played Texas High, they played a bunch of very good 4A schools and just didn’t do very well. Once they got into their league, they made a run and won the state championship.”
Two of this year's pre-district opponents — Nederland and Central — account for all of the Mustangs' losses over the past two years.
There will be quite a few familiar faces in WO-S uniforms this season, as the Mustangs return a large portion of last year’s team.
Standout Kerry Franks is gone to Texas A&M, but starters such as Ryan Crouch, Kenneth Beasley and Lakeith Ford provide the potential for flash.
“We’ve got talent and skill people coming back on both sides of the ball. We’ve got a chance to be pretty good.”
West Orange-Stark opens the 2004 season at home against Jasper on August 27.
The offseason brought big changes to WO-S football, and expectations are high
WEST ORANGE — Almost two weeks remain until the first day of two-a-day practices begin, but Dan Hooks can already feel the eyes of Texas high school football lovers aimed his way.
And it’s not just his imagination.
Unofficial ratings publications such as Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine and the website www.texashsfootball.com have already pegged perennial 4A contender West Orange-Stark as their preseason favorites to win it all.
By dropping to 3A, returning several star players, playing very well in the 7-on-7 competition and bringing back two legendary former Mustang coaches during the offseason, Hooks and company have raised the collective eyebrows of prep football prognosticators around the state.
But as a coach who has won it all twice and taken his team to the big dance four times in 4A, Hooks knows not to let the hype inflate any blue-and-silver helmets.
This will be a tough road.
“There are some great 3A teams, and none of them are going to roll over for us by any means,” Hooks said. “We’ll find that out in the first week when we play Jasper. It’s not like we’re going to show up and win in this league, and I hope our players realize that.”
Of course, the last time the Mustangs dropped classifications — from 5A to 4A in 1986 — they pulled a number on their new peers, winning the state championship in 1986 and 1987 before finally relinquishing the crown to Paris in the 1988 state title game.
But that was then, and this is now.
Just ask fellow former 4A powers Jasper. They dropped to 3A in 2002 and had their eyes on the big prize.
They fell short, losing to Burnet in the semifinals each of the past two years.
Still, dropping to 3A should prove to be advantageous to the Mustangs, who have been playing the little guy for far too long in week-in, week-out David and Goliath battles.
“It’s been a numbers game for about the last six years,” Hooks said. “You’ve got good players at every level, but you just have more of them — more depth — at the bigger schools. In 3A, you’ve got some fine, fine athletes. You just don’t have as many of them to pick from. You have a lot of guys going both ways and things that you don’t see as much in 4A. That’s the biggest change.”
While some of the Mustangs’ district opponents often had close to 40 seniors, the typical WO-S varsity roster had between 28 and 32 players altogether, Hooks said.
“It’s like in boxing,” he said. “A 120-pound guy doesn’t fight Mike Tyson. You fight in your weight class, and that’s what we’re doing now.”
But WO-S has taken on the “David” role pretty admirably over the past few seasons, reaching the 4A state finals in 2000 and owning a 3-1 record against perennial title contender Bay City for the last four years.
Last year, the Mustangs knocked out Bay City, Beaumont Ozen and previously-undefeated Port Neches-Groves on their way to their second straight 8-2 record — which, thanks to a crowded district and complex tiebreaker system, was not good enough to get them into the playoffs.
For the first time since 1986, West Orange-Stark will be facing a district schedule largely composed of new opponents, such as Hamshire-Fannett, Anahuac and neighbors Orangefield.
“Coach Martel at Anahuac has that program going good, the coach at Hamshire is good, Hardin-Jefferson has some excellent athletes, especially in track,” Hooks said. “Orangefield should have beaten LaGrange last year, and that would have put them in the third round. So that’s a good ball club.”
Bridge City is the only familiar opponent on the district slate. The Mustangs are undefeated against the Cardinals.
“There will be some instant rivalries built with Orangefield and Bridge City,” Hooks said. “We can almost walk to both places. If you draw a straight line from Bridge City’s practice field to ours, it’s probably not three miles. That’s going to be really interesting and good for the area. It’s a great setup.”
There will be quite a few familiar faces on Hooks’ pre-district schedule, including such powerhouses as Bay City, Nederland, Jasper, Beaumont Central and Newton.
“We play a tough schedule every year, but I think I overdid it this time,” Hooks said with a smile. “We have scrimmages with Dayton and Ozen before the season, so there’s going to be about a seven-week grind there before district starts where we’ll see if we’re any good or not.”
With such a tough schedule, Hooks said one problem might be keeping confidence from waning if the team hits a stumbling block or two.
“You look at Atlanta last year,” he said. “They were 1-4 coming out of the preseason, but you look at who they played. They played Texas High, they played a bunch of very good 4A schools and just didn’t do very well. Once they got into their league, they made a run and won the state championship.”
Two of this year's pre-district opponents — Nederland and Central — account for all of the Mustangs' losses over the past two years.
There will be quite a few familiar faces in WO-S uniforms this season, as the Mustangs return a large portion of last year’s team.
Standout Kerry Franks is gone to Texas A&M, but starters such as Ryan Crouch, Kenneth Beasley and Lakeith Ford provide the potential for flash.
“We’ve got talent and skill people coming back on both sides of the ball. We’ve got a chance to be pretty good.”
West Orange-Stark opens the 2004 season at home against Jasper on August 27.