WOS92
07-26-2004, 01:57 PM
ORANGEFIELD — Blake Morrison knows he’s facing one of the most daunting tasks of his coaching career.
As if stepping into the head coach and athletic director position at Orangefield High School isn’t challenging enough, he’s doing it mid-summer — and he’s taking over a team that returns very few starters on both offense and defense.
Gone are such standouts as John Modica and Austin Farias, who helped lead the Bobcats to one of their most successful seasons in years.
“We lost a 2,000-yard passer, a 1,500-yard receiver and a 1,000-yard rusher,” said Morrison, who has been defensive coordinator at Orangefield for the past two years.
A few weeks ago, Orangefield had three starters back on defense. Since then, two have suffered broken arms.
But with 20 seniors gone from last year’s playoff team and only a handful of seniors on this year’s squad, the door is wide open for a talented group of sophomore and junior players.
“This is a big rebuilding year for us,” he said. “We might go through a little bit of a lull, but we’ve got a whole lot of hope for the future.”
The hope, Morrison said, is that those young players will get the experience to develop in the same way that Modica, a three-year starter, did.
“We’re really trying to build the program from the bottom up,” Morrison said. “Right now, we’ve got 60 kids in the football program in grades 10-12. The goal is to have 100. We’ll have 53 coming back next year, so we’re off to a good start.”
This year, Brett Ramsey will take over as quarterback for the young Bobcats, with receivers such as Joe Peevey and Jeff Huble trying to take over as his go-to guy.
Adding to this year’s challenge is the re-shuffling of the district, which replaced Hardin, Buna and Kountze with former 4A neighbors West Orange-Stark.
That challenge, Morrison said, is not a negative.
“It’s just like it was a few years ago when Bridge City came down,” he said. “They raised the level of competition in this district, and West Orange will do the same thing. When you play teams like that, you’re going to take your lumps — but you’ll be better in the long run.”
In taking over a team whose potential is still something of a mystery, Morrison said it’s important to take things into perspective.
“You have to look at the little things,” he said. “You try to narrow things down, set smaller goals. You reach them as quick as you can and keep moving upward. We’re not starting practice trying to win state. We’re trying to win our first game.”
That first game will be against 4A Lumberton, followed by games against Little Cypress-Mauriceville, Galena Park, East Chambers and Buna.
“We have a few more games to prepare for district now,” Morrison said. “So, hopefully, we can use those to our advantage.”
As if stepping into the head coach and athletic director position at Orangefield High School isn’t challenging enough, he’s doing it mid-summer — and he’s taking over a team that returns very few starters on both offense and defense.
Gone are such standouts as John Modica and Austin Farias, who helped lead the Bobcats to one of their most successful seasons in years.
“We lost a 2,000-yard passer, a 1,500-yard receiver and a 1,000-yard rusher,” said Morrison, who has been defensive coordinator at Orangefield for the past two years.
A few weeks ago, Orangefield had three starters back on defense. Since then, two have suffered broken arms.
But with 20 seniors gone from last year’s playoff team and only a handful of seniors on this year’s squad, the door is wide open for a talented group of sophomore and junior players.
“This is a big rebuilding year for us,” he said. “We might go through a little bit of a lull, but we’ve got a whole lot of hope for the future.”
The hope, Morrison said, is that those young players will get the experience to develop in the same way that Modica, a three-year starter, did.
“We’re really trying to build the program from the bottom up,” Morrison said. “Right now, we’ve got 60 kids in the football program in grades 10-12. The goal is to have 100. We’ll have 53 coming back next year, so we’re off to a good start.”
This year, Brett Ramsey will take over as quarterback for the young Bobcats, with receivers such as Joe Peevey and Jeff Huble trying to take over as his go-to guy.
Adding to this year’s challenge is the re-shuffling of the district, which replaced Hardin, Buna and Kountze with former 4A neighbors West Orange-Stark.
That challenge, Morrison said, is not a negative.
“It’s just like it was a few years ago when Bridge City came down,” he said. “They raised the level of competition in this district, and West Orange will do the same thing. When you play teams like that, you’re going to take your lumps — but you’ll be better in the long run.”
In taking over a team whose potential is still something of a mystery, Morrison said it’s important to take things into perspective.
“You have to look at the little things,” he said. “You try to narrow things down, set smaller goals. You reach them as quick as you can and keep moving upward. We’re not starting practice trying to win state. We’re trying to win our first game.”
That first game will be against 4A Lumberton, followed by games against Little Cypress-Mauriceville, Galena Park, East Chambers and Buna.
“We have a few more games to prepare for district now,” Morrison said. “So, hopefully, we can use those to our advantage.”