Updates on the Palestine schools

[texasjeremy]

Palestine practices first day in pads

8-7-04
By Scott Tyler
H-P Sports Editor


Palestine defensive coordinator Booker Bowie said coming into Friday's practice, the first one in pads for the Wildcats, he wanted to see how well his squad was going to tackle.

Bowie and the rest of the Palestine coaching staff got their answer Friday morning and the Wildcat defensive guru was happy with what he saw.

"There were some good collisions out there and I could not ask for any more," Bowie said. "We had good tackling and were wrapping up well."

Palestine head coach Glen Tunstall liked what he saw on both sides of the ball Friday.

"The defense got out first and got to hit and had good contact," Tunstall said. "We also ran and threw the football really well."


As the Wildcats close in on the first week of practice, Tunstall believes his team is on schedule.

"We are right where we want to be," Tunstall said. "The defense is a little ahead of the offense but that is expected. We are gradually going to get where we need to be."

The biggest question mark for Tunstall in the first week of practice has come from the special teams area where Palestine is still looking for a kicker.

Palestine will finish its first week of practice today with an hour long intrasquad scrimmage starting around 9 a.m. Both varsity and JV will participate in the scrimmage which will include "best against best", when the offensive first team will square off against the defensive first team.

"We have JV kids on the bubble so this will be a good time to see what they have," Tunstall said.

For Bowie, he wants to see effort and discipline from his defense during today's scrimmage.

"Effort and discipline are going to be keys to our season," Bowie said. "The effort is there but we need to be more disciplined."

Today's scrimmage will give the Palestine coaching staff a chance to see how its new pass-oriented offense will look in a live session.

"The scrimmage will be more up tempo and the pace will be a lot faster," Palestine offensive coordinator Tommy Allison said. "We want to make sure the kids are in the right spot and are playing hard."

Allison said the first week of practice was easier for his offensive players because they already knew the system from last year.

"You can see the benefits of these players knowing this offense the last three years," Allison said. "It makes adding and tweaking to the offense much easier."





Westwood's Jones commends team's effort

8-7-04
By Scott Tyler
H-P Sports Editor


Westwood head coach Shane Jones called Friday's first practice in pads the best he has seen since taking over the reigns of the Panthers' program.

"The contact was good today and I was proud to see the kids get in there and hit," Jones said. "All the way up and down the board, the kids were very excited about hitting."

Westwood spent the first 30 minutes of Friday's practice going through 3-on-3 hitting drills.

As for the rest of Friday's practice, Jones said the team looked sluggish.

"I think they were more interested in bagging heads but that it is usually like that," Jones said. "Hopefully they got it out of their systems and will be ready to go back to work Monday."


The Westwood coaching staff got a chance to see what its defense could do when getting the chance to hit someone.

"We got a little better picture of where we are on defense," Jones said. "The defense has made great strides the last two days but there is still a lot of work to do."

Overall, Jones was pleased with how the first week of practice went for his Panthers.

"The kids attitudes and effort have been great which is making coaching at Westwood fun," Jones said. "The biggest surprise this week has been the work ethic and attitude of the kids."

Jones credits the senior leadership for how hard the team has worked during the first week of practice.

"The senior leadership is coming through as they are leading by example which is something we have not had the last couple of years," Jones said.

Jones said during the first week, the offense got 85 percent of their running game in place along with half of its passing game. The Westwood head coach looks to continue building onto those numbers in next week's practice.

Jones said the offense is a step ahead of the defense, but that was expected because the Panthers' are learning a new defensive scheme.

"We got to get better at our reads and our secondary still has a lot of work to do," Jones said. "We are getting there but it is going to take some time."

[Gobbla2001]

I've been meaning to ask your thoughts on this year's Westwood team...

They went 0-10 last year but are expected to finish second in that district according to DCTF...

They're returning 8/8 starters... Do you think those starters were that good to go from 0-10 to a playoff team?

Just asking since you're in the area...

Thank you...

[zeke]

My 2 cents!!! I saw them play in game 9 against Fairfield last season and was very surprised at their great improvement from 2002. Without a doubt they had the momentum going in at halftime. If not for some turnovers and a couple of DB breakdowns they might have made it interesting at the end. I was impressed with their young QB who has some wheels and got off some decent passes.

I think Pal. Westwood will be even better this season and could likely have 6-7 wins by the end of the season. Unfortunately, they are in a very tough district this season. My opinion is that Palestine High, Diboll, and Rusk will be the playoff bound teams from that district.

[BIGHANK]

isnt diboll picked #1 in our district

[Pball]

I agree with Zeke and yes Diboll is picked to win the District. Can you tell me what you know about Diboll?

[texasjeremy]

Originally posted by Gobbla2001
I've been meaning to ask your thoughts on this year's Westwood team...

They went 0-10 last year but are expected to finish second in that district according to DCTF...

They're returning 8/8 starters... Do you think those starters were that good to go from 0-10 to a playoff team?

Just asking since you're in the area...

Thank you...

Gobbla, in DCTF, it got Palestine and Westwood reversed, Palestine is #2 and Westwood is #5, if you look at the beginning of 3A is shows Palestine as the D1 representative.

Playing a team full of young guys last year will pay off this year, but I still see them finishing in 5th (they will beat Huntington), but its not out of the question for them to knock off Crockett or Rusk, since they get them both in Palestine this year.

Will be an interesting year, as Palestine and Westwood will face each other for the 1st time ever in regular season play. This year will be played at Wildcat Stadium, not sure if they will play next year at Westwoods stadium or play again at Wildcat Stadium. Since Westwood's stadium is a normal 3A stadium, only seating about 3000 people, while Wildcat Stadium is one of the nicest in the state, seating about 10,000.

[BIGHANK]

I agree with Zeke and yes Diboll is picked to win the District. Can you tell me what you know about Diboll?


i play for diboll what do you want to know

[texasjeremy]

Palestine shows options on offense

8-8-04
By Scott Tyler
H-P Sports Editor


Palestine's Glen Tunstall calls himself an option guy.

If so, the Wildcat head football coach must have enjoyed what he saw Saturday morning in Palestine's intrasquad scrimmage.

With the varsity offense going against the varsity defense, the Wildcats ran the option five times, getting big gains on each play.

"I love the option and when I got the job I told coach (Tommy) Allison that I wanted to put it into our offense," Tunstall said. "If we can sell the pass than the option is going to be that much more effective."

Palestine quarterback Fred Williams had three of the option runs, all for first downs. Running back Cameron Jones had a 50-plus gain on an option play and Trevlyn Reed had a 20-yard run off the option.


"I was very impressed with the way Fred was able to run the option," Allison said.

Tunstall also was impressed with what he saw from his quarterback.

"I saw Fred do things he was not doing for us last year," the Wildcat head coach said.

Saturday morning's scrimmage was the first time the coaches got to see their squad in full pads, going full speed.

"I saw what I wanted to see this morning," Tunstall said. "The kids got after it and flew to the football."

The morning started with the JV offense and defense squaring off and then the varsity defense went against the JV offense and the varsity offense going against the JV defense.

Then came what everyone was waiting for, "best against best" with the varsity's offensive first team against the defensive first team.

The two sides played three series with the defense stopping the offense in the first series, but the offense came back and after the big run by Jones, Nigel Cooper caught a wide receiver screen pass and juked his way past defenders for 20 yards and into the end zone.

"Nigel is going to play a big role for us because he can do a lot of things," Allison said.

On the final series, both the offense and defense made key plays and the scrimmage ended when Williams found Leon Mickens on a 3-yard slant pass for a score.

"I thought we did a great job throwing and catching the football," Allison said. "If we get time to throw, we are going to make big plays."

Tunstall said Palestine's defense has helped push the offense.

"Our defense is the key to our success and the more pressure they put of the offense, the more it is going to make our offense better," Tunstall said.

The Palestine defense was without the services of starting linebacker Ronald Brown, last year's leading tackler for the Wildcats. Brown is out 10-14 days after with an ankle injury. Brown will miss Saturday's scrimmage against Mexia but is expected back for Palestine's final scrimmage of the preseason at Nacogdoches on Aug. 21.

Palestine will move a couple of JV players up to the varsity level to fill in for Brown while he is sidelined.

"We are going to have to have some young kids step up and play," Tunstall said. "Senior Jeremy Hawkins has already stepped up as he had his best two days of practice."

[texasjeremy]

Palestine showcases passing game in scrimmage

8-15-04
By Scott Tyler
H-P Sports Editor

Palestine's Fred Williams threw for two touchdown passes to Leon Mickens and the Wildcat defense did not allow a score in Palestine's first scrimmage of the season Saturday morning against Mexia at Wildcat Stadium.

"We saw what we wanted to see," Palestine head coach Glen Tunstall said. "We threw the ball like we wanted and in the second set, we really ran the ball well."

In the first team's opening 20 plays, Williams was 8-of-11 passing for 94 yards.

Williams' first three passes went to Eric Turner, including a 39-yard gain on a play-action pass in which Williams hit Turner in stride down the middle of the field.

The Palestine quarterback completed his first five plays of the first set. He finished the opening set of plays with a four-yard touchdown pass to Leon Mickens, who faked to the middle of the end zone and then broke to the outside to catch the pass.


"Fred is doing above and beyond everything he can," Tunstall said.

In the first-team's second set of 15 plays, Williams was 4-for-7 passing for 92 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown pass down the middle of the field to Mickens.

Williams' only glaring mistake of the scrimmage came on the play after the touchdown pass when he threw an interception, as a Mexia defensive back stepped in front of a receiver for the pick, and took it in for the Blackcats' only touchdown of the morning.

"I thought Fred did an outstanding job this morning," Palestine offensive coordinator Tommy Allison said. "He made a couple of mistakes but he can improve on those."

During the two first-team offensive sets, Williams was able to distribute the ball to four different receivers.

"That is our scheme, to get the ball in different people's hands, and we saw that today," Allison said.

Tunstall and Allison credited the work of the offensive line for in their pass protection as the Palestine quarterbacks got time to throw the football during the entire scrimmage.

"I was really impressed with our offensive line and their blocking," Tunstall said.

The first-team defense did not allow Mexia to score in its two sets, consisting of 35 plays.

The Wildcat defense gave up some big plays to the Blackcats, but when it mattered, Palestine made the stop.

"Our defense looked pretty good," Tunstall said. "As long as they bend but do not break."

Gerald Singleton Jr., a transfer from Jacksonville, had a sack and batted down a pass at the line of scrimmage from his outside linebacker position.

Sophomore Ben Beckworth, who is with the varsity team because of the injury to starting middle linebacker Ronald Brown, had a sack.

Palestine will get back on the practice field Monday afternoon in preparation for its next scrimmage at Nacogdoches Saturday.

"We are going to come out in practice and continue to work on what we are doing to get better," Allison said.

Notes: Williams, on a third and one-yard play, had a 37-yard run on a quarterback keeper in the first session... Running back Trevlyn Reed had a pair of touchdown runs of 70 yards and 30 yards with the second-team offense. ...Rodrick Johnson caught a 60-yard swing pass and raced down the sideline for a touchdown in the second-team's second session.




Westwood head coach pleased with effort in scrimmage

8-15-04
By Scott Tyler
H-P Sports Editor

Westwood head coach Shane Jones said he was pleased with the effort he saw from his defense Saturday morning in the Panthers' scrimmage at Eustace.

"We had eight and nine players around the football all scrimmage long and that was what we were looking for," Jones said. "We still had a few alignment and technique problems but those things can be fixed in practice.

"The defense took a good step forward today."

The scrimmage, Westwood's first of the season, was scoreless.

"I was very pleased with the effort, excitement and intensity of the kids," Jones said.


He cited Westwood's defensive line and linebackers for their play, including linebacker B.A. Sanchez, a senior who is looking to make a difference after missing most of last year with injuries.

"Today we saw the B.A. who played for us as a sophomore," Jones said.

Jones said the offense is not clicking on all cylinders but he still liked what he saw Saturday morning.

"We just have to put the puzzle together yet on offense," Jones said. "We were still able to move the ball, but we were just not consistent.

"We still have some work to do. We need to mesh as an offensive unit."

Jones said wide receiver Joey Ellis caught and ran with the ball well and Joque Billups ran well from the tailback position.

The Westwood coaching staff will evaluate the film and get to work Monday afternoon in practice.

"We are not going to change anything we are doing," Jones said. "We are just going to work on the mistakes we made and get better as a football team."

Jones believes this year's squad is ahead of last year's team at this point of the season.

"We are a tougher football team right now than we were last year," the Westwood head coach said. "We are right where we need to be."

Westwood will scrimmage Teague Friday night at Panther Stadium.

Notes: The Westwood freshman team went scoreless against Eustace... The Panther JV squad won 3-0 with Scotty Smith, Graylin Crawford and Brandon Ellis all scoring touchdowns.