7-3A Preview

[Adidas410s]

Numbers don't add up in 7-3A
By Nathan Sanders / sandersn@reporternews.com
October 13, 2006

Three playoff spots. Four teams who made the playoffs in 2005.

How will it all shake out? The District 7-3A mystery begins to unravel tonight, and it might not come completely into focus until somewhere around 10 p.m. on Nov. 10.




Here's how things look going in:

THE FAVORITES


Sweetwater (5-1) - The Mustangs were supposed to be superb this fall, and they haven't disappointed. The only blemish on their record is a 40-26 loss to state-ranked Decatur. Beating Brownwood required a last-second 44-yard field goal by James Beckwith, but the Mustangs' other four victories have been by double digits, including a 35-0 pasting of Borger last week.

Wylie (4-2) - Don't doubt the Bulldogs. A team that basically started from scratch in August is hitting its stride at the perfect time. Last week's 34-15 loss at defending 3A Division I state champ Wimberley snapped Wylie's four-game winning streak, but the offense showed tremendous progress. Couple that with a stingy defense, and an eighth consecutive district title is within reach.
THE CONTENDERS


Breckenridge (5-1) - Last Friday's 21-13 road loss to a 2-3 Vernon team dropped the Buckaroos out of the ''Favorites'' category, though they did rally from 12-0 down to take a 13-12 lead. Yes, the Buckaroos were unbeaten going in, but two of those victories came against teams that remain winless (Bridgeport and Bangs). Still, 11 returning starters from a district title team make Breckenridge formidable.

Clyde (3-3) - The Bulldogs haven't seen the postseason since 1996. Could this be the year? Clyde does have 10 returning starters and a new coach (Craig Slaughter) with experience in turnarounds, but the Bulldogs have lost three of their last four games, the only victory in that span coming against an 0-5 Class 2A school (Bangs). Their ''Contender'' status is certainly iffy.
THE LONGSHOT


Comanche (2-4) - History suggests the Indians will be in the hunt (they have made the playoffs five of the past six years). Recent history, however, says otherwise. Comanche has lost three straight, the most recent a 38-20 defeat at the hands of an Iowa Park team which Wylie dominated on Sept. 8.
KEY PLAYERS


The entire offensive backfield, Sweetwater - Take your pick. Super-quick halfbacks Skye Green and Joseph Banyard are the big threats, but fullback Auston Davis and quarterback Duone Cunnings have both posted 100-yard games this season as well.

QB Gary Edwards, Wylie - Edwards has few peers as a runner, but he'll need to make some key throws along the way for the Bulldogs to live up to their high standards.

RB Curtis Kevil, Clyde - The Bulldogs aren't a one-man team, but they're pretty close. Kevil will have to come up huge against defenses geared to stop him if Clyde is to contend.

QB Blaine Vick, Breckenridge - The converted running back rushed for 104 yards and rallied his team at Vernon. The Buckaroos will need more of that in 7-3A play, though he'll have help from running back Mike Hayworth.
KEY GAMES


Wylie at Clyde, tonight - Is Clyde a playoff team? This battle of Bulldogs on 7-3A's opening weekend should be an indicator.

Sweetwater at Wylie, Oct. 27 - The option-based Mustangs can run, but one-dimensional teams don't frighten the Bulldog defense (see last year's game in Sweetwater).

Breckenridge at Clyde, Oct. 27 - The winner will take a firm grip on the disrict's third playoff berth.

Breckenridge at Sweetwater, Nov. 10 - Season-enders like this are usually critical in a five-team district. This could be a must-win for the Buckaroos.

NATHAN SANDERS' PREDICTION

1. Wylie; 2. Sweetwater; 3. Breckenridge; 4. Clyde; 5. Comanche.

[Stownhorse]

1. Sweetwater 2. Wylie 3. Breckenridge 4. Clyde 5. Comanche!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SWMustang]

Originally posted by Stownhorse
1. Sweetwater 2. Wylie 3. Breckenridge 4. Clyde 5. Comanche!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

homer:D

[DaHop72]

Originally posted by Stownhorse
1. Sweetwater 2. Wylie 3. Breckenridge 4. Clyde 5. Comanche!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You'll have to do it by yourselves this year.:devil: :devil: :devil:

[sweetwater07]

Originally posted by DaHop72
You'll have to do it by yourselves this year.:devil: :devil: :devil:

lol real cute hop;)

[DaHop72]

Originally posted by sweetwater07
lol real cute hop;) Sorry 07, sometimes the truth hurts.:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[injuredinmelee]

the ARN did a great article on Preston Teel earlier this week.

[sweetwater07]

Originally posted by DaHop72
Sorry 07, sometimes the truth hurts.:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

i know it to be true...so no complaints here:D

[sww-bull52]

Originally posted by injuredinmelee
the ARN did a great article on Preston Teel earlier this week.

Read that. Sounds like an exceptional kid.

[injuredinmelee]

Preston Teel: The power within
By Nathan Sanders / sandersn@reporternews.com
October 11, 2006

I believe there is a power within every person that often remains unrealized until circumstance causes them to look deep within themselves in search of it.

- Preston Teel in his application letter to Texas Tech University

Preston Teel writes from experience. He has been wounded by the cruelty of circumstance. But he has also summoned the power to overcome.







That power is contagious. It energizes everyone around him.

''I will promise you, it will touch your heart to know his story,'' Wylie football coach Hugh Sandifer says.

The Circumstance

The start of Teel's story is pleasantly typical. The youngest of five children was your average rambunctious boy, jumping off rooftops and popping wheelies on his bicycle, hunting and fishing. But he also had above-average athletic ability. Teel was an all-star in youth baseball, and he started on the Wylie JV football team as a sophomore.

In June of 2005, the 16-year-old took a summer job with a manufacturing company in Abilene. A few days later (June 3) he was told to work with the metal press, a machine consisting of two giant rollers used to bend 1/2-inch-thick sheets of steel into a circle. After one piece was measured incorrectly, he was told to clean rust off the rollers by spraying and wiping them.

''The next thing I knew, my left hand started to get pulled in,'' Teel said. ''It was just kind of a natural reaction to reach for it with my other hand, and it got stuck. I started screaming.

''The first thing that went through my mind was that I was going to die. It was just going to keep pulling me through. I could feel the bones crushing and popping.''

Other workers stopped the machine, but they had to put the rollers in reverse to remove Teel's hands x96 what was left of them, at least. From the wrists down, the skin, nerves and muscles on both hands were stripped from his fractured bones like a pair of gloves.

Company employees drove Teel to Hendrick Health System. Shortly thereafter, he was transferred across town by ambulance to Abilene Regional Medical Center, but never admitted. Instead, his family made the decision to CareFlight him to specialists at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio.

Easier said than done. The first helicopter couldn't land. The second helicopter took Teel as far as Kerrville before stopping to refuel, then stayed grounded due to heavy fog. Teel was transported the final 65 miles by ambulance and arrived at about 1 a.m. x96 10 hours after the accident.

Teel spent the next two months at Methodist. Doctors stitched his hands to his abdomen, wrapping them with flaps of skin from his groin. After six weeks, his cone-shaped hands were removed and formed into fingers.

It was just one of 14 surgeries for Teel over the next 11 months. Skin grafts from his thighs were used to remake his palms. There was vein and nerve reconstruction; removal of crushed bones and tissue which continued to die. Through it all, he has retained one workable finger x96 the thumb on his right hand.

Karen Johnston-Jones of The Hand Center of San Antonio has been an orthopedic surgeon since 1989. In a March 2006 letter to the Wylie counselor's office, she wrote, ''I can state without question that Preston's injury was, in fact, the most devastating bilateral hand injury that I have ever seen.''


The Power

When the 6-foot-4 Teel came home in August of 2005, he weighed just 140 pounds.

Five days later, he was learning to drive a car.

Teel was there for the first day of his junior year at Wylie. He watched two-a-day football practice. And though he missed 70 days of school for various surgeries and treatments, he still stayed on course to graduate with his classmates. He was also a spectator on the sidelines for several Wylie football games, though the pain medication often forced him to sit and rest on the bench.

But Teel's aspirations went beyond attending. He wanted to play again.

''When I saw all the guys out there practicing, I just wanted to be out there with them so bad,'' said a teary-eyed Teel, who attended therapy five days a week for a year. ''I had been out there with them since seventh grade They're like family to me.''

His mother, Taylor County Treasurer Lesa Crosswhite, wasn't crazy about the idea, but she understood.

''In the big scheme of life it's really not that important, but what you learn from playing with teammates and listening to coaches and pushing yourself beyond normal limits, I think that's something that you take with you through all of this,'' Crosswhite said. ''I told him 'You just might need to get out here and knock the ... out of somebody. I might run out there and do the same thing.'''

In January, Teel joined the team's off-season workout sessions of lifting weights, running, and agility drills. Sandifer advised Teel to ease into it. That didn't happen.

''He would not back off at all,'' Sandifer said. ''He would just be exhausted and would just collapse every day on the turf in the Doghouse. I jokingly said to him, 'They're going to have to do skin grafts on your knees. You're not going to have any skin left on your knees because every day you're busting it.' He would laugh and just go on.

''It was just incredible that first month. It was just daily 'Go until you couldn't take a step.' It was just unbelievable.''

The obstacles didn't end there. In the Bulldogs' first scrimmage of 2006, Teel injured his left knee. A few weeks later in the season-opener against Brownwood, he strained the MCL in his right knee.

''I just thought it was a sign to quit playing,'' Teel said. ''But I wanted to keep playing.''

So he does. Protective gloves and athletic tape partially protect Teel's hands, but the soft skin still often tears and bleeds. He ices and bandages his hands after every practice and every game. And the pain is always present, in his knees as well as in his hands.

Is it worth it? For Teel, there is no question.

''When I'm on the field, my adrenaline gets going and I get pretty pumped up,'' Teel said. ''It's the one day of the week when I can kind of forget about it.''

Teel has gained 95 pounds since leaving the hospital 16 months ago. A starter at defensive end, he has 16 tackles (six unassisted), four tackles for loss and one fumble recovery in six games for a Wylie defense that has matured into one of the area's best. But his contributions go beyond statistics.

''Whenever you see somebody like that, it just kind of puts something in you,'' said senior linebacker Josh Jennings, a friend of Teel's since second grade. ''He's really busting it out there. He's doing his best. It just motivates his team to go the extra mile.''

Teel's future likely includes several more surgeries, but it also includes promise. He has re-learned how to write and x96 perhaps more importantly x96 how to hold a fishing pole and shoot a bow and arrow. Future advances in medicine could bring more personal breakthroughs.

Though many disagree, Teel doesn't see himself as a hero. He longs for people to treat him the way they did before June of 2005. Crosswhite knows that might not be possible.

''In my opinion he'll never be the same, but he'll be better,'' she said. ''He knows he's not bulletproof anymore like most teenagers think they are, but he knows he has the strength to overcome.''

The final line of Teel's Texas Tech application letter confirms that claim.

''I have learned that a person's real strength is not found in his extremities,'' he wrote, ''and that I have within me, the power to make dreams come true.

[injuredinmelee]

this kid is a warrior through and through. he had a whale of a game against Big Spring and with his size I look for him to have a huge impact once the district games start.