Cuero article in Victoria Advocate

[JT44]

STREAKING IN CUERO
Gobblers begin season with 38-game regular-season unbeaten mark
August 29, 2007 - Posted at 12:00 a.m.
BY MIKE FORMAN - ADVOCATE SPORTS WRITER
CUERO - Every streak has to start somewhere and Cuero's began on a September night in 2003 in Rockport.

The Gobblers dropped their season opener to Rice Consolidated and were in danger of losing again until Latrael Cooper's 24-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter lifted them to a 21-19 win over the Pirates.

"A whole lot of what we've accomplished had to do with that Rockport-Fulton game," Mark Reeve said of his first win as Cuero's head coach. "They had a good team and had beaten Cuero badly the previous year. For us to go down there and beat them was really important. It was really a turnaround game for us. If we lost that game, we might have gone 5-5. It's amazing how important winning is to establishing confidence."

To say the win over Rockport-Fulton boosted the Gobblers' confidence would be understatement. Cuero has won every regular-season game since and will take a 38-game streak into Friday's season opener against Sinton at Gobbler Stadium.

"I think it's one of those things where you're taking it week by week and respecting the people you play," Reeve said. "You gain confidence from the way you practice. You can't play well if you don't have confidence and it has a lot to do with the way you practice and your work ethic."

The Gobblers rarely talk about the winning streak and are more concerned about getting better weekly to prepare for the playoffs. But no Cuero team wants to be the one to let the streak end.

"There are not many programs in the state of Texas who have won every regular-season game for the last three years," senior Kaeron Johnson said. "It makes you want to work harder. It's about having confidence in your teammates and having confidence that your coaches have prepared you well. There shouldn't be any doubts in our mind. We just think about how hard we've worked and we just couldn't let it end like that."

Cuero has had some close calls during the streak. Martell Williams batted down a two-point conversion pass in the final minute of the fourth quarter to preserve a 56-55 win over Wharton in 2004. Kyle Noack converted a two-point conversion pass late in the fourth quarter in a 29-28 win over Wharton and the Gobblers overcame the suspension of six starters to take a 32-21 win over Hallettsville in 2005.

Cuero battled through the loss of six starters to injury and used a game-saving tackle in the final minute of the fourth quarter by Tre Gray to come away with a 31-27 win over eventual Class 3A, Division II state champion Liberty Hill and Domingo Ruiz knock down a fourth-quarter pass in the end zone in a 26-20 win over La Vernia last season.

"We've never talked about this is the game that might end the streak," Reeve said. "We do what it takes to get prepared. When you prepare to win, you have confidence and a lot of that translates to success on Friday nights."

Cuero's success on Friday nights is no accident and it usually starts with what happens earlier in the week.

"You always have goals and those goals are constantly changing," Reeve said. "The most important ones are the ones for that week. It's how hard you prepare because you know people are going to make adjustments and it's how you react to those adjustments. It's about how you believe in the team and believe in what you're doing. We have our goals meeting on Thursday to make sure we're prepared. You can hear the information but if you don't buy into it, it doesn't make a lot of difference."

Mike Forman is a sports writer for the Victoria Advocate. Contact him at 361-580-6588 or mforman@vicad.com.

[underware]

I think the Victoria Advocate needs to hire me to write on all the area high school programs and let Mike Forman write all he wants to about Cuero. A lot of people I spoke with are tired of hearing Forman and his Cuero team. You don't hear much about Memorial or St. Joe anymore. They have not commented on the improved team in Palacios. Maybe a new run for Calhoun? What about our friends in Goliad? Naw, let keep writing about Cuero. I'm not venting, because I know they have a great program down there, but their not the only school in the Advocate area. If I lived in Victoria, I'd be upset the Advocate is only an Advocate of Cuero.

[Gobbler Fan]

Do you know how depressing that would be if they only wrote about Victoria team's . :devil:

[clemsmarina]

Originally posted by Gobbler Fan
Do you know how depressing that would be if they only wrote about Victoria team's . :devil:

Very.....

[44INAROW]

for anyone interested in St Joe, Goliad or Victoria articles, I've cut and pasted... The Advocate will do write-ups on the area teams as they have in the past. I'm sure if any other team had a 38 game streak going, they'd do a story on them too.

Flyers complete preseason
August 25, 2007 - Posted at 12:00 a.m.
BY WES BLOOMQUIST - ADVOCATE SPORTS WRITER
Everything is set for the St. Joseph Flyers football team. At least they hope so.

"Ready or not, here we go," Flyers head coach John Mares said.

St. Joseph wrapped up its preseason schedule Thursday with a scrimmage in Edna. For Mares, who has already shifted his attention to the Flyers first opponent, St. Joseph gained valuable experience from the scrimmage.

"Anytime you scrimmage a good football team you find some things that you are lacking and things you need to work on," Mares of playing District 28-2A Edna. "Coach (Rob) Schoenfeld's bunch did a good job of heading us in the right direction."

Now the Flyers are preparing for their first game. St. Joseph opens the regular season Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Ganado. The Indians are coming off a 1-9 campaign in 2006, but the Flyers are coming into the game knowing they will see Ganado's best effort.

"I think that Ganado is a good football team and we're going to have to put together our best game," Mares said. "We'll go one step at a time and right now, Ganado is that step."

St. Joseph beat Ganado 21-0 in the season-opener last season.

During the scrimmage at Edna, Mares said defense was strong, while the offense was able to put together drives.

"We saw some things offensively that pleased me, but we still have to get some things polished," Mares said. "Shane Pfeil had a real good game on defense. We saw some real good things from him."

this was in the paper on the 13th -
VIPERS BACK TO WORK
Memorial hits field today to begin football practices
August 13, 2007 - Posted at 12:00 a.m.
BY COY SLAVIK - ADVOCATE SPORTS EDITOR
Mickey Finley is hoping his Memorial Vipers can pick up right where they left off in the spring.

Finley, who was hired in February to replace Jerry Campbell as head football coach at Memorial, was impressed with what he saw during spring workouts in April and he believes the Vipers will carry over the enthusiasm into today's first day of preseason practices.

"We left last spring pretty optimistic about our chances to be able to compete," Finley said. "We also had a great summer. The kids worked really hard. We were able to work on a lot of conditioning. I can't see how anybody worked as hard as we did this summer."

The Vipers will begin workouts today at 8 a.m. and remain on the field until about noon each day this week. Finley said the heat and humidity would dictate how long the players will remain in pads on the field.

"The main thing for us is to figure out what kind of shape we're in," Finley said. "We'll watch the kids pretty close. I know the people who were in here during the summer are in pretty good shape, but we don't want our younger kids to overdo it. We'll pad up early in the morning and the hotter it gets, the more stuff we'll take off."

Finley said he was able to assess his team's talent enough during the spring to know that nearly every job is still up for grabs.

"Everything is open right now," Finley said. "No position is a lock. It looks like we have a two- or three-man race at quarterback. The running back positions will be very competitive. I think we have three or four really top-notch running backs."

The Vipers will scrimmage Kingsville on Aug. 24 at Kingsville and open the season Aug. 31 at McAllen Memorial.

and this on the 10th (with a nice picture)
Countdown to 'Kickoff 2007'
August 10, 2007 - Posted at 12:00 a.m.
Goliad coach Greg Althoff, left, oversees a Tigers workout this week as his team prepares for the 2007 season. The Tigers and all other local and area high school football teams will be previewed in "Kickoff 2007", which will be published in the Advocate on Aug. 30.

[JT44]

palacios got a lot of attention during their 7 on 7 run this summer, all people do in victoria is whine about the advocate not covering their teams, but the writers go where the story is.

unless the fans, coaches, players, let the advocate know that they have something special that needs mentioning most of the time that paper leaves it unnoticed.

[underware]

Originally posted by JT44
palacios got a lot of attention during their 7 on 7 run this summer, all people do in victoria is whine about the advocate not covering their teams, but the writers go where the story is.

unless the fans, coaches, players, let the advocate know that they have something special that needs mentioning most of the time that paper leaves it unnoticed.

I'm not saying to just write about Victoria schools. There are a lot of schools in the Victoria area. And, they are reporters. They should go out and find information. Do you think other papers wait around till someone calls them with information? I think not.

/off my soapbox

[Old Green]

The Victoria Area Team previews will be in the paper tomorrow.
It will be in a large pullout section with all the information on teams in the area.

[CueroDad2006]

Originally posted by underware
I think the Victoria Advocate needs to hire me to write on all the area high school programs and let Mike Forman write all he wants to about Cuero. A lot of people I spoke with are tired of hearing Forman and his Cuero team. You don't hear much about Memorial or St. Joe anymore. They have not commented on the improved team in Palacios. Maybe a new run for Calhoun? What about our friends in Goliad? Naw, let keep writing about Cuero. I'm not venting, because I know they have a great program down there, but their not the only school in the Advocate area. If I lived in Victoria, I'd be upset the Advocate is only an Advocate of Cuero.

Dude this year I want you to read the victoria advocate each saturday morning and just see how much it covers the cuero team on the front page of the sports page.I have read it for years now,to mostly see it cover the gobblers on the front page when 1st the St.Joe flyers are out.
2nd when the victoria vipers are gone.Then it will start to cover the cuero gobblers being one of a handfull teams from the area even still playing in the playoffs.So dont give me you are tierd of only and always having to only read about cuero.That sounds like just one more of the "St.Joe" followers.

[CueroDad2006]

Originally posted by underware
I think the Victoria Advocate needs to hire me to write on all the area high school programs and let Mike Forman write all he wants to about Cuero. A lot of people I spoke with are tired of hearing Forman and his Cuero team. You don't hear much about Memorial or St. Joe anymore. They have not commented on the improved team in Palacios. Maybe a new run for Calhoun? What about our friends in Goliad? Naw, let keep writing about Cuero. I'm not venting, because I know they have a great program down there, but their not the only school in the Advocate area. If I lived in Victoria, I'd be upset the Advocate is only an Advocate of Cuero.

Must be a soccer fan if you cant enjoy what Mike wrote about a local team that has a 38 game win streak going,and to counter with a remark about why he "only" covers "his"team Cuero. Go out and find a goal to kick your ball into while we love readding about teams that "WIN"

[LHPfactory]

I hope Cuero continues that streak, at least for a few more weeks, until their bus arrives in LH. I like the gobblers, but all good things must come to an end.

[underware]

Originally posted by CueroDad2006
Must be a soccer fan if you cant enjoy what Mike wrote about a local team that has a 38 game win streak going,and to counter with a remark about why he "only" covers "his"team Cuero. Go out and find a goal to kick your ball into while we love readding about teams that "WIN"

That's part of the problem. Read only teams that win. A lot of Kids try really hard out there, but because of no winning program. Forget them.

/really sad

[JT44]

Originally posted by LHPfactory
I hope Cuero continues that streak, at least for a few more weeks, until their bus arrives in LH. I like the gobblers, but all good things must come to an end.

It will be sad to see LH lose for the first time after their title;)

[Old Green]

Originally posted by underware
That's part of the problem. Read only teams that win. A lot of Kids try really hard out there, but because of no winning program. Forget them.

/really sad You won't like todays articles either. Full of Cuero junk. The 1985 semifinal come from behind victory by Cuero over Van Vleck. Two ex Cuero coaches one Victoria, the other at McAllen battling each other tomorrow night talking about their experiences at Cuero.

Forman needs to broaden his scope on other teams. J/K:devil: :D

[LHPfactory]

Originally posted by JT44
It will be sad to see LH lose for the first time after their title;)

Im hoping for another thriller where the home team wins again, It should be another good one. :D

[g$$]

When you win as much as Cuero has over the years, then you deserve more coverage. I understand the point made above, but to the victors go the spoils.

As for Palacios, yes they have a stud LB named Buckley (A&M commit). But my goodness, any win is a positive when you have been that bad for that long (since mid-1960s when they were very good & won state). Gosh we miss them in 24-3A! Their coach is good w/ the media, I will give him that & only that compliment.