Go Friday Night

Game Day!!

By Lew
December 2, 2005

Our Pick - Sweetwater: The Mustangs are hungry to erase the quarterfinal demon that has plagued them two of the last three seasons. The similarities between Monahans and Sweetwater are many, but the deciding factor tonight could be the turf at Grande Communications Stadium, which will favor Sweetwater's speed-oriented running attack more than Monahans' smash-mouth running game.

Jason Weddle / Reporter-News Staff Writer
December 2, 2005

Head coaches at Sweetwater, Monahans aren’t surprised to be facing each other
By Sam Waller
Odessa American

Sweetwater’s Kent Jackson probably would prefer a little lower profile matchup for his first attempt at getting his 100th career coaching win.
The former Odessa High assistant, who coached the Bronchos’ 1992 state championship track team, is 99-41-1 in his 12th season as a head football coach. For the third time in his five years at Sweetwater, he has the Mustangs in the Class 3A Division II quarterfinals.
But when Jackson and his team, ranked No. 8 in the state in Class 3A, take the field Friday at Grande Communications Stadium in Midland, he will be facing a good friend in Monahans boss Mickey Owens.
“There’s such a sense of respect,� Jackson said. “Mickey knows how I feel about him.�
And Jackson has been telling the folks in Sweetwater what they can expect to see from the Loboes for some time.
“Our booster club meets every Friday at noon and I’ve been telling them since way back in the year,� he said. “I saw (Monahans) on tape against Andrews and I watched about eight plays of that game and told our coaches sitting in the office with me that Mickey’s given them their identity back. They were just so physical.�
But that’s nothing new to Jackson, whose awareness of the Loboes goes way back.
“When I was growing up in Seminole, what I remembered about Monahans was regardless of what else happened you knew you were fixing to get hit and that they were always going to get after you,� he said. “That showed (in the Andrews game film). It was just so obvious. It had Mickey’s thumbprint all over it.�
For his part, Owens said his relationship with Jackson doesn’t make this week any easier.
“But it’s a lot more fun when you know the guy across from you,� he said. “You know how his kids are going to play. It’s going to be a hard-fought game, we know that. They’re going to play with a lot of emotion because that’s the way Coach Jackson coaches. They’re going to be very disciplined. They play a lot like we do. I think he has the same characteristics coaching and he’s just a great guy.
“You know it’s going to be a clean game. There’s not going to be any talking or things like that. They run a pretty tight ship over there and Kent’s just a good, Christian man that I respect a bunch in our profession.�
Among those anticipating the game is Iraan head coach Joe Willis, who spent five years as an assistant to Jackson at Olney and Sweetwater.
“It’s going to be a nailbiter the whole way,� said Willis, who spent three seasons as offensive coordinator at Sweetwater before taking over the Braves program last year. “Both of those coaches have great coaching staffs around them and have done a great job of assembling those staffs.
“I think the world, of course, of Kent. He’s a class act. Mickey’s a good friend of mine. It’s hard to pull one way or the other, but you’ve got to love a great, old West Texas matchup like that.�
While they have known each other for years, Friday’s game will be only the second time Jackson and Owens have squared off as head coaches.
The other meeting came in 2001, when Owens was in his first season at Ballinger and Jackson in his first with the Mustangs, in a District 5-3A contest.
“We were both kind of trying to get our systems in and we won 28-26 in Ballinger,� Owens said. “After that, he got to rolling.�
Despite the loss, Sweetwater went on to make the playoffs after missing the two previous years. The Mustangs haven’t missed since, and have gone at least three rounds deep each of the last four years.
But in the Loboes, Sweetwater faces a team that already has one playoff win over a top 10 team, having beaten No. 9 Snyder in bi-district.
“We tell our kids those are the groups that you want to play because you’re going to be better for it,� said Jackson, whose team beat Snyder 17-6 in District 4-3A play. “You can’t guarantee you’re going to win every ballgame against people like that, but you’re going to be a better football team and a better program for playing them. Mickey knows that’s the way I feel about him.�

Comments

• Previous Entry: « West Texas ShowdownLoboes, Mustangs set for monumental playoff game at Grande
• Next Entry: Radio and Internet broadcast sights »