Early leads District 3-2A after running over San Saba 28-6

By Tracy Ebarb
October 22, 2005

Early Longhorns 28 San Saba Armadillos 6

The Early Longhorns are alone at the top of District 3-2A after defeating the San Saba Armadillos. No one is really surprised that the Horns came out on top in this game. Although many, myself included, thought the point spread would be significantly different. I’ll admit, I thought we’d shut the Dillos out and put up 50 to 60 points against them, I was wrong. The Horns didn’t really have a stellar night on offense. While this game was never really in doubt,(I think due in large part to the highly intimidating purple rags being waved) as long as the San Saba team stayed close, the more inspired they were to try to put together an upset. It didn’t happen, and the Horns are 3-0 in District and 7-1 on the season. In fact, just in case you didn’t hear, the Horns are the only undefeated team in District 3-2A. I said last week that Early had established itself as the team to beat in this District, and it certainly can’t be argued now!

As I write this blog entry, I’m 37,000ft above Louisiana on a flight from DFW to Birmingham, AL. This plane is filled with ‘Bama Football fans, and the Crimson Tide has just defeated Tennessee by a score of 6-3. As I listen to people file by as they board the plane, I’m hearing all kinds of things: “well, it wasn’t pretty…man, if that’s the best we can do, I’m worried… where was our offense?…if we’d only had _______, we’d have really stomped the ‘Vols…oh well, it’s a “W”…what happened? That looked like a totally different team than last week… we may have peaked too early!” But there was this one lady, she’s got on a red “Bama Football” sweatshirt, her earrings are little elephants (Big Al), a cap on her head that reads – ‘Alabama…the Crimson Tide’, and a smile on her face. The guy in front of her is talking about the “ugly” 6-3 victory and what he’s afraid may happen next week, and when he looks at her as if to say ‘what do you think?’ she smiles and says, in a very loud and confident voice – “ROLL TIDE!!!”. And at that moment, she becomes the patron saint of Football! She’s not concerned about a game that is over and done with, she only sees the potential of continued improvement and the absolute fact that “winning begets winning”! And so, as many Longhorn fans lament the “ugly” win this past Friday night, let me remind you that everyone has a “bad day at work”. Wouldn’t you rather have had it on October 21, than on October 28. And don’t forget, although San Saba has only one win this season, they are playing in arguably the toughest 2A District in Texas. The Armadillos played probably their best game of the 2005 season, and don’t be surprised if they win one of their next 2 games.

But above all, be proud! The 2005 Edition of the Early Longhorns is a team that is capable of having an off night and still delivering a 28-6 win! “ROLL ‘HORNS!!!” I believe! I believe that we have the #1 Defense in 2A football, I believe that our offense is capable of scoring when necessary, and sometimes, at will. I believe in a ‘special teams’ unit that holds opponents to less than 8 yards per return and yet consistently delivers 3 times that when we return kicks, I believe in the depth of this Longhorn team and players like Marcus Gonzales and Colin Rome, who can step in when needed and we never lose a step, I believe in seniors like Brandon Anderson, Wills Setzler, Chase Rome, Blake Reid, Brian Pettit, Tim Chandler, Nick Cantu, Kade Horton, Brian Cochran, David Garcia, Marcus Gonzales, Mitchell Doremus, and Kyle Kunkel, who work hard, inspire others and provide incredible examples for the rest of the team, and most of all, I believe in the leadership provided by the Early Longhorn Coaching staff – Robbie Tindol, Alan Luker, Casey Dacus, Darren Bailey, Randy Jones, Chad Burleson, Eric Pierce, Matt Damron, and the rest of the staff. If you get the chance, let them know how much you appreciate all that they do, most of us have no idea the number of hours they spend working in our kids behalf. “ROLL ‘HORNS!!!”

Now, let’s be honest, most of us are excited about the win over San Saba and the 400 yds of Offense, and the Defense allowing less than 200 yds (although I told Coach Luker that I expected the ‘Dillos to gain no more than 80 yds), but what we’re really excited about is the upcoming game against Bangs. Who, this past Friday night proved that “acceptable” just isn’t good enough, contrary to the Brownwood Bulletin’s Friday headline. While the TEA ‘upgraded’ the Bangs High School to “acceptable” the Ballinger Bearcats did a little “down-grading” on the Football Field by handing Bangs their first defeat, 28-22. Some Early fans were saying that they were hoping Bangs would win because that would secure Early’s playoff birth this year. Come on guys, aren’t you tired of allowing our playoff chances to be decided by what happens on some other field than the one we’re playing on? Our goal, unless I misunderstand Coach Tindol, is to win District, period! That means we end District play 5-0, period! I’ve had enough of counting on things like we did last year. I mean, wasn’t it just 12 months ago that we were saying that even if we lost to Coleman by 10 or 11, we would still make the playoffs? I, for one, believe in the Early Longhorns and I will not base my expectations on what the Ballinger Bearcats may do, or the Coleman Bluecats, or the Bangs Dragons! As far as I’m concerned, the Bangs dragons are just the next game on the schedule, the one after San Saba. Coach Robbie Tindol and crew have said this all year, that we will take one game at a time, and that game plan is working! I think the bangs dragons may have fallen victim to looking down the road too far, and they got hit head-on by Wes Vanicek and Company from Ballinger. I expect the Dragons will drop out of the “top 10”, probably down to about # 20 or 22, which I think is about right. Now the dragons are behind the 8-ball and I expect we’ll hear all sorts of excuses about how they’ve been plagued by injuries, and everyone is out to get them, and so on and so forth. They were so cocky a couple of weeks ago that they wanted to move the game to Gordon Wood Stadium! Well, why don’t we just keep it in Bangs, let’s just go ahead and play the schedule out the way it was written. Because, you see, for the Longhorns, it’s just the next game, the “draggins” are just our next opponent. Bangs has a fine football team and is well coached, but I don’t believe they’ve got what it takes to stop the Early Longhorns 2005 Edition. Last year’s O-Line had t-shirts that read – “we take what we want”, I believe that still hold true, and that the Early Longhorns want a District Championship. I believe in the Early Longhorns! I believe next Friday night, about 10:30pm, we’ll be celebrating a 27-6 win over the Bangs Dragons. If you believe, let everyone in Brown County know about it between now and Friday night! I’d love to hear and post your thoughts, so don’t be shy!

Congratulations to the Longhorn Marching Band on achieving a “1” rating at the marching contest in Brady on Saturday. The Band now advances to the regional Competition in Waco this coming Saturday. Great job Mr. Everett, Mr. Woolery and Students! Oh, and I loved the “Jazz Band”’s rendition of Van Morrison’s Moondance at the Pep Rally last week, keep up the good work!

Early’s Freshman Football team has 4 wins and 5 losses on the season and will try to pull to an even .500 this Thursday, 5pm at McDonald Field, with the JV game following. Longhorn Middle School teams travel to Bangs with games beginning at 4pm. Be there if you can and remember to wear purple.

Oh, and by the way, two people who work hard at each Football game and get very little recognition are Helena Bonema and Nicole Arapis, when you see them, say thanks! And thanks also to Charley Conley for singing the National Anthem last Friday. We have such great and talented Students at EHS!

A special thanks to Early’s First United Methodist Church for a great concert at last Friday’s “fifth quarter”. Way to go guys, we appreciate all you do for the Students at Early Schools!

Comments

CD
October 24, 2005 7:12 PM

from what I hear, it is the cocky early fans
who wanted the game to be at Gordon wood stadium
but Bangs would rather have the home field advantage. WHy does early want to play at gordon wood stadium now after all these years of bangs wanting to do that very same thing?

S.P.
October 25, 2005 1:01 AM

First of all I would like to say congrats to the 2005 Longhorns. You are a well coached team this year,steaming from the previous season. I have no doubt about the caliber the Early Longhorns are this year. They hgave put impressive numbers, and have alot of things rolling their way. However, the bias assesment of the team is just unreal. I am a Dragon fan and by no means am I trying to debunk a successfull team. But you degrade our school and its football program and make us out to be a stuck up bunch of big heads. There may be a few die hards out there that want to relive the rivalry from the 80's, but for the most part, Dragon fans are humbled everytime we get a win. I will be the first to admit that we don't always play to our potential. Look at the two state appearances. We failed to bring it home. From the sound of your last blog, we are the "bad" guys. Before you go running you degrading remarks on your blog, you should just step back and take a good long look over the last two years. We came into district last year 0-5 and still made the play-offs with out having to rely on another game. How many 3A schools did Early play pre-district? 1. We played 3. Lets not forget that Bangs has beat the very team Early lost to this season. But you don't mention that. You yourself thought that the score would be much higher against San Saba as did I, but it wasn't. I thought we would beat Ballinger, but we didn't. Teams have off nights as you have said about the Longhorns. I don't think it wise to assume this big blow-out in Bangs this Friday night. Two teams will show up to prove something. The only question for Friday night is who wants it more. I believe both Bangs and Early have very good programs and I wish Early all the luck Friday night and beyond. But tell me this: If...If Bangs wins, will I read more Bangs Bashing and excuses or will I read a more balanced assement of the game and wish eachother well in the games we still have infront of us. District 3-2A is going to bring it. This district has, as you say, always been one of the toughest. I would love to see two state champs in this District represented. It almost happened two years ago and if the football gods are in our favor, it can be accomplished. Good luck to ya'll out in Early, I hope to see a clean well fought game.

Darrell
October 25, 2005 12:05 PM

Excellant writing Mr.Ebarb. I look forward to
reading your blog every week. I have been a Longhorn fan since 1974 and am really impressed
with what a fine bunch of players and coaching
staff we have this year. Everyone keep up the good work--------gozzie

Bryan
October 26, 2005 1:55 PM

Well done 'horns. Even with the sloppy play in the first half of the San Saba game anyone who has watched this team knew that the outcome of the game was never in any real doubt. These kids do not shrink from a little adversity. In fact, I think the Defence kind of likes it. This week is the 'Big Game' against the Bangs Dragons. There has been talk about moving the 'Big Game' to a neutral site. There has been talk of moving the 'Big Game' to another day. Even I have been guilty of asking someone what they thought about the upcoming 'Big Game'. But I got to thinking a little bit about this and realize a few things. This is high school football, they are all 'Big Games'. You can't afford to lose or look past any one of them. They are all 'Big Games' because that is the only game there is that week. They are all 'Big Games' because any loss can potentially eliminate you from going to playoffs. This is a 'Big Game' because a win puts Early in the playoffs, not because of who it's against but because of what it means to the goals of this team. Next week is another 'Big Game' because it could mean a better seeding in the Playoffs. But the biggest 'Big Game' is the one in the playoffs that means that the winner goes on and the loser goes home for the year. So, let's go to Bangs and watch the 'Big Game' this week with the attitude that we hope for a win, not because of who it's against, but because we realized what it means for this football teams goals and future. Win with class should be our motto.

mrkbwd
October 27, 2005 2:07 PM

Good thoughts, Ebarb. I think that while rivalry games are always tough to call, this one will be a good one. I sometimes attempt to hide the fact that I love this team in order to be a fairly objective journalist, but it's pretty obvious that this game is Early's game to lose. Regardless of health issues and the Dragon's first loss last week, (I've dreamed the day would come when I could say this) I think Early's talent, coupled with the confidence and momentum that comes from a 7-game winning streak, will be too much for Bangs to overcome no matter where the game is played. Early 27, Bangs 13. Go 'Horns...2005 3-2A Champs!!!

brad
October 28, 2005 3:11 PM

Go Early, let's go make the playoffs on our own. Early 32 Bangs 12. Hopefully it isn't that close.

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