On Friday, I was at the Texas Military Institute (TMI) as they played the St. Anthony Yellow Jackets. This Week 8 game is the last non-district game for St. Anthony.
They have accomplished a lot in their previous non-district games, but they will be tested mentally, physically, and emotionally in Weeks 9, 10, and 11 against Antonian, Brownsville St. Joseph, and Central Catholic — but, I know they will persevere. If they win those 3 games, they will very likely make the Playoffs. How awesome would that be for the St. Anthony football team after several consecutive losing seasons and a new head coach this year?
Last week, St. Anthony got a win without even playing because the Harlingen Marine Military Academy canceled on them. A win is a win no matter what the score is!!! Coming into the game against TMI, St. Anthony had 5 wins and 1 loss. Yes, you read that correctly!!! Can I start a campaign for Coach Smisek as the 2016 COACH OF THE YEAR.
The first and only time I have been to TMI was for a St. Anthony basketball game on December 6, 2013. Even though St. Anthony lost, the last few seconds were extremely thrilling. At halftime, TMI led 38 to 16 and everything went TMI’s way; easy layups and three pointers!! Whatever Coach Smisek told the Yellow Jackets at halftime worked because in the 2nd half, St. Anthony outscored TMI 42 to 21; they hustled on defense and got a lot of steals in the back court. That is the same Coach Smisek, who is now the head football coach. In your mind, you’re adding the numbers to get the final score (let me help you as adding and subtracting numbers was my job for almost 20 years…TMI 59 and St. Anthony 58).
The Yellow Jackets needed like 20 more seconds and they probably would’ve come away with an unbelievable comeback victory!!! Had St. Anthony played the first half like 2nd half, the score would’ve been different. Had TMI missed most of the first half three pointers, the score would’ve been different. Had some calls gone St. Anthony’s way, the score would’ve been different. Some of the players on the current St. Anthony basketball team were freshmen.
Before that basketball game and since it was my first time on the TMI campus, I had to do some exploration and when I saw the football stadium, I couldn’t wait to step inside and experience it first-hand. I actually prefer the smaller stadiums because of the intimacy over the bigger stadiums like, Heroes, Comalander, Farris, Gustafson, Alamo, Rutledge, and the Alamodome.
Well, almost 3 years later, it finally happened. Visually, it reminded me of Lang Field, the home of St. Anthony but it did have a few more amenities like a very small press-box and bleachers on the home side. Since it is a small stadium capacity wise, a bunch of fans from both teams found their own place to hang out and watch the game. Hey, I got to pet a dog and see and hear a working canon (which is called The Bishop) which scared me and some of the players multiple times. One thing I was mesmerized by was seeing all the airplanes flyover the stadium. I guess it is in the flight-path for the San Antonio airport. My only complaint was that the public address announcer was practically doing play-by-play the entire game and after very first down for TMI, a very loud panther sound would be played.
Enough about the stadium, let’s talk about the game. St. Anthony received the opening kickoff and Olin Vining, III scored on a 94 yard kickoff return, but it was called back because of a penalty. No breather for Olin because 81 seconds later, he ran the ball for a 24 touchdown. Also in the 1st quarter, Zach Sanchez, the junior back-up quarterback, ran for a 9 yard touchdown. With just under 2 minutes left in the 1st quarter, Jay Ortiz, the senior quarterback, threw a 30 yard touchdown pass to Kyle Davila, a junior. That was the first touchdown pass of the season for St. Anthony!!! St. Anthony led 22 to 0 after the 1st quarter.
As the 2nd quarter ended, Brandon Johnson, a senior nailed a 42 yard field goal. TMI tried to ice him twice before that kick by using their time-outs. At halftime, St. Anthony led 25 to 0.
In the 3rd quarter, it was the Olin Vining, III show as he scored 2 more rushing touchdowns…one was for 31 yards and the other was for 6 yards. Victor Castillo, a junior, scored on a 6 yard touchdown run in the 4th.
The final score was St. Antony 47 and TMI 0. St. Anthony improves to 6 and 1 this season. It’s the first time since 2005 that the they have had 6 wins.
Olin Vining, III, had 27 carries for 189 yards with 3 touchdowns. For the season, he has 1,080 rushing yards with 14 touchdowns.
After the game ended, Coach Smisek told his team that, “You did what you had to do. Everything that we have done so far means exactly squat and has been expected. 0 and 0 that is the only thing matters. When you get back to the school tonight, you get that RED school on your mind because that is all that matters. Your moment is here, your moment to really make a difference, your moment to impact our family, our program…I am proud of you. Tell Mommy and Daddy goodbye and thank them for sending me to the best high school in the world.”
If you want to see all the photos, please visit:https://thestatmanspeaks.smugmug.com/St-Anthony-Yellow-Jackets/Football/St-Anthony-at-TMI-10142016/
Here are a few of my favorite photos from the game:
Last Tuesday, I received a press release from SA Sports about the players who were selected to play in the SA Sports All Star football game. This game will be played at The Alamodome on January 7th, 2017 at 5 pm (after the US Army All American Bowl) and it will be televised live on CW35 San Antonio. As I was scrolling thru the list of 108 players from 60 high schools, I couldn’t have been more excited to see Kaleb Mendoza’s name from St. Anthony. According to Lone Star Prospects (@LoneStarHSFB), Kaleb is also one of the top 50 DT for the class of 2017. If I cover that game, I will be a Yellow Jacket bug to Kaleb!!!
In 2012, at the SA Sports All Star football game, Michael Akers, a running back from St. Anthony, had 16 carries for 88 yards and 2 touchdowns. His 2nd touchdown sealed the win for his East squad — it was a 4th and 1 with less than 2 minutes left in the game and he exploded for 26 yards. Had Tommy Armstrong, JR (the senior quarterback at Nebraska) and Trevor Knight (the senior quarterback at Texas A&M) been in that 2012 All Star game, Aker’s may not have had the opportunity to shine amongst all the other players.
See, St. Anthony football gets recognition, but not enough. Hopefully, with my writing, photographing, and Tweeting, people will take notice that something really awesome is happening to the football team.
St. Anthony plays the Antonian Apaches in district play at Lang Field next Saturday. Follow St. Anthony football, presented by Little Caesars Pizza, all season long on the Texas Sports Radio Network atwww.tsrnsports.com online or on your phone by downloading the TSRN Mobile app.
Here are the games I plan to attend:
Week 9
10/22 Antonian at St. Anthony
Week 10
10/29 Brownsville St. Joseph at St. Anthony
Week 11
11/4 St. Anthony at Central Catholic
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