It seems like every year, the Rangers make it to the playoffs with either one loss or an undefeated record.
I do expect the Smithson Valley Rangers to have another very successful season and make the playoffs again this season. They haven’t won a state championship even though they have come very close several times; I don’t see it happening this season. When they do win a state championship, it will be well deserved and finally.
Lawrence Mattison, the starting running back for the Rangers, will see and touch the ball a lot. As a Sophomore, he had 146 carries for 936 yards with 13 touchdowns. Last year as a Junior, he doubled those numbers as he had 299 carries for 1,943 yards with 27 touchdowns. I expect Lawrence to have about 400 carries for about 3,000 yards with about 40 touchdowns. He will be one of the top 3 running backs in he city this season. The other 2 will be discussed in the next few weeks as I write about the number 1 and number 2 teams in the city. In the meantime, if you get a chance, please make it a date and check out Lawrence; you won’t be disappointed.
I am interested to see who the starting quarterback will be for the Rangers. In the past, it is someone with a lot of experience. For the past 3 years, it was Parker Mckenzie at that position. Before Parker, it was Allan and Bryan Hill, the sons of Coach Larry Hill. I really hope they have somebody who has been groomed into this position; cause if not, it could cost em some wins this season.
The Rangers are also one of the areas top defensive teams. They have a lot of experience returning from last years squad and they will need every bit of it when they play Madison, Brandeis, Judson, and Wagner.
The Smithson Valley Rangers don’t make stupid mistakes on the field and if your team makes a mistake, the Rangers will capitalize.
The Rangers excel on special teams. I have seen many punts blocked and the Rangers always get really good field position.
I have witnessed a lot of quarterback sneaks from the Rangers. Even though it looks easy to stop, the Rangers run it flawlessly and they always get positive yardage on it; and it doesn’t matter what down it is either.
They are also a very smart team and understand the game. All of this starts with the head coach, Larry Hill. Or maybe the water in Comal county!! Larry gets the best out of all the football players. He probably preaches the Smithson Valley mojo as soon as the kids are born!
Larry Hill has been the head coach at Smithson Valley for 18 years and his record is 192 wins and 53 losses. Wow!!!!
For radio broadcasts, Larry doesn’t do a pregame interview before the game. The broadcaster who does play-by-play has to go to the school during the week and record it in his office; he is superstitious.
Something else we have to do for radio broadcasts is broadcast the game outside. There is no room in the press-box for us. It is always very challenging especially when the phone line doesn’t cooperate. I am going to jinx myself, but so far we haven’t had any rain during our broadcasts.
The athletic officials provide us with a pronunciation roster. I am serious! It really helps us a lot cause some of the players have awkward names. I remember seeing 2 players with the same last name but they were pronounced differently. I mean, how many ways can you pronounce, JONES? It wasn’t Jones; it was a name with a very few vowels!!!
After I work a Smithson Valley game, no player for the Rangers has a stat that pops out on my stat board. That makes it really hard to choose a player of the game. Usually, we throw a dart at my stat board and whatever player it lands on is our player of the game. I don’t think they care about stats; they just want to win.
If you have never been to a game at Ranger stadium, you are missing a lot. Dude, it is a like a college atmosphere. The Ranger fans are friendly, loud, extremely energetic, and some of the moms are very nice looking. I remember one game I worked, some of the fans in the end zone helped me hang our TSRN banner. The band plays constantly and to get to the stadium the band has to march from the school parking to there assigned section in the stands which is a nice long walk.
If you are on the home side of the stadium, there is a million dollar home that you can look at!!!!
The first game I ever worked at Ranger stadium was a playoff game a long long time ago; Smithson Valley was not one of the teams that was playing. During playoffs, stadiums will let other teams use there facilities. Well, instead of making a right turn on Highway 46, I made a left turn. I drove for like 10 minutes the wrong way and kept looking for the stadium lights. Nothing!!! I called one of the broadcasters to tell him where I was and he told me I should’ve made a right turn on 46. Crap!!!
There was one broadcaster who I worked with a few times who said Smithon Valley instead of Smithson Valley. I guess he had studied the Smith & Wesson firearms company catalog rather than the Smithson Valley line-up.
As I was leaving another game at the stadium, I had to make a left turn and the left turn lane was barricaded. Crap!! So, I made a right turn and then did a u-turn to get my car in the direction of home. As soon as I did that, I pulled over since a Comal County sheriff’s officer was watching me and had just put his siren on to get me!! I didn’t see the the no u-turn sign as it was very dark!!!! Luckily, I got a warning. I still have a copy of that as that was my first time being pulled over.
If you are familiar with San Antonio traffic, you know that 281 and 1604 traffic at 5:00pm can be a pain in the ass!!! I left my apartment on 1604 and Blanco at 5:00pm for a game at Ranger stadium. My plan was to avoid 281 and 1604 as I would take Stone Oak Pkwy all the to 281. It was only like one mile on the 1604 access road from Blanco to Stone Oak; should be fast!!! Guess how long it took me to actually to get to Stone Oak Pkwy? One hour folks! I am serious!!! Bobby Stautzenberger’s mom called me to make sure I was OK since I am always early for football games. I arrived at the game around 7:00 and just enough time to hang the banner and get set-up!
There was one game where traffic was so bad on 46 that the writer from the San Antonio Express News actually parked his car on 46 and walked the rest of the way to get to the stadium. Bobby and I had arrived early and were able to park very close. Bobby ended up driving the Express News writer to his car when the game was over.
In 2007, my wife, Nina (who at that time was just a co-worker) lived in Spring Branch and was very familiar with the area. Smithson Valley High school is in Spring Branch, TX. Nina and I talked mainly thru instant messenger and I was ranting that I had a game at Ranger stadium coming up that week and that one time I got pulled over by a sheriff’s officer plus when the game is over, it is very dark and roads are windy. Well, she replied with her phone number and told me to call her if I got lost no matter how late it was. When I left the stadium that evening, the stadium and parking lot lights were on and I was able to zip on home very easily with no issues. I didn’t call Nina for help that evening but shortly afterwards, we started to hang out together. We just celebrated 22 months of marriage a few days ago. She hasn’t been to a football game yet, but I am for sure gonna take her to one this season even if she screams and kicks me all the way to the car!!!!
I am going to write about each game I work this season and they will appear on my BLOG on Saturday’s and Sunday’s. I also added a page called My High School Football schedule and this will be updated throughout the season.
Oh, in the next few weeks, I will be debuting Inside the Huddle, a place for my friends and insiders to share there thoughts on High School football.
Next Tuesday, I will share my thoughts on the Number 2 team as ranked in the preseason by the Express News.
Please check out my previous posts for the Number 10 thru Number 4 teams as ranked by Express News for the preseason rankings:
Number 10 Kerrville Tivy Antlers
Number 9 Brennan Bears
Number 8 Judson Rockets
Number 7 O’Connor Panthers
Number 6 Reagan Rattlers
Number 5 East Central Hornets
Number 4 Brandeis Broncos