I couldn’t have asked the “football gods” for a better schedule of games for me to work; I was pumped up and super excited!!! I really enjoy doing games at the Dome. It is always extremely loud and I have a great view of the field.
Dude, the Dome always gets the best games…do you remember when the Dome hosted the Texas Football Classic? It was high school football teams (some powerhouse teams) from all around the state of Texas playing in Week 0. Would someone PLEASE give me some money so I can help the organizers get this revitalized? I wonder if Soapmarked.com would be interested…hmm!!!
The Dome also hosted some memorable state championship games that I had the privilege of working…the 2002 Judson Rockets, the 2002 Everman Bulldogs, and the 2006 Alamo Heights Mules.
The Dome is going to host a Texas Rangers pre-season baseball game in March. As we were hanging our banners for the first game on Thursday night, Bobby Stautzenberger and Mark Kusenberger, tried to visualize the setup for the baseball configuration. It was really fun to watch em cause they were measuring distances with their feet and trying to figure out how the heck it will work. If the tickets are inexpensive for the baseball game, I would like to go. How cool would that be to watch baseball in the Dome?
I worked with Bobby Stautzenberger for all of these games and we were able to leave the equipment and banners on Thursday and Friday night; I just had to replace the KLUP banner for the KKYX banner on Saturday…man, that sure was nice. The only thing that wasn’t nice was there was no free food for us. And, if you have ever been to any event at the Dome, you know that the concessions are expensive. Usually, I don’t hang out with Bobby when he does the pre-game coaches interviews , but since I was already on the field on Thursday night, I hung around with Bobby and Mark as they talked to Stan Laing, the Northside ISD Athletic Director, Mike Jinks, the head coach at Steele, and Keith Kaiser, the head coach at Marshall; that was really cool…I felt like a fly on the wall privy to the rumorville!!! Coach Kiser was joking around by telling us he had shaved for the game…that got a smile and a laugh from me, Mark, and Bobby…I have a goatee with a thin beard and haven’t shaved since last Sunday (it will all be gone by the time this is published as I can’t get past the itching stage), Kusenberger has always a had a thick red beard, and Bobby had a thin beard!!! Where was my Dad, the unofficial beard photographer?
I didn’t expect a close game or the upset of the decade by the Marshall Rams!! I totally expected Steele to dominate and have complete control of the Rams minds by halftime and gosh, we got exactly what I and what everyone else thought would happen. The Steele Knights absolutely crushed the Marshall Rams by a final score of 49 to 17.
The Steele starters played for one and a half quarters and looked extremely sharp. The quarterback for the Knights, BJ McCollum, was 6 for 6 passing for 102 yards and 3 touchdowns…really sweet fantasy numbers!!! Tight end, Matt Moen, had 2 receptions for 36 yards and 2 touchdowns and wide receiver, Matt Mayle, had 3 receptions for 50 yards and 1 touchdown. Matt’s dad, Robert, was our interview for halftime. Justin Stockton, the running back for Steele, had 6 carries for 50 yards and 1 touchdowns…I think that is the first time under 100 yards this season for Justin. But, again, Justin, BJ, and Matt squared only played one and a half quarters.
The leading rusher for the Steele Knights was Alvin Johnson, a Sophomore, who had 3 carries for 80 yards and 1 touchdown. Isaiah Fields, a Freshmen wide receiver, had 2 receptions for 24 yards and 1 touchdown. What a debut for Alvin and Isaiah!!! Wow!!! I saw Malcolm Brown and Justin Stockton make their debut for Steele; both as Freshmen! Is Fields the next big sensation? Dude, the back-ups for Steele had more yardage than the starters.
The lone bright spot for the Marshall Rams was Sophomore running back, Tre Scallion. Tre had 22 carries for 204 yards and 1 touchdown…the majority of the yards came in the 2nd half against back-ups, but still pretty damn impressive numbers. Coach Kaiser is probably very glad Tre is coming back…what a great building block for the team.
The Steele Knights will play the Roosevelt Rough Riders next Friday at 2pm at Heroes stadium.
Smithson Valley and Reagan
We were joined in the booth for this game with one of our newest sponsors…FARMERS INSURANCE and they were super nice. I told em to come to the Saturday’s games and hang with us again.
I was expecting this game to be really close and although Smithson Valley is one of my favorite teams, I was kinda hoping for a Rattler upset!! I don’t have any nails left as the game came down to the last possession for Reagan. The Rattlers had a chance to score and either tie or go for the 2 point conversion and the upset win, but, Smithson Valley intercepted a pass and just like that, the game ended. Smithson Valley defeated the Reagan Rattlers 21 to 14 in an energetic and exciting game!!
Smithson Valley running back, Lawrence Mattison, had 25 carries for 145 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Rattlers had a HUGE defensive stand as the Rangers had a chance to score before going into the half, but Mattison was denied the end zone twice and was tackled for negative yards. Man, had the Rangers scored, the final score could’ve been a bit more lopsided in favor of the Valley!!!
The Rattlers ran a total of 55 plays for 307 yards, but had 4 HUGE turnovers…all interceptions. Gosh, had those interceptions been caught by Reagan players, it is very possible that Reagan could’ve won the game!!! Ty Summers, a Junior quarterback, had 44 yards rushing, 37 yards passing, and a 50 yard reception on a reverse pass on the the last drive (dude, that was an awesome play and I thought he was gonna score, but he came up 30 yards short)…he is going to a be really fun player to watch next year!!!
The Smithson Valley Rangers will play the Brandeis Broncos next Friday at 1pm at Comalander stadium.
Judson and Churchill
I was not expecting the same result from when these teams played in Week 2 when Judson won 45 to 24. I didn’t work that game since I had a TNL game that same night.
This game had a thrilling finish as the Judson Rockets won the game 34-20…the Chargers had a chance to get within one touchdown but Keivon Ramsey picked off a pass and Judson ran the clock out. Wow!!! Kevion Ramsey is a Sophomore and he used to hang out in the radio booth with Bobby and I and was our unofficial photographer…I am so proud of Kevion!!! I can’t wait for Kevion to score a touchdown; dude is really fast.
Tre Flowers is a defensive back for Judson and Dimitri Flowers is a wide receiver for Churchill. Yes, they are related…Dimitri’s dad is former NFL player Erik Flowers and Erik is Tre’s nephew. I got a Tweet from @mysahighschools calling this game the Flowers Bowl at kickoff…I wrote a blog post last week naming it the Flowers Bowl…can’t I get some credit or a shout out for my blog Lorne and Blake?
It was really cool to see Tre and Dimitri lined up against each other…Tre even caught a pass from Dimitri!!!
Rayjohn Austin-Ramsey, the Judson quarterback, had a terrific game and his ability to scramble, pass, and run willed the Rockets to a win…he was 13 of 19 passing for 198 yards and also had 16 carries for 70 yards and 4 touchdowns. Jarveon Williams, the running back, had 21 carries for 116 yards and 1 touchdown; he didn’t look a 100%.
For the Chargers, I was really impressed with Nate Pearson, the Junior quarterback, and Nicholas Smisek, the Sophomore running back. Pearson was 16 of 28 passing for 186 yards and 1 interception. He also had 16 carries for 10 yards and 2 touchdowns (he was sacked a few times). Smisek had 22 carries for 91 yards and 1 touchdown and 2 receptions for 41 yards. Man, Pearson and Smisek will be fun to watch next season.
Hmm, I wonder if Nicholas is related to the head basketball coach at St. Anthony, Kevin Smisek. When football ends, I am going to write some blog articles about the St. Anthony basketball team.
I have a feeling Tre Flowers will get first dibs at the Flowers Thanksgiving dinner and be in charge of the television remote control!!!
The Judson Rockets will play the winner of the O’Connor and Southwest game.
O’Connor and Southwest
After our Judson game concluded, we had about 45 minutes of time to kill, so Mark Kusenberger and Carl Padilla talked high school football playoffs (they have a lot of knowledge and experience) till the O’Connor game started. Carl always keeps us updated on scores and especially playoff schedules right now.
I was expecting another close game and a whole bunch of Tre Johnson and Erin Mack. Tre is the O’Connor running back and Mack is the Southwest running back. I got to see Mack make his 2nd career start for the Dragons last year on a TNL game.
At halftime, the score was 7 to 3 O’Connor in an offensive struggle. The O’Connor Panthers had 50 yards of total offense in the first half. I have worked a lot of Panther games and have never seen them play that horrible on offense; gotta give a bunch of kudos to the Southwest defense. Whatever the head coach of O’Connor told his team at halftime, they responded by outscoring Southwest in the 2nd half 35 to 9 and won the game easily 42 to 12. Man, a blowout!!! Wow!!!
The 2nd half for O’Connor was the Tre Johnson showcase!!! He had touchdowns runs of 65 yards, 52 yards, and 2 yards…he ended the game with 19 carries for 157 yards and 3 touchdowns. Zach Galindo, the quarterback, was 10 for 16 for 98 yards and 2 touchdowns. Billy Craft, a running back, had 5 receptions for 68 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Erin Mack, the Junior running back for Southwest, had 20 carries for 68 yards and 1 touchdown. Jaedon Johnson, a Junior wide receiver, had 7 receptions for 95 yards. What really hurt the Dragons was penalties and turnovers…they had 12 penalties for 54 yards and 6 turnovers. Next year, Mack will be one of top running backs in the city.
Oh, I have no clue if my Southwest stats were correct cause they wore green jerseys with black numbers that kinda blended with the field, so it was very very difficult to see which player had the ball. We even had a replay monitor in the booth and even after watching the replay, I still had no idea.
The O’Connor Panthers will play the Judson Rockets next Saturday at 2pm at Heroes stadium.
On Friday, I think I will be at Bobcat stadium in San Marcos for Brennan and Vista Ridge (hopefully, I will know for sure by Tuesday), but don’t look for an article cause there won’t be one!! I am taking some time off from the blog to spend Thanksgiving with the family, but don’t worry folks, it will be back for Week 14. So, have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy all the football games.