After the 2012 High School Football season ended, I switched gears to High School Basketball and was the “unofficial beat writer”for the St. Anthony Yellow Jackets. I was invited by Kevin Smisek, the head coach for the Yellow Jackets, after he read one of my High School Football BLOGS. I attended Yellow Jackets games at the Hive (St. Anthony), UIW, and Antonian. The team plays with passion, the fans are energetic, and I had such a great time that I was definitely planning on doing it again the following season.
Here is a quickie BIO on Coach Smisek:
This is my 19th year in education & my 3rd at St. Anthony Catholic HS. I am an alum of St. A’s (class of ’88). I was more of a football player than basketball player when I went to school. Earned 9 Varsity letters (3 football, 2 basketball, 3 baseball, 1 tennis). 1stteam All-District football, All-City Honorable Mention Football (1987 season). I earned the Varsity Hustle award my senior year (1987-1988).
I started my career at Lanier HS as Rudy Bernal’s assistant (3 years); then I moved to Alamo Heights HS for 3 years as Charlie Boggess’ assistant; I then moved to NISD as a teacher at Communication Arts HS & assistant basketball coach at Taft under Mike Osterman.
I then was named the Head Boys basketball coach at Caldwell HS (College Station area). I was there for 3 years before moving back to San Antonio and taking the Director of Students position at St. Anthony.
I saw Coach Smisek at the Judson Rockets and Churchill Chargers Week 11 playoff game and I made it my duty to say hello; we talked about Churchill football and Yellow Jacket basketball. His son, Nico, is the starting running back for the Chargers (955 yards rushing as a junior this season and I totally expect him to be over 1,000 yards next season).
Coach Smisek told me the Yellow Jackets are a very young team.
Last year, they had a freshmen, Brandon Armstrong and the San Antonio Express News named him as a “player to watch and also mentioned that St. Anthony could make some noise in there district”. I hope so, because I would love to attend some playoff games!!
Brandon was the starting quarterback for the Yellow Jackets football team. How do I know that? Well, I actually went to two Yellow Jackets football games and watched from the sideline which was such a different and yet amazing view than what I am used to when I do stats from the press-box. I was invited by the starting running back, Marc Rybczynski, mother!
Besides Brandon, Matt Benavides, Jax Chavez, and Stephen Wallace are the only returnees from last year’s team which went 19 and 13 and lost in the first round of the TAPPS playoffs. Brandon averaged 14 points/game last season and I am expecting that to increase this season.
The co-leaders of the Yellow Jackets team last year were seniors Jackson Becker and Khalil Howard. I am very interested to see who the leader of the team will be this year? I want it to be Matt and Stephen, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone else assumes that role.
Before I dive in to a game I attended a few days, let me tell you a little about myself…
I am a High School football statistician and write about every game I work (since 2011) on my BLOG.
One of my special projects that started in February and will end next July is photographing the Alamo stadium renovation. These photos got me on KSAT 12 as they did a story on me and my photos.
I will be getting BRAND NEW pictures from Alamo stadium on Friday, December 6th….they just started the framework for the press-box and I can’t wait to get up close and personal with it!!
I am extremely passionate for High School football, but High School basketball is really growing on me.
I love to write and I will warn you now that I am going to be extremely biased for St. Anthony!!!
So, that is enough about me…now, I can finally write about the basketball game.
On Tuesday, I was at the campus of St. Anthony as the Yellow Jackets hosted the Hawkins Wolfpack. Yes, I know High School Football isn’t over but a few games before football ends should be relatively easy for me.
In the parking lot, I saw Alejandro Calderon who is the Director of Development for St. Anthony. As I walked from my car to the gym, I saw Coach Smisek and we chatted about High School football and the Yellow Jackets basketball team. Coach introduced me to the principle of St. Anthony, Rene Escobedo and also to the basketball team (which was very cool). Everybody was so friendly and nice to me.
The atmosphere at the Hive was incredible…it is a small gym, but it was packed!!!
For the first half, I sat on the Hawkins bench (but at the end and way from the team and coaches). I didn’t want the Hawkins coach to look at me and say, “Lieberman, go in!!”
For the 2nd half, I sat on the opposite side of the St. Anthony bench. I take a lot of pictures and like to be close to the action (with nobody blocking my view). You know something, I seriously considered sitting on the floor underneath the basket, but I thought that may be too distractible for the teams and fans.
The Yellow Jackets won the game 63 to 50 and they played tenacious defense, hustled on each play, played unselfishly, and worked as a team!!! Gee, kinda sounds like the Spurs.
I was really impressed with freshman Isiah Saenz. Saenz is 5’5 and the starting point guard. He never looked flustered by the bigger defenders and was very confident in his skills. Coach Smisek told me last year about an 8th grader point guard who is really good…hmm, I wonder if this is him?
Brandon led the team with 13 points. Ricardo Valadez had 11 points, Isiah Saenz had 10 points, Stephen Wallace and Jude Pereida each had 8 points, Jax Chavez had 5 points, Daniel Ledesma had 4 points, and Daniel Brown had 2 points. I didn’t keep track of any stats…I grabbed them from the SA Express News (if you know who submitted them, please let me know so I can give you credit).
Cliffird Detiege from Hawkins led all scorers with 27 points. He looked like a MAN among men!!!
I was planning on getting some audio with Coach Smisek, but that didn’t happen. Hopefully I can get that done at the next game.
After the game was over, Coach Smisek introduced me to his son Nico who is the running back for Churchill. I told him that I am on the Nico bandwagon and really enjoyed watching him play this season and look forward to seeing him next season as a senior. Nico told me he likes my BLOG!!! Sweet!!!
Here is the list of St. Anthony games that I am planning to attend:
Tuesday, December 3rd @ TMI
Thursday, December 12th @ St. Anthony
Wednesday, January 8th @Judson
Tuesday, January 14th @ St. Anthony
Wednesday, January 22nd @ UIW (vs. Antonian)
Saturday, January 25th @ St. Anthony
Wednesday, January 29th @ Central Catholic
Saturday, February 8th @ UIW (vs. Central Catholic)
Today, I will be at Cabaniss field in Corpus Christi for a double-header. First game will be the Judson Rockets and the Laredo United Longhorns and the second game will be the Steele Knights and the Edinburgh North Panthers. You can follow me on Twitter @mdlblog for stats and scoring updates for both games. I am expecting Judson and Steele to win easily.
The Judson/Laredo United winner will play the winner of Madison/Mission Sharyland.
The Steele/Edinburg North winner play the winner of Johnson/Laredo Alexander.
Tomorrow, I will be at Farris stadium for the Brennan Bears and the Victoria West Warriors. This will be my first Brennan game and I excited to finally see them play. I am definitely expecting Brennan to win.
The Brennan/Victoria West winner will play the winner of Harlandale/Leander Rouse.