FOOTBALL

Hard work pays off for Lions RB Harris

Darrell Harris’ tremendous offseason is already paying big dividends.

Harris was a regular at Waco High’s summer workout program, often going through his strength and conditioning reps with a 20-pound weight jacket to increase the load.

He also continued to expand upon a meeting he had with Lions coach Danny Ramsey when he first came into the program.  

Ramsey relayed that to be a great running back, he’d have to block well and “run with a mindset that no one man can bring you down.”

More often than not, Austin High needed four or five to stop Harris on Saturday. The senior rushed for 346 yards and six touchdowns on 25 carries in a 52-35 win, and he finished with 516 all-purpose yards.

“Anything less than the end zone is a disappointment to him,” Ramsey said.

As the season progresses, Harris’ role will only become more involved in Waco High’s spread-option system. With Harris on pace for 3,460 rushing yards and 60 touchdowns, that’s music to Ramsey’s ears. 

— Will Parchman

La Vega coach keeps victory in perspective

La Vega battled inconsistency all season in 2010, so you can excuse coach Willie Williams if he’s not jumping up and down after a solid 33-21 win over Prosper.

The Pirates avoided many of the pitfalls that usually catch up with teams in openers. They didn’t turn the ball over and had only two offensive penalties.

“It was very important, but one game doesn’t make a season,” Williams said. “If we continue to execute like that, we have a chance to have a great year. No turnovers and two offensive penalties goes a long way. It shows the kids were very focused.”

Marcus Evans was at the controls for the Pirate offense for the first time, and he responded with a 113-yard night on the ground. But the entire team contributed to pulling away from the Eagles after a 14-all tie at halftime.

“Marcus Evans did an outstanding job running our offense,” Williams said. “Our two running backs ran well. The offensive line did a good job of putting a hat on a hat and not having any mental breakdowns. The defense was also very good. It was a good game across the board.”

— Jason Orts

Lorena QB performs ‘very well’ in return

Fisher Simpson’s final shot at a healthy high school football season is off to a brilliant start.

Simpson lost his sophomore and junior seasons to injuries, and he wasted little time shredding West in the Derrick Johnson Heart of Texas Kickoff Classic last week.

Showing no ill effects of offseason knee surgery, the Lorena senior was 13-of-17 with 178 yards and two touchdowns in playing time shortened due to a 53-0 blowout win over West.

“I thought he did very well,” Lorena coach Ray Biles said. “He made a lot of good reads. He didn’t force a lot of things.”

He didn’t force runs, either. Simpson blew out his knee last year on a keeper up the middle, but he showed restraint last week in ducking out of trouble. That’s all part of the maturation process, Biles said.

“It was the realization of, drop your shoulder and get one more yard or get down and live to fight another fight?” Biles said.

— Parchman

Whitney offense gets revved up quickly

The Whitney offense continues to develop into the high-powered unit coach Kenneth Gilchrist has been waiting for.

In last week’s 48-0 win over Fort Worth Poly, the offense cut down on penalties and turnovers, and looked “crisp,” Gilchrist said, while racking up more than 600 yards.

Quarterback Dillon Hightower threw for 277 yards and rushed for 135 more.

T.Q. Echols has quickly become one of Hightower’s favorite targets. The junior hauled in six receptions for 140 yards, including three touchdowns.

Gilchrist said Echols has really come on after getting his feet wet early last season.

“From about the third game on, (Echols) had over 100 yards and a touchdown in each game,” Gilchrist said. “He’s a playmaker. Teams are going to have to plan to stop him.”

— David Ash

Pirates make progress in opening-game rout

One of the hallmarks of Crawford’s success is consistent improvement throughout games and the season.

In Friday’s opening 46-15 win over Jarrell, the Pirates’ performance in the first and second half was like night and day.

“We made a lot of mistakes early, which attribute that to nerves or inexperience, or whatever,” Crawford coach Delbert Kelm said. “We turned the ball over three times in the first half, and we really stopped ourselves. In the second half, we played much better.”

Crawford scored 33 points after halftime to pull away and ended up with more than 400 yards on the ground.

With that kind of output, it’s not surprising that the group that made the most progress between kickoff and the final horn was the offensive line.

“Our down linemen played closer to what we wanted to than anybody else,” Kelm said. “. . . We ran the ball extremely well, but we only threw it six times. We like to be a lot closer to being balanced than that.”

— Orts

Axtell not satisfied despite lopsided win

Fifty-two points scored. Three special teams touchdowns. Zero points allowed.

Sounds like a good week for Axtell — unless you’re coach Mike Cadell.

“We only ran 14 snaps on offense,” he said. “Our linemen need to work and we didn’t get any reps, and it’s hard to stay focused when you go up 21-zip before you even get an offensive snap.”

Axtell returns just one lineman from last year’s team.

Sophomore returner Michael Mulburn scored three times on a 74-yard kickoff and two 60-plus-yard punt returns. He looked to have two more, but they were called back on holding penalties.

Defensively, the Longhorns took to the new 3-4 alignment well, and Cadell noted that his defense is the best he’s had from a total team-speed perspective.

— Brian Bateman

Mart’s play up front exceeds expectations

Before the season, Mart coach Rusty Nail said he thought the Panthers would be as good skill-wise as they’ve ever been.

The lines were where he raised concerns.

However, if Mart performs in the trenches like it did Friday in a 47-6 blowout of Chilton, another deep playoff run could be on the horizon for the defending Class 1A Division I champion.

“I thought our offensive and defensive lines played well above my expectations,” Nail said. “We’re not where we want to be by any means, but we weren’t as lacking there as I thought we would be, and we played more physical than I thought we would.”

The Panthers rolled up 421 yards of total offense, 264 of which came on the ground. Defensively, Mart stymied a Chilton attack with a big, physical and experienced offensive line to 184 total yards.

— Orts

Moody picking up where it left off

Moody has taken last year’s success and continued to improve with new coach John Ward at the helm. Ward praised the offensive line play for last week’s 24-9 victory over Holland.

The line, led by Lane Olsen and Kyle Dean, opened holes all night for a stable of Bearcat running back, including super sophomore Preston Parsons.

Parsons, last year’s District 12-1A Division I newcomer of the year, gained 180 yards on the ground.

“He’s a year older now,” Ward said. “He’s developed in the weight room, and he’s really matured over the summer.”

Ward said Moody’s backfield has “strength in numbers,” with players like quarterback Justin White and running backs Mark Viegas and Patrick Mathis seeing carries.

— Ash

Heat forces Reicher to shorten game

The Texas heat has been especially brutal this year, and it took its toll on the Cougars against Academy on Friday.

“When we were fresh, we were really good,” coach Mark Waggoner said. “Then we got tired.”

Reicher jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter but held serve the rest of the way for the win. The Cougars never got a chance to get their passing game going, turning instead to the run (247 yards on 27 carries) to shorten the game.

“That’s what we’re going to have to do this week (against Addison Trinity Christian), too, or we’ll be playing until midnight,” Waggoner said.

Reicher, one of the smallest schools in its district, will routinely go up against teams filled with one-way players and pass-centric offenses, which could quickly gas the Cougars’ thin rotation.

— Bateman

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