Kempner Cougars vs. Manvel Mavericks - September 29, 2023

      On Friday, September 29, 2023, the Manvel Mavericks hosted the Kempner Cougar at Freedom Field. This 4th week of district play was homecoming for Manvel High School. Coming in to this game, the Kempner Cougars had a record of 0-4, 0-2. The Manvel Mavericks entered the game with a record of 2-3, 1-2.

    Manvel looks to be a team that has found themselves on defense but is still struggling to find themselves on offense. 

     This was my face multiple times watching the Maverick offense trying to get going. They area trying lots of different people at running back and having success with multiple options. They are only having one quarterback throw the ball. Last night, he improved his interception stats to just 1 for the game (after throwing 3 per game for multiple games).

     Unfortunately, the official did not have his microphone on for the first half of the game and the announcer was not announcing penalties. Multiple times the officials moved the ball 10 yards or more with no announcement. And once again, I have to get on my soapbox. Regardless of how lopsided a game is or how disadvantaged one team seems to be, the officials are not helping anyone by not calling a fair game. What they do by ignoring penalties is reinforce bad habits. Those bad habits will continue and players will continue to break the rules until they are held accountable. And as for calling nonexistent fouls, those officials are teaching the players not to trust people in a position of authority and that they will be punished for succeeding. Officials should do their jobs to the best of their ability and nothing else. Call a fair game. Period
     One more soapbox item, but this time for play callers - are you aware of the definition of insanity? If not, it's repeating the same thing over and over expecting a different result. Why oh why do play callers call the same play over and over knowing that it hasn't worked all night or even all season? This is not just a Manvel issue; it seems to be this way for every team. It is so frustrating to watch. But hey, if you want every coach in the state who watches your film to know that you will always run the ball up the middle on first down, regardless of how many yards you lose each time, then go right ahead. Just remember - insanity.

    The final score of the game shows how one-sided the game was. I applaud the Kempner Cougars for never giving up. They played all 4 quarters, regardless of the score. 

Box Score                1st   2nd     3rd      4th    FINAL
Kempner Cougars    0        0        7        0            7    
Manvel Mavericks   13      7        14      6            40

    Due to homecoming activities at halftime, the Manvel Maverick Marching Band performed their entire show after the game was over. I was impressed to see the football team and cheerleaders in the end zone during the performance, the Majestics in their section of the stadium cheering and the large number of parents in the stands who all stayed to cheer for the band. Marching bands are often ignored by everyone except band parents and it was so good to see everyone supporting them.

     This week's attaboys may have some mistakes, so please forgive me. I struggled to see some of the jersey numbers and am using maxpreps.com for names. If I made a mistake, I apologize. Attaboys for the game go to: Charles, Clerkley, Sweeting, Riggs, Cooks, Holmes, Carter, Caton, Blanton, Edmonson (punter, sorry, if I got your name wrong), Boone, Fleming, Palmo, Thompson, Hayes, Corner (41), Morgan, Norman, Martinez, Fuller, Holcombe, Powell, Stewart, Robinson, and the entire defensive front.

    Next week the Manvel Mavericks have a bye week. Their next game will be Saturday, October 14, 2023 against the Foster Falcons and Traylor Stadium.

Hoka Hey

Disclaimer: My football education is from attending high school football games for 40+ years and sitting between my dad and my grandpa for the first 12 of those years. I continue to learn more about the game and strategies every week. My vocabulary may be lacking, but I know what I see and describe it as best I can.

Friendswood Mustangs vs. Manvel Mavericks - September 15, 2023

     On Friday, September 15, 2023, the Manvel Mavericks hosted the Friendswood Mustangs at Freedom Field. This is the second time since we started supporting both teams that they have faced each other. Because we support both teams and have season tickets for both, we decided that we will sit on the home side and cheer for the home team anytime they face each other. Which means that this year, we were on the home side of Freedom Field cheering on the Mavericks.

     Throughout the week, I had told multiple people that this week's game had the potential to be a very good game. The game did not disappoint. 

     Both teams are working under new head coaches. Friendswood's Jordan Johnson may be new to the HC position in Friendswood, but he is not knew the Henry Winston Stadium or FHS, being an FHS alumni who played under Coach Van Meter. Manvel's Kirk Martin is not new to Manvel, but I think he is new to Freedom Field. If memory serves, the first year for Manvel to play at Freedom Field was the year after Kirk Martin left. 

     Manvel has been trying to reinvent themselves since getting hit with multiple injuries during weeks 2 and 3. Friendswood began rebuilding last year after a disappointing finish to the season. 

     I think a big lightbulb finally went off for Manvel solving at least one big offensive problem. During the game, Dillon Boone was playing running back and was able to slip through and around the Mustangs offense. While the Mustangs' defense did not lay down and let the Mavericks run all over them, Dillon was able to find the gaps and spin out of tackles. He is an asset the Mavericks need to continue to reply upon.

     Friendswood also put a good offense on the field, but like Manvel, their offense seems to be mostly one dimensional. The most effective pieces of the Mustang offense was the passing game between Foster and Buffington. Abebe did sneak around the Maverick's defense to get open for a pass and score, but other than that one play, he didn't cause as many problems for the Mavericks' defense as Buffington did.

     As for defenses, the Mavericks' defense played just as solidly as they have all season and once they realized that they could sack Foster and cause him to make mistakes, they became relentless. The Mavericks' defense put pressure on the Mustangs' QB on every play. I don't keep stats, but I'm sure that the TFL numbers and sacks numbers for the Maverick's defense are both big numbers. And let's not forget Cooks' Superman sack. If you haven't seen that video, you need to check it out. I saw it on Dave Campbell's X (twitter) feed shortly after the game ended. That being said, the Mustangs' defense worked just as hard to capitalize on the Mavericks' offensive weaknesses - the passing game. 

     This game really could have gone either way. Last night in the last few minutes of the game, people around me who haven't seen as much Friendswood football as I have said that Manvel had the game if they could execute. Even with seconds left on the clock and the Manvel defense wreaking havoc on Friendswood's offense, I knew it wasn't' over. I have watched way too much Mustang football to count them out when they are within one score and have the ball. This game literally came down to the last play in the last seconds.

     Like I said, it could have gone either way. Manvel had more talent on the field, but they also make more mistakes added to the fact that the passing game is just not good. One of my favorite sayings is "Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard." I still believe that, but sometimes it's not just talent and hard work. When the game is won or lost as a team, the teams must have all the necessary pieces. If the pieces don't appear naturally, sometimes they can be trained or cultivated. If Manvel is going to make it as far as they want this year, they are going to have to develop the players that they have to create a good passing game. If that means moving people around to different positions, then so be it.

     As for Friendswood's talent, they do have some, but similarly to previous years, they rely to heavily on a few people. Friendswood needs to develop the rest of the guys on the field if they are going to surprise everyone and be in the top 4 at the end of the season. 

     Because I cheer for both teams, this week's attaboys will go players in both white and red jerseys. Attaboys for Friendswood go to: Connor Stamper, Adam Buffington, Brock Foster, Mikey Butler, Kolton Postma, Jackson Slaughter, and Noah Abebe. Attaboys for Manvel this week go to: Avery Demery, Tyler Cooks, Kade Caton, Dillon Boone, and everyone who played defense in the second half.

Next week, Friendswood will travel to Traylor Stadium to take on the Foster Falcons in Rosenberg. Kickoff is set for Friday, September 22, 2023 at 7pm.
The Manvel Mavericks will also travel on Friday, September 2023. Their 7pm kickoff will be at Mustang Stadium in Magnolia against the Magnolia West Mustangs.

Disclaimer: My football education is from attending high school football games for 40+ years and sitting between my dad and my grandpa for the first 12 of those years. I continue to learn more about the game and strategies every week. My vocabulary may be lacking, but I know what I see and describe it as best I can.

Welcome Back, Welcome Back, Welcome Back!

 Welcome Back!

I didn't realize how long it had been since I'd written here until I logged on today. I've mentally written so many posts over the last few years, but never taken the time to type them out. 

I am still going to high school football games almost every Friday night, but now we are supporting two teams and are bouncing back and forth between the two (have season tickets for both) - the Friendswood Mustangs and the Manvel Mavericks.

There are lots of other things that have changed on the Houston area High School Football scene. Gone are the days where lots of local newspapers wrote articles about all the games and the Houston Chronicle's website kept a site where anyone could check out up-to-date stats on the teams and individual players. And gone are the days where anyone could learn about any team for free with just a few keystrokes and mouse clicks. With the lack of articles not behind pay walls, the void is being filled with amateur, semi-pro, and professional reporters who discuss their observations and analysis on X (formerly twitter) and YouTube. There's some great info out there, you just have to know where to find it. What I haven't found yet is a replacement for the Chronicle's stats sheet. That was a great tool during must win games for the fans to know more about their team's opponent. By reading the stats, you could tell if the team preferred to pass or run the ball, as well as how a defense had been stacking up against their opponents. since that site is gone, I may have been the only person looking at it, but I sure do miss it.

Another change in the Houston area High School Football scene is the schools playing. There are sooo many new schools - schools that did not field a varsity football team when I last wrote my blog. I have seen a few of those team play, but that number is probably a minority of the new schools.

The last big change would be the coaching "carousel" as some of the sports writers call it. Both of the teams that we are supporting have new head coaches this year, though one of them is a returning coach while the other is a former player turned coach (who I actually got to see when he played in high school). 

This coming week, the two teams that we support will be playing against each other. The Friendswood Mustangs will travel to Iowa Colony to play the Manvel Mavericks at Alvin ISD newest district stadium - Freedom Field. This will be the 4th time I've seen Manvel play this season, but the first time to see Friendswood in person (though I have seen videos). The Mustangs have been playing very well this year and to simply look at the scoreboards, you might think that this game will be a blowout. However, those scoreboards don't tell the whole story. The caliber of teams that Friendswood and Manvel have been playing against are not the same. Manvel's schedule so far contained better teams than Friendswood's. This means that Manvel should be better prepared for the game against the Mustangs. It also means that both teams are susceptible to thinking that don't have anything to fear this week. Both teams will need to bring their A-game if they expect to walk out of Freedom Field with more points on their side of the scoreboard. 

Unfortunately for Manvel, they have been bitten by the injury bug more than any team I've heard of in the last several years. In 5 quarters of play (last quarter from one game through the last quarter of the next), I have seen 4 knee injuries, some more serious than others. These haven't been the only injuries, just the most obvious. These injuries have caused Coach Martin and the rest of the Mavericks to reengineer the offense and make changes on defense. Luckily for the Mavericks, they have the depth needed to cover for guys who are out temporarily, or even longer. But with the game plan having been focused on different styles of play, adjustments have been needed.

Friendswood on the other hand has tweaked their game as the season has progressed, but not due to injuries. They have been learning and improving each week, making adjustments to improve upon what they are already putting on the field. 

I've read and heard from a few people who believe that Friendswood is good, but Manvel is playing at a higher level. Having not seen Friendswood in person yet, it's hard for me to agree or disagree. What I can say is that Manvel has some serious talent on their team this year, but they also struggle with mental mistakes and finishing plays. I am hopeful that this week in practice, they will be able to focus on focusing and playing all the way to the whistle. The players need to remember that, regardless of what they do in practice, this is neither touch nor flag football. 

I am looking forward to a great game this week.

I no longer post play by plays during the game, but I do update the score at the end of each quarter. You can follow my updates at x.com/momrod2000

If you want to watch the game, Texan Live will be live streaming the game (for a fee). https://www.texanlive.com/video/64fb8fa52308880001edbaa2

I m looking forward to getting back to writing my blog and telling more people about these two great programs.

Disclaimer: My football education is from attending high school football games for 40+ years and sitting between my dad and my grandpa for the first 12 of those years. I continue to learn more about the game and strategies every week. My vocabulary may be lacking, but I know what I see and describe it as best I can.