SPORTS
The football offenses that shape us
Sometimes the world proves itself to be small in certain ways, where running into someone from your past in towns hundreds of miles away is par the course.
I played football at Midlothian High School back in 2008, at the back of the depth chart as was the case my whole football journey since a lack of physical ability and shaky self-confidence did not pair well together.
Starting the second half of my freshman year, after the football season, the school district hired a new head football coach named Robby Clark.
Sixteen years later, I finally had the guts to go up to Coach Clark at the district track meet since I had been seeing him at Henrietta sporting events since the beginning of the school year, when I read his wife, Jaime Clark, was hired as Henrietta’s new superintendent. Funny enough, she also taught me pre-calculus the second half of my senior year.
Midlothian was a huge growing school at the time and the football program had more than 150 kids in it, so I was not sure if he’d remember me, but he said he did and we caught up. It probably helped in part by being in the same senior class as a player that would eventually go on to the NFL, quarterback Bryce Petty.
Seeing him recently at a 7-on-7 event at Bowie and hearing him coaching up kids like he did half my lifetime ago, got me thinking about things.
My memory is good, but the fact I can remember several distinct things about the offense we ran nearly 20 years ago shows how important it was to me during that time.
We ran a spread offense out of the shotgun formation almost every play, a sort of precursor to the pass-happy way football has been heading since then. We went through three different centers because we had trouble finding one wouldn’t at least once a game snap the ball over our pretty tall quarterback’s head.
The year before my senior year, when we had a better running back and an offensive line that was both huge and experienced, it brought the beauty out of an offense that, despite appearances with three and four receivers lined up every play, was built around being balanced both running and passing the ball.
Instead of a traditional tight end, we employed an H-back, who could line up both in the backfield at fullback or line out wide like a receiver.
Despite having a quarterback who would go on to set records at Baylor and be drafted by the New York Jets, we found out my senior year when the running game struggled, the whole offense did as a result.
That experience proved to me how some team-focused activities, even ones that include having a superstar teammate, need everyone else to truly shine the way they are designed.
Football offenses shape entire teams. Some coaches are as defined by their systems as they are at every other aspect of coaching. It can be the identity of a team or program if one sticks for several years, but that is a luxury of either huge high schools, colleges and NFL teams.
At certain levels of high school, the best coaches try to be malleable enough to change with their available talent, not trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
Almost every football coach was once a player at the high school level. Those who are more interested in offense usually played on that side of the ball more before becoming coaches and their experiences there can shape them into the coaches they later become.
Bowie’s head football coach Tyler Price is a Jackrabbit alumnus, playing for Bowie 2007-2010. He played every offensive skilled position during that time, quarterback, running back and wide receiver, while playing in coach Brad Keck and later Josh Castles offenses. Both coaches operated out of the spread offense (shotgun formation with three to four receivers) but did things differently.
“Under Coach Keck, we really established the run with zone read plays and it forced teams to tie extra men to the box,” Price said. “When teams did this we would throw the ball to Cyler Matlock who was the area’s best receiver at the time. Under Coach Castles, we were true spread offense and threw the ball around a little more. A lot of quick passing game stuff with the idea of getting the ball to receivers in space. Both offenses really liked to run with the quarterback.”
When he was later a quarterback, he relished using his head as well as athleticism on plays where he would have to make a read on either to hand the ball off or keep it on a run.
That experience helped shape him as a coach.
“I think giving your quarterback a read on every play is so beneficial in every offense,” Price said. “I want our players to have fun playing the game. This offense allows that. The great thing about the spread offense is that it allows a lot of flexibility on how you want to attack each week.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
Saint Jo hosted its Old Jo’s Firecracker 5K on the morning of July 4 and had more than 200 people running/walking the course to start their Independence Day on a healthy note before later stuffing their faces.
It was the 17th year Saint Jo has had the race.
It was put on by the Saint Jo Chamber of Commerce and the Easy Street Animal Shelter.
With 10 age divisions for both male and female runners, there were plenty of medals to give out.
The overall fastest runner was Brayden Willett, running the male open division as he finished with a time of 18:12.
Mattie Broussard was the top female runner, running in the female open division where she finished with a time of 20:05.
The winners of the nine and under categories went to J. Beard and E. Thomas.
The winners in the 10-14 age group was Levi Newland and Sage Keck.
The winners of the 15-19 age groups were Ryan Krebs and Rylee Lamarr. The 20-29 age category winners were Stetson Duke and Ralie Sutton.
The 30-30 age category was won by Aaron Neal and Ashley Bates.
The 40-49 category saw the winners named Mark Neu and Toni Morrow.
The winners of the 50-59 age division was Mark Flusche and Anne Hesse.
Dave Duggins and Margaret Payne were first in the 60-69 age category.
The 70 and over category was won by Don Wiese and Joanne Fuller.
For full results, go to https://runsignup.com/Race/TX/SaintJo/OldJosFirecracker5K2023
Sports are only as important to even the most hardcore fans as the investment we have in them.
The Dallas Mavericks tested that theory back in early February when they traded franchise linchpin and Slovenian wonder boy Luka Doncic.
Doncic was only 25 years old and had yet to enter his athletic prime, most considered to be athletes late 20s. Despite that, he had led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals the previous season and even though the team lost, it was more a failure of losing to a better team overall in the Boston Celtics.
Individually, Doncic had already become consistently one of the five best players in the whole league. He was named to five straight all-star teams and was first team all-NBA five straight times. He also had been in the running for the league’s most valuable player award during all those seasons as well.
Doncic came to the Mavericks in 2018 during a time when the franchise was missing the playoffs the previous two seasons and longtime centerpiece Dirk Nowitzki was entering his final season after playing for more than 20 years.
Luka was the most accomplished European draft prospect ever, having helped his former club win the league title and being named league MVP despite being just 19 years old.
He instantly became the most important player on the team and the franchise started to build around him and his strengths. It was also a passing of the torch moment that season. Nowitzki, playing his last season, was the most accomplished European player in league history and now the franchise would be in the hands of the new European wonder kid who was finding his footing way faster than anyone could have hoped.
During his first six and half seasons with the team, the Mavericks made the playoffs four times, advanced to the conference finals once and the NBA finals just the previous season. On top of that, Luka was one of the most popular players in the league, almost purely for his on court wizardry.
Not being your typical short point guard, Luka represented the big, forward sized playmaker every team would love to have. Teams with Doncic running the offense was almost guaranteed to be good with him running the show even if his teammates could do little more than make open shots and little else.
Unfortunately, with him playing on the biggest stage in recent years, some of his warts started to bug some fans. He would get very fiery and winey when referees would not call fouls for him. His lack of elite athleticism, his biggest weakness, prevented him from ever being as great on defense as he was on offense.
With his big role as the offense playmaker, his effort was up and down on that end of the court. Also, while he had great size for his position, his body type was a bit more doughy than the prototypical NBA star and fans heard stories he did not take his conditioning seriously.
Despite all of that, fans and league pundits figured those flaws were not enough to get in the way of Doncic eventually leading a team to the NBA title one day as their centerpiece.
A lot of times in league history, teams and players have to go through heart break before breaking through to be champions. After failing the previous season, the team retooled with a few new signings and it looked like the Mavericks had a good chance to compete for the title again if health was good.
While the that was up and down the first two months, Dallas was trending in the right direction with a 19-11 record when it played on Christmas day. Doncic went down with a calf strain. Little did anyone know that would be the last time anyone would see him play for the Mavericks.
Late at night on Feb. 1, it was reported Dallas had traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers. Most fans thought the reporter had gotten hacked. No one in the league had even known the Mavericks were thinking about trading him.
No star NBA player in league history had ever been traded so out of nowhere before. Usually, it was triggered by the player themselves, asking/demanding to be traded to somewhere else.
Also, when a big star is traded, the process can usually take several months or even a whole season so the franchise can try to get the best return among the 29 other teams.
This time, it was a secret meeting between two teams meeting for about a month. The big name in the return for Luka was Anthony Davis, a star player who had helped the Lakers win the title in 2020 playing second fiddle to Lebron James, but was widely considered not on Doncic’s level.
On top of that, Davis was 31 years old and had a long history of getting hurt. While the team was mostly built around older players, with Luka still being in his mid 20s, it was thought the team could still build around him in the future even when this current roster aged out in two to three years. Now, when this roster would eventually age out, the future looked bleak because Dallas also got traded back only one draft pick when lesser players had gotten three to four future picks in other deals.
General manager Nico Harrison tried to justify the trade, saying Davis was more of a defensive player he wanted the team to be built around. Stories came out how the Mavericks were not happy with Luka’s conditioning entering the season. His injury on Christmas was thought by Harrison to be just the first in a long physical downfall in the second half of Doncic’s career since Harrison felt he did not have good habits taking care of his body.
Maverick fans were apoplectic. Here is a player we had fallen in love with, watched grown up from a teenager to a young man, go through ups and downs and lead the team to the NBA finals. Despite all of the success, the best was still to come we thought. Luka was so good, it was thought it was a matter when and not if he would win a title.
It didn’t help Davis immediately got hurt in his first game with the team, even though he played great. More key players went down, including the team’s second best player Kyrie Irving, who had to step up his role filling Doncic’s shoes as the team’s lead playmaker with him gone.
The story from games were more about the fans reaction than what was happening on the court. Fans would chant, “Fire Nico” at impromptu times during games, with signs T-Shirts made that got fans kicked out.
A shrine of sorts was made at the foot of Nowitzki’s statue in front of the arena, exemplified by someone bringing a coffin, since many thought a Luka statue would eventually be erected one day as well.
It culminated with Luka with the Lakers coming back in April. Doncic was adamant from his point of view he wanted to stay in Dallas and was surprised by the trade. He visibly cried from the fans reaction during his intro which also included a touching tribute video. He then went on to torch the Mavericks for 45 points all while Dallas fans cheered him at every turn despite him now playing for another team. The night was punctuated by more “Fire Nico” chants and many fans felt like it was the end of their fandom for the Mavericks.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
“Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine” for the 2025 season has come out.
The magazine is affectionately known as the “Bible” of Texas High School football since nowhere else is the more than 700 football teams previewed all in one place.
Questionnaires are sent to every coach in the state and their answers or lack thereof, influence what the staff eventually put into each team’s short blurb.
Not all information is accurate since the questionnaires are sent out during the spring.
Coaches and players move on during the summer sometimes, changing a team’s expectations heading into the season. Players change positions during the season from what they were expected to play in the spring.
Still, it’s the only preview on that scale, where the 6A defending state champs are previewed as well as a six-man football team that is hoping to field enough players heading into the season within the same magazine.
Along with that, district and regional predictions are made, putting on record the first general outside predictions for teams that can either put high expectations on them or fuel them to prove everyone wrong.
Bowie is the biggest school in Montague County, playing in 3A Division I. In district four, the Jackrabbits are picked to finish sixth out of seven teams in the district. Bowie is coming off a 5-5 record and just missed making the playoffs last year after going 2-4 in district play. The Jackrabbits will again use the prediction as fuel as Bowie hopes to break the playoff drought, which dates back to 2017.
For Nocona, the Indians play in 2A Division I in district six. The Indians are also picked to finish sixth in a seven team district. Nocona is coming off a tough 1-9 season that saw a ton of players injured throughout.
The young team hopes it can only go up from there after several freshman were moved up throughout the season to play key roles. That along with a new coach will hopefully get the Indians back on track after making the playoffs the previous two seasons.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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