Mineral Wells Rams Homecoming
It's that season in Texas. Friday Night Lights, Bon Fires, Pep Rallies, Parades and HOMECOMING! This week the Mineral Wells Rams will face the Hirschi Huskies for the 2015 #Homecoming game! First things first. Tonight, October the 8th, from 6:00-9:00pm the Rams will take over the downtown streets for the Parade! Join Mineral Wells Chevrolet Buick GMC in supporting the Rams durring tonights festivities and tomorrow's game!
Tomorrow's game will be held at Ram Stadium, and kickoff is at 7:30pm. Show up to support your Mineral Wells Ram Football Team!
See the Mineral Wells Index pre-game story below!
The Mineral Wells Index
Posted: Thursday, October 8, 2015 8:00 am | Updated: 8:01 am, Thu Oct 8, 2015.
By CLINT FOSTER sports@mineralwellsindex.com
The Mineral Wells Rams’ long-awaited District 4-4A-DI slate is here. The most crucial five games of the schedule begin Friday when the Wichita Falls Hirschi Huskies pay a visit to Ram Stadium to kick off the district season with the added fanfare of a homecoming matchup.
The 4-1 Rams are riding high, while the young Huskies have struggled to an 0-5 mark. But Mineral Wells’ best start in almost a decade means nothing if they can’t win in district and you won’t hear any member of the Rams coaching staff say that a Hirschi win will come easily.
All-state all-purpose back Cedric Battle may be out of the picture, but Hirschi – as it always does – still has athletes in spades. The Rams know, if they don’t approach this game the right way, they could be on upset alert against one of the two teams that made the playoffs out of last year’s three-way tie for third and fourth in District 4 while the Rams stayed home.
“Hirschi is very athletic,” head coach Gerald Perry said. “They’ve struggled this year in the win column, but watching them on tape, we actually think they’re a better team than last year. They’ve had an extra week to prepare for us and that’s scary. With great athletes coming into town, if they hang with us early on, it’s going to be a battle. I’m a little worried about this game. We’ve got to get on top early and play well.”
“I definitely consider them a threat,” defensive coordinator Seth Hobbs added. “They’re very young and very athletic. The only reason they haven’t been in every game that they’ve played is they make lots of mistakes. They’ve got three or four guys that can score from anywhere on the field. That’s a challenge.”
As they always have, the Huskies make their living with the ground game, averaging 225 yards rushing per game compared to a mere 28 yards passing. But the mistakes that Hobbs referenced have kept them from scoring nearly as effectively as they did last year – Hirschi averages 14.8 points per game, but has only posted double digits twice and was shut out against Vernon.
Hirschi has turned to multiple ballcarriers in Battle’s absence, but junior Jeremiah Scott has stepped up as the offense’s primary bell cow with 544 yards and a touchdown. Junior Roman Turner is another threat out of the backfield with 336 yards and four scores, as are the McKinney brothers – sophomore Gerrick and junior Tavion. Scott, Turner and the younger McKinney have each flashed big-play ability with long runs of 72, 80 and 58 yards.
“If they get loose, they’ve got several guys that we can’t catch from behind. So, we have to keep them in front of us and make them earn it down the field,” Hobbs said. “Most of the times they score aren’t because they drove down the field, it’s because they busted a tackle and took it 60 or 80. The biggest thing is making them earn it down the field. When they do that, a lot of times they turn it over and that’s what you’re looking for.
“They’re going to keep things simple. The gameplan is just to make sure that we’re lined up and play gap assignments. If everyone’s where they’re supposed to be, those jukes and missed tackles don’t turn into big plays.”
Hirschi also has a better passer at quarterback than in the past in sophomore Mar’Tez Vrana, but even so the Huskies signal caller is more effective with his feet than arm with 116 yards and a touchdown on 42 carries compared to 141 yards and a score on 20-of-55 passing.
“They’re still a run-based offense,” Perry said. “They don’t throw the ball very well, but they’re athletic across the board. If we don’t do our fundamentals and read our keys, they’ve got a chance to take it to the house.”
Offensively, a Mineral Wells unit averaging 42.6 points per game could feast on the Huskies.
Hirschi’s defense is the epitome of a multiple-front group, as the Huskies have shown 4-3, 4-2, 3-2 and 3-3 stack looks in this season alone. But for all the mixing and matching, Hirschi is allowing 50.8 points per game and has held an opponent to less than 45.
Yet, this is still a group with exceptional athleticism and potential.
“There are opportunities, but it’s not like they’re not a good team over there,” offensive coordinator Chris Olson said of Hirschi. “They’ve got a lot of good kids, they’re just young.
“They’re trying to play sound technique. You can see that they’re coaching it up the right way. It might take them a year, but if they can keep that stuff going, they could be real tough to handle later on. They’re certainly not lacking for athletes, I can tell you that.”
Among the best of said athletes on defense are linebacker Dorian Norwood – one of just 12 seniors on Hirschi’s roster – and junior defensive back Taviun Lee, who shared the district’s Defensive Newcomer of the Year honor with Cameron Weiss last season.
But no matter who lines up opposite of the Rams on defense, if they play two safeties high and keep fewer than six in the box, wide rushing lanes should be open and Mineral Wells should be able to gash Hirschi on the ground, as they did last year when Johnny Morales racked up 137 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries.
“Two-back sets broke the game open last year,” Olson recalled. “Hopefully that will be there again. I know one of the areas they’re looking to improve on is run defense, hopefully we can test that out a little bit.”
When the Rams don’t run he ball, Olson is also confident outside receivers Jordan Duckett and Dogulas Stevens – with 39 catches for 830 yards and 15 touchdowns combined – should be able to continue to stretch the field, even against talented and speedy cover men like Lee.
“It has to do with running the routes they’ve been taught,” Olson explained. “When you run the routes correctly, it creates separation. When you have 4.4 speed, that kind of helps out as well. Douglas really has refined routes. Jordan, you occasionally have to stay on, but he’s doing better. If they just run the routes they’ve been taught, they should be OK.”
With Hirschi’s arrival comes the advent of the meat of the season. A 4-1 non-district record matters little to none at this point. All that matters is winning as many district games as possible, beginning with the Huskies. The Rams grasp that.
“It’s a different season. What we’ve done in the past is gone,” Perry said. “Everything we do, we’ve stepped it up a notch. They have to understand everything’s at a different level. We haven’t played many powerhouses, but we’re about to play some now that are battle-tested. We’re going to have let all the excitement we’ve built up with these wins help propel us.”
NOTES
• Kaine Carraway will not start against Hirschi as originally hoped, as he is still healing from a non-football injury. The coaching staff believes he will be ready for next week’s game at Decatur.
• After a breakout game against Godley with 62 yards and a touchdown on 10 attempts, freshman Brandon Hinojos could be working his way toward more playing time. Hinojos could be an outstanding weapon opposite Johnny Morales in two-back sets that would also allow senior linebacker Tristan Seargeant to stay fresh for defense. But Olson said before Hinojos’ role can expand, his game has to progress, specifically in pass protection.
“Brandon is a young cat,” Olson said. “In our offense, you’ve got to be able to pass protect. His progression in our system will be at the pace at which he can handle those assignments.
“I was real encouraged with what I saw from him last game and we have worked him out quite a bit more as that second back. We’ll just see how he progresses.”
