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Brazoswood face Kempner in 1st round
Published November 13, 2009
CLUTE — The Brazoswood football team is right where it wants to be — riding an impressive winning streak into the playoffs.
The Buccaneers (7-3) have won four straight games and open the Class 5A Division I postseason today against another hot squad, the Fort Bend Kempner Cougars (7-3), at 7 p.m. at Memorial Stadium in Alvin.
“We talk about getting to that third season to all the kids, and this is something they’ve been training for, preparing for and playing for since last December,” Brazoswood football coach Dean DeAtley said. “For it finally to come around, we’re excited. It’s something we’ve all worked hard for — the coaching staff and the players — and now we’re out to make the most of our opportunity.”
Brazoswood put together a late run through District 24-5A and tallied four straight wins to finish second in the league and earn the top seed in the Division I bracket. The streak began Oct. 16 at Hopper Field in a key 16-13 win over Dickinson, and since then the Buccaneers have been hard to stop.
“No doubt, we’re going into the playoffs the right way,” DeAtley said. “Sure, every coach in America would love to be 10-0 now, but you can learn so many things from your stumbles along the way and in winning close games. If you treat those things right, you become a better team. And I think we’ve done a good job of that.”
The Buccaneers are playing their best ball at the right time. Brazoswood has scored at least 35 points in its last three games and have allowed only 27 points in the last 10 quarters.
Besides an early 27-7 loss to Class 4A state-ranked Angleton, the Buccaneers played close in both 24-5A losses. Brazoswood dropped a seven-point, 35-28, decision to district champ Clear Springs because of five turnovers, and fell to Clear Brook by six points, 27-21, because of a touchdown in the final minutes set up by an interception.
The Cougars have won five straight since its last loss Oct. 13 against Willowridge in their District 23-5A Zone B opener and finished 3-1 in the zone standings.
Kempner runs a productive triple-option attack that is averaging an impressive 347.7 yards a game. The Cougars have rushed for 2,689 yards and passed for 788.
Three Cougars have gained more than 500 yards on the ground. Sharing the load are seniors fullback Mmadu Biosah (86 carries, 657 yards, seven touchdowns), quarterback Jon Shalala (114 carries, 588 yards, 11 touchdowns) and junior running back Veidal Johnson (79 carries, 510 yards, four touchdowns).
“They like to control the ball and run the clock,” DeAtley said. “But for us, it’s something we’ve seen before.”
Brazoswood has faced a handful of option-orientated teams this year — El Campo, Angleton, Clear Brook, Clear Lake and Galveston Ball. It’s unusual for a team to play against variations of the options once a year, nevertheless five times.
“Every version of the option has its own niche, but we won’t have any excuses on defense because we’ve seen this type of offense several times this year,” DeAtley said. “The kids know their assignments and know what they have to do. They’ve done a great job, and just need to keep it up.”
The surging Brazoswood offense, now averaging 371.9 yards a game, will line up across a Kempner 50 defense that is giving up 281.1 yards per contest.
DeAtley credits the steady offensive improvement on the strong running of the junior backfield tandem of Ricky Lunford (151 carries, 1,064 yards, 13 touchdowns) and Marqualle Davis (114 carries, 806 yards, 10 touchdowns) along with the blocking of fullbacks Kristian Blaylock, Troi Johnson and Jacob Keith and the senior-laden offensive line.
“Everybody has really gelled together,” DeAtley said. “You can see the progression and improvement throughout the year, and now that is paying off.
“When we play our brand of football and limit our turnovers, we know we can play with anybody,” DeAtley said. “ Mistakes are going to come back in hurt you. It’s the playoffs, and all these teams are good, and we’re here for a reason. And to keep going and keep advancing, we need to do what we do best.”
NOTES: Kempner is led from the sidelines by former Brazosport head coach James Brown, who guided the Exporters to a 2-8 record in 2006, his only year at the helm of the Exporters. An audio broadcast of the playoff game will be live on Comcast channel 19.
Jim Levesque is a sports writer for The Facts. Contact him at 979-237-0161.
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