SoHo Culture
South Houston’s Lane has changed the culture
Matt Malatesta
Dec 28, 2017, 7:00 am
South Houston has only won two playoff games in school history, but is on the right path. Vype
Originally appeared on Vype.com.
The definition of winning is different for every school in Houston.
For some it’s a state title or bust, and for others making the playoffs is monumental.
For the South Houston Trojans, it goes a little deeper.
Keep in mind; the Trojans have won two playoff games in school history dating back to 1957.
Think about that. That’s 60 years.
Coach Dwayne Lane took the head job at South Houston in 2013 after being a long-time assistant in Clear Creek ISD and Dickinson.
Lane has led his squad to back-to-back playoff appearances, falling in the first round to Kingwood both times.
“We are pleased with the progress that we have made, but we are past moral victories,” he said. “I can see in the kids’ eyes that they are expecting to win playoff games. It’s a complete change in mindset from where we were and that’s the toughest part in changing a culture.”
South Houston has a different set of challenges that the super-schools don’t encounter.
The power programs struggle with parental politics, booster clubs and balancing playing time with their large rosters.
“Our hardest part is actually getting our kids on the field,” Lane laughed. “Our kicker, who is a stud and could kick in college, started to miss a lot of practice before the playoffs. He quit the team to join the Marines, just a few weeks ago. We had a defensive back whose dad took him out of a game at halftime and never returned.”
That’s South Houston. And that’s getting to games, not practices.
“I love our kids and their families, but it’s just different here,” he said. “They will miss practice to watch their little brother and sisters when their parents go to work. A lot of times our kids miss because they are at work.”
It’s a different culture, but Lane is making it work.
“My biggest thing is building relationships with my players,” he said. “I live by the motto that kids don’t know how much you know until they know how much you care. I have to take the first step and these kids know that our coaches care about them. Then we develop them as football players.
“All we really preach is work ethic, accountability and commitment,” he said. “I wish we could teach more football schemes, but that’s what we install first and foremost.”
Lane also understands the importance of the big-men.
“You have to win at the Class 6A level in the trenches, so we love those guys up,” he said. “We don’t have ‘skill players’, we have ‘little skills’ and ‘big skills.’ When it’s time to eat pregame, we let the big guys go first. It starts up front and they have paid off huge for us.”
In the regular season, SOHO was the top offense in District 22-6A, averaging 380 yards per game. The offensive line was paramount in that success, but so were senior back Davion Williams and junior quarterback Torrence Stevens. Junior Ian Butler was the leading pass-catcher in the district as well.
Defensively, Sam Webb, linebacker Ethan Ponce and Everardo Martinez will be back in the mix in 2018.
“We are going to keep building off what we have done the past two seasons,” he said. “We have
a great nucleus coming back, who expects to win that playoff game.”
Football is a numbers game and the numbers are stacked against South Houston. But again it goes back to the definition of winning.
“It’s so rewarding so see these kids develop into something bigger than football,” Lane said. “Our trainer has been here for over
20 years, and when we had our awards ceremony last year for our football team and we recognized 24 seniors, she couldn’t believe it. It’s the most that she could ever remember. That’s how we are defining winning.”
This year the Trojans will recognize over 30 seniors and field two freshmen, two junior varsity teams, and a varsity team.
This article appeared in the December Issue of VYPE Magazine. Pick up your copy at any one of our locations today!
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Each football game of a season carries much more weight than one game in a 162 Major League Baseball schedule. That reality, combined with the National Football League campaign opening and with it the most anticipated season in Texans’ history, the Astros are relegated to second banana this weekend. Just the way it goes despite the Astros’ phenomenal extended run from 10 games out of first place in mid-June to now having control of the American League West race and a likely (though definitely not yet certain) eighth consecutive year of postseason play.
It is reality that getting swept out of Cincinnati cost the Astros two games in the standings to Seattle the last two days and trimmed their division lead to four and a half games going into this weekend. There was nothing shameful about getting swept. It’s not as if they choked. They got outplayed and beaten in all three games. Stuff happens within a 162-game season. The 2019 Astros were vastly better than the 2024 Astros. The 2019 ‘Stros posted the best record in franchise history at 107-55. In Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole they had the two best pitchers in the AL. The Reds finished 75-87 in ’19. In the lone Astros-Reds series five years ago, Verlander and Cole started two of the three games. The Reds swept the Astros out of Cincy by scores of 3-2, 4-3, and 3-2. Stuff happens. The following week the Astros called up Yordan Alvarez. There is no Yordan coming to fortify the offense now, but wait! Is that Kyle Tucker's music?
The Astros host the NL champs this weekend
It’s highly unlikely but it’s still a possible World Series preview at Minute Maid Park this weekend with the Astros home for three games versus the Arizona Diamondbacks. The reigning National League Champions woke up under .500 July 11, but since then have been sizzling with 33 wins against just 15 losses. Over the same time frame the Astros are 27-21. The Diamondbacks by a large margin have scored the most runs in MLB this season, and that’s while playing the last nearly three weeks without Ketel Marte because of a high ankle sprain. Marte has been far and away the best second baseman in the game this year. He may return this weekend in a designated hitter role. The Arizona offense overall has been sensational, however it has vulnerability against left-handed pitching, in significant part because it typically takes lefty-hitting platoon beast Joc Pederson out of the lineup. The D’Backs are 55-35 in games facing right-handed starters, just 24-27 in games started by opposing southpaws. The Astros have lefties Framber Valdez and Yusei Kikuchi set to go in the first two games this weekend. While the Astros deal with the Diamondbacks the Mariners are in St. Louis for three against the Cardinals.
Eleven Diamondbacks have had at least 200 plate appearances this season. Only one of them has an OPS below .725. The Astros also have 11 guys with at least 200 PAs. Five of them lug around sub-.715 OPSes: Jeremy Pena (.714), Jake Meyers (.664), Mauricio Dubon (.645), Jon Singleton (.697), and Chas McCormick (.566).
Maximizing Tucker's return
Speaking of returns, Tucker fiiiiiiinally should see action for the first time since his June 3 bone bruise. Oh wait, broken leg. Shame on the Astros for their BSing over this and other injuries. Yeah, Alex Bregman slept funny. Whatever. To boost the lineup Tucker doesn’t have to be the .979 OPS MVP candidate he was when felled. Ben Gamel has done some good work, but over time he’s Ben Gamel. Same for Jason Heyward. If Tucker's legs are under him his power is a B-12 shot and only Yordan is in his league in on-base percentage. Joe Espada has decisions to make as to how slot the batting order. Against a right-handed starter Jose Altuve, Tucker, Alvarez, Yainer Diaz, Bregman one through five makes sense with Tucker dropping down below Yainer against a left-handed starter. No question those are the top five in some order. How much of a workload Tucker is ready for bears watching. Presumably he doesn’t initially play the outfield day in day out. When Tucker DHs obviously Bregman (and Yordan) can’t so Alex’s ailing elbow holding up is key. One might say hopefully the bone chips don’t fall where they may. Tuesday the Astros start a stretch playing 16 days in a row.
Keep hope alive!
If you’re an Astros fan holding out hope of chasing down the second seed to avoid having to play the best-of-three Wild Card series, say it with me, whatever nausea it may induce: “Go Dodgers Go!” Hurt as it might, business is business. The Dodgers play host to the Guardians. The Astros trail Cleveland by five games with just 22 to play, but do finish the regular season with three games at Cleveland. It's pretty much over for the Astros to catch both the Orioles and Yankees.
Season-long trends mean nothing once the playoffs start, and that’s a good thing for the Astros provided they are in the playoffs. They continue to flat out stink in close games. Thursday’s 1-0 loss to the Reds has the Astros record in one-run games at 15-24. In two-run games they are 10-14. Correlatively, the Astros also continue to routinely fail late in close games. The Astros have played 14 games that were tied after seven innings. They have lost 11 of the 14. In games tied after eight innings they are 7-13. Every team loses an extremely high percentage of games when trailing after eight innings, but the Astros haven’t pulled out a single game they’ve trailed going to the ninth. 0-50. Oh and fifty. But hey, the White Sox are 0-92!
*Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.