A Whole New Look
Spring football is in full gear in Houston
Matt Reese
May 23, 2018, 8:46 pm
2018 is shaping up to be another great year in high school football Vype
It might be a little crazy, but it's already time to start looking toward the 2018 football season in Houston.
Across the city, teams have fired up their 7-on-7 teams for the summer circuit and high school programs are either conducting spring football practices or working in the weight room to get ready for next year.
VYPE has scoured the city and found stories you should know about heading into the 2018 season.
A Rare Night Off by Joshua Koch
James Clancy hasn’t had a Friday night off in a while. Being a head football coach in Texas doesn’t give you that luxury from August until December.
In 2017 though, as the new head coach of Klein Cain, Clancy only had a junior varsity squad to field. Hence giving him Friday nights off.
“I got to watch some of my friends coach who I never would have gotten a chance to, which was neat,” Clancy said. “Just go watch some of the surrounding programs that do a good job. Try to steal some good ideas. I never get to watch people warmup or how they do pregame and stuff like that.
So we just would look at the area schedule and a couple of us would pick out a game and go watch it.
“It was interesting.”
Along with taking away the on- the-field knowledge from watching the game from the stands, Clancy admitted he got to take in the entire Friday night lights atmosphere.
“It kind of recharged us,” Clancy said. “We were jealous of everybody that was getting to coach and be a part of the life on Friday night. We’re excited to get back to that.”
Klein Cain fittingly will open the 2018 season against fellow newly-birthed program Cypress Park on September 1 at Klein Memorial Stadium.
“We’re very excited,” Clancy said. “It’s a long way away in terms of days, but for me as the head coach and the rest of our coaches it feels like it’s next week. We have a sense of urgency, we still have a lot of things we need to do to get better as a program and as a team.
“We know that clock is ticking and that we have to have our guys ready.”
The Wait is Over by Thomas Bingham
Cypress Park waited two years for a varsity football program, but is now only months away from having one. The Tigers enjoyed success during their freshman and JV seasons, so they can make a splash on the state’s biggest stage as early as this fall.
“I think we’re good with our starters and the ones we’re going to run out there with,” said Cy Park coach Greg Rogers. “It’s just being able to hold up in a tough district and stay healthy.”
Three of the players who will ease the transition are fullback/outside linebacker Sergio Small, tailback/free safety James LeBlanc and two-way lineman Bryan Gutierrez.
“Most of them hardly ever come off the field,” Rogers said of the trio. “They play offense, they play defense and they’re on our special teams.”
Small, LeBlanc and Gutierrez led the Tigers to an 8-1 record during their JV season in 2017, and have the work ethic to continue that success against the state’s biggest schools.
“Even in the offseason, they’ve become our leaders,” he added. “They get out front and outwork everybody.”
Park won’t have spring football this year, but is preparing for its inaugural campaign with an earlier start to fall practice and an extra scrimmage. Coach Rogers knows his team is joining a tough 14-6A district, so closing out fourth quarters will dictate its playoff chances.
Coaching Shuffle by Joshua Koch
District 23-6A will have a mix of the new, old and very familiar when it comes to the head coaches strolling the sidelines next fall.
The district, which includes the Alief schools – Elsik, Hastings and Taylor – Brazoswood, Strake Jesuit, Pearland, Dawson and George Ranch, is the only one in the Greater Houston area that will have four new head coaches next season.
“I think it’s good any time you can mix some new blood in with some guys who have been in it for a while,” newly appointed George Ranch coach Nick Cavallo said.
Cavallo moved over from Rosenberg Terry, where he was the defensive coordinator. Other moves included Ricky Tullos moving within the district from George Ranch to Pearland; Klay Kubiak, the son of Gary Kubiak, being promoted at Strake Jesuit and Mike Allison moving from Clear Brook to Dawson.
With the new coaches moving in and add in the existing coaches, there is a combined 62 years of head coaching experience between the eight men.
“I think it’s good when you can lean on some veteran leadership like that, but at the same time bring some new energy to the district as well,” Cavallo said.
Taking Winning Ways to Lake Creek by Joshua Koch
Pat Kennedy brings one kind of mentality to Montgomery Lake Creek – a winning one.
Coming from The Woodlands, which as recently as 2016 played for a state championship, Kennedy is used to being around a winning atmosphere.
That is what he is bringing to the Lions and it starts with the players.
“When I was at The Woodlands, we always goal set through the kids,” Kennedy said. “The kids will determine how much they buy into what we’re selling. They’ll determine the amount of success that we have.”
Kennedy, who started with The Woodlands in 1998, was a part of a coaching staff that guided the program to nine district championships in the past 10 seasons.
Being at a brand-new program is different.
Kennedy has spent the spring months not running spring football but rather ordering equipment, finalizing the team’s schedule and playing a role in the hiring of the high school’s other head coaches.
Despite not having spring football, Kennedy said there has been no lack of energy in the weight room.
“I think any time you have something new the kids are fired up,” he said. “When I came in here they’ve been excited about what we’re doing. They’ve worked really hard.”
So for a coach that is at the helm of a new program, what are the expectations for 2018?
“A realistic goal would be being about .500,” Kennedy said. “Is that where I want to be? No. I want to win every game. Is being 10-0 a realistic goal? No. But somewhere in between there that’s where we’re going to be.
“We’re going to be between 0-10 and 10-0 and we’ll let the kids decide where we’re going to be.”
This article appears in the May Issue of VYPE Magazine. Pick up your copy at any one of our locations today!
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
Cross your fingers that Isaac Paredes’s hamstring tweak Thursday night is only a tweak. The Astros’ mediocre lineup would absorb a hard blow if Paredes winds up heading to the Injured List. But don’t worry, is there any doubt the Astros’ medical staff has it handled? Paredes has been excellent, a better player than was 2024 Alex Bregman. If he is to miss some time with the sore hammy, that will hurt Paredes’s “on pace for” numbers, but his 15th home run of the season Thursday has him on pace for 35, his 42nd run batted in has him on pace for 98. Reminder that Paredes is making $6,625,000 this season versus Bregman’s 40 million. The Astros sure hope that Paredes doesn’t wind up joining Bregman on the IL.
Follow the money
Never blame a player for grabbing every last dollar he can. However, when taking more money to join a clearly lesser organization, one loses the ability to honestly say, “winning is the most important thing to me.” It’s no sin if winning isn’t absolute priority one. It’s a life choice and business decision. Hello Carlos Correa.
The Astros host the Minnesota Twins at Daikin Park this weekend. Correa is now in his fourth season with the Twins. If his level of play doesn’t pick up, it will be the worst season of his career. Correa is in the third year of the six-year 200 million dollar contract he signed with Minnesota after exercising his opt out clause following the first year of the three-year deal he initially inked with the Twins. In total he has seven years with and 235 million dollars coming from the Twins. When Correa first hit free agency the Astros final offer to keep him was a very reasonable five years and 160 million dollars. If Correa had re-upped with the Astros, he’d have become a free agent after next season. No way would he then have gotten 75 million over two years to match the total haul of 235 over seven he bagged.
Financially, Correa played it correctly. But is he having the same fun playing home games in Minneapolis where the Twins are averaging barely over 20,000 per game in announced attendance, versus the Astros who are announcing about 32,000 per? Correa has played in the postseason once in the three years, and the Astros eliminated him, while the Astros have been in every year. The Twins start the series here this weekend with a record only a game and a half behind the Astros, but while the Astros lead the weak American League West by four and a half games, the Twins about need a telescope to see the Detroit Tigers eight games in front of them in the AL Central. The AL West is the only of the six divisions in Major League Baseball that has just one team with a winning record.
Correa turns 31 years old September 22, the same day Jeremy Pena turns 28. Correa is making over 37 million dollars this season. The Astros are paying Pena four-point-four mil. Over 2026 and 2027 Correa will pull down nearly 65 mil. Over those same two seasons, the Astros will likely pay Pena a total of between 20 and 25 million. Last season Correa was a significantly better player than Pena, except that Carlos played only 86 games. This year Pena has made a quantum leap and is playing like a superstar, while Correa’s game has eroded. Fun factoids: Pena stole his 14th base of the season Wednesday. Correa’s last stolen base came in 2019. To be fair, speed was never a signature of Correa's game.
Double trouble
In 1948 the Boston Braves had a tandem of starting pitching aces in future Hall of Famer Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain. The rest of the rotation was a bit shaky. Boston sportswriter Gerald Hearn wrote “First we’ll use Spahn, then we’ll use Sain, then an off day followed by rain. Back will come Spahn, followed by Sain, and followed we hope by two days rain.” Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez are the Spahn and Sain of the 2025 Astros. Brown has been marvelous all season, Valdez has a 2.02 earned run average over his last seven starts. I leave Brown/Valdez poetry to you.
Spahn is among the handful of greatest left-handed pitchers in history. He debuted in 1942 and pitched in four games, before serving in World War II that took him out of the 1943, ‘44, and ‘45 seasons. Spahn logged his first big league win in 1946 when he was 25 years old. He’d win 362 more and will never be caught for the honor of most wins by a lefty in big league history. As a 42-year-old Spahn went 23-7 and threw 22 complete games. When men were men! It was the 13th time in Spahn’s career that he was a 20-game winner.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
_____________________________________________
*Looking to get the word out about your business, products, or services? Consider advertising on SportsMap! It's a great way to get in front of Houston sports fans. Click the link below for more information!