New field, old ways in view for Tribe
By Cody Pastorella
The Port Arthur News
This time a year ago, the Port Neches-Groves Indians were preparing for a new offensive scheme while hoping for a final hoorah in their old stadium.
The Indians did celebrate a productive season in 2007. They went 10-3, claimed a share of the district title with Dayton and Lumberton, and advanced into the third round of the Class 4A playoffs where they lost to Lamar Consolidated, who went on to win the Division 1 State Championship.
To get on track, however, the Tribe just about all but scrapped their spread offense after just two games last season, which makes the start of this season very different.
This year, PN-G is perfecting its old schemes on a brand new Fieldturf playing surface.
"We're just picking up where we left off last year," said head coach Matt Burnett in Monday morning’s practice, the team's first of the fall. "We still have some sets in the shotgun formation but we are a power running team.
“We have four of our starting offensive lineman that are back from last year, and we have Josh Wright (tailback) and Harrison Tatum (quarterback) back. Once we reverted to our old system last year, that's when we really started moving the ball.
"It's just like we were doing when Dustin Long was here. We were a run-first team then and we are a run-first team now. We use the run to set up play-action. When we throw the ball, we want to get the ball down field. When we throw, we're looking for the big play. There will be situations where we will use the spread that we installed last year. We're just not going into the season with it being our focus."
Offensive lineman Jerrin Spikes, Tatum and Wright expect to be the keys to the offense this year. A senior, Wright will be playing in the All American Classic in January. He returns to the team a proven commodity, as he carried the ball for 866 yards with six touchdowns, while sharing carries with Jake Hemmings last year.
Wright runs a 4.46 while standing at 5-9 and weighing 196 pounds.
"We plan on him having a big year for us," said Burnett, who added, "it's always nice when you get a core group back on at least one side of the ball. Having four lineman back along, with your running back and quarterback, you always look forward to situations like this. It's especially nice to start a season with a good and experienced quarterback as well."
As far as the first day of practice, Burnett said it was as good as any the Tribe has had in the last 15 years.
"You never expect too much because it's the first day," he said. "It's always the hardest day because sometimes the focus isn't there right away and as coaches we get excited to just see the kids again, but we had a good first day.
"As good as any I've seen. From this point forward, it's just a matter of understanding the work load we have. We have to understand while it feels like we have a long way to go before games, it will get here fast and we have a lot of work to do before we will be ready. The coaches understand that, it's just a matter of getting the players to understand it as well."
Burnett also said the team was very excited about playing on Fieldturf.
"We let the kids come out early and run around on it," he said. "They are definitely excited about it and this is certainly a luxury. I'd tell anybody, if you can get it, get it. The turf makes it so nice. The field stays marked (chalked as if it were game day).
“Rain isn't a real issue anymore. And for us, we're only 10 yards or so from our field house. That really makes things easy. If something is forgotten, we can get it quickly and be back to practice."
Like many local teams, PN-G’s workout schedule may be altered in the next couple of days with Edouard looming in the Gulf. In fact, Burnett decided Monday afternoon to cancel the Tuesday morning workout.
"At this point, we still don't know if we will need to evacuate,” he said. “You never really know what these things are going to do, so it's hard to make plans. All we can do is get back out here as soon as possible. That may be Tuesday afternoon. It may be Wednesday but who knows for sure," Burnett said.
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