July 31, 2010
More Super Teamers than ever returning in pre-season camps
Cody Pastorella
The Port Arthur News
Whistles screaming, coaches yelling, hearts pumping, sweat dripping -- here's to the first day of conditioning workouts, which start Monday for some Southeast Texas high school football programs. Here's to the young fellows who'll be running like dogs while wearing a helmet that hasn't quite conformed to their heads.
Soak it in football lovers: the air-conditioning and that satisfying feeling that in 27 days, we'll be enjoying the fruits of their labor. Fans should also relish the fact that so many talented, proven players are still at the prep level.
In fact, the Port Arthur News 2009 Super Team was littered with juniors such as MVP quarterback Bruce Reyes of West Brook. The Bruins actually return four others from the Super Team, including defensive end Ben Goodman, linebacker Collin Garrett, tackle Justin Brock, and defensive back Nick Bryant.
Port Neches-Groves is another team with the luxury of having several key elements back from a successful 2009 campaign. The Tribe's two Super Teamers are linebacker D.J. Schexnider and offensive tackle Greg Lunceford, a 6-6, 280 pound mammoth who will be protecting star quarterback Brennan Doty for another season.
Port Arthur Memorial's Jaivon Slone, a defensive tackle who has verbally committed to the University of Houston, is another returning player for fans to watch. Other standouts returning to Memorial are ball hawk Chucky Baker, who picked off four passes in 2009, and K'Sean Wesley, a Super Teamer, who amassed 319 receiving yards as a junior.
West Orange-Stark also has a few proven names with J.T. Thomas, Reggie Garrett, and U-of-H commit Mark Roberts.
There are also guys like Nederland's Dionte Forney, who stepped into the limelight to help the Bulldogs crack the playoffs after he took over as quarterback for the final three games of the season.
Like Forney, PN-G speedster Amir Jalali is another player fans only got a small taste of. Jalali is a converted tailback who was a work-in-progress, learning his receiver position last year. But he has all the skills necessary to make quite a splash this season.
Memorial head coach Kenny Harrison, who was once a highly sought after high school star, said he believes the Golden Triangle's class of seniors may be exceptionally deeper than it has been in recent years.
"(Southeast Texas) always has a lot of talent," explained Harrison, whose Titans went 6-5 last season with a 3-2 mark in District 21-5A where they finished third. "But you look at West Brook, the number of talented, established players they have coming back. You look at the area in general, across the board, it just seems like this is one of the strongest groups the area has had in a while."
Harrison attributes most of that to the many programs that were starting younger players a year ago.
"With us, we have 12 starters back from last year. That's always nice -- when you have guys who have started in the program and know what to expect and what it takes to win," he said. "It's really nice when you have kids who have started for a couple years like K'Sean and Slone, leaders that the younger players can learn from."
The learning and conditioning starts Monday at places like Nederland, Bridge City, Orangefield, Hamshire-Fannett and East Chambers. chools which had spring training, like Memorial, PN-G and West Brook, workouts don’t begin until Aug. 9.
First scrimmages are set for the weekend of Aug. 13-14, with opening games set for Aug. 27.
More Super Teamers than ever returning in pre-season camps
Cody Pastorella
The Port Arthur News
Whistles screaming, coaches yelling, hearts pumping, sweat dripping -- here's to the first day of conditioning workouts, which start Monday for some Southeast Texas high school football programs. Here's to the young fellows who'll be running like dogs while wearing a helmet that hasn't quite conformed to their heads.
Soak it in football lovers: the air-conditioning and that satisfying feeling that in 27 days, we'll be enjoying the fruits of their labor. Fans should also relish the fact that so many talented, proven players are still at the prep level.
In fact, the Port Arthur News 2009 Super Team was littered with juniors such as MVP quarterback Bruce Reyes of West Brook. The Bruins actually return four others from the Super Team, including defensive end Ben Goodman, linebacker Collin Garrett, tackle Justin Brock, and defensive back Nick Bryant.
Port Neches-Groves is another team with the luxury of having several key elements back from a successful 2009 campaign. The Tribe's two Super Teamers are linebacker D.J. Schexnider and offensive tackle Greg Lunceford, a 6-6, 280 pound mammoth who will be protecting star quarterback Brennan Doty for another season.
Port Arthur Memorial's Jaivon Slone, a defensive tackle who has verbally committed to the University of Houston, is another returning player for fans to watch. Other standouts returning to Memorial are ball hawk Chucky Baker, who picked off four passes in 2009, and K'Sean Wesley, a Super Teamer, who amassed 319 receiving yards as a junior.
West Orange-Stark also has a few proven names with J.T. Thomas, Reggie Garrett, and U-of-H commit Mark Roberts.
There are also guys like Nederland's Dionte Forney, who stepped into the limelight to help the Bulldogs crack the playoffs after he took over as quarterback for the final three games of the season.
Like Forney, PN-G speedster Amir Jalali is another player fans only got a small taste of. Jalali is a converted tailback who was a work-in-progress, learning his receiver position last year. But he has all the skills necessary to make quite a splash this season.
Memorial head coach Kenny Harrison, who was once a highly sought after high school star, said he believes the Golden Triangle's class of seniors may be exceptionally deeper than it has been in recent years.
"(Southeast Texas) always has a lot of talent," explained Harrison, whose Titans went 6-5 last season with a 3-2 mark in District 21-5A where they finished third. "But you look at West Brook, the number of talented, established players they have coming back. You look at the area in general, across the board, it just seems like this is one of the strongest groups the area has had in a while."
Harrison attributes most of that to the many programs that were starting younger players a year ago.
"With us, we have 12 starters back from last year. That's always nice -- when you have guys who have started in the program and know what to expect and what it takes to win," he said. "It's really nice when you have kids who have started for a couple years like K'Sean and Slone, leaders that the younger players can learn from."
The learning and conditioning starts Monday at places like Nederland, Bridge City, Orangefield, Hamshire-Fannett and East Chambers. chools which had spring training, like Memorial, PN-G and West Brook, workouts don’t begin until Aug. 9.
First scrimmages are set for the weekend of Aug. 13-14, with opening games set for Aug. 27.
