New coach brings new emphasis to PN-G defense
By CHRISTOPHER DABE
October 27, 2009
Posted: October 27, 2009, 10:54 AM CDT
Duane Kroeker already heard the sales pitch about joining the Port Neches-Groves football coaching staff over the phone, but a face-to-face meeting with the team's new head coach pushed him over the edge.
That meeting, which took place over four-plus hours at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Abilene last February, convinced Kroeker to bring his wife to the Southeast Texas for a visit. They liked what they saw, so the couple moved their two children from the only home they had known, and Kroeker became the defensive coordinator under PN-G's new head coach, Brandon Faircloth.
"It's still somewhat of a culture shock," said Kroeker, a 40-year-old who had coached the defense for seven seasons at Keller High School, about 20 miles north of Fort Worth. "But this community has been unbelievable. It's been a great experience for the entire family."
The experience for the PN-G football team has been great, too. Under Kroeker's watch, the undefeated Indians have developed a stingy, take-away-the-football defense that has them atop the District 20-4A standings.
Although Kroeker has an assortment of game-by-game and season statistics compiled on a laptop computer, he claims to care only about two statistics: points allowed and takeaways, both areas in which his unit has excelled.
The 53 points allowed by the Indians in five district games is the fewest in the eight-team district by 50. Nederland ranks second with 103 points allowed. Critical to PN-G's district-best total are the 18 takeaways in those games.
In PN-G's 39-6 victory against two-time district champion Lumberton last week, PN-G forced five of Lumberton's six turnovers by stripping the ball from carriers four times and intercepting a pass once. The other turnover, Kroeker said, came on a botched center-to-quarterback exchange "that we just beat them to," he added.
"That's something our kids are really improving at," Kroeker continued. "They're becoming opportunistic. That ball's on the ground, they're going to go after it."
Kroeker arrived at PN-G in time for spring training practices, where he preached an aggressive approach. PN-G ended the previous season with a six-game losing streak in which it gave up an average of 29.7 points, so players were willing to listen.
PN-G senior Dallas Davis is a second-year varsity player who said the tone of practices changed immediately. Turnovers became not just a focus, but an obsession, Davis said.
"We have defensive linemen doing interception drills," said Davis, a 6-foot-5, 260-pound defensive end who never participated in a pass-catching drill before this season.
The interception drill is one of several conducted by PN-G coaches that focuses turnovers. Others call for defenders to grab a ball carrier and either strip or punch the ball from his grasp. Other drills focus on fumble recoveries.
All PN-G players must end each drill by signaling that a teammate recovered the ball. The idea is for players to habitually point toward the opponent's end zone to indicate a teammate's recovery during a game.
Davis said the pointing convinced an official during a recent home game to award possession to PN-G without looking to see which team made the recovery.
"He just said, 'Whatever y'all say,' and he just gave us the ball," Davis said "He didn't even look to see who had the ball."
Davis is among 10 PN-G players to have forced a fumble. The team leader is senior linebacker Christian Kerr with four.
PN-G has 10 players with 30 tackles or more but none has more than senior linebacker Kane Benoit's 66. Junior linebacker D.J. Schexnider leads the team in sacks (four), quarterback pressures (11) and QB hits (six). Senior defensive back Aaron Brandom has a team-high four interceptions, and seniors Dre Dunbar and David St. Clair lead with five pass break-ups.
Clearly, PN-G's dominant defense is not the result of a one-man gang.
Now eight games into the season, Kroeker points to that face-to-face meeting over several Diet Cokes at an Abilene Cracker Barrel as a turning point. Before then, he never thought about leaving Keller, just up the road from his hometown, where he played at and graduated from Hurst Bell High School.
To get to that meeting with Faircloth, Kroeker drove three hours to Abilene, the midway point between his home and Faircloth's home near Odessa Permian High School, where he worked before moving to PN-G. Kroeker had never before met Faircloth but considers the meeting a blessing. Faircloth called Kroeker on the recommendation of a trusted coaching friend.
"The way my wife and I describe it," Kroeker said of the unexpected phone call from Faircloth, "is it's one of those God things."
As for his defense's success, Kroeker takes only partial credit. All credit, he said, goes to the players.
"They're disciplined, hard-working young men," said Kroeker, whose team plays Friday at home against Ozen. "They accepted their roles and responsibility, and they're on the field getting it done. We're just trying to help get them in position to succeed."
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STUR-'D'
The undefeated Port Neches-Groves football team has allowed a District 20-4A-best 59 points in five district games. A look at other Southeast Texas teams with sturdy defenses:
West Brook: The Bruins have three shutouts this season, and their next big defensive test comes Nov. 6 against Galena Park North Shore, which has scored 44 or more points in four games this season.
Jasper: The Bulldogs pitched two straight shutouts before a 27-3 loss to No. 2 state-ranked Carthage last week. Among Jasper's defensive highlights include seven takeaways against Kirbyville and four takeaways against West Orange-Stark.
East Chambers: The Bucs' defense gives up 6.8 points per District 23-2A game. East Chambers' 14-13 victory against Anahuac on Oct. 16 came against a team that has scored at least 38 points in its other three district games.
Evadale: The District 23-A power has shut out four of five district opponents and has five shutouts overall. The Rebels yield 3.4 points per game.
http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/sports/high-school/new_coach_brings_new_emphasis_to_pn-g_defense.html
