JimThorpe

Yes, Silsbee is a cinderella team.  6 - 4 coming out of district.  Unranked and unheralded.  Obviously they are overachievers. 
But I remember another group of overachievers.  French High in 84, my alma mater.  Unranked, unheralded, unknown really.  A group of overachievers 6 - 4 coming out of district as runner ups.  But they just kept finding a way.  And you'd be dead wrong to if you thought that it was all about talent and ability.  Happenstance played a HUGE role.
I remember one game in the Dome.  4th and goal on the 8 yard line.  French QB throws a perfect fade to the corner of the end zone.  WOW!  Crowd goes nuts.  But wait.  Holding.  So now it's 4th and goal on the 18.  What to do?  I know, we'll run the same play from 10 yards further out!  Won't the defense be looking for it?  So they run the same play.  And get the same result, no holding this time and it's a Buffalo's TD.  The same exact play, one of the trickiest plays high school kids can attempt, run twice, back to back, flawlessly, against quality opposition.  Have you ever seen something like that?  I know I hadn't.  And I've never seen it again.  Not ever, not at any level.  If you try to tell me there wasn't something else at work there I'm just going to laugh.
Or how about the 15 yard laser strike down the middle to a crossing receiver.  Oops, to hot, he tipped it up.  Gonna be intercepted.  No the defender tipped it too.......  right into the hands of a different receiver who was just hanging out in the area.  He catches it and runs for a touchdown.  Something else was at work.  
And in the semifinal game a front blows through and Kyle Field is a wind tunnel.  This is back in the day when both ends were open.  They have to take the flags down before the wind tears them up.  The goal posts are swaying back and forth by several feet.  Both teams are thrown completely out of their comfort zones.  Punts are netting 10 yards.  Happenstance?
The Buffalos didn't have enough of whatever it was to win an outright title but they did have enough to manage a tie with the nationally ranked Permian Panthers.  
And I'll tell you exactly what it was.  It was a team that was just good enough and just fast enough to get themselves in a position were fate could lend a hand.
Normally physical ability, talent, hard work, experience, inspiration and excellent coaching are all important.  But from time to time, here and there, destiny rears it's disturbing head.  And when it does those former things, usually the determining factors, simple don't matter.
So, are the Tigers a team of destiny?  I really don't know.  You tell me.  They are pretty good.  They've got speed and they are well coached.  And then a rain storm shows up on just the right day.  It was clear and mild the day before and mild the day after.  But today it's a driving rain with gusty winds, conditions I've never seen a game played in.  But the Tigers seem to be completely comfortable with it.  It's raining?  Okay, fine, better even, let's see how it goes.  The Mustangs?  Normally dashing steads ready to prove all naysayers wrong.  A determined talented team that just the last week sent the No.1 ranked team home and it was no fluke.  And today?  Today they are wet horses; unhappy, uncomfortable and confused.  Happenstance?
Can the Tigers win this game?  Of course they can.  First of all, they may be better than we think.  They may be wildly underrated and truly a match for any team in the state.  But even if they are outmanned by Cuero they can still win.  I know that because I've seen it before.

Yes, Silsbee is a cinderella team.  6 - 4 coming out of district.  Unranked and unheralded.  Obviously they are overachievers. 
But I remember another group of overachievers.  French High in 84, my alma mater.  Unranked, unheralded, unknown really.  A group of overachievers 6 - 4 coming out of district as runner ups.  But they just kept finding a way.  And you'd be dead wrong to if you thought that it was all about talent and ability.  Happenstance played a HUGE role.
I remember one game in the Dome.  4th and goal on the 8 yard line.  French QB throws a perfect fade to the corner of the end zone.  WOW!  Crowd goes nuts.  But wait.  Holding.  So now it's 4th and goal on the 18.  What to do?  I know, we'll run the same play from 10 yards further out!  Won't the defense be looking for it?  So they run the same play.  And get the same result, no holding this time and it's a Buffalo's TD.  The same exact play, one of the trickiest plays high school kids can attempt, run twice, back to back, flawlessly, against quality opposition.  Have you ever seen something like that?  I know I hadn't.  And I've never seen it again.  Not ever, not at any level.  If you try to tell me there wasn't something else at work there I'm just going to laugh.
Or how about the 15 yard laser strike down the middle to a crossing receiver.  Oops, to hot, he tipped it up.  Gonna be intercepted.  No the defender tipped it too.......  right into the hands of a different receiver who was just hanging out in the area.  He catches it and runs for a touchdown.  Something else was at work.  
And in the semifinal game a front blows through and Kyle Field is a wind tunnel.  This is back in the day when both ends were open.  They have to take the flags down before the wind tears them up.  The goal posts are swaying back and forth by several feet.  Both teams are thrown completely out of their comfort zones.  Punts are netting 10 yards.  Happenstance?
The Buffalos didn't have enough of whatever it was to win an outright title but they did have enough to manage a tie with the nationally ranked Permian Panthers.  
And I'll tell you exactly what it was.  It was a team that was just good enough and just fast enough to get themselves in a position were fate could lend a hand.
Normally physical ability, talent, hard work, experience, inspiration and excellent coaching are all important.  But from time to time, here and there, destiny rears it's disturbing head.  And when it does those former things, usually the determining factors, simple don't matter.
So, are the Tigers a team of destiny?  I really don't know.  You tell me.  They are pretty good.  They've got speed and they are well coached.  And then a rain storm shows up on just the right day.  It was clear and mild the day before and mild the day after.  But today it's a driving rain with gusty winds, conditions I've never seen a game played in.  But the Tigers seem to be completely comfortable with it.  It's raining?  Okay, fine, better even, let's see how it goes.  The Mustangs?  Normally dashing steads ready to prove all naysayers wrong.  A determined talented team that just the last week sent the No.1 ranked team home and it was no fluke.  And today?  Today they are wet horses; unhappy, uncomfortable and confused.  Happenstance?
Can the Tigers win this game?  Of course they can.  First of all, they may be better than we think.  They may be wildly underrated and truly a match for any team in the state.  But even if they are outmanned by Cuero they can still win.  I know that because I've seen it before.

Yes, Silsbee is a cinderella team.  6 - 4 coming out of district.  Unranked and unheralded.  Obviously they are overachievers. 
But I remember another group of overachievers.  French High in 84, my alma mater.  Unranked, unheralded, unknown really.  A group of overachievers 6 - 4 coming out of district as runner ups.  But they just kept finding a way.  And you'd be dead wrong to if you thought that it was all about talent and ability.  Happenstance played a HUGE role.
I remember one game in the Dome.  4th and goal on the 8 yard line.  French QB throws a perfect fade to the corner of the end zone.  WOW!  Crowd goes nuts.  But wait.  Holding.  So now it's 4th and goal on the 18.  What to do?  I know, we'll run the same play from 10 yards further out!  Won't the defense be looking for it?  So they run the same play.  And get the same result, no holding this time and it's a Buffalo's TD.  The same exact play, one of the trickiest plays high school kids can attempt, run twice, back to back, flawlessly, against quality opposition.  Have you ever seen something like that?  I know I hadn't.  And I've never seen it again.  Not ever, not at any level.  If you try to tell me there wasn't something else at work there I'm just going to laugh.
Or how about the 15 yard laser strike down the middle to a crossing receiver.  Oops, to hot, he tipped it up.  Gonna be intercepted.  No the defender tipped it too.......  right into the hands of a different receiver who was just hanging out in the area.  He catches it and runs for a touchdown.  Something else was at work.  
And in the semifinal game a front blows through and Kyle Field is a wind tunnel.  This is back in the day when both ends were open.  They have to take the flags down before the wind tears them up.  The goal posts are swaying back and forth by several feet.  Both teams are thrown completely out of their comfort zones.  Punts are netting 10 yards.  Happenstance?
The Buffalos didn't have enough of whatever it was to win an outright title but they did have enough to manage a tie with the nationally ranked Permian Panthers.  
And I'll tell you exactly what it was.  It was a team that was just good enough and just fast enough to get themselves in a position were fate could lend a hand.
Normally physical ability, talent, hard work, experience, inspiration and excellent coaching are all important.  But from time to time, here and there, destiny rears it's disturbing head.  And when it does those former things, usually the determining factors, simple don't matter.
So, are the Tigers a team of destiny?  I really don't know.  You tell me.  They are pretty good.  They've got speed and they are well coached.  And then a rain storm shows up on just the right day.  It was clear and mild the day before and mild the day after.  But today it's a driving rain with gusty winds, conditions I've never seen a game played in.  But the Tigers seem to be completely comfortable with it.  It's raining?  Okay, fine, better even, let's see how it goes.  The Mustangs?  Normally dashing steads ready to prove all naysayers wrong.  A determined talented team that just the last week sent the No.1 ranked team home and it was no fluke.  And today?  Today they are wet horses; unhappy, uncomfortable and confused.  Happenstance?
Can the Tigers win this game?  Of course they can.  First of all, they may be better than we think.  They may be wildly underrated and truly a match for any team in the state.  But even if they are outmanned by Cuero they can still win.  I know that because I've seen it before.

And Cuero and Region 4 sure do know about brick walls.  You know what the Gobblers are thinking.  It's totally impossible for them not to be thinking it.  WOS IS OUT OF THE WAY!!!!  Never mind how it happened.  Never mind that they are facing the team that sent WOS home.  THE ROAD TO JERRY WORLD IS FINALLY OPEN!  They are kids, how could they not be thinking it?  They will try to put it out of their minds but it won't work.  They've never heard of Silsbee and they are looking ahead to Pleasant Grove.
Of course Silsbee knows about brick walls too.  Two of Carthage's 40 straight wins came at the expense of the Tigers.  But then realignment may have removed Silsbee's brick wall, at least for a couple of years.  I luv you Lumberton!  You are my favorite!  Let's go steady.  No, skip that, let's just go ahead and meet early to pick out curtains.
 

Good weather?  Heck no!  I want blizzards and floods and earthquakes and volcanoes and forest fires and tsunamis!  We'll still be there in whatever personal protective gear is required, rain gear, bunker gear, full hazmat suits, scuba equipment, whatever.
But right now it's showing partly cloudy, about 50 at game time and 10% chance of rain.

Or was he just improvising when he did that little throw at the end?  "Yikes! I've lost too much ground and I'm not going to be able to make the turn. I'd better do something."
I would have improvised a play.  Send everybody out to converge in the middle out past the first down marker, maybe 15 yards.  Which is about as far as the ball could go in that wind.  Then hurl in their direction. Just a playground thing, a short Hail Mary if you will.  If somebody catches it good.  If not, good.  And maybe a defender would be foolish enough to intercept it.  You'd have a bunch of guys to immediately bring him down.  An interception with no runback is just as good as a punt in those conditions.  And if the QB is sacked?  Well, that wouldn't have been any worse than what we got.
Anyway, I think the coach's general decision not to punt was correct.  Handling the deep snap would have been problematic.  What if the ball sailed on the punter?  What if he miss handled the punt?  What if it was blocked?  You're looking at the Mustangs with the ball on your 15, if you're lucky.  And if the punt is successful what do you get against that wind?  Net 12 yards maybe?  

Yesterday, Dec. 7th 2018 - a date which will live in infamy.  In Orange anyway.  
Tell you one thing, I was impressed with the Mustangs after the game.  When the teams lined up to shake hands they were downright warm about it!  It was more than just a perfunctory get-this-over-with thing.  And after a tough loss in very difficult circumstances.  Talk about sportsmanship.
Now, what do we do about Cuero or Navarro?  Given the Tigers proclivity for foul weather I wonder if we can arrange a blizzard or something?  Or maybe not, we're Tigers, not snow leopards.

Yes, I'm a self professed kool aid drinker.  I entertained the notion that Silsbee had a good chance against Carthage last year.  The 64 points Carthage scored in the first half convinced me that I had been a trifle over optimistic.
You've got to figure this is different.  Silsbee does have a shot based on past performance.

Excellent effort by WB.  They just didn’t realize what was going to happen in the last few minutes until it was happening 

Lumberton is my favorite school right now.  I love how many kids they have enrolled.  I love that they are in our district.  I love that they are good enough to make the playoffs. 
Talk about a win-win scenario.  This realignment is fabulous.  Lumberton gets to go to the playoffs and has a big first round win.  Meanwhile Carthage is nowhere on Silsbee's radar screen.

Thank you, thank you very much.  I'll be here all week.

Phil Jackson is looking for a job.  We could rename it the Golden Triangle Offense.  Get it?  Golden Triangle!  Ha!

Intangibles.  Looking at the emotional clips and the photos from the post game at Huntsville it would be hard to tell that these are the defending champions and this is their third straight trip to state.  It's brand new like, "I can't believe it!  We've finally done it!"
   
So much for being satisfied with one championship.
 

I'd still try it.  If they don't try something radical the best they can hope for is a good showing, a 9 or 10 point loss like the Connolly game.

I don't want to jinx the Tigers but really that makes sense. 
The Tigers have only one problem against Somerset and that's the height difference.  Somerset is taller than anybody we've played.  We've seen as good or better than the Bulldogs in every other facet and handled it.  But 6'10" Jacob Harvey can play.  He scored 21 against West Oso and he played most of the game.  He will be effective and a force to reckoned with.  He will alter our style of play inside.  
Somerset on the other hand has a bunch of problems.  I think the biggest concern is to keep out of foul trouble.  If Harvey has to sit down for an extended period there's just no road for them.  Silsbee has shown a knack for drawing fouls against opponents' bigs.  Then there's Silsbee's speed and full court defense.  The Tigers aren't maniacal like Yates but they pressure you a bit and then they sprint down on offense.  Opponents can deal with these things but it's tiring mentally and physically.   The Tigers can get really hot from 3pt land.  Not just high school but NBA three point land.  And finally there's that 4th quarter thing the Tigers do.  Prayer is the only counter measure for that.

38 points in the fourth quarter.  I had a feeling Yates would wilt at the end.  Not because they are weak or lack talent or character or drive or the will to win.  They have all those things.  They were simply mentally exhausted.  They were pressuring Silsbee but they were also pressuring themselves.  That frantic defensive pace had worked on lesser teams.  They had broken lesser teams.  But Silsbee seemed to be ENJOYING IT!  The Tigers were enjoying the challenge of the super high pressure defense.  Bring it on!  Let's rock!  The Tigers were obviously tired but they were still happy in their work.  And that was a new experience for Yates.  
You could tell by the look on their faces that they were getting brittle and about to break.  They got that 4 point lead early in the 4th but even then you could see them starting the slide.  They were looking at each other with that, "What is it gonna take?" look.  
Wise is a good coach but he should have called a full time out the instant Silsbee caught them.  Apparently he didn't see it or didn't believe it.  By the time he started calling time outs it was far too late.

38 points in the fourth quarter.  I had a feeling Yates would wilt at the end.  Not because they are weak or lack talent or character or drive or the will to win.  They have all those things.  They were simply mentally exhausted.  They were pressuring Silsbee but they were also pressuring themselves.  That frantic defensive pace had worked on lesser teams.  They had broken lesser teams.  But Silsbee seemed to be ENJOYING IT!  The Tigers were enjoying the challenge of the super high pressure defense.  Bring it on!  Let's rock!  The Tigers were obviously tired but they were still happy in their work.  And that was a new experience for Yates.  
You could tell by the look on their faces that they were getting brittle and about to break.  They got that 4 point lead early in the 4th but even then you could see them starting the slide.  They were looking at each other with that, "What is it gonna take?" look.  
Wise is a good coach but he should have called a full time out the instant Silsbee caught them.  Apparently he didn't see it or didn't believe it.  By the time he started calling time outs it was far too late.

38 points in the fourth quarter.  I had a feeling Yates would wilt at the end.  Not because they are weak or lack talent or character or drive or the will to win.  They have all those things.  They were simply mentally exhausted.  They were pressuring Silsbee but they were also pressuring themselves.  That frantic defensive pace had worked on lesser teams.  They had broken lesser teams.  But Silsbee seemed to be ENJOYING IT!  The Tigers were enjoying the challenge of the super high pressure defense.  Bring it on!  Let's rock!  The Tigers were obviously tired but they were still happy in their work.  And that was a new experience for Yates.  
You could tell by the look on their faces that they were getting brittle and about to break.  They got that 4 point lead early in the 4th but even then you could see them starting the slide.  They were looking at each other with that, "What is it gonna take?" look.  
Wise is a good coach but he should have called a full time out the instant Silsbee caught them.  Apparently he didn't see it or didn't believe it.  By the time he started calling time outs it was far too late.

Silsbee will beat Connolly but the starters will have to play the whole game to do it.  Yates on the other hand, will brush Liberty Hill aside almost as easily as they did Hardin Jefferson.  It's practically a warm up game.  Coach Wise will rest his starters so they will be fresh for the Silsbee game. He doesn't need to win by 50.  This will put the Tigers at a disadvantage before the game even begins on Saturday afternoon.  The Tigers will have to play their biggest game of the season on one night's rest right after a tough game.  And then it's a bad matchup for the Tigers anyway.  Yates is big and fast and skilled and plays a better defense.  No real  weaknesses at all.
But if the Tigers are shooting well and can somehow stay out of foul trouble they just might pull it off.  Yates will have an apparently comfortable lead going into the 4th quarter.  Then Silsbee will rally fiercely and pull close.  The Lions haven't been challenged like this in a while and they aren't used to it.  They will probably wilt somewhat under the onslaught.  I think it will ultimately come down to the bounce of the ball.  Pure happenstance will decide it.  And since tigers are just naturally luckier than lions Silsbee wins by 1 point.
That's my prediction for this weekend.

Yates has had a somewhat easier road to Huntsville.  All unranked opponents.  And now facing unranked Liberty Hill.  I'm afraid the Panthers are about to get steamrollered unless they can somehow take the air out of the ball and turn it into a half court game.  Very unlikely.
Tigers will have a better game.  Based on the Tigers last two games it figures to be close with the Tigers pulling way at the end.  Connolly isn't a high scoring team, couple of games in the 90's.  But they are competent, ranked 17th.
Only Region 4 is easy to call.  Brazosport has a cakewalk of sorts.  Facing No. 22 Somerset then No. 15 West Oso.  They will overpower those guys.  The other three regions are tossups.  No way to call it.  Region 1 has No. 8, No. 9, No. 10 and No. 11 - Region 2 has No. 4, No. 5, No. 6 and an unranked.  Region 3 has No. 1, No. 2, No. 17 and an unranked.  It will be an interesting weekend in 4A.  

Yates has had a somewhat easier road to Huntsville.  All unranked opponents.  And now facing unranked Liberty Hill.  I'm afraid the Panthers are about to get steamrollered unless they can somehow take the air out of the ball and turn it into a half court game.  Very unlikely.
Tigers will have a better game.  Based on the Tigers last two games it figures to be close with the Tigers pulling way at the end.  Connolly isn't a high scoring team, couple of games in the 90's.  But they are competent, ranked 17th.
Only Region 4 is easy to call.  Brazosport has a cakewalk of sorts.  Facing No. 22 Somerset then No. 15 West Oso.  They will overpower those guys.  The other three regions are tossups.  No way to call it.  Region 1 has No. 8, No. 9, No. 10 and No. 11 - Region 2 has No. 4, No. 5, No. 6 and an unranked.  Region 3 has No. 1, No. 2, No. 17 and an unranked.  It will be an interesting weekend in 4A.  

I think there is a pathway for HJ to make this game more competitive than the prevailing wisdom indicates. A 10 point game perhaps.
It can be done.  Argyle did it to Silsbee last year in San Antonio.  Turned it into a half court game, and a slow half court game at that.  There's a bunch of ways to do it and Argyle knows all of them.  The final score was 46 to 45 and Argyle got the last shot.  Silsbee won that game by about an inch and a half.  That's how far off Argyles buzzer shot missed.
Personally I love transition, improvisational basketball.  But still and all, I'd rather lose a boring game by 10 than lose an entertaining game by 38.  And if given that choice in advance, knowing the outcome, I'd pick the 10 point loss.
 
 

Probably everybody in the gym, except their coach, was thinking the same thing.  The Shepherd kid was mobile and could handle the ball, better than most his size in the high school ranks.  All that making him perfect in the power forward roll.  What in the world was he doing outside handling the ball?  And what was he doing playing point in the zone?  I guess I'm being critical of the coach but it didn't make sense.  Can you imagine how quickly the Silsbee guards would have taken the ball away from him out there?   
 

The first game was 103-92.
The second game was 82-66.
Not bad at all.  They are ranked 21.  They should give us a good game.  The guys down at the end of our bench have probably seen their last playing time this year.
The game last year was a masterpiece.  The final score was 124-84.  If they had wanted to slow it down North Forest wouldn't have scored 40 pts.  The game was over at the end of the first qtr. 35-12.  But we didn't coast as the final would indicate.  
Coach Woods made an unguarded comment after the game to the press that was just priceless.  He said. "Wow.  Those guys really are good."  I think that pretty much summed up last year.  I wanted to have it put on my State Tournament T Shirt that my son-in-law was making for us but I didn't find out about it in time.
Anyway, North Forest is, I'm sure, up for a little payback.  Sending the Tigers home early would do nicely.  But it ain't gonna happen.

No.  They are not hot tonight, just so so