TOC La Marque Preview

[CWTS]

Courtesy of Matt Stepp of TOC...

For the vast majority of programs in the state an 11-2 season would be looked at as an unmitigated success, but for Mike Jackson and the La Marque Cougars, 11-2 is a season full of what if's. "To be honest, we felt like we were among the top 3 or 4 teams in the entire state last year. We knew how good Navasota was and we felt like the winner of that game had a great shot to win it all, Navasota was an outstanding ball club that beat us and then went on to the title, hats off to those guys for sure," said Coach Jackson.

The Cougars haven't forgotten about the loss and Coach Jackson hopes it can be a little bit of extra fuel to a fire that leads to another state title in Galveston County, "This off-season has been tough, the kids have worked hard and they remember that feeling after losing, hopefully we won't feel like that again. We want to finish the job in 2013."

Heading into 2012, La Marque had a ton of experience on the defensive side of the ball, but offensively the Cougars were fairly young. The script is flipped for 2013 as La Marque brings back eight starters on offense including four of five offensive lineman. "We've got great experience back on offense, we need to get the QB situation locked down but I think we've got a candidate who will do a good job. We are going to rely on our big offensive line a lot, hopefully we'll be able to lean on people and wear them down late in games," said the third year HC at La Marque Mike Jackson.

2013 will be a bit of a retooling year for the Coogs on the defensive side of the ball as just four starters return. "I feel good about the experience we have back at linebacker, those guys will be the leaders on defense. We'll be young up front and in the secondary, but I think some of our more inexperienced guys have what it takes to fill those gaps," said Jackson.

La Marque's JV squad finished 8-2 a year ago and with that influx of talent combined with the experience on offense the sky is the limit for the Coogs, "There's no question in my mind we have the potential to be a better football team in 2013, we've got a good junior class so if those guys mature I think we can do some great things," said the La Marque HC. With no spring football at the 3A level, expect La Marque to once again be a force on the 7 on 7 scene in the Greater Houston area and in the Division II SQTs in May and June.