Youthful Pirates await Kelly

[KFDM COOP]

Youthful Pirates await Kelly

Van Wade

The Orange Leader

VIDOR — There will be some hungry Pirates ready to prove they can compete with anybody in Southeast Texas come Friday night when the Beaumont Kelly Bulldogs venture to Pirate Stadium for a 7 p.m. season-starting encounter.

The Pirates went through some growing pains last year, starting a slew of sophomores by the time district started. The Pirates may have finished 2-8 but the experience was valuable.

“We were such a young team last year,†said Vidor head coach Jeff Mathews. “The funny thing is, we’re still a young football team. We have some hard-nosed seniors that will be a major part of this team but we’re definitely junior-oriented.â€

Mathews has the pleasure of working with seven starters back on both offense and defense.

“The best thing about it is that most of the kids know the system well,†Mathews said. “We knew going into our first practice that we wouldn’t be teaching as much as we did last year.â€

The Pirates were impressive in their scrimmages against both Orangefield and West Orange-Stark.

“Our kids really gained some confidence last week in the scrimmage at West Orange,’ said Mathews. “WO-S has speed that we don’t see a lot of and they’re physical.What I was most pleased with was our mental makeup. We got down 14-0 and instead of getting down, the kids buckled up and got after it and came back to tie it. As a coaching staff, you have to love that.â€

Mathews knows there is still plenty of work ahead.

“Our kids’ effort has been so darn good, ever since the summer started,†said Mathews. “As a group, you can tell that they all care about each other and they want to succeed. The season is still early and we’re playing hard, you just want to see those mental lapses go away, like getting flagged in the red zone on offense and defense but those things tend to go away as you make improvements throughout the year.â€

The Pirates’ running game has been impressive early on with the likes of quarterback Chris Teinert and running backs like senior fullback Theron Reynolds and tailbacks Devin Dart and Jacob Peevey.

Junior lineman like Brian Patin, Calvin Strother, James Burns and Scotty Utterback pave the way.

“Our running game will carry us this year,†said Mathews. “Teinert gives us nice mobility at quarterback and we have five or six backs that can go, so we have depth there. Our offensive line is all juniors so we love that.â€

So what does Mathews think about Kelly, which went 9-1 last year and were a TAPPS regional finalist?

“Kelly is a team that likes to keep you off-balance,†said Mathews. “Coach (Mike) Long has done a tremendous job over there, just like he did when he was offensive coordinator at PN-G. They like to mix the run and the pass and as always, they have tremendous athletes.â€

Mathews just wants the Pirates to be patient.

“We need to get out there Friday, sustain some drives and not turn the ball over,†said Mathews. “Last year, we put the ball on the ground way too much and we can’t do that again. Kelly likes to fly to the ball on defense and create turnovers so that West Orange scrimmage really helped us there.â€

Mathews is excited to get the ball rolling.

“Scrimmages are fun, because you get to see someone else in a different uniform but it doesn’t compare to that first real Friday night game,†Mathews said. “The whole atmosphere changes from there and the excitement grows with each week. As a coaching staff, we really like what we’ve seen out of the Pirates so far and we look towards having a super season.â€

[Guest LCM Volleyball]

Very good game with Kelly winning late!

[Foyce]

Very good game with Kelly winning late!

I am not crowing after last year, but getting out of WO with a tie makes me feel pretty good about facing Kelly. I am going out on a limb to say we will win going away. Time will tell!

[IamtheZone]

So what does Mathews think about Kelly, which went 9-1 last year and were a TAPPS regional finalist?

“Kelly is a team that likes to keep you off-balance,†said Mathews. “Coach (Mike) Long has done a tremendous job over there, just like he did when he was offensive coordinator at PN-G. They like to mix the run and the pass and as always, they have tremendous athletes.â€

Kelly likes to fly to the ball on defense and create turnovers so that West Orange scrimmage really helped us there.â€

Mixing it up and flying to the ball like its 2nd nature

-At practice when we dont have 11 hats on the ball we up down-