Friday night lights are about to turn on in Texas and every fan is wrapped in anticipation of what their team is going to look like this season. Yesterday we got a sneak peek of the Austin Maroons during their competitive scrimmage against Georgetown high school.
The Austin Maroons, lead by Head Coach Mike Rosenthal, put on a real show at Georgetown High Football Stadium scoring 5 touchdowns compared to Georgetown’s singular touchdown.
What stuck out was Austin high school’s passing attack. Quarterback Charles Wright showcased his arm talent with both the deep ball as well as check-down passes. Austin scored 4 touchdowns through the air coupled with 490 total passing yards proving the Maroon’s passing attack could not be stopped.
Having attended several Austin practices, I could see the emphasis offensive coordinator Aaron Vanecek put on ball security. At the beginning of the week Vanecek set a goal to have zero turnovers and his offense did exactly that.
On the defensive side of the football, you could see all of the hard work and training the team and defensive coaches have been putting in. The Austin Maroons defense is much improved from last season and will continue to get stronger. The Maroon’s defense put Georgetown’s offense in high pressure situations causing Georgetown to throw two interceptions. Defensive coordinator Bernard Riley has been working tirelessly with the secondary to create more turnovers and it paid off. The defense’s five takeaways massively contributed to the offense’s success as it placed them in an advantageous field position.
Another aspect of this game that stood out was Austin’s receiving core, starring Johnny Jenkins, Josh Garcia, Drew Morgan, and Matt Ruiz. The receiving core made plays all day such as Drew Morgan’s 62-yard touchdown catch and Johnny Jenkins 7 yard end zone catch to close out the game.
This Austin high team may prove to be a more formidable opponent than expected.
The highly ranked team has proven experience, talent and mindset to make deep run in State Playoffs. (Editor Note. Article originally appeared Feb 19th 2019 Print Version. Updated edition for recent playoff activity)
BY DANIEL JONES
“Our main goal right now is really trying to build our team chemistry,” Georgetown High School’s head baseball coach Adam Foster said in early February, “and really focusing on energy and the process of trying to avoid getting wrapped up in being ranked fourth in the state” (as noted in txhighschoolbaseball.com’s preseason poll).
Nonetheless, he added that the program’s 2018 success garnered this ranking, when the Eagles went 32-11-1 overall (14-0 in District 18-5A) and made it to the fourth round of the playoffs, losing in the regional semi-finals. Nine players from that team graduated, but only six started. And building talented baseball players is a tradition at Georgetown High School: In the last 20 or so years, the program has developed several Division I and professional ballplayers, including Brewers closer Corey Knebel who played at UT.
In 2019, Georgetown has all the ingredients to brew up another fantastic season ‒ a lot of returning starters, experience, a lineup that has seen a lot of quality at-bats against some of the state’s best pitching, and a complete array of arms that comprise what coach Foster said is “probably the best pitching staff, top to bottom, in the state of Texas. No real superstars, but everybody’s got a role, and they’re really good at their role.” He said this year’s team still has to go out and prove their preseason ranking.
Coach Foster expects senior shortstop Cole Posey, who will play next year at Boise State, to be in the middle of the team’s lineup and have a “huge contribution.” A three-year starter at Georgetown, Posey last season hit .234. Senior catcher Wyatt Childress will be at the top of the lineup and should lead the team’s running game ‒ last year he had 30 stolen bases and two triples in 37 games while hitting .261. “He can really run,” coach Foster said. Of all returning players, senior third baseman Jeffrey David, expected to hit in the middle of the order, had the highest batting average at .322; he has committed to play next year at Texas A&M.
Coach Foster said if the Eagles’ offense can match its pitching, “it’s going to be a very special year.” Georgetown has a truly complete pitching staff returning for 2019, equipped with senior right-handed starters Grant Wood and Jack Brinley, both of whom throw in the upper 80s and have solid breaking balls, and also a stacked bullpen of guys capable of coming in at any time to get batters out. Wood, who will pitch next year at Blinn Junior College, went 6-2 last spring with a 2.38 ERA in 10 starts and 13 games pitched. Brinley was 5-1 with a 1.35 ERA in six starts. The bullpen consists of seniors Reese Grimes (18 games pitched, three saves and a 1.46 ERA), Brooks Hancock, lefties Jared Pierce and Noah Thompson (3-0, 3.15 ERA), Ryan Courtney and Jackson Sioson (2-1, 11 games pitched, 2.33 ERA), who is the team’s closer and lead the 2018 team with five saves.
After beginning the season with a series of scrimmages and competitive tournament games, Georgetown starts district play in mid-March. “Every year, at this time, everyone’s expectation is winning the last game of the season,” coach Foster said. “It’s completely obtainable and very possible right now. … This happens to be one of the best teams we’ve ever had. If we can get them to play for each other, I think the sky’s the limit with this bunch.”
NOTE: “I think the Georgetown and Williamson County area has some of the best ball players in all of Central Texas if you look at the teams making the state playoff’s right now” Coach Foster told Texas Sports Monthly April 23rd 2019. Georgetown will face an old district rival in Rouse Raiders this Thursday at Leander Rouse. The Raiders are well coached by Chad Krempin and currently the 2019 District Champs at 19-8 and (12-0) district play.
The Eagles of Georgetown 28-2 (12-0) district will face the Raiders of Rouse this Thursday at 7pm for the first round of area High School playoffs!
The Cedar Park Timberwolves beat the Georgetown Eagles 27-24 at home Friday. Coming off the previous week’s tough 38-14 loss to undefeated Hutto High School, Georgetown’s record comes to 3-3 – and 0-2 in district play. The team has now lost its last three games. Cedar Park’s record comes to 5-2, 3-0 in the district. The Timberwolves next Friday play the undefeated Hutto Hippos.
Cedar Park head coach Carl Abseck spoke after the game. “They’re a good football team,” he said about Georgetown. “ … So we knew it was going to be a good game, and we had to play our tails off. We’re a pretty good team, too, so I was proud of our kids and how they played and performed when it was crunch time.”
Cedar Park’s offense dominated early on, the team scoring a touchdown and a field goal in the first quarter; then the team went into halftime with 17-10 lead.
But the Eagles broke out early in the third quarter with a 67-yard run by quarterback Jackson Sioson, who managed to score after escaping a series of tackles.
With the game tied at 17 going into the fourth quarter, Cedar Park took the lead with a field goal, bringing the score to 20-17.
And though Cedar Park scored one more touchdown in the fourth quarter, missing the extra point, it was Georgetown who added some drama to the night by scoring one more touchdown with minutes left in the game – bringing the score to 27-24. But Cedar Park quarterback Ryder Hernandez then kneeled the ball to kill the clock, sealing the team’s victory of Georgetown.
Hutto coach Brad LaPlante knows he has a special team with high aspirations. That’s why when asked how he felt about his team’s 38-14 win against Georgetown Friday at Georgetown ISD Athletic Complex in Georgetown, LaPlante didn’t exactly bask in victory.
“I would like to think we would’ve played better,” LaPlante said. “I’m going to give all the credit in the world to Georgetown, but there were times we didn’t play well enough on defense or offense. You saw it. Running backs and receivers running into each other. Those aren’t things that we normally do.”
The critiques may seem harsh for an undefeated team coming off a 24-point win. But LaPlante is aware it takes better efforts than that to win state championships. He’s not judging his squad by the scoreboard. He’s judging his squad against perfection.
Though LaPlante sees plenty to chew on in practice next week, most fans left happy after seeing their team win easily against an opponent they needed a last-second field goal to beat the year before. Senior Chase Griffin threw for 204 yards and two touchdowns on 19-of-27 passing.
His second touchdown pass came on a three-play, 68-yard drive that lasted about 30 seconds to end the half. He started it with a 26-yard dart down the right sideline to senior running back Chux Nwabuko, then threw a wide receiver screen to junior Dajon Harrison for 21 yards and capped it with a beautiful 21-yard toss to senior D.J. Baptist on a go route. The late score gave Hutto a comfortable 28-7 entering the break.
“When you get the ball at the end of the half, some people are afraid to screw up,” LaPlante said. “We have full trust in our quarterback that he’s going to make good choices. So when you have somebody that’s either going to run it and slide for a seven-yard gain, throw the ball away or make the throw like he did to Chux down the sideline to get us going, you can call higher risk plays… When you have a good decision-maker, it’s easier to be more aggressive.”
Senior Caleb Forrest led all receivers with eight grabs for 104 yards, including a 17-yard touchdown to get the scoring going in the first quarter. Nwabuko rushed for 100 yards on 11 carries and added 22 yards on four catches.
Griffin called his own number for two scores on the ground – one from five yards out in the second quarter and the other from nine yards out in the third. He worked with Nwabuko’s dad in the offseason to improve his speed and its added another dimension to his game. After rushing for just 65 yards and three touchdowns last year, he already has 106 yards and five scores in less than half as many games.
“Rick alluded to the question of ‘what do we need to do to get to state?’ We need to be more versatile in our offense,” LaPlante said. “You can’t drop back against the Cedar Parks and throw the ball 51 times a game. So when you have three good running backs, five or six good wide receivers, well now, they have to worry about Chase running the ball?
“That is an added element. So credit him No. 1 for getting faster and working on it, but No. 2 we realize that’s just one more way we’re dangerous.”
After surrendering 30-plus points in each of its first three games, Hutto’s defense has now held two straight opponents to 14. Georgetown gained only 319 yards on 62 plays for 5.1 yards per play. The Hippos blew a coverage on a fake wide receiver screen that left senior Noah Drum wide open for a 44-yard touchdown, but other than that points were tough to come by. Hutto’s young-but-talented defensive line of sophomore Landyn Watson, junior Lordswill Uwa and sophomore Braylon Sugg caused problems for the Eagles’ offense and allowed the rest of the Hippo defense to drop back into coverage and defend the pass.
“You saw (No.) 21 Landyn Watson. There was a time eight out of ten plays where he took over that game. That’s how good of a player he can be when he figures out he’s better than the kid across from him,” LaPlante said. “All three of those guys. We have a junior and two sophomores, so we’ve got a couple years with that good front left. (Watson) is the leader of that pack and his motor brings more intensity to those other kids.”
