Sports
Break on through to the other side: West set new program standards in 2012
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@starlocalnews.com
Prior to 2012, Plano West football had one playoff win.
When said season ended Dec. 8 with a 42-35 loss to Austin Westlake, the Wolves had tripled their previous number of playoff victories, advanced further than any Plano ISD team since Plano Senior in 2007 and were two triumphs away from playing for the Class 5A Division II State Championship Saturday at Cowboys Stadium.
"This was one of my most rewarding experiences in 32 years of coaching," said Mike Hughes, West head coach.
It may have been a 49-35 loss to Mesquite that served as catalyst for the playoff run.
"Mesquite was one of the best teams in the state," Hughes said. "You saw how well they started (11-0), but we showed we could play with them and if we could've taken care of the ball, we would have won."
That defeat dropped West to 2-2. The Wolves found themselves in a bigger hole at 3-4 after dropping their first two district games to McKinney Boyd and Allen, respectively.
West wouldn't lose again until December.
Half of the Wolves' six-game winning streak came via the remainder of the 10-5A slate as West pounded McKinney (64-36), scored a touchdown with 25 seconds remaining to defeat Plano Senior (37-35) and beat Plano East (47-28) in the regular season finale to guarantee a playoff spot.
Hughes chalked the streak up to peaking at the right time.
"You can't make it happen," he said. "It's something magical ... some years it happens, some years it doesn't. I can't tell you why; if I could I would bottle that magic and sell it."
There were plenty of contributors during West's run, including the coaching staff.
"I know I get a lot of the credit, but honestly I couldn't do this without my coaching staff," Hughes said. "They don't get a lot of the credit, but they should because they do a great job."
Defensively, returners (senior defensive back Davis Roeschke, senior linebackers Jake Wodka and Reggie Howard, junior linebacker Oshen Matheson) were balanced with newcomers (senior defensive ends Nick Green and Mason Gentry, the latter of which had never played football before this season).
"We had a lot of defensive players with no varsity experience that just got better as the season went along," Hughes said.
Those improvements allowed senior Stephan Randall to move back to the offensive line, where he had played the prior two seasons. Randall worked in the trenches with seniors Pirouz Kaimalipour, Parker Murry, juniors Cody Arledge and Zach White to form a line that was markedly better in the second half of the season.
"We didn't have a group of 6-foot-6, 280-pound guys," Hughes said. "But we had a group that was very athletic and worked well together."
West surpassed 30 points 11 times and scored at least 42 in five of those games.
It was that offense that had the Wolves feeling good heading into the postseason.
"We went into the playoffs playing at a high level," Hughes said. "When you're doing that, you have the opportunity to win a state championship, especially going against a lot of teams you haven't seen before."
Ironically, West saw two teams it had played earlier in the year to open the playoffs.
Facing familiar foes, the Wolves leaned on familiar faces to defeat Lake Highlands (42-35) and South Garland (37-27), namely the trio of senior quarterback Travis Korry, junior running back Auston Anderson and sophomore running back Soso Jamabo. Korry, Anderson and Jamabo accounted for more than 300 yards rushing in both games, a mark they would eclipse in all four postseason contests.
"Just like the offensive line got better, our backs got better too," Hughes said. "They got a feel for the running lanes and had a better understanding of what we were looking to do."
The same could be said for Korry.
"We ran a lot of zone read or power read," Hughes said, "and Travis always made good decisions."
That's to be expected from one of the team leaders.
"Travis was such a great fit for this team," Hughes said. "He was fun to be around and he had the respect of his teammates because they knew Travis never made this about himself, he was always about the team first."
Korry, who became a starter in 2011 after an injury to Carson Smith, threw for 2,282 yards and 12 touchdowns (with senior wide receivers Connor Doyle, Austin Copeland and Zac Gideo each making at least 35 receptions) this season. Korry also ran 965 yards and 20 touchdowns. That was only third best on the team though, behind Jamabo (1,697 yards, 24 touchdowns) and Anderson (1,156 yards, 13 touchdowns).
Those contributions put West past the second round of the playoffs for the first time.
"We were having a lot of fun," Hughes said. "The students were behind us and you could tell everyone wanted to be at practice; we just kept clicking along."
That was apparent, at least offensively, in West's first regional semifinal as Korry, Jamabo and Anderson combined for seven rushing scores in a 55-52 win over Lufkin.
A similarly tense game was in store for the Region II Finals, but West's win streak ended with a 42-35 loss to Westlake.
"This was still a fantastic season and I feel so lucky for this experience," Korry said. "It should be good experience for the younger kids too, so hopefully they can come back and go even further next season."
Hughes echoed the latter part of that sentiment.
"We're taking a little time off to rejuvenate and spend time with family," he said. "But come Jan. 8 we'll be ready to fire it up again and look to improve so we can beat Westlake next season."
At the forefront of West's 2013 team will be the running backs.
"It's a blessing that we got this far," Anderson said, "and I'm elated I get another chance at this next season."
Along with its pair of returning 1,000-yard-plus runners in Anderson and Jamabo, the Wolves should be buoyed with Arledge and White back on the line. West will need a new quarterback with sophomores Zach Norris and Colton Hepp the likeliest candidates after both saw time earlier in the season when Korry was injured.
Defense is a different story.
"A lot of starters were seniors," Hughes said, "so we'll have to rebuild again."
Aiding that rebuilding will be the momentum gained from the best season in program history as well as another 80 kids likely to join the program now that all of Jasper High School will feed into West.
It's that combination of factors that has West feeling good.
"I don't usually like to reflect too much on records or stats or anything like that, but these kids know how important they were to our program," Hughes said. "I think this was our breakthrough year and now we have the chance to be one of the best programs in the state, year in and year out."
When said season ended Dec. 8 with a 42-35 loss to Austin Westlake, the Wolves had tripled their previous number of playoff victories, advanced further than any Plano ISD team since Plano Senior in 2007 and were two triumphs away from playing for the Class 5A Division II State Championship Saturday at Cowboys Stadium.
"This was one of my most rewarding experiences in 32 years of coaching," said Mike Hughes, West head coach.
It may have been a 49-35 loss to Mesquite that served as catalyst for the playoff run.
"Mesquite was one of the best teams in the state," Hughes said. "You saw how well they started (11-0), but we showed we could play with them and if we could've taken care of the ball, we would have won."
That defeat dropped West to 2-2. The Wolves found themselves in a bigger hole at 3-4 after dropping their first two district games to McKinney Boyd and Allen, respectively.
West wouldn't lose again until December.
Half of the Wolves' six-game winning streak came via the remainder of the 10-5A slate as West pounded McKinney (64-36), scored a touchdown with 25 seconds remaining to defeat Plano Senior (37-35) and beat Plano East (47-28) in the regular season finale to guarantee a playoff spot.
Hughes chalked the streak up to peaking at the right time.
"You can't make it happen," he said. "It's something magical ... some years it happens, some years it doesn't. I can't tell you why; if I could I would bottle that magic and sell it."
There were plenty of contributors during West's run, including the coaching staff.
"I know I get a lot of the credit, but honestly I couldn't do this without my coaching staff," Hughes said. "They don't get a lot of the credit, but they should because they do a great job."
Defensively, returners (senior defensive back Davis Roeschke, senior linebackers Jake Wodka and Reggie Howard, junior linebacker Oshen Matheson) were balanced with newcomers (senior defensive ends Nick Green and Mason Gentry, the latter of which had never played football before this season).
"We had a lot of defensive players with no varsity experience that just got better as the season went along," Hughes said.
Those improvements allowed senior Stephan Randall to move back to the offensive line, where he had played the prior two seasons. Randall worked in the trenches with seniors Pirouz Kaimalipour, Parker Murry, juniors Cody Arledge and Zach White to form a line that was markedly better in the second half of the season.
"We didn't have a group of 6-foot-6, 280-pound guys," Hughes said. "But we had a group that was very athletic and worked well together."
West surpassed 30 points 11 times and scored at least 42 in five of those games.
It was that offense that had the Wolves feeling good heading into the postseason.
"We went into the playoffs playing at a high level," Hughes said. "When you're doing that, you have the opportunity to win a state championship, especially going against a lot of teams you haven't seen before."
Ironically, West saw two teams it had played earlier in the year to open the playoffs.
Facing familiar foes, the Wolves leaned on familiar faces to defeat Lake Highlands (42-35) and South Garland (37-27), namely the trio of senior quarterback Travis Korry, junior running back Auston Anderson and sophomore running back Soso Jamabo. Korry, Anderson and Jamabo accounted for more than 300 yards rushing in both games, a mark they would eclipse in all four postseason contests.
"Just like the offensive line got better, our backs got better too," Hughes said. "They got a feel for the running lanes and had a better understanding of what we were looking to do."
The same could be said for Korry.
"We ran a lot of zone read or power read," Hughes said, "and Travis always made good decisions."
That's to be expected from one of the team leaders.
"Travis was such a great fit for this team," Hughes said. "He was fun to be around and he had the respect of his teammates because they knew Travis never made this about himself, he was always about the team first."
Korry, who became a starter in 2011 after an injury to Carson Smith, threw for 2,282 yards and 12 touchdowns (with senior wide receivers Connor Doyle, Austin Copeland and Zac Gideo each making at least 35 receptions) this season. Korry also ran 965 yards and 20 touchdowns. That was only third best on the team though, behind Jamabo (1,697 yards, 24 touchdowns) and Anderson (1,156 yards, 13 touchdowns).
Those contributions put West past the second round of the playoffs for the first time.
"We were having a lot of fun," Hughes said. "The students were behind us and you could tell everyone wanted to be at practice; we just kept clicking along."
That was apparent, at least offensively, in West's first regional semifinal as Korry, Jamabo and Anderson combined for seven rushing scores in a 55-52 win over Lufkin.
A similarly tense game was in store for the Region II Finals, but West's win streak ended with a 42-35 loss to Westlake.
"This was still a fantastic season and I feel so lucky for this experience," Korry said. "It should be good experience for the younger kids too, so hopefully they can come back and go even further next season."
Hughes echoed the latter part of that sentiment.
"We're taking a little time off to rejuvenate and spend time with family," he said. "But come Jan. 8 we'll be ready to fire it up again and look to improve so we can beat Westlake next season."
At the forefront of West's 2013 team will be the running backs.
"It's a blessing that we got this far," Anderson said, "and I'm elated I get another chance at this next season."
Along with its pair of returning 1,000-yard-plus runners in Anderson and Jamabo, the Wolves should be buoyed with Arledge and White back on the line. West will need a new quarterback with sophomores Zach Norris and Colton Hepp the likeliest candidates after both saw time earlier in the season when Korry was injured.
Defense is a different story.
"A lot of starters were seniors," Hughes said, "so we'll have to rebuild again."
Aiding that rebuilding will be the momentum gained from the best season in program history as well as another 80 kids likely to join the program now that all of Jasper High School will feed into West.
It's that combination of factors that has West feeling good.
"I don't usually like to reflect too much on records or stats or anything like that, but these kids know how important they were to our program," Hughes said. "I think this was our breakthrough year and now we have the chance to be one of the best programs in the state, year in and year out."
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