Rangers look to spoil Bruins’ celebration

[Guest Ozen]

Rangers look to spoil Bruins’ celebration

By Dave Rogers

 

Published October 19, 2007 - Updated 59 minutes ago

Beaumont West Brook is celebrating its 25th anniversary as a school this year and 1982 is definitely a year for the Bruins to recall.

Not so much for Baytown Sterling, whose Rangers travel to deep Southeast Texas tonight to take on the District 21-5A-leading Bruins in a 7:30 football game.

West Brook won the state Class 5A football championship in its first year of existence, having been formed that summer by the merger of Beaumont’s Forest Park and Hebert High Schools.

The Bruins earned a distinction for being Texas’ first district runnerup to win state, as that was the first year schools that finished second-place in their league were eligible for the playoffs.

And they did it after getting past coach Al Dennis’ Baytown Sterling team in the second round. Even though they didn’t beat the Rangers.

West Brook advanced on the second tie-breaker in use back then — first downs — after the two teams tied 7-7.

It was the start of a magical run by the Alex Durley coached-Bruins, who were just 6-4 in the regular season. They finished second in District 22-5A to a 10-0 Port Arthur Thomas Jefferson team that, as irony would have it, was quarterbacked by current West Brook head coach Craig Stump.

The playoff magic began in the Sterling game. The District 23-5A champion Rangers led 7-0 after quarterback John Tomjack’s two-yard second-quarter touchdown run. With less than five minutes remaining, they were lining up for a gimme 31-yard field goal by Robbie Reasoner that would have iced the game.

But West Brook’s future NFL nose tackle Jerry Ball knifed through the middle of the line and blocked Reasoner’s kick. After the recovery and return of the bouncing ball, the Bruins needed just 12 yards and three plays to tie the game.

And that’s the way it ended.

Twenty-yard-line penetrations, the first tie-breaker used by the UIL in those days, were tied at two apiece, after West Brook stopped a last-ditch Sterling drive at the Bruin 25.

West Brook advanced because of a 12-9 edge in first downs.

Sterling head coach Herb Minyard said Thursday he was only vaguely aware of that game and he didn’t make use of it in his pep talks to his players this week.

But a quarter-century later, with a wave of college football upsets dominating sports talk, why not? If West Brook could score a David-and-Goliath upset over Sterling 25 years ago, maybe it’s the Rangers’ turn.

Stump’s 5-1 Bruins, who finished in that four-way tie for the District 21-5A title a year ago and then went on their second straight foray three rounds deep in the 5A playoffs, rank No. 1 in all the important district statistics. Sterling, 0-6, is seventh in the league in offense (232.8) and fifth in defense (294.0).

Maybe the Rangers can shock the world.

“It comes up,†Sterling’s coach said of the upset special. “We haven’t made that much of a deal of it, because we’re concentrating so much on what we need to do.

“We’re not in awe of them (the Bruins). They’re a good football team, but we have flashes of brilliance. We’ve proven ourselves to be able to play the game well. We just need to do that for 48 minutes.â€

Sterling must contain a West Brook attack led by junior running back Christine Michael and junior quarterback Christopher Louis. And the Bruins unveiled a speed option in last week’s 38-21 win over Robert E. Lee — something else defensive coordinator Chad Haynes’ players must guard against.

Quarterback Jerrod Doucet and running back-receiver Manasah Davis are coming off good showings in last week’s loss to Channelview.

“Certainly we’ve talked about playing up to the level of our competition,†Minyard said. “This week we’ve talked about not making it so hard on ourselves with turnovers and penalties.â€

Sterling has not played in Beaumont since 2003, the year before Minyard became the Rangers head coach. A 2005 game set for Beaumont was lost to Hurricane Rita.

In 2004, Sterling beat a 2-8 West Brook team 31-14 at Stallworth Stadium. A year ago, a 9-4 Bruin squad beat Sterling 48-21.

Directions to Durley Stadium: Take I-10 east approximately 50 miles, exit at FM 364/Major Drive/Ford Park, go left (north) on FM 364/Major Drive approximately four miles; turn left at Phelan Boulevard; travel approximately one-quarter mile, Durley Stadium is on your right. (If construction at Phelan causes delay, proceed one-half mile up Major Drive, turn left at Manion.)

[gary-us-bonds]

They're going to be looking for a while.

[KFDM COOP]

[82 5A State Champs]

That is a great article.......I hope they dont pull off the upset of the night! But, it should be a good game nonetheless! I'll be there rooting on my Bruins!

[Yeoj]

This game should be a good game for the Bruins to pad some stats.  I excited to see the soph RB Cooper tonight.  He should get plenty of action in this one.

[82 5A State Champs]

Let's hope so.......let's also hope that he doesn't get a bad case of fumbleitus. You know, a lack of experience.

[Yeoj]

He should be ok, I dont recall him fumbling in any of the JV games I've seen.  I know he's very quick and shifty.