KFDM COOP Posted October 15, 2009 Report Posted October 15, 2009 PORT NECHES -- Port Neches-Groves has welcomed its first 6-0 start since 2003, but no Indian would boast as much as to proclaim 6-0 would come easily. If they studied those Indians game videos, they might attribute some of their prosperity to Aaron Easley. A defensive lineman with the heart of an Indian, this junior personally had a lot to do with shutting down Livingston in the second half last Friday night. Long-time Southeast Texas scribe Steven Cohan covered PN-G's 30-7 win last week as a correspondent for The News. The 5-11, 245-pound son of Groves residents Richard and Debra Easley played so actively in the trenches that he enabled his No. 61 to stand out on Lion Stadium's muddy field anyway. When this reporter asked his old friend 'How PN-G looked?', the Houston-based writer started out by saying, "That No. 61 was in on just about every play in the second half." Cohan saw the same thing that Easley felt -- that Livingston had been Aaron's best game so far with the Indians. The good news for PN-G is Aaron's only a junior and his broken hand is healing more and more by the day. Easley suffered a fracture to his right hand during a Monday practice after the Indians jumped out to a 2-0 start. He got tripped during a pass rush drill and landed on his hand. Broken hand or not, Easley never missed a game, wearing a hard cast against Texas City, Little Cypress-Mauriceville and Nederland. A soft cast replaced the hard cast last Thursday before PN-G traveled to Livingston. Good defensive linemen learn to use their hands. By changing to the more flexible soft cast, Easley noticed a great difference. "I can grab now," he said. "Before with the hard cast, I couldn't wrap up as good." If anyone sees Aaron Easley's heart alive and beating on a football field, that someone would be Indians' defensive line coach Mike Arnaud. Plenty of outstanding new coaches have arrived at The Reservation this year. Easley is delighted that Indians' chief Brandon Faircloth opted to retain Arnaud from Matt Burnett's 2008 staff. "I'm really glad he (Arnaud) stayed," Easley said. "It's much easier having him because we didn't have to learn a whole new way of doing things." Defensive coordinator Duane Kroeker has found an effective way of successfully involving two rotations of defensive linemen. Christian Shetley, Taylor Thompson and Dallas Davis are listed as starters. D.J. Schexnider, Spencer Allen and Easley enable the Indians depth to operate at a high level without breaking stride. "Aaron caught my eye in the off-season because he's an extremely hard worker," head coach Faircloth said. "He cares a lot about being an Indian." Easley played in the defensive line last year but opened the August drills as a more likely offensive line starter. Injuries depleted the defensive line and that caused the coaches to return Easley to familiar territory. Call it another battle with adversity which only raised the level of Aaron's game. "I was looking like I was going to be a starter in the offensive line and people (in defensive line positions) started getting injured," he said. "They moved me back to help out. I have more respect for offensive linemen now that I've played on both sides of the ball." The 17-year-old Easley plays with great leverage and technique, rather than merely overpowering players. Why did he enjoy such a dominant stretch at Livingston? 1. The Lions predominantly run the ball (this week's foe Vidor does, too). 2. His soft cast enabled more mobility (that may improve more, too, as his hand heals). 3. Aaron was in the right place at the right time (sometimes it's that way, sometimes it's not). "It was just a mixture of things," he said. "We made some good halftime adjustments. It stopped raining at half. And I guess I was just there." We can guess Livingston just would wish that Aaron wasn't just there. Easley just plain made every play in Steve Cohan's recollection. Indian Inklings Homecoming on The Reservation starts tonight with the annual parade from Port Neches Middle School to the High School on Merriman St. Members of the classes of 1964 and 1979 will be recognized during homecoming ceremonies. A pep rally will be held in the gym Friday at 2:30 p.m. The Indians Sweetheart will be crowned in pre-game ceremonies at 7 p.m. prior to the 7:30 kickoff. The homecoming dance will follow the game in the PN-G cafeteria.... Two 6-0 junior varsity teams clash tonight at 7 p.m. when Vidor and PN-G meet at the Vidor Junior High stadium. The purple JV is under the direction of coach Ryan Cox.... The Port Arthur News Friday Night Experience will carry the Vidor/PN-G game. The game will be available around midnight on panews.com and will air Saturday at noon on Time Warner Cable 15. Mark McClain and Bob West will be at mikeside for that telecast.... Aaron Easley headed Ryan Cox's trusty tackle chart with five solos and two assists in Livingston followed closely by Dre' Dunbar and Taylor Thompson with 4 solos and 3 assists. Kane Benoit (23 & 27), Christian Kerr (21 & 24) and Dre' Dunbar (20 & 12) rank 1-2-3 in total tackle numbers through six games...
Sportsfreak11 Posted October 15, 2009 Report Posted October 15, 2009 Aaron Easley has a big heart and a great love for the game of football! He works hard to achieve his goals and he doesnt go too far over the line he has set. Im personaly glad that he is on the Indians field. Get Better Aaron!
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