Go Friday Night

How nice was it for Comanche to finally break into the win column after 22 straight losses?

Friday's stunning 46-7 win over Dublin produced a floodgate of emotion for the Indians and their fans, and for the first time in recent memory, smiles.

Second-year coach Jeryl Brixey, who had lost 15 of those games since taking the job, did his best to conduct business as though the streak didn't exist. However, the frustration that was released following the win, was clearly visible.

"We've never talked about the losing streak. Not one time did we ever mention it, because we've always been focused on the next game," Brixey said. "We've been so close at times this year to being good that our kids could sense this was coming.

"There was a frustration level, but that frustration was really more for our kids because I felt like they deserved to win games."

Brixey, who was an offensive coordinator at Katy before coming to Comanche, said his level of happiness following the Dublin win was second only to Katy's win over Smithson Valley to reach the 5A Division II state title game in 2005.

Not surprisingly, that happiness spread throughout the fieldhouse, where the team met to study tape of the game the next morning.

"We coached the kids as hard on film study as we ever did on Saturday, because there were still a thousand things we had to correct from the night before," Brixey said. "But now, you can correct a kid and it's a positive thing because everyone's attitude is different.

"It was fun coming in on Saturday morning. The kids didn't mind lifting weights as much and it was fun for them to see six or seven touchdowns being scored on tape."

Film study following a win was a first-time experience for most of Comanche's players, who had grown accustomed to Saturday morning reruns of Indian defeats.

"We could actually smile while watching the (game film) without getting into trouble," Comanche quarterback Jerick Roberts said with a laugh. "We could finally watch it and be happy."

n With 43 of the 75 teams the Reporter-News covers enjoying an open date, last week's football schedule was so depleted, it had the feel of a midseason halftime break.

And now that we've reached an unofficial "halfway" point, it seems fitting to call out some of the biggest surprises the season has offered thus far.

Frankly, I'm stunned to see 5-0 teams at De Leon and Coleman. I didn't expect Sweetwater to be 4-1 at this point. Nor did I expect to see Ballinger at 2-3, or Ranger and Graham at 1-4.

Eastland (4-1), under new coach Brian Hulett, has emerged as a 2A team that must be taken seriously. So has Bangs (4-2) under first-year coach Chuck Lipsey.

Fitting squarely into the "no surprise here" category: Albany (5-0), Cisco (5-0), Clyde (4-1), Roscoe (4-1) and Strawn (5-0) -- all of which should make the deep playoff runs everyone thought they would.

In the case of Cisco, Roscoe and Strawn, the possibility of bringing three state titles home to the Big Country is looking more and more realistic.

n First-year Stephenville coach Joe Gillespie's team has rallied from an 0-2 start with three straight wins, including district victories over Mansfield Legacy and Mansfield Timberview.

The Timberview win is especially significant, because it gives the Yellow Jackets a leg up on one of the primary threats this top-heavy district can present. Equally as important (at least in the eyes of some), is it cemented the fact that despite the disappointing start, Stephenville's program is alive and well.

"We got beat at the last minute in one game and in the last two minutes of another game by a combined seven points against two pretty good football teams," Gillespie said. "One of those teams (Aledo) is still undefeated and the other (Denton Guyer) just lost their first game."

It's difficult not to admire the levelheaded approach taken by Gillespie, who kept things in perspective in an environment known for being anything but coach-friendly.

"One of our goals was just to treat each week as a new week and to get better than we were the week before," Gillespie said. "We're not looking for playoff-caliber or state championship-caliber right now.

"We'll be at the point when we get there."

n How's this for a statistic?

According to Melissa Vickers, her top-ranked Albany volleyball team has lost a grand total of just three games this season.

For you non-volleyball fans, that's three games in 28 matches, while building a 28-0 match record.

This wasn't entirely unexpected.

Vickers' club reached the Class A regional quarterfinals last year, where it pushed eventual Final Four qualifier Kopperl to five games before seeing its season end.

The bulk of that team has returned in 2008, and thus far, the competition has been falling like dominoes. Gorman and Moran are the most recent victims, both of which lost in three straight games to the Lady Lions last week.

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