GALVESTON — Everyone associated with the Ball High football program knew they dodged the wrath of Hurricane Rita.
Tors football coach Ron Holmes said he and his team were blessed just have a home and a school to go back to.
So the sounds of coaches preaching and pads cracking Wednesday meant it’s back to business.
Ball High defensive end Rajon Henley said he’s thankful just to practice.
“It’s good because we didn’t want our season to be over,” said Henley, who is the top college prospect in the county. “We have a pretty good team and I think we can go far. I’m just happy to be back and nothing was really messed up too much.”
The Tors knew things could have been drastically, though.
“You look down at New Orleans, Lake Charles, Beaumont, Port Arthur and they don’t know what type of season they are going to have,” Holmes said. “We are blessed that we are not in that situation. Football isn’t everything, but some of those kids might lose a chance at getting a scholarship.”
Now that the storm is gone and with school starting up again today, the team’s schedule goes back to normal.
Well, sort of.
The Tors only have two days to prepare for their District 24-5A opener against Clear Brook on Friday at Kermit Courville Stadium.
Henley said the team will be ready physically.
“Over the break, we couldn’t do much running,” Henley said “We had to avoid the rain and the storm and stuff. Other than that we had to wait it out and see what would happen … We just have to be ready.”
Clear Brook (1-3) has been used to having running back Carlos Frank carrying the load during the past two seasons. But Frank might not suit up, Holmes said, because of a knee injury.
Holmes was quick not to take anything away from the Wolverines. He said Brook is much like Texas City in that they lost to some quality competition and their records aren’t indicative of how they play.
“(Brook) lost to some good football teams like Fort Bend Marshall, Dobie, Conroe Oak Ridge,” Holmes said. “So they didn’t lose to some slouch football teams. I tell these guys that we have to practice hard because they’re the type of team that could upset you.”
Ball High (3-1) also came out fortunate with the new 24-5A scheduling plan. The Tors will play Friday and then not have to take the field again until they face Pearland on Oct. 8.
Brook, Brazoswood, Clear Lake and Pearland will have to play three games in eight days to get back on track with last weekend’s action postponed.
Ball High’s bye week was supposed to be this week and the Tors were supposed to take on Brook last weekend. Now the school’s bye will be Tuesday.
“Someone must be looking out for us,” Holmes said with a bellowing laugh.
The Tors’ will be one of the few Galveston County football teams to play this week. Crosby canceled its nondistrict game against Friendswood. Dickinson and C.E. King also agreed not to play their nondistrict game this week.
It’s also unlikely Bay Area Christian will play Beaumont Cathedral this week. The game was scheduled for Friday in Beaumont. School officials were still waiting for official word.
La Marque coach Bryan Erwin sad it’s also possible Houston Smiley might cancel its game against the Cougars. But as of Wednesday, the game was still on for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Etheredge Stadium in La Marque.
Friendswood coach Steve Van Meter got the news Monday that Crosby couldn’t play this week. They were supposed to play last Friday, but both had an open week this week.
“We had made an arrangement because we were both open this week to move it to this week,” Van Meter said. “He has a different situation than we do. He didn’t feel like he could get his kids to practice. He has to bus them into practice. I understand.”
Van Meter said he tried to find another game, but no luck.
Friendswood opens District 23-4A play against Dickinson Oct. 6 in Friendswood.
Dickinson and King couldn’t begin practice until today, so both coaches agreed it was better to cancel the game.
“I don’t know how many kids we’re going to have here tomorrow,” Dickinson coach Warren Trahan said. “Instead of me getting on the phone and trying to get everybody here and getting 15 kids and stressing about it, I’m going to do what the school’s doing and go from there.”
La Marque, ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press’ Class 4A state poll, has been practicing since Tuesday.
“We had just about everybody here Tuesday and Wednesday,” Erwin said.
Erwin said quarterback L.J. Castile has been cleared to play and will split time with Durklyn Haynes this week. Castile, La Marque’s starting quarterback, was injured in the Coogs’ second game of the season against Ball High.
