0 CommentsIt’s always a great rivalry when the Second Baptist Eagles face the Kinkaid Falcons in football, and this year’s match up was no exception. With both programs under first year head coaches, Second Baptist posted an impressive 35-17 victory.
Second Baptist Eagles offensive lineman Harris Huguenard blocks a defender in the Eagles 35-17 victory over their rivals at Kinkaid.
As for the Eagles, new head coach Mike Sneed brings some impressive credentials to the program. Before coming to Houston, he coached at Class 5A Weatherford High School for seven seasons, where he guided the team to its only two playoff appearances in school history. At Second Baptist, Coach Sneed envisions plenty of playoff appearances. “Even though the program has struggled recently, Second Baptist has a rich tradition of football,” said Coach Sneed.
As for this year’s team, he says there’s plenty of talent and senior leadership. “We have four senior captains who are all outstanding players and great kids.” Carter Deutsch is an offensive and defensive lineman with the potential to play at an Ivy League school. Senior captain Seth Elsenbrook is an impact linebacker on defense. Also, junior middle linebacker Chris Duncan is kind of the heart and soul of our team. “
Offensively, Coach Sneed has high praise for sophomore quarterback Conner Wood. “He’s as skilled a young player at that position as I’ve ever coached. Conner has the potential to be one of the best quarterbacks in the state. He’s 6-foot-3 and will have started 19 varsity games even before he’s 16 years old. People will be hearing a lot about Conner Wood in the years to come.
Second Baptist Eagles offensive lineman Walker Young (No.72) takes on a rival defender from The Kinkaid School. Second Baptist won this year's game between the two schools by a 35-17 final.
We also have some up-and-coming players blocking for Conner on the offensive line in starting guards Harris Huguenard and Walker Young. Both are outstanding junior talents.
Despite the loss to those Second Baptist Eagles, there was victory of sorts for the Kinkaid Falcons—as in head coach Steve Victory. Coach Victory comes to Kinkaid from Louisiana, where he was the head coach of Metarie Park Country Day for the last four seasons.
“One of our top priorities is to increase the strength of our kids,” said Coach Victory. “We’re really focusing on a rigorous weight training and conditioning program. We’ve got some really smart kids at the school, and now we need to get them up to football speed. The guys are hard workers and certainly willing to learn.”
Among the many hard workers for the Falcons is senior captain and running back Pierce Cohen. “He’s a strong runner who had a nice season for Kinkaid last year,” said Coach Victory. Pierce has the added benefit of running behind 6-foot-4-inch, 315-pound offensive tackle R.J. Dabbar. According to Coach Victory, R.J. is a solid Ivy League prospect. The Falcons are also counting on big things from senior John Rutherford, who plays both linebacker and running back. “John is one of our biggest team leaders,” added Coach Victory.
Emery/Weiner head coach Kirk O'Neal huddles together with players Zach Savrick, David Bolvin, Josh Gross, Benjamin Sklar, Jeremy Lyon, and Matthew Bronstein before a recent games. Emery/Weiner has just completed its fourth season of six-man football.
At The Emery/Weiner School, this marks the fourth season that the high school is fielding a football team, albeit six-man football. “The first year we did this was pretty rough,” said head coach Kirk O’ Neal. “But, we’ve gotten better and better each season, even winning five of our seven games last year.”
With only six players in the lineup at a time, six-man football is typically found in the small rural communities across the state. So, why play the game in the heart of Houston at Emery/Weiner? “The head of the school came to me and said that a lot of the kids wanted to play,” said Coach O’Neal. “There’s not enough students here to field a regular 11-man team, so, this was our best alternative. “It’s been a great experience for everyone. six-man football is a crazy wide-open game. It’ll make a defensive coach pull his hair out.”
With no football field on campus, Emery/Weiner actually plays all of its games on the road, except for homecoming, which is held at the south campus fields near the school.
“We don’t even have a home field, but we have great kids who really love playing the game,” said Coach O’Neal. “Some of our team leaders include quarterback Zak Savrick and running backs Ben Sklar and Jeremy Lyons. Defensively, linebackers Garrick Hirsh and Tyler Walker, as well as defensive end Michael Derbyshire are among the top players.
“We don’t have a lot of speed on our team so our guys have to hang tough and really pound some people. We did a great job in our season opening 46-0 win over Humble Christian.”
Editor’s Note: Todd Freed is the host and executive producer of High School Sports Live, which can be seen each Saturday, Sunday, and Monday at 6 pm on KTBU Channel 55 The Tube. To submit information for possible inclusion in SportzBuzz, please e-mail Todd at (todd@thebuzzmagazines.com) todd (at) thebuzzmagazines (dot) com.
