Editor’s note: Tonight’s game will be streamed live at https://youtu.be/6LGOEPa4-ew
The Little Rock Catholic Rockets are feeling pretty good about themselves. Coming off a 28-26 win over the Cabot Panthers, the Rockets are now 3-1 on the season, 1-0 in 7A-Central Conference play and ready to challenge the defensive State champion Bryant Hornets.
They’ll be in Bryant tonight for week two of the league schedule with an upset in mind.
They were 4-0 last year when we played them and they’re 3-1 this year,” noted Bryant head coach Buck James. “They’re a football team that definitely feels good about where they’re at. They’ve played some good football teams, traditionally good football teams.
“This has been a group of guys that, in JV, they’ve played us well over the last couple of years,” he noted. “They’re very well coached. They pay a lot of attention to detail. They have two receivers who could probably start for anybody in the conference. Offensively, they do a lot of good stuff that makes it tough on defenses. Their offensive line is aggressive and quick. Their quarterback is a former d-lineman that can throw and run. He has a strong arm and he’s accurate. They are a formidable opponent offensively.”
The receivers are 6’2” Robert Bavon and 6’2” Nathan Johnson. The quarterback, Jordan Eddington, at 6-1, 250 pounds, started at nose guard last year as a junior. The offensive line features returning starters at the tackle position in Sam Plafcan (6-3, 250) and Ethan Johnson (6-2, 212).
“Defensively, they struggle a little bit but they’re not giving up a lot of big scores,” James said. “They’re small, quick, run to the ball well, play with great energy and they have held people down. We’re definitely going to have to play well.”
The Rockets’ returning starters on defense include an end, Nic Enderlin (6-1, 250), two linebackers, Cole Black-Ocken (5-9, 208) and Lance Hockersmith (5-11, 205) and safeties Bryce Stine (5-8, 160) and Grant Smithson (6-0, 163).
As for the Hornets:
When you’re ranked number one and have been all season and you’re ranking on MaxPreps is up to 23rd in the nation, and you’ve invoked the mercy rule in all four of your victories including the conference opener last week at Fort Smith Northside, it’s easy to get a little full of yourself.
James said that showed up for the first time for his Hornets during this week’s preparations.
“We didn’t have a good Tuesday,” he said. “Monday was good. We played well in the JV game again. But it was probably our worst Tuesday practice of the year. Our focus was a little bit better on Wednesday, but we still didn’t have a great practice as far as our assignments and things that go along with that. But it was better than Tuesday. I think anything would’ve been better than Tuesday.”
There was, the coach said, a little complacency creeping in.
“With 16- to 18-year-old kids sometimes they think good enough is good enough,” he related. “We didn’t get here just because we’re overly talented. We got here because we work hard, and we pay attention to detail. We’re fundamentally sound and our kids play hard together.
“We lost all sight of that on Tuesday,” James continued. “We’re trying to reel them in from that. We can’t be selfish. We can’t worry about ourselves. We can’t do things that aren’t beneficial to the team. We’ve got to put the team first. We’ve got to be an unselfish football team and we’ve got to play hard.
“Everybody’s got to hang onto the rope,” he declared. “That’s not just a cliché. That’s real stuff. The worst thing that we can do is start being complacent and thinking it’s going to happen just because we show up.”
Asked how he handles that, James said, “You’ve got to be a stickler to details. As a coaching staff, you’ve got to hold each kid accountable and you’ve got to hold yourself accountable as a coach. What you’re allowing them to get by with and what you deem as important and the things you don’t deem important, you might make sure that you dot every ‘I’ and cross every ‘T’ when kids start getting like that.
“Understand that hard work, preparation and fundamentals really matter. And going back and watching tape and studying it, staying true to the weight room and to your conditioning — we hold every kid to a standard and the biggest thing is all the kids holding each other to a standard. That it’s just not going to happen. You can’t win them all in one week. You can’t win them all because of what you’ve done in the past. You’ve got to go out there each day and go through that step-by-step preparation that allows you to have success.”
The coach elaborated, saying, “We have plenty who feel like they’ve done all they need to do. We’ve got kids that play just for scholarships and they don’t play for the team. They try to make plays over trying to be sound fundamentally.
“We battle all the things that the real world brings into play, just like in life,” he explained. “Our guys have got to understand that being a student-athlete, the first thing is you’ve got to do right in school. You’ve got to do right at home. Then, you’ve got to do things together as a football team on that field that allows you to be successful. We can’t compromise that.”
Asked if he’s seen any of his players step up to lead in that way, James stated flatly, “Not really.
“It’s like I told them, ‘If I have to be your leader then it’s not going to be what you want to do.’ I expect our guys to hold each other to account, being on time, doing what you’re supposed to do, play your assignment first not everybody else’s, take care of your business, take care of your area. And do it with a workman’s attitude, which gives you a chance to lead by example. It’s not your job to go out there and yell and scream and all that stuff. It’s your job to go out there and make sure that your group is doing what they’re supposed to do, and the team is.”
Asked if that was something that could be developed, James said he felt like it had during off-season.
“To a degree,” he added. “It’s something where, when you show up out there and it’s 93 degrees on Oct. 2 and suddenly it’s ‘Why do we need to practice?’ or that type thing, or ‘Why do I need to be on time?’ or ‘Why do I need to do this?’ If that creeps into your mind, then that’s stuff that brings dissention in your team. You can’t have that. You’ve got to have everybody hitting on all cylinders and every plug firing and every cylinder popping, doing what we’re supposed to do as a football team.”
James said there will be players that don’t start or don’t play tonight as a result of Tuesday’s problems.
“We just haven’t had a practice like we had this week,” he reiterated. “The thing we try to keep them away from is no letdown, no loss of focus or loss of attention to detail or effort or whatever the case may be. Everything matters.
“Our guys have got to understand that one bad play in practice can end a guy’s career — not doing what you’re supposed to do, being where you’re supposed to be puts other people in jeopardy. We’ve got to learn to be good teammates.”
Chances are, with all of that said, the Hornets should be primed for tonight.
