Post by FB fan on Dec 19, 2019 10:52:47 GMT -6
DECEMBER FOOTBALL UPDATE: FLOUR BLUFF
Coach Chris Steinbruck Addresses 3 Topics/Player Personnel Overview
George VondracekDecember 17, 20197:48 pm
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Head Coach Chris Steinbruck
361HSblast: Coach, give us your overall impressions on your 8-4 season.
Chris Steinbruck: Well, having some time to think about our football season, I was excited about the way we competed all year long, excited about the leadership of our guys and the way that they led and continued to get this program into the playoffs and win another gold football for the school. I’m really excited about the way they did that, and the way they carried themselves on and off the field.
I told our group this time next year we want to be getting our stuff ready to go to Alamo Stadium to play in the state semifinals like (San Antonio) Wagner (did) against (Pearland) Shadow Creek. In thinking about that last game, we were a few plays away from knocking No. 7 in the state Wagner off and beating those guys up there in San Antonio.
I couldn’t be prouder of our group of kids and our coaches. To put together a plan and execute it against a team like that and have the opportunity to win at the end I think is exceptional. It’s something this community, this school, this program should be very proud of.
361HSblast: What was your thought process about optioning to play in Class 5A Division I after first being slotted with Division II enrollment numbers in the University Interscholastic League realignment?
Chris Steinbruck: It’s something I did not want to do. I did not want to do it. I wasn’t convinced, and I’m still not convinced, that it was necessarily the right thing to do. As far as what we want to stand by and for as a program, I explained to (UIL director of athletics) Dr. (Susan) Elza that the entire time throughout this process in the past and now and in the future, we just want to play where our number says we need to play based upon the way the UIL makes the rules and decides where everybody goes. Unfortunately, we feel like we were backed into a corner because of 17 other schools that decided to opt up, for various reasons, in Region IV, leaving the closest Division II school to us 143 miles away in Floresville.
There are things that I am asking for around here, things that we haven’t been able to do. Like, one is increases in coaching stipends for all my coaches. I know about how much money that’s going to cost. When you look at how much it’s going to cost for us to travel to our closest district game, 143 miles, I start to weigh what’s the importance and significance of that expense and travel if there’s a way to get around it.
Money’s really, really tight at Flour Bluff. It’s not growing on trees around here and I met with Dr. (David) Freeman, our superintendent, and we both felt like we could find a lot of other things that we could spend money on other than traveling. And two, thinking about our program and the health of our football program, this school district prides itself on delivering an A-rated education to our student-athletes. Our sub-varsities, especially our freshmen that are coming into high school and they’re having a hard time just finding their classes, much less understanding concepts in algebra and geometry, the travel that they would have to endure would be horrendous. It’s not only missing a lot of class on Thursday, when we get back late, late Thursday night, it would be Friday morning because it would be after midnight, trying to get those guys up to get them in school on time and get them alert and where they can pay attention in class. I just think for our sub-varsities, it would be a nightmare. We have two freshmen and two JV teams, and it would be very difficult to find games every week like we have been.
So, when you write down the pros and the cons, I guess the only reason you should opt up is if it’s the last resort, and I think in our case I think everybody would understand and we would be justified in doing it. I think that’s why the UIL granted it, too, because they realized we’re not trying to opt up to gain maybe an advantage or that we feel the road is any easier, less difficult. That’s not the case at all. It just came down to is it the best thing to do for our kids? It’s not a guarantee. It’s not for sure we’re going to have a local district. They could take us south and make two districts. You just never know. But I think it just gives the UIL a chance to put us in a more local district by doing it.
361HSblast: Having reached the postseason in 17 of the previous 20 seasons, what is the state of this program, where it has been and where you plan to go?
Chris Steinbruck: I think that this football program is pretty darn healthy. If you look at some of our past teams, we’ve had a lot of guys that were more athletic, that could run faster, that were bigger, faster, stronger maybe than some of the guys that we’ve had here. But we’re still very, very successful. Year in and year out, anytime we’re going to line up and play somebody they’re not real fired up and excited about playing Flour Bluff. I think that’s what I’m proud of. If you go back and look there were several teams in our district, if you’d have looked at both sidelines before we kicked off, if you didn’t know either school or the history behind either school, I think a lot of people would’ve picked the other team. What I’m most proud of is I believe if you asked other coaches and they answered honestly, I think they will say our kids are well coached, they’re extremely disciplined. They’re maybe not the most athletic compared with the people we’re playing, but I think we’re still winning a ton of football games. I’m really, really proud of that.
I think this program is very, very healthy. We’ve got some great young kids and we’re excited about them. I think we made the Coastal Bend proud of us in the way that we performed in the playoffs, beating the district champ (Rio Grande City) pretty soundly in the first round in front of their packed crowd and then going and competing and giving Wagner all they wanted and then some, I think the Coastal Bend is proud of Flour Bluff and what we represented. And our district, I think, is proud of the way we represented. I know I am as their head coach.
We want to be playing this time next year. I just told the guys, ‘Think about this: Wagner is getting their pads ready to go and they’re going to Alamo Stadium to play in the state semifinals with an opportunity to go play for it all.’ We sat there and there were several seniors that were bobbing their heads saying, ‘Yes, this is what we want to do.’ I told them to be thinking about the commitment, the amount of work it’s going to take this offseason. I think there’s no doubt we have the potential to do that. We’ve got some really, really good football players coming back. They believed it at the end of the (Wagner) game. Maybe at the start of the game there were some doubts with some of them about whether we could play with a team of that caliber with that many athletes. But I know on the trip home they definitely realized what we’re capable of if we all believe in it and we go out there and compete our tails off. So, something I want, something we haven’t done is win a regional championship. That’s one of our goals, and that’s something we’re going to work our tails off to do the very best we can to achieve that for this program… we’ve knocked on the door but we’ve got to go knock it down and win a region.
Offensive starters returning (5): OL Jonathon Camacho; OL Johnny Dickson; OL Latrell Hynson; OL Nick Lopez; RB Isaac Miles.
Offensive starters lost (8): OL Cody Fitzpatrick; RB Bryce Hall; RB Noah Hinojosa; WR Michael Newcomer; WR Christian Ramos; QB Dru Schmidt; WR Jackson Soward; WR Preston Wilkey.
Defensive starters returning (3): S Rayden Campbell; LB Diego Delgado; DB Josh Guajardo.
Defensive starters lost (9): DL Isaiah Alday; DB Micah Curtis; DB Mitchell Glover; LB Bryce Hall; LB Nathaniel Hinojosa; DL Jesse Martinez; DE/LB Caleb Noland; DB Isaiah Reyes; DL Kai Volkman.
Specialist Returning (1): K/P Aidan Featherby
Lettermen returning (31): DB Maurice Alcorn; DL Wade Avery; OL Jonathon Camacho; S/WR Rayden Campbell; LB Ben Escamilla; DL Jake Daniels; LB Diego Delgado; OL Johnny Dickson; K/P Aidan Featherby; WR Scottie Green; DL Julian Gallardo; DB Josh Guajardo; DB Carlos Hernandez; DL Walker Herrenkohl; OL Ethan Hughes; OL Latrell Hynson; WR Robert Jackson; DL Lane Judd; WR Judah Lewis; OL Nick Lopez; DB Matthew Martinez; WR Isaac McElroy; WR Michael Mendiola; RB Isaac Miles; LB Carlos Riojas; WR Eli Roach; OL Dylan Shaw; DL Arnold Trevino; DL Gabriel Varela; QB Nash Villegas; DL Chase Wilkey.
Lettermen lost (31): DL Isaiah Alday; OL Ruben Barboza; QB Cole Bouve; DB Kyle Clugy; WR Grayson Cox; DB Kyle Criser; DB Micah Curtis; OL Cody Fitzpatrick; DB Mitchell Glover; RB/LB Bryce Hall; DL Durham Harris; LB Seth Henson; LB Nathaniel Hinojosa; RB Noah Hinojosa; DB Avery Hoss; OL Bryan Martinez; DL Jesse Martinez; DL Jalen Moorer; WR Michael Newcomer; DE/LB Caleb Noland; WR Aaron Palmer; OL Josh Pena; DB Anthony Ramos; WR Christian Ramos; DB Isaiah Reyes; QB Dru Schmidt; DB Blake Snell; WR Blake Sprayberry; WR Jackson Soward; DL Kai Volkman; WR Preston Wilkey