After opening last season with a win over South Garland, Temple lost consecutive games against Round Rock McNeil, Abilene Cooper and Round Rock Westwood and didn’t take much positive momentum into its District 13-5A opener.
All the Wildcats proceeded to do was beat favored Bryan in a close game, prevail at perennial contender College Station A&M Consolidated in a high-scoring thriller and win their next four district games en route to running the table for the 13-5A championship.
So as Temple carries another three-game skid into what’s now District 12-5A play, coach Bryce Monsen is keeping his players focused on the thought that losses to Cedar Park, Leander and second-ranked Plano aren’t as important as the lessons that the Wildcats can learn from them as they begin the games that will determine 12-5A’s four playoff teams.
“It really starts Friday night for us with a new season, and everybody’s excited to get started,” said Monsen, whose 0-3 team will battle A&M Consolidated (1-2) in their 12-5A opener at 7:30 Friday night at Tigerland Stadium. “The kids get revved up, because this really counts for them and they all want to play Week 11 and hopefully Week 12 and 13 and so on. That’s when it’s fun.”
The first three games of the season haven’t exactly been fun for the Wildcats, who’ve been outscored 90-59 in losses to fellow strong Class 5A programs Cedar Park (28-20), Leander (13-10 in double overtime) and Plano (49-29).
However, they’ve been able to take something positive out of each game - shutting out Cedar Park after halftime and charging back to make it close; keeping Leander scoreless for three quarters and rushing for 287 yards; and running for 263 yards against Plano and not letting the visiting Wildcats completely run away with it.
“There were mistakes made on offense, defense and special teams in those games, but you regroup, you learn, you fix it and then you go out and give your best effort,” Monsen said.
“Our kids are really working hard and keeping it all in the perspective that we’ve been very competitive in two of our three games,” he added. “We’ve learned a lot about our football team and we’ve seen we could compete with anybody. Our kids are doing a good job of being prepared and doing what they’re coached to do.”
gwille@temple-telegram.com
