November 17, 2010
Tom Halliburton | The Port Arthur News
PORT NECHES – Taylor Thompson should be ready for most anything once his days at Port Neches-Groves High School will be history.
If this 17-year-old Port Neches resident can move onto college life and adulthood, he would be able to acknowledge that he’s endured a fairly challenging childhood preparation.
Thompson’s father Chad, a refinery worker, died from a heart attack when Taylor was 13. That forced young Taylor to grow up a bit faster than life had scheduled for him. His mother, Michelle, need Thompson’s inner and outer strength. Younger brother Tanner, just a year younger, and little sister Hannah, four years younger, leaned on him too.
That family adjustment helped to prepare the 6-0, 252-pound PN-G senior for his football load as well. You see, there would be very little chance the Indians could have survived this long without this strongside defensive tackle.
How much have his teammates leaned on Taylor to take the punishment? How deep is the ocean. How high is the sky. Thompson has been that important and often that relatively unknown.
Indians chief Brandon Faircloth had absolutely no problem what name to blurt out when this reporter requested Super Team nominees from his 2010 squad.
“Taylor Thompson is the meaning of a PN-G football player,” Faircloth said. “He cares about our tradition. And he does what he possibly can to uphold that tradition.”
Game in and game out for the past three seasons, Taylor usually has walked off the football field more exhausted, more abused, more battered and beaten up than any member of PN-G’s football team. Opponents usually prefer to run the ball to the strong side. That would mean those opponents would head toward him or near his gap. That he also mean he generally can expect at least two blockers, often three, coming at him.
When you wind up near the bottom of a pile 45 or 50 times a night, the results can be fairly predictable. You are not going to feel like attending a post-game dance, or party, by any means.
“I can barely walk after most games,” he said. “It’s pretty gruesome. I usually go eat after a game and then I go straight to bed. The following morning I usually come in for treatment.”
With rules designed to protect the safety of its participants, football has softened its physical nature overall during this century. Yet you would never know it if you were Taylor. He’s at the defensive point of attack so often that he’s taking a beating each game.
That’s why it states here that Thompson has been incredibly tough and durable. He has played without missing a game. He will be ready Saturday night in Beaumont’s Carrol Thomas Center for a Class 4A area-round football playoff matchup with Willis at 7 p.m.
For Faircloth, defensive coordinator Duane Kroeker and defensive line chief Mike Arnaud, that makes Taylor’s contribution rather priceless.
PN-G reached the state championship round 11 years ago before falling to Stephenville in the 1999 finals. Thompson vaguely recalled that team which he watched at age 6. It cultivated Taylor’s desire to wear the purple and white.
Taylor had a long ways to improve as a sophomore, but the main thing he had to understand was the simple reality that an athlete generally practices as he plays. An athlete can not be expected to produce great effort and intensity in a game if he can’t do so in practice.
That’s why great coaches everywhere require practice, practice and more practice participation day after day. Thompson issued good grades to his coaches for their leadership.
“Coach Arnaud is a really good coach,” Thompson said. “He knows what he’s talking about.
“Coach Kroeker is the one who makes the position changes. They have been the key to us getting better on defense. You can see how we’ve gotten better on defense as the season has progressed.”
By occupying PN-G’s front line of defense, Thompson often has to settle for a few assists and sacks. His unselfishness makes it possible for fellow defenders to pile up more of the tackles. They should know all the punishment Taylor can absorb.
Faircloth knows, too. His quote about Taylor earlier in this article – that just about says it all.
Indian Inklings
The Willis game on Saturday night will not be televised live but it will appear at noon on panews.com. UIL rules prohibit live television for such a game unless it is sold out 48 hours in advance. PN-G fans have bought out their side but Willis fans have not…. PN-G will occupy the east stands again as visitors at Carrol Thomas Center this Saturday night….. No lineup changes or significant injuries resulted from the 21-13 bidistrict victory over Barbers Hill last week…. The Indians will have a student body pep rally on Friday afternoon in the competition gym at 2:30 p.m….. When Brandon Faircloth and assistant head coach Joe Dale Cary huddled with this reporter to divulge Port Arthur News Super Team nominees on Tuesday, they submitted seven names from PN-G’s offensive unit. They actually believed they could have included at least two or three more than those seven, too….
