November 6, 2012
David Coleman
The Port Arthur News
PORT NECHES — Silver linings can be hard to find during disappointing football seasons. For Port Neches-Groves football fans, though, that silver lining is wearing purple each Friday in the form of all the young players gaining more and more experience each week.
PN-G has six different sophomores playing prominent roles on this year’s team, after injuries ravaged the Indian opening day squad. Some of those sophomores were always slotted into starting roles this year and others have been forced into it because of an avalanche of injuries.
“It’s interesting times,” PN-G head coach Brandon Faircloth said. “Our seniors have really set a great example for the young kids we’ve had to bring up. We’ve got quite a few juniors who are starting. The other night, we ended the game with nine underclassmen starting. Every defensive lineman is an underclassman. Three of the four linebackers are, along with three of the four secondary players. We’re going to have some experience coming back next year.”
Receivers like sophomore Avery Murdock and junior Jeremiah Rose were slotted into starting roles coming out of spring practice. While both will be back next season, it’s been a learning experience for both, as Rose has become a district leader in receiving and Murdock has steadily improved into a solid contributor.
“There’s no substitute for game experience,” Faircloth said. “The four receivers who played last week (Murdock, Rose, Brandon Bryan and Kaleb Sparks) are all coming back. Avery Murdock has made the biggest jump this season. He may not have been the best running around out there against Silsbee, but he has really improved. Blocking, catching, being smarter about things…you can tell he’s figuring things out and getting better each week.”
Murdock is one of the six sophomores and is joined by receiver Kaleb Sparks, who was recently called up off the JV squad and saw big minutes against Beaumont Ozen, Blake Lane, who has split time with junior Reece Wardlow at the fullback/H-back position, safety Blaine Peveto, who has played more as senior Dillon Hebert moves around to fill holes in the defense, and Ben Ramirez, who was back on JV last week, but has bolstered the depth of a depleted linebacking corps in previous games.
The sixth sophomore is one who could play the most prominent role next season as the Indians starting quarterback. Ky Walker won the starting job from A.J. Smith heading into district play, but never felt like he was in a competition.
“Honestly, I didn’t look at it like competition,” Walker said. “A.J. is a really good friend of mine. I always looked at it like coach would put whoever he felt more comfortable with on the field. A.J. has done a great job. I respect him a great deal for coming in and playing a great game when I got hurt.”
Walker had a pretty memorable experience in his first game, playing against a salty West Orange-Stark defense that is one of the best in the state. He said it was a step up from playing the Silsbee JV team the previous week.
“I’ve always looked at it like getting baptized by fire is the best learning experience for anyone,” Walker said. “Playing West Orange-Stark was a big step. I had never really gotten to run as the starting quarterback in practice, so the speed difference was something. You throw a pass and as soon as it’s in their hands, (the receiver) is getting hit. It was pretty awesome. It was an honor to play against their defense. It made me a lot better quarterback.”
In finding a team leader, Faircloth could do worse than the team-oriented Walker. When he broke his thumb against Lumberton, Walker wanted to get back on the field as soon as he could. When that wasn’t going to happen at quarterback, he told the coaches he’d help out in whatever way he could.
That led to Faircloth’s brainstorm of moving him over to cornerback.
“The first thing he told me when he got hurt is, ‘Coach, I’ll play defense,’” Faircloth said. “We conjured up the idea one Sunday. I texted him about it and he was like, ‘Yes, sir. Let’s go do it.’ He wants to play. I would argue there aren’t too many QBs who can do. In our district, there are two. Other than that, how many QBs are going out to play corner? He is doing this because he wants his teammates to be successful and this team to be successful.”
Walker’s transition to the secondary has been smooth, because of the help he’s gotten from Kaleb Clark, Hebert and some of the other seniors on the defense. After playing well against Nederland, Walker got his first interception last week against Ozen.
His time over on defense is helping him become a better quarterback, Walker said, as he’s learning to read defenses and see the game a bit differently.
“Eighth grade was my last time to play cornerback,” Walker said. “There were a couple of times when Nederland got into third down, and so I’d line up and know there’s a chance my guy would run something quick. I was able to adjust my alignment from what I knew playing quarterback. I was able to put myself in Carson Raines’ shoes and see what he’s seeing.”
Don’t count Walker out from playing some cornerback next season, too, due to his play this year. The Indians hope to have more depth across the board next year, as players like freshman linebacker Trey Rembert mature and gain more experience in the lineup.
That experience will help them not only shake off the jitters heading into the season, but will also move the process along of finding the next set of leaders for this football team.
“We’ll still be young next year,” Faircloth said. “Next year, I can almost see us adding four or five more sophomores to the team, so we’ll still be heavy on sophomores and juniors. Our seniors this year have done a really good job with them. We’ve got some great senior leaders who have done a great job. Even though the results haven’t been what we want, our seniors have stepped up and showed the young ones the PN-G way.”
The youth infusion won’t stop soon, as Faircloth expects a number of sophomores and possibly a freshman to see time on varsity next season. The PN-G freshman team this year is 9-0 heading into the Livingston game this week and the JV squad is 7-2.
That means PN-G fans should have plenty of reasons to get excited about next year’s squad, including a talented group of sophomores that’s already developing a chemistry of its own.
“The group that played as freshmen were always very close,” Walker said. “We’re always together on the weekend. We go out to eat together. It’s not so much friends, it’s like brothers. We’re that close. The older guys do a good job of being big brothers and the younger guys are trying to work hard to fill their shoes. You’re not playing for yourself, you’re playing for the guy next to you.”
INDIAN INKLINGS: The PN-G football team had 57 players on opening day this year, but only was able to suit up 38 to start this week. Injuries have been the biggest culprit, as the Indians lost two more players to concussions in the Ozen game. … Rembert, a freshman who could start at linebacker this week, had six tackles last week. … Lane converted a fourth down by catching a 29-yard pass last week against Ozen. He was up on the varsity roster starting with the Nederland game, but didn’t play. He filled in for Wardlow, who was asked to play some defense. … Murdock has eight catches for 84 yards and a touchdown this season. He is currently the third-leading receiver on the Indians. … Sparks made four catches for 25 yards last week against Ozen
