By BRAD KEITH
TheFlashToday.com NEWS & SPORTS – FREE & LOCAL
STEPHENVILLE (November 16, 2015) — It won’t be the first time Bill Brooks has been head coach for a game at Stephenville, but his head coaching era officially begins with the Yellow Jackets Tuesday evening.
Brooks was head coach for a game during the 2014 state playoffs, filling in for his predecessor, Jonathan Normand, when his adopted twins were being born. Stephenville won a bi-district title and with Normand back went on to its first ever appearance in the Region I-4A final.
Twenty-one months later, Brooks is ready to begin his first season as the official head coach at Stephenville. His Yellow Jackets visit Gatesville for a battle of shorthanded teams at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday.
Shorthanded because both schools won their 4A Division I bi-district football playoffs last Friday and are preparing for area playoffs this week.
“We still have 55 kids out right now, we have enough to fill four teams,” said Brooks, who was promoted from junior varsity coach and varsity assistant to head coach after Normand resigned to pursue his doctoral degree at Tarleton. “But (the Gatesville coach) called me Sunday and said he only had enough for two (teams).”
That means a freshman game at 5 p.m. followed immediately by the varsity contest.
Leading the varsity team will be post players Evan Moody and Coby Vanden Berge, who Brooks says will be part of the varsity roster even when football season is complete. Moody is a returning letterman.
“They’re both just solid post players,” Brooks said. “They defend well, have good moves on offense and are strong rebounders.”
The starting guards at Gatesville will be three sophomores – Clay Krause, Merit Holstein and Sid Davis.
“We’ll only be carrying eight, so it will be a slim group, but everyone will get quality playing time,” said Brooks.
He says the pregame jitters for him aren’t that different than a player preparing for his first varsity game.
“It’s common to have jitters, but once the ball goes in the air for the opening tip those go away and it’s business as usual,” he said.
He got some of those jitters out of the way with preseason scrimmages, when the Jackets faced Brock, Glen Rose and Millsap.
“I was very pleased with the scrimmages. We beat Glen Rose’s varsity and we did pretty well against Brock,” he said. “Against Millsap we learned we had a lot to work on, but that’s what scrimmages are for.”
Brooks says having 55 players presents scheduling challenges, but those are problems he is glad to deal with.
“It’s exciting to have that many interested and wanting to play the game, but of course, with four teams, the challenge is playing time,” he said. “But we’ve got almost a full schedule for the fourth squad. They’ll be in three tournaments and have a lot of regular season games, so everyone should get quality action.”
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