Dublin gets its chance in district opener

Sports editor picks Tigers, Knights Cards to win other area games

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Dublin welcomes Cisco to Memorial Stadium to open play in a district where everything is up for grabs and each game is key. || The Flash Today/RUSSELL HUFFMAN

By BRAD KEITH
TheFlashToday.com

DUBLIN (October 13, 2017) — Bob Cervetto never asked anyone to make his rebuilding of Dublin’s football program an easy process, and indeed it has not been.

All Cervetto wanted was for the right people to come together and give him and the program a chance.

“That’s all you can really ask for in life is a chance, and then it’s up to you what you do with it,” said Cervetto, whose Dublin (2-3) team begins 4-3A Division II district play at home tonight against always-strong Cisco. Kickoff at Memorial Stadium is set for 7:30 p.m.

It took a couple years to get Dublin off the rug, but Cervetto and staff did so, guiding the Lions not only to the playoffs but though the opening round in 2014 and 2015, the first time the program has ever won playoff gems in consecutive years.

Then came the rebuilding year. There ere no favors from the UIL, who in realignment placed Dublin in its current 3A Division II grouping with perennial power Cisco, usually stout Eastland and fast-rising Tolar. Not to mention, Coleman had a strong senior class lsat year. Bangs has been downtrodden, but Cervetto says that’s only a matter of time, because it’s not like the Dragons haven’t been known to field good teams before.

“All in all, yeah, we feel like we’re in a pretty tough district. We play good people every week it seems like, but we’re pretty good, too,” he said. “Most people can’t see that when you’re losing even though it’s great competition, but now i think some folks ove the past couple weeks have figured out that we’re here to play and to do what we set out to do, which is get into the dance, into the tournament.”

As in back to the playoffs, where Cervetto is confident his team belongs.

“I told you before the season we were going to find us a way to get back into the playoffs,” he said. “We just have to keep getting better each week.”

If the bye week was any indicator, then he feels the team is locked in on what must be done.

“I felt like it was the best bye week we’ve had (in our six years here),” said Cervetto. “And you can see why, by the way we progressed. We figured out that we could play with good people and now we’ve got a couple good wins under our belt. What’s important now, I think it’s something we’ve done a good job is remembering how we got here, by careful self examination each week and learning how and where we have to improve and then hitting the field next Monday as coaches with a plan in place to make those corrections and improvements and a plan as players to trust your coaches, trust the system and trust that you’re hard work will continue to pay off, because it always does.”

Whether it pays off in the form of a third straight win for the Lions and their first victory over Cisco since Brent West became head coach of the Loboes remains to be seen.

Because beat Cisco is a tall order even when its a good 3-2 Lobo team and not one of the prolific undefeated until December teams West is known for producing.

The Lions are just happy to have  a chance,.

It’s all their head coach ever asked that they be given.

 

Here are some thoughts on other match-ups this evening:

Hamilton at Hico: All the Bulldogs and Tigers in Hamilton County will be glued to this one, especially after Hamilton gave Crawford a fight last week. Consider Hico was tied with De Leon to begin the fourth quarter, both teams may be coming off their best performance of the season, even though both lost. This could be a good one, but I still think the Tigers keep their county rivals at arm’s length down the stretch.

Stephenville FAITH @ St. Paul’s-Arlington: Iredell. That’s it. The one chance of FAITH losing a game in the regular season. And this ain’t Irdell. Knights won’t even have to draw their swords, let alone sweat out the full four quarters.

Lingleville at Walnut Springs: A winnable game here for the Cardinals, who have about an hour’s flight east to challenge the Hornets. I remembered thinking Walnut Springs must be rebuilding when FAITH crushed them in the Hico Super Six-Man Saturday festivities, but then the Knights crused San Antonio FEAST and Austin Veritas, so let’s keep that in perspective. Of course, the Hornets have also been 45’d twice since then, while the Cardinals have suffered the same fate the past two weeks against very strong teams from Zephyr and Iredell. Oh, heck, give me Lingleville. Let the Cards soar again before starting that tough district slate.

 

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