FOOTBALL REVIEW
While Huntsville ’ s football season ended before they would have liked , they can say something a lot of other teams can ’ t .
The Hornets ( 4-5 , 2-4 District 10 5A , DII ) did all they could to give themselves a shot at the Class 5A , DII playoffs , but with Lamar Consolidated getting a win over Bryan Rudder , they were eliminated .
“ Anytime you don ’ t make the playoffs you are disappointed ,” Huntsville coach Rodney Southern said . “ You are disappointed for your seniors , you are disappointed from the head coaching standpoint of not getting the extra practice time and the extra work . You also have to flip to the other side of it and think ‘ ok we are going to get three and a half weeks of offseason that we haven ’ t had in the last five years .’ For some of our young guys and especially the freshman to be able to get the strength training a little earlier , you have to view it as a plus .”
Huntsville started the season much like they did last year with their first game getting canceled and then starting a week behind everybody else . After the delayed start , they were able to start the season strong beating Interstate 45 rival Willis , and then knocking off Kingwood .
Despite starting the season 2-0 they had a matchup with a C . E . King team that landed them their first regular-season loss since 2019 and with a late bye-week , the Hornets never got a chance to rebuild their confidence .
The woes wouldn ’ t stop there for the Hornets . After shrugging the game against King , they had to take another game on the shins when Bryan Rudder came to town . The Hornets were able to rush out to a 21-14 lead at the half but fell in overtime , with the help of some bad calls by the refs .
“ You look and you kind of progress throughout the year . The first two weeks we beat two 6A teams and we played young kids , and those kids got their nose bloodied ,” Southern noted . “ Those kids are also going to be a part of our program for the next two or three years . You can turn those things into positive . You feel for your seniors but at the same time the guys behind them have got to go back to work and try to improve on this season .”
With a bye-week coming in the Week 8 , it proved to be successful in helping the Hornets turn around their season . In the final three games , they went 2-1 and were able to take the No . 8 team in the state to overtime , but eventually lost , 35-28 .
As one game remained in the season , the Hornets found themselves on the outside looking in on the playoffs and in a must-win situation . Huntsville was then able to take Lamar Fulshear to three overtimes and came away with the 24-22 victory . With Bryan Rudder falling to Lamar Consolidated the Hornets were then eliminated .
“ I thought as we went through the year we regained our confidence ,” Southern added . “ For some of these guys we only lost three or four games in the last couple of years . To be able to build the confidence back and play as well as we played the last two weeks . To play three overtime games and two back-to-back . There ’ s a lot of things we can build on . When you don ’ t make the playoffs you can think the season was a failure , but for the kids that are leaving the program they can still benefit from the things that happened .”
Despite not making the playoffs this was a year for the Hornets to rebuild and regroup as they will now start their offseason program and prepare for the 2022-2023 season .
18 | HUNTSVILLE LIVING | FEBRUARY | MARCH 2022