In a hard-fought game played by both teams at Delmar Stadium this past Saturday night, the young Jack Yates Lions were tamed by the Dallas Carter Cowboys in the second half.
I saw a young Yates football team playing with mainly freshman and sophomore athletes who were fighting their butts off all night long. A lot of those kids were playing on both sides of the ball and going both ways. Fatigue set in on them and the mistakes started to come in the second half, as they had three fumbles on their end of the field which led to Carter touchdowns. It cost them the game, after leading at the half. I saw a new young head coach at Yates coaching his team to the very end.
Some Yates fans are already criticizing the football team after Saturday night’s game.
I was on the sidelines covering the game in my new role as the Sports Editor for the Forward Times Newspaper. If your kid isn’t playing for Yates, or if you’re not donating time or money to the school or athletic program, stop with the negative comments. These kids are under enough pressure with all the things that they’re facing from passing the STAAR test, to just being in survival mode with the things that are going on around them everyday.
Yates has a winning tradition in football.
Coach Thomas is the right man to help bring back that tradition. Give him time and let him build this program and his coaching staff. He needs his coaches in the building, and not commuting from other schools. He needs the support of the athletic department, the school administrators, the Yates alumni, and the overall community to make that happen.
In conclusion, from what I saw Saturday night, Yates is going to be a team to be reckoned with. They have size, speed, and athletes. Also, they’re a young team. The program is in good hands with Coach Thomas, and it is on the way back to prominence.
It won’t be long before you’ll be seeing “48 Minutes of Heat From Them Boys on Sampson St.” once again.
“I Just Tell It Like It Is”
Burl “The Coach” Jones