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Tuesday
February 9, 2010 Since 1922 |
Mighty mite leads Broncs to Round 3
By Dave Rogers
The Baytown Sun Published November 26, 2009 DAYTON – It’s often said good things come in small packages and the Dayton Bronco football team has Exhibit A in sophomore quarterback Andres Herrera.
He checked in at 5 feet, 5 3/4 inches and 128 pounds before the team’s Tuesday practice.
The 10-2 Broncos were getting ready for tonight’s Class 4A Division II regional game against El Campo, the 9-2 District 23-4A champion.
Herrera, who was called up from the junior varsity for the Oct. 16 Barbers Hill game to be a one-game fill-in for injured Payton Ploch.
“My first game I was nervous, because I wasn’t used to the (varsity) game,” he said. “I was expecting to fill a spot for just one game, and depending on how I did, go back down (to the JV).”
Herrera did so well, Bronco coach Jerry Stewart made the decision to move Ploch to receiver and leave the sophomore at quarterback.
The Broncos haven’t lost a game since Herrera took the helm.
“We all call him Mogli from ‘The Jungle Book,’” Stewart said. “He’d prefer ‘Sanchez’ from (the New York Jets’) Mark Sanchez, the only Hispanic quarterback in the NFL.
“He’s our first Hispanic quarterback.”
With two years left to play for the Broncos after this one, he could hold the title for a long while.
“His arm strength has got to get better,” the coach said. “That’ll happen.
“Mechanically, nobody’s better. He has a flawless motion. It just comes out of a 5-5 body.”
Both Stewart and Herrera credit the quarterback’s development to assistant coaches Shane Bighorse and Brandon Craus.
“They did a great job of working with him,” Stewart said.
Still, there were reservations about putting someone so small at a position that is largely the province of players 6 feet or taller.
“When we talked about bringing him up (to the varsity),” Stewart said, “everybody said ‘He’s too short.’ I said he’s what Doug Flutie was in the NFL. All he does is win.”
The biggest concern about a quarterback’s height, as in the case of the 5-10 Flutie, who played almost 20 years in the NFL and other pro leagues, is his ability to throw the ball and not get the passes knocked down by defensive linemen.
“We teach our offensive linemen to fire out low and get the defenders’ hands down,” Stewart.
Arm strength is not a big concern, because the Broncos only occasionally throw the ball deep. About half their passes are screen passes near the line of scrimmage, letting the receivers do the rest.
“We throw it downfield enough to keep them from crowding the line,” said the Dayton head coach. “The longest pass we threw against Waller (last week’s 41-3 win) was 37 yards, but he can throw the ball 50 to 55 yards in the air.
“He’s completing 65 percent of his passes and we should have caught half of those other ones.”
Herrera said one thing that helped him get ready for varsity games was practicing daily with the Bronco scout team, going against Dayton’s defense, one of the fastest defensive units anywhere.
“It was good experience,” he said. “I’m used to seeing defenses that are a lot faster than JV defenses.”
El Campo lost its final district game to Lamar Consolidated, but has beaten Santa Fe 38-10 and Houston Yates 28-7 in the playoffs.
The Ricebirds are led on offense and defense by Landon Appling, who has rushed for 1,337 yards and 28 touchdowns and intercepted five passes.
“They have three kids in their backfield who can run a 4.4,” Stewart said. “They can scatter some grass.
“They all can play when you get to this point of the season. You have to get in there and play with them. If not, you’re going to get your feelings hurt.”
The Baytown Sun Published November 26, 2009 DAYTON – It’s often said good things come in small packages and the Dayton Bronco football team has Exhibit A in sophomore quarterback Andres Herrera.
He checked in at 5 feet, 5 3/4 inches and 128 pounds before the team’s Tuesday practice.
The 10-2 Broncos were getting ready for tonight’s Class 4A Division II regional game against El Campo, the 9-2 District 23-4A champion.
Herrera, who was called up from the junior varsity for the Oct. 16 Barbers Hill game to be a one-game fill-in for injured Payton Ploch.
“My first game I was nervous, because I wasn’t used to the (varsity) game,” he said. “I was expecting to fill a spot for just one game, and depending on how I did, go back down (to the JV).”
Herrera did so well, Bronco coach Jerry Stewart made the decision to move Ploch to receiver and leave the sophomore at quarterback.
The Broncos haven’t lost a game since Herrera took the helm.
“We all call him Mogli from ‘The Jungle Book,’” Stewart said. “He’d prefer ‘Sanchez’ from (the New York Jets’) Mark Sanchez, the only Hispanic quarterback in the NFL.
“He’s our first Hispanic quarterback.”
With two years left to play for the Broncos after this one, he could hold the title for a long while.
“His arm strength has got to get better,” the coach said. “That’ll happen.
“Mechanically, nobody’s better. He has a flawless motion. It just comes out of a 5-5 body.”
Both Stewart and Herrera credit the quarterback’s development to assistant coaches Shane Bighorse and Brandon Craus.
“They did a great job of working with him,” Stewart said.
Still, there were reservations about putting someone so small at a position that is largely the province of players 6 feet or taller.
“When we talked about bringing him up (to the varsity),” Stewart said, “everybody said ‘He’s too short.’ I said he’s what Doug Flutie was in the NFL. All he does is win.”
The biggest concern about a quarterback’s height, as in the case of the 5-10 Flutie, who played almost 20 years in the NFL and other pro leagues, is his ability to throw the ball and not get the passes knocked down by defensive linemen.
“We teach our offensive linemen to fire out low and get the defenders’ hands down,” Stewart.
Arm strength is not a big concern, because the Broncos only occasionally throw the ball deep. About half their passes are screen passes near the line of scrimmage, letting the receivers do the rest.
“We throw it downfield enough to keep them from crowding the line,” said the Dayton head coach. “The longest pass we threw against Waller (last week’s 41-3 win) was 37 yards, but he can throw the ball 50 to 55 yards in the air.
“He’s completing 65 percent of his passes and we should have caught half of those other ones.”
Herrera said one thing that helped him get ready for varsity games was practicing daily with the Bronco scout team, going against Dayton’s defense, one of the fastest defensive units anywhere.
“It was good experience,” he said. “I’m used to seeing defenses that are a lot faster than JV defenses.”
El Campo lost its final district game to Lamar Consolidated, but has beaten Santa Fe 38-10 and Houston Yates 28-7 in the playoffs.
The Ricebirds are led on offense and defense by Landon Appling, who has rushed for 1,337 yards and 28 touchdowns and intercepted five passes.
“They have three kids in their backfield who can run a 4.4,” Stewart said. “They can scatter some grass.
“They all can play when you get to this point of the season. You have to get in there and play with them. If not, you’re going to get your feelings hurt.”