Goal the same for Cougars after historic playoff run
Tomball made some noise in the playoffs last year, making its deepest push since the 1985 season.
More than 200 players showed up to the first day of practice last week. The next day, there were 218 participants, including more than 100 freshmen rolling in from the feeder programs.
That’s the most attendees new coach Dave Handal can remember since arriving on campus.
This is Handal’s sixth year at Tomball. He’ll be leading the program after Kevin Flanigan was named the new Tomball ISD director of athletics. Flanigan replaced Vince Sebo, who retired.
Handal said the first week set the tone for the whole year.
“The community’s excited; the kids are excited,” Handal said. “The kids have been really doing a good job during the summer with our SAC camp workouts. But now, fall camp, this is where the foundation is set.”
Handal was promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach and campus athletic coordinator in June.
“The best part of it now is the kids are back fulltime,” Handal said. “Nothing but excitement to be around those kids and seeing how hard they work. Really excited about this year and seeing some of the things they can do.”
Defensive line coach Ugo Chinasa was promoted to defensive coordinator. Chinasa played for Handal in high school at Richardson Berkner. He then went on to play at Oklahoma State and in the NFL for the Carolina Panthers and Detroit Lions.
“He’s been doing a great job,” Handal said of Chinasa. “I’m excited for him. The kids play hard for him. He’s sharp. He’s got a great defensive mind.”
Tomball finished the 2021 season with an 11-4 record. The Cougars reached the Class 6A Division II semifinals after beating four teams by double digits. The team ultimately lost to Denton Guyer in the fifth round.
“We don’t talk about state championships; we don’t talk about district championships,” Handal said. “We control today; we don’t control tomorrow. … If we continue to do that, getting better every day and buy into that philosophy, then we’ll have a chance to be really competitive this year. “
The Cougars lost 15 starters from last year’s team, including eight on defense and seven on offense.
“We’re going to be young, but those guys that are coming back, they’re our leaders now, and they know what it takes to be successful on Friday nights,” Handal said. “They’re doing a great job modeling and getting all those other guys to meet expectations and bring their game up.”
Handal said there are about half a dozen athletes who played quite a bit on both sides of the ball.
Junior Carter Noyes will be the starting quarterback. Noyes played junior varsity last year and replaces 2022 grad Cale Hellums.
Hellums was the catalyst for the offense last season, accounting for nearly 4,000 total yards and 39 touchdowns.
“(He) has a good handle on the offense, throws the ball well, athletic enough to run it a little bit,” Handal said of Noyes. “We’re excited about him and some of the things that we can do with him.”
Senior Christian Womack plays on both sides at running back and defensive back. He had 1,369 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns last year. He had six 100-yard rushing games.
Womack realizes there aren’t many senior returnees and said he’s going to do his best to keep the underclassmen in check.
“This coming up season being my last, it’s just been exciting to put back on all the pads and helmet and just to get ready,” Womack said.
Junior Koby Fosher will also get some carries to alleviate Womack’s workload early on.
“They’ll be a 1-2 punch offensively for us, but Christian is our guy back there,” Handal said. “Coming off a big season, we expect bigger and better things from him this year as well.”
Junior defensive end Ramon Pernas is a key returner. The 6-foot-4, 230pounder will line up alongside his younger brother, Lucas, a sophomore defensive tackle.
Junior Keegan Deemer is an experienced outside linebacker. He started last year and finished with more than 100 tackles. Handel calls him a difference maker.
Linebacker Jack Lutz and defensive back Matt Gainey, both juniors, will also be key contributors.
“Those are all of our returners from last year,” Handal said “We expect big things from those guys since they know what it takes.”