‘Have to look at the glass half full’
Only 2 games are on the schedule, but YMLA aims to make the most of first varsity season
If there was ever a moment designed for a facepalm emoji, it came three years ago on the Young Men’s Leadership Academy football program’s very first play.
The Lions — a band of 17 eighth graders, many of whom hadn’t played football before — watched as a Poe Middle School returner scampered for a score on the opening kickoff.
“Untouched,” YMLA coach Tony Green pointed out.
From the sideline, Henry Campos witnessed his teammates haplessly chase down the returner.
It was kind of embarrassing,” said Campos, now a junior. “Now that I look back at it, we didn’t have that much experience and we didn’t know what to do.”
That moment of humility was a starting point.
“We had to teach our kids how to tackle and how to be physical and all those things,” Green said. “We really learned on the fly eighth grade because we were a year behind everyone else.”
Green laughs about it now, particularly since his program now boasts 32 players and is on the verge of finally getting its varsity program off the ground.
He’s relieved, too, because for a few months, Green wasn’t sure if the Lions would take the field this season.
By David Hinojosa |
The Lions face Memorial in a scrimmage Friday and open their two-game season Oct. 31 at Austin Eastside Memorial. They wrap it up Nov. 6 against Navarro.
A two-game season is not ideal. But the COVID-19 pandemic limited what the Lions could do.
YMLA, an all-boys charter school in San Antonio ISD, is in Class 4A. Because of the number of coronavirus cases in their district, SAISD determined extracurricular activities for its students could not start until Oct. 5.
The UIL split the starts to the football season, with sub Class 5A schools beginning practice Aug. 3.
Being two months behind, the Lions had to salvage what they could.
“You have to look at the glass half full,” Green said. “We could have had no season. Now we are able to come out here and play. Yes, two games is short, but we can gain a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge.”
‘Going up against air’
Green was hired as YMLA’S athletic coordinator in 2015 when the school opened its doors to grades four through eight.
Green, who played running back for Jim Streety at Madison in the mid-2000s, had been an assistant at Sam Houston for four years before moving to YMLA
In 2017, YMLA established an athletic program with an eighth grade football team, and Green added head coaching duties.
The school, on the East Side at the former Wheatley Middle
School campus, is now open to fourth to 11th graders. It will have its first senior class in 2021-22.
The buildup to the 2020 season began with that eighth grade team in 2017.
With only 17 players, the Lions didn’t have luxury of having an offense practicing against a defense.
“We were going up against air, basically, every practice,” Green said.
Green formed half of the Lions’ coaching staff, with Andrew Campos as his assistant.
The Lions finally got a win in the final game of the season.
“A lot of our teammates didn’t know about football,” said Campos, Andrew’s son, who is a center and nose guard. “It was kind of rough starting something brand new. There was a lot of pressure on us. That season, we just had to keep working every week and hopefully getting better, and then finally our last game, we won a game.”
It was only one victory, but it was a good springboard into the high school ranks.
“It boosted our confidence,” junior linebacker/receiver Rene Perez said. “It made us fired up, and we wanted to just win. We didn’t want to lose anymore. We were tired of losing at that point.”
The Lions went 8-1 the next season going up against a mix of freshman A and B teams. YMLA, with a roster of 25 players, was 7-1 against junior varsity A and B teams in 2019.
‘A tough situation’
Before the pandemic, the Lions were already battling uphill. It started in February when YMLA was aligned into a District 14-4A-II, a six-school league that
includes state powers Wimberley and Navarro. Wimberley advanced to the state finals last year. Navarro defeated Wimberley during the regular season a
year ago.
“They put us in a tough situation, but I thought our first team showed us what we were all about,” Henry Campos said.
Although the Lions were going to be the district’s only team without a senior class, Green was confident his team could contend for one of the district’s playoff spots.
Eastside Memorial has won three games since re-establishing its varsity program in 2016. Manor New Tech has three wins in the program’s three years of existence. Austin Achieve was a six-man program last year.
“When we looked past the Wimberleys and Navarros, we saw young programs, too,” Green said. “They were basically in our same shoes. In the state playoffs, the top four go. We honestly thought we could be one of those four to make the playoffs, and that would be the perfect way to start the program — make the playoffs and be competitive.”
Those hopes were dashed in March when the pandemic shut down campuses around the state. Students were forced to take classes remotely. The Lions learned their new playbook via Zoom meetings.
Green added three to his coaching staff and none had a chance to meet their players in person until October.
“That’s when you build relationships — putting your hand around a kid or just talking faceto-face,” Green said. “We really had to get technology savvy. … Zooming doesn’t satisfy that itch you have for being around the kids and coaching.”
‘Going to come together’
With only two district games, the playoffs are not a possibility. Despite that, there is purpose to the season.
“Our mindset now is getting these guys some experience, so that we will be ready for the following year,” Green said. “Our guys have never taken a snap for varsity football. We have to get adjusting to playing longer minutes with the physicality and the speed of the game. That’s our biggest thing right now when we get these two games in.”
The Lions have bought into Green’s glass-half-full optimism.
“Even though we don’t have a lot of games, we’re going to show that we can play with these varsity teams,” Perez said. “We going to come together closer as a team. We’re all going through this. Nobody else is going to experience what we’ve been experiencing. It’s going to be good.”