Maroons primed to end drought
Austin High playing well as it tries for first playoff win since 1957.
John F. Kennedy was a popular senator from Massachusetts the last time Austin High School won a game in the state football playoffs.
A 26-year-old named Dick Clark had introduced “American Bandstand” to national TV, and Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown was named the NFL’s most valuable player and its rookie of the year. Space exploration had blasted off with the formation of NASA. It was 1957. Austin High has reached the playoffs 13 times since 1957, every trip ending in a firstround defeat. The Maroons (7-3) appear to be primed to break that streak Friday, when they will face Hendrickson (8-2) in a Class 6A, Division II bi-district contest.
Austin High has won its past three games — against Del Valle, Lehman and Anderson — by a combined 165-48. And Beau Kalbacher has established himself as one of the elite quarterbacks in Central Tex-
as, averaging 273 yards passing a game while throwing for 27 touchdowns against eight interceptions.
“We are playing good football right now, and we are excited for the opportunity to play a great Hendrickson team,” Maroons coach Mike Rosenthal said Monday. “The staff is excited to continue the season and to continue coaching our players. They have worked extremely hard, and it has been fun to watch their development.”
Rosenthal, who played offensive tackle at Notre Dame and with three teams over a nine-year NFL career, does not want to jinx his team by making bold predictions, saying the Maroons will concentrate on “everything that Hendrickson does” during practices this week.
As the Maroons try to advance, they will lean heavily on Kalbacher, a 6-foot-3-inch senior with a strong arm.
Austin High has gained 65 percent of its offensive yards by passing, and Kalbacher’s favorite receivers have been senior Jacob Traudt (68 catches, 807 yards, eight touchdowns) and junior J.J. Jacobs (42-675-8).
Mike Cotten remains the last quarterback to win a playoff game with the Maroons. He went on to play for Texas, going 17-4-1 as the starting quarterback and winning every game he ever played against rivals Oklahoma and Texas A&M.
Cotten’s grandson, Jack Putman, now plays for one of Austin High’s freshman teams.
Good news for Segina: Paxton Segina, Vandegrift’s standout receiver, will not play Friday during his team’s playoff opener against Cedar Creek — and he might miss the entire postseason — but Vipers coach Drew Sanders said Segina was upbeat after being released from University Medical Center Brackenridge, where he was treated this past weekend for a head injury he suffered against Georgetown.
Segina returned home Saturday, one day after being airlifted to the hospital when his concussion-related symptoms worsened as he sat on the Vipers’ sideline.
Before his release, Segina — a Rice recruit — tweeted a photo that showed him smiling as he rested in his hospital bed. “Thank you everyone for all of the thoughts and prayers,” he wrote. “Miracles DO happen and Jesus lives. I’m headed home tonight.”
‘They have worked extremely hard, and it has been fun to watch their development.’ Mike Rosenthal Austin High coach, on his players