After ending playoff skid, Bellaire must reset goals
Bellaire’s football team has a problem. From day one … Scratch that — from the time Herb Kunz interviewed to be Bellaire’s coach, he told anyone who would listen what the Cardinals were capable of and what their priority would be.
Be successful Week 12, which translates to the first round of the playoffs. Well, they were. Bellaire beat Cinco Ranch 35-31 on Saturday, marking the program’s first playoff win in 43 years.
“We’ve been working on all these things we wanted to get better at, so now it’s time where we actually have to reset a goal,” said Kunz, hired over the summer after two seasons as a Cardinals assistant. “We achieved a goal — we wanted to win in Week 12, and we did.
“It’s good for us, and I’m glad that we have the opportunity to reset that goal.” Ex-coaches spur change
Opportunities were slim to none following that 22-0 win over Yates in 1972.
The Cardinals went the next 22 years missing the playoffs and never winning more than five games.
Then came a 38-10 postseason loss to Yates in 1985, a 42-19 loss to Washington in 2003 and a 61-6 setback to Westfield the next year.
After five more years out the playoffs, Bellaire turned the corner behind two of its former head coaches. Trey Herrmann (now at Katy Taylor) got the Cardinals into the playoffs by his second year and again in 2010.
Herrmann left for Alvin the next year and was replaced by good friend and assistant coach Trey Sissom. The winning didn’t stop, and Bellaire’s offense even turned up a notch under Sissom, who left in June to take over at Travis.
From 2010-14, Bellaire won 33 games and twice averaged more than 40 points per game.
“Coach Sissom and coach Herrmann did such a great job of getting this program to the point where it was at — where we had those opportunities,” Kunz said. “Where we could make the playoffs every year. Those guys did a great job of building this thing up.
“So when I say we are building a program, we’re not necessarily having to rebuild a program or building it, we’re just trying to tweak what we’ve got and make it better.”
The missing piece was a playoff win. After losing to Katy in 2010, Bellaire faced Cinco Ranch every year.
Even that part is déjà vu for Kunz, who was an assistant at Garland Rowlett before coming to Houston. At Rowlett, the team began the playoffs with Allen in back-to-back years.
Allen won by four touchdowns in 2006.
Rowlett beat an undefeated Allen team 37-32 the next season. Emotional victory
Bellaire has been close, losing 50-43 in 2013 despite outgaining the Cougars by more than 100 yards.
The Cardinals outgained them again Saturday, benefitting from a defensive front that was able to create pressure without Bellaire sacrificing help to defend the pass.
The celebration was emotional and carried over into the beginning of the week. The school was buzzing Monday, and former Cardinals and fellow coaches from across the state sent Kunz and his team congratulations.
They took it, but they also got back to work. Bellaire (6-5) meets Cypress Falls (9-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday at TDECU Stadium.
“This is the first step, and it’s an important step because now we’ve proven that we can do it,” Kunz said. “But it’s important that we don’t rest on our laurels and we don’t sit around and celebrate it too much. We have to get to work and get after that next goal.
“Now it’s time to reset the goal and move forward.”