Landon Appling came into Memorial Stadium feeling like his season had not really started. A year after rushing for 1,301 yards and nine touchdowns, the El Campo senior had been held to 149 yards in the first two games of the season.
After Friday, Appling can consider his final football season as a Ricebird officially on. “I really wanted to prove to everyone this week that I could still run the ball,” said Appling, who ran for 168 yards and four touchdowns to lead El Campo to a 31-17 win over the Memorial Vipers. “I’m going to be catching the ball a lot this year, but I’m still a runner.”
Appling, a three-sport star in El Campo, showed off his track speed every time he touched the ball against the Vipers. He ran for touchdowns of 23, 15 and 12 yards to spot the Ricebirds a 21-10 lead at halftime in Memorial’s home opener and was far from calling it a night. On his second carry of the second half, he continued the trend with a 47-yard sprint into the end zone. “You’re on a 100-yard dash when you’re out there and you just have to run as fast as you can for as long as you can,” said Appling, who also had an interception in the game. “Our line did such a great job that I really didn’t have to do anything besides run. I made a couple good moves on a couple of plays, but most of my big runs were when there were big holes for me to run through. They did pretty much everything for me.” El Campo improves to 2-1 on the season, while the loss drops the Vipers to 0-2 going into next week’s home game against Corpus Christi Moody. The Ricebirds will host Wharton next week.
Also the Ricebirds leading receiver coming into the game, Appling caught two passes for 31 yards and played in El Campo’s secondary throughout the game along snaps at quarterback. “He’s doing so much for us,” said El Campo head coach Bob Gillis. “We’re having him do tons of things on offense and then on our defense. He showed he’s a tough runner and showed if he gets loose, there will not be too many people who can catch him. It’s not going to surprise anyone that we’re going to use him a lot down the road.”
Memorial’s versatile player, O.J. Hughes also had his breakout game. The senior ran for a team-high 116 yards on 18 carries. He scored his first touchdown of the season on a 2-yard run and added seven runs that resulted in first downs for the Vipers. “We are going to have to do a better job of using our guy the way they used theirs,” said Memorial head coach Mickey Finley, when comparing Appling and Hughes. “We moved the ball really well with O.J. back at quarterback. That took some of the pressure off Jared (Dolezal). “We knew he (Appling) was a heck of a football player coming into the game. We had to get lined up right to be able to stop him and we didn’t do that.” Appling, who was a Class 4A all-state kickoff returner last season, also plays baseball. Football is his only focus now though. “Everyone does their part and I just try to do as much as I can,” Appling said. “The more versatile I can be, the better we’re going to be.”
Notes Memorial quarterback Jared Dolezal ran for a career-high 108 yards, including a 4-yard touchdown run. The junior was 1-for-6 through the air, including throwing an interception on his first throw of the game… El Campo quarterback Waylon Malone completed four of his five passes in the game for 45 yards… Sophomore running back Devin Parks ran for 94 yards on 16 carries for the Ricebirds and Shaquille Edwards recovered a fumble for the Ricebirds… Memorial cornerback Josh McNickels picked up his first sack of the season, dropping Malone for a 9-yard loss in the second quarter… With El Campo’s win and Memorial splitting into two schools next year, the Ricebirds won the all-time series 5-2 over the Vipers.
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17 Comments
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Comments
Mr. Ocker,
Wow! This is coming from a person that attends very few memorial games, but when you do, you sit on the opponents side only to mock and make fun of the Memorial team? WE have been there, have seen you, have heard you! Sickening.
September 14, 2009 at 11:23 p.m.I would like to comment on Memorial's QB, Jared Dolezal. We at The American Legion were fortunate enough to have this young man (along with his talented teammates) represent Victoria Post 166 as a member of the Junior League baseball team this summer. They won State, and I have no doubt they would have won National, had they chosen to go to Kansas.
I watched this team very closely, and I was extremely impressed with Dolezal. Not only is he a terrific athlete, but he is a hustler and a playmaker. You can't coach that. Kids either have it, or they don't. It seems like every time there was a crucial tough catch to be made, a strong throw to hold a runner from advancing, a taking of an extra base, or a timely hit, Dolezal was somewhere in the mix.
I encourage everyone to go to as many Memorial games as they can, and watch this kid play. From what I can tell, he also has a great attitude. He was always there to congratulate and encourage his teammates.
I know this is Jared's first year as the starting QB, and the coaches probably don't want to put too much on him, but I would love to see some offensive schemes that give this guy a wide range of options and freedoms with the ball.
September 14, 2009 at 11:09 a.m.The kids can not be blamed. They give it all they got. We need 5A or 4a coaches that can handle the program and rebuild it. The most talented athletes at MHS are in the stands. I have never seen or heard of any of the MHS coaches visiting a junior high to see the talent and keep them in the program. Just go see St. Joe, they are all there due to Finley and his entourage. We are the joke of the district. Victoria is an "easy" game for everyone. El Campo used it to try new things to get ready for their 4A district. Save Victoria Football, fire a Finley and they all will go. Whoever is calling offensive plays needs to go. Defense is terrible. Victoria has the talent, they just don't want to play for these coaches. We are on the road to a third consecutive losing season. When does it stop?
September 14, 2009 at 10:22 a.m.Funny how everyone is excited about the opportunity to beat 'one of the worst' teams around. Should prove to be quite a battle, but I would not get my hopes up!
September 14, 2009 at 9:31 a.m.CC Moody played Sinton.....like in Sinton, Texas....as in a 3-A school and LOST! Get it? Friday we play a team that lost to a 3-A school.
September 14, 2009 at 9:23 a.m.VIPERS WILL WIN FRIDAY! CC Moody is absolutely one of the very worst teams in the state of Texas. It would be near impossible to lose to them this Friday.
September 14, 2009 at 9:15 a.m.it's early,yes
September 14, 2009 at 9:01 a.m.The mental errors must stop.70 plus and at game changing moments,can't happen.Maintain positive outlook,analyze,adjust,and improve on your mistakes and give yourself a pat on the back for the good. We're behind all of the young men and coaches.
Written September 12, 2009 - 1:24 PM
I'm not a coach and don't claim to be but friday nights game was a blur to many from the stands you could see the DE just getting pushed around like nothing, ALL the LB couldn't tackle, the most shocking thing is how SLOW the Middle Linebacker is as small as he is you would have though the coaches put him in that position because of his speed but it must be something else??????? Hope the coaches make changes with players before next week, according to the fans sitting with me the same thing happened in Taft, I just hope Coach Finley does the right thing for the sake of the kids they deserve to win and go out WINNERS, hopefully next week we can see some changes and maybe for once get to the quarterback (someone mentioned we have yet to even get 1 sack) and hopefully the OL watchs some tape this week and correct the many, mistakes they made. Good luck Vipers, Your Coach will make the right changes to make sure you all go out on a winning note.
September 13, 2009 at 12:29 a.m.This comment was removed by the user.
September 12, 2009 at 9:49 p.m.jaiso....u went back a lonnnnng ways! lol
Coach Wood was here in the late 50s. He then went on to win 9 fb state championships @ Brownwood.
September 12, 2009 at 4:08 p.m.I'm not taking up for the coaching staff, but the problem in Victoria goes far beyond coaching. In my experience with dealing with people from Victoria, the parents think that their boy is the biggest stud in town and is not being utilized the way he ought to be, and they think they are smarter than any high school coach in Texas. Gordon Wood most certainly knew something all those years ago when he said something to the fact that Victoria will never be a traditional powerhouse in football and that it was a coaches graveyard. In a way I feel sorry for this coaching staff. I bet most of them dread the day they made the decision to move to Victoria to coach.
September 12, 2009 at 3:23 p.m.Folks, coaching and tradition make the difference. Schools such as Refugio, Cuero and even Port Lavaca have shown us they play good football even in those years of crop failure (not much talent).
September 12, 2009 at 10:51 a.m.#29 why not throw to him. Salazar--a true Freshman! Why play on a team as wide receiver when you don't even throw the ball his way--AT ALL, NOT ONCE!!!!! If you are a parent with a kid in CYFL asked to have your boy play any position but wide receiver, he will never get the ball.
Defense sux! But wait, who is the Def.Coord??? So nothing will change. Being mutal on this Head Coach tatics I can not see why?!? the player's parents have not complained about this silly program that as I said b4 is "junior highish".
Next school Bd meeting is Thursday, Sept 17th. Now, you know.
September 12, 2009 at 8:54 a.m.nt_eagle,
Thanks for the support. Were you at the game last night? What did you see that we could improve on?
I think we're doing pretty good in the sarcastic comments area, but thanks for the effort.
Our penalties indicate a discipline issue. This is a coaching problem. A painful personal foul at a critical point in the game from someone who said something or did something, I didn't see what happened, just the flag popping out after the play was over.
What did we have 5 or 6 procedure calls? Too many!
Our quarterback need time to get recievers downfield. He never had it last night.
Linebackers are getting caught up in the line and losing their ability to stay with the ball.
Hughes definately has the want to and some speed
Dolezal has an arm but needs blocking badly
Dibble made more than a few good tackles as did other defensive players.
Coaches - you have 15 coaches, quit calling timeout every time there is a question. There shouldn't be any questions or not as many as there seemed to be last night.
This saturday and sunday, it would be nice if our special teams could watch some college and pro football and watch what the players do that play the same position they do. Don't watch the ball, watch what the guys that play your position do and how they react and anticipate.
Positives from last night - I didn't see any quit, thats a good thing.
Brubaker - Thanks for coming out. Where do you get your energy?
Little things make a big difference.
September 12, 2009 at 8:51 a.m.It is all about coaching. Finley has failed to do his job and he should be fired.
September 12, 2009 at 8:46 a.m.What a total joke this Victoria Memorial Football Program is! Losing to a School with 2,500 LESS students?! Not to mention, losing five of seven Games against this smaller School! OUCH! Maybe next year, Victoria East and West will be competitive...if they drop to class 2A!
September 12, 2009 at 2:20 a.m.