Andrews doesn't want to forget 2-8 season

ANDREWS The Andrews football team is not shying away from last season’s 2-8 record.

Neither is head coach Jeff Cordell, whose first year at Andrews last fall began and ended with four-game losing streaks.

Cordell wanted to let no one forget about last year.

In fact, he wanted to use it as motivation.

So on the team’s offseason T-shirts, there is the number 28, to symbolize last season.

“That is a constant reminder that we were gonna do whatever it takes not to go 2-8 again this year,” Cordell said.
It seems like even before the Mustangs wanted to get their Xs and Os down this season, they first wanted to be on the same page.

“(Last season was) not Andrews Mustangs football,” Cordell said. “We’re not going to sit here and make excuses that we lost 27 seniors the year before I got in here, or that we had a bunch of guys that didn’t play varsity ball before last year. I can go on and on and on. But another thing we’ve talked about and we got from (former NFL head coach) Tony Dungy is, ‘No excuses, no explanations.’ ”

Senior left tackle-defensive tackle T.J. Rampone, for one, is not making them.

Rampone said the defense is comfortable now after transitioning from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4 defense last year. Overall, Rampone thinks this year’s team is hungrier.

“We want to show that this coaching staff is made up of good coaches,” he said. “They weren’t just handed a team.”

Junior Hunter Hicks enters the season as the starting quarterback. He led the junior varsity team last year, and Cordell is hoping he can jumpstart an offense that often was inconsistent.

“We feel like we’re ahead of the game in regards to last year,” Cordell said. “It’s a different way of doing things, a different mindset, not that it was bad in the past. People have different ways of doing things. They’ve adjusted to it and they understand the expectations that are put upon them. They’ve done a good job accepting those expectations.”

Cordell said the team’s strength lies in its offensive and defensive lines. The offensive line is anchored by junior center David Ortiz, who was a full-time starter last year.

Cordell described the offensive line as young, but “very knowledgeable.”

“This is probably one of the smartest groups I’ve ever been around,” he said. “They’re pretty athletic. Last year, that wasn’t one of our strengths. We had some good kids, but if you look at it from an overall standpoint, the offensive and defensive lines are our strengths.”

And, like most coaches would be, Cordell is glad the most important parts of a football team — the O-line and D-line — are parts he can count on.

“The game of football is won in the trenches,” he said. “No matter whether you run the spread offense or the Wing T, like Monahans, or the I, whatever. The game is won in the trenches. That’s where it starts. That’s a good place for us.”