KAUFMANN AND ‘STANGS BONE UP

FOR BATTLE WITH WOLVERINES

BY GREG SELBER

MCALLEN – Just a regular ol’ Monday night, with a kid waiting for his dad to get home from work so they can watch a movie. But in this case the kid is Matthew Kaufmann and his dad is Markus, and those two were going to sit down to pop in a DVD of the P-SJ-A Memorial Wolverines in action.

The McAllen Memorial quarterback and the assistant coach are true students of the game, and one can hear it in the way Matthew speaks in X’s and O’s instead of mere civilian words. He can tell you why he threw an interception against Edinburg High (“It was a catch-and-throw, a quick route, line takes a zone step, it’s not a maximum protection deal, the guy jumped the route and I didn’t see him because I just got it and threw”), and he seems to relish the intellectual part of being a football player as much as the contact and competition.

In his junior season Kaufmann should be far along the learning curve as a three-year starter, and he is. The 170-pound lefty can dissect every play the Mustangs (8-3) have run in 2010, and as the week progresses, he will be putting in extra classroom duty to figure out the Wolverines (9-2).

“I haven’t seen much of them yet, but I know some things already,” said Kaufmann, who has rushed for more than 1,300 yards this year and added another grand-plus through the air. “They like to run multiple fronts to confuse defenses, so we have to be ready to think fast. We will be watching a lot of video this week.”

Perhaps some people imagine that in football it’s all about hitting and running, and while these primal aspects are vital to the task, the truth is that players spend considerable time studying the other team’s tendencies and developing wrinkles to combat them.

For this week’s area-round playoff game at McAllen’s Memorial Stadium, Kaufmann is forming some analysis and judgments that he hopes will spell victory for the Mustangs, who defeated Eagle Pass 28-20 in bi-district. It starts with understanding what he and the team have done so far in 2010; recognition of the way the season has unfolded holds the key to success down the road.

“The big thing is that now that we have the running game going, it will make the pass a bit easier,” said Kaufmann, who is the leading rusher as well as passer. “Lately we have undergone an attitude change, and the backs are stepping up real well. Having some guys run well has taken some pressure of me. Now we have a true offense.”

A fine runner with strength, vision, and good speed, Kaufmann noted that teammates like Carlo de Candia, who has increased his production down the stretch, will be important to the effort against the other Memorial.

“He was sort of feeling his way early on, and the coaches told him to hit the hole, trust his instincts, and then he would pop some runs,” said the quarterback. “I think he’s doing a great job right now, and I know he will continue that against the Wolverines.”

De Candia picked up 167 yards in Memorial’s 56-55 double-overtime victory against Palmview in the season finale, a win that put the Mustangs into the playoffs. Fullbacks Gabe Alonzo and Aaron Freeland have come on, too. After missing the dance last year, the victory over the Lobos was sweet tonic.

“It was a crazy game, I was totally exhausted afterward,” said Kaufmann, who rambled for 221 yards that night while going 8 of 11 passing. “We proved that in crunch time, we can score if we have to.”

Still, making points has been a struggle at times for Coach Bill Littleton’s unit, as the defense paced by a trio of excellent linebackers has carried the effort to an extent. Memorial has had a few great nights, including the Palmview explosion and 42 points versus Economedes and 45 on La Joya. The ‘Stangs have scored 21 or fewer in seven games, but think that with the improved play of a large offensive line, the potency of the offense has increased.

“We have a good line and they have gotten better every week,” Kaufmann noted, mentioning guard Kevin Segovia and tackle Trey Johnson as the main bellcows up front. “And we have a guy, Big Tim, who is just a sophomore. You will be hearing a lot about him, because the guy is good!”

Tim Ruiz, a 265-pound 10^th-grader, starts at right tackle, and the Mustangs feel he is the star of the future. Mammoth center Robert Reyes and Manny Flores round out the line crew that will battle the Memorial defense Friday.

As the offense continues to adjust-adapt-improve, it can count on one of the Valley’s top defenses to hold down the fort. It begins with the LB unit, composed of two junior pals and a dependable senior.

“Stites and Tyler, they’re animals out there,” Kaufmann laughed, referencing Bryant Stites and Tyler Marriott. “Ol’ Stites, he has a real temper out there, while Tyler, we call him ‘Crazy Eyes’ because he gets that mean look and he will just go nuts out there!”

Those best friends team with senior Forrest Sparks, a superb tackler with solid range, to give Memorial a threesome that makes it hard for opposing offenses to rest.

As he has become the team leader, Kaufmann seems to have picked up a real knack for talent assessment; he speaks of his teammates with obvious pride.

“In the secondary we have some good ones,” he said, pressing onward with the scouting report. “Chris Wilson, he is a real smart player, not that big but he really knows where the ball is going to be. He played quarterback in the lower level so he has great football smarts.”

Highly touted Rigo Rodriguez has had a fine junior campaign and also back there is junior Raul Jimenez, whom Kaufmann states can cover with the best of them. Up front on D the ‘Stangs have a rotation of solid options including junior Rocky Benavides and Dre Gonzalez. Perhaps the most promising of the bunch is 6-3 soph Pablo Adame, a rangy athlete who has performed well despite being young.

“The defense has been great and now we just want to be able to move the ball and hold up our end of the deal,” said Kaufmann, whose offense gained 319 rushing yards in the victory over Del Rio.

The other wild card in the area match with P-SJ-A Memorial concerns the learning process that is so interesting to the cerebral Kaufmann. He notes that there have been a handful of plays in 2010 that did not go the way they’d planned. How Memorial responds to the challenge of doing those things right the second time will be the key.

“Take the Sharyland game for example,” he sighed. “We were down 6-2 and we drop a bomb that would have been a touchdown. Then Sharyland goes for it on their next series, fourth down near midfield. If we had scored the previous series, they probably would have punted.”

Seemingly faced with an even match that night, Memorial got blown out at home, 48-9 by the Rattlers, and had to hustle to make the playoffs due to that stumble and a few others later in he slate. The Rowe loss, in which Memorial led 13-3 before the Warriors scored 27 straight, is another instance that sticks out in the QB’s impressive memory for details.

“So we’re up 13-3 at the half but we relaxed after that,” he recalled. “It was business as usual at halftime, and we didn’t come out with the intensity. Of course Rowe also played their butts off in the second half, so they deserved it. But if we had kept it going we would have been OK.”

Memorial also had an interception return for a TD against Rowe called back because of a block in the back, and Kaufmann knows that details are the factor that will determine whether the Mustangs get past the Wolverines and duplicate the program’s three-deep showing accomplished back in 2006.

“One play can make all the difference, like I say,” Kaufmann reiterated. “It can change the momentum and dictate what you will do, or what the other team does. I think we’re where we need to be right now, we’ve worked hard, tried to learn from our mistakes, and build confidence in what we’re doing. There should be a lot people there Friday, we’re the last McAllen team still going. We have a pretty good rivalry with the others, no hate at all, and I think you’ll see a lot purple and green in the stands checking it out.”

Tags: matthew kaufman, mcallen memorial mustangs