Lehman senior Kevin Ibanez (left), makes a play during the 7-on-7 season. He hopes to lead the Lobos into playoff contention this fall. (Photo by Judy Cooper)
by MARK CAUL
Lehman head football coach Steve Davis said recently he hopes the fact his team was picked to finish at the bottom of the heap in District 27-4A by the annual Texas football bible would fire up his players.
Davis didn’t have anything to worry about, as Texas Football Magazine’s prediction has the Lobo players talking tough.
“I’m looking forward to getting out on the field and showing everybody what we can do,” senior Kevin Ibanez said. “I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people. It was hard because we didn‘t have a lot of our people healthy last year. But we can’t worry about what any magazine says – we will be ready to play when August rolls around.”
Expectations were a bit higher in 2009 for the Lobos after a sizzling non-district 4-1 start but with a lot of positive momentum going into league play they preceded to lose four of their five district games. Still, Lehman’s win over Elgin was its first district win in school history.
“When we won those first few games, it felt good to have people talking about us in a positive way,” senior Harvest Trammell said. “But then after district started and we started losing again, everybody was saying we didn’t play anybody and all that. It made everybody want to work harder.”
Lehman has been picked to finish at the bottom of the district standings each year since the school started playing varsity football five years ago. The Lobos will enter the season with a renewed sense of urgency and confidence despite the departure of an outstanding, yet small class of six seniors, including three of their top defensive players in Michael Aldridge, John Martell and Efrem Johnson, who were all-district picks in each of the past two seasons.
This year, returning lettermen have returned to earn their respect on the field and are relishing the opportunity to hopefully prove the doubters wrong in 2010.
Senior Ryan Wagner is also counting the days until the Lobos’ season opener.
“I have never been more excited about the start of a football season,” said Wagner. “The people who are expecting the same old Lobos are going to be in for a big surprise. I think people are going to be surprised at the level of talent we have this year.”
The magazine named Trammell, senior receiver Andrew Longworth, along with junior Charles Williams as the three players to watch this season for a Lehman team that has the ability to surprise people in the fall.
Trammell believes that this year’s squad is hungry and determined enough to forever change the culture of Lobo football.
“Every time you heard anything about our football program in the past it was always negative,” said Trammell. “It bothers us but we know that the only way we can stop all that stuff is to win games. That’s the only thing that people respect.”
Ibanez echoed the sentiments of his teammates but issued a challenge to them as well.
“This team has to be ready to take that next step and be successful in district,” Ibanez said. “We have a lot of talent here but if we don‘t win anything, people will be saying the same thing about Lehman every year. I feel confident that our team is finally ready to prove everybody wrong.”
