Expectations high for Buna football
By JIMMY GALVAN Managing Editor

In the years past, not much was expected from the Buna Cougars on the football field.

The small school was normally overmatched when it faced the bigger Class 3A schools.

That changed last year when the Cougars dropped down to the Class 2A level.

"Coaches, players, kids in school and people in the community are expecting us to win this year," said Buna Head Football Coach Bradley Morgan. "We have been beat down the past four years before we came into Class 2A."

Morgan's Cougars finished the year 7-4 and earned a playoff berth but drew perennial championship contender Newton in the first round of the playoffs.

Newton ended Buna's season 42-7.

"That's my luck," Morgan said.

But even that final sting couldn't take the luster off of this year's preparation for the football season.

"We are playing and practicing with more confidence than we have in the past," Morgan said. "They know that they are expected to be good this year. The community, the administrators expect us to be good this year."

And how are the Cougars responding to this newfound winning pressure?

"It's pressure to me," Morgan said. "If you're not supposed to win and you don't, nobody expects you to," Morgan said. "We have people saying we should go 10-0 and if we don't it's the coaches fault and in the back of our mind we know it's the best team we ever had and we better not mess it up.

"I think there is a lot of pressure to win and I don't know if it's on all the coaches or just me," Morgan said. "But I'd must rather have this kind of pressure than going in every week fighting a battle and trying to survive."

Morgan has affiliated with Buna for 22 years, the last seven as head coach of the Cougars.

"This is the best team we have had here in a long time," Morgan said. "We had some teams that if we would have been on the 2A level, we could have played in the playoffs."

With an influx of 12 returning starters and 19 seniors on the club, the Cougars are more than filling the minds of the Buna faithful with dreams of another football playoff run this year.

"We are so far ahead from where we normally are this time of the year," Morgan said. "All of our seniors can play. They have been a good group since the seventh grade and they've experienced some success even when we played at the Class 3A level."

This year, the Cougars will run a variation on the Wing T, power I or nasty slot offense. It's the same offense being run in Newton and Kirbyville as well.

"I hope that we look as good as they do running it," Morgan said.

Buna returns seven starters from last year's squad. Leading the way will be All-District fullback Brian Holmes, who rushed for 452 yards and 13 touchdowns last year.

Leading the way for Holmes will be tackles Travis Harding, Chris Dotson and guard Cody Holland. Also, quarterback Justin Carrell returns this year for the Cougars.

"I think our offense will be better than our defense this year," Morgan said. "We now have depth in the backfield. We have nine kids that I think can do something with the football.

"We are two-deep at every position and there is no let off at all," Morgan said.

On the defensive side of the ball, Buna returns five starters from last year's playoff squad. All-District linebacker Anthony Smith returns after leading Buna with 85 tackles last year.

"Our defense got after it last year," Morgan said. "There was always three of four kids on a tackle and I think we will still be good on defense."

And while the returning seniors is a strong aspect of this squad, dropping from Class 3A to Class 2A made the biggest impact on the Buna football program.

"There is no doubt that having numbers is what helped us last year," Morgan said. "We were talented but when you started getting to the fourth quarter and you had players not having to go two-ways, it helps at any level.

"We could compete with some Class 3A schools but we had more players going two-ways than they did and it hurt us in the fourth quarter," Morgan said.

Morgan said the change in levels was also felt in the locker room as well.

"Our kids always worked hard and we're pretty tough kids but it was like we were fighting a bear with a stick," Morgan said. "They're not stupid. When you play teams like Silsbee and Jasper every week, it wasn't fun."

And that change of attitude was felt during the off-season programs as Morgan saw an increase in players in the speed camp.

He said his players worked hard in the summer's speed camp in preparation for this year's season.

Morgan knows the Cougars will have to replace some key seniors who graduated last year. "But the kids who are taking those players places are talented kids too," Morgan said. "We are replacing those seniors with players that have mobility and speed who will play as hard as those seniors played."

Morgan knows that even with good numbers coming out this year, Buna has to stay away from the injury bug to be successful.

"You get some key players hurt, then you start having kids play two ways," Morgan said. "But everybody has the same problems."

Buna will be tested early and often with their pre-season schedule.

The Cougars open the year in Orangefield where they take on the Class 3A Bobcats. Last year, Orangefield posted a 28-7 victory over Buna.

"That will tell us where we stand," Morgan said.

After playing Burkeville on the road, the Cougars return home Sept. 14 to take on Tarkington in their home opener.

"We beat Tarkington last year and that was a big boost for us," Morgan said. "I think that was when our kids realized that we