Buna Cougars
Morgan eager to work on next season
By JIMMY GALVAN Managing Editor

TWO KEY PLAYERS THAT Buna will build around next year will be Blanton Craft (7), left, and Dillon Hussey (44), right. Craft will be a senior next year while Hussey will be a junior.

Buna Head Football Coach Bradley Morgan has had a difficult time getting the nightmares of the Newton Eagles out of his mind.

"When you get beat like we did against Newton, it's hard to recover from it as a coach," Morgan said. "But now that have had time to look back on the season, I know we had some success this year."

Morgan said he wasn't prepared for the season to end so soon.

"I don't think you are ever ready for it to end," Morgan said. "We have had some success this year and had won a lot of games by a big margin with only one loss so we were not used to losing."

Morgan said what made it more difficult to take the Newton loss was how Buna lost in the opening round of the playoffs.

"We fumbled the first two times we had the ball and we're down 14-0," Morgan said. "You can't do that against Newton or any good football team. Momentum is huge is high school football and once they had that it was hard to come back. Bottom line, our kids didn't play good."

Newsboy photos/Jimmy Galvan

Morgan said once the team was down, the morale on the Buna sideline went with it.

"At that point, our kids went through a period of knowing it was over," Morgan said. "After the first quarter, we were down 34-0 and you don't come back against a team like Newton down that bad.

"We would have to play the best football game we had played all year to beat Newton," Morgan said. "I wanted to win that game and I wanted to make Newton have to play real hard to beat us and that didn't happen.

"I think we are a better football team than we played," Morgan said. "We had kids who gave 100 percent effort all year long. I just wish we would have gave them a better game but I was proud of being there."

Morgan pointed to the large crowd that the community of Buna brought to Lufkin for the playoff game.

"I think the community and the kids were proud of the accomplishment that they made this year," Morgan said. "It has been a long time since Buna has won nine football games.

"I was proud of how the community got behind us this year," Morgan said. "It just caught on this year. There were more people at our games this year."

Morgan said he would grade the year an A+ after finishing the year as co-district champions.

"We had a chance to finish the year 10-0 and we were within two points of doing that," Morgan said. "Another goal of ours was to win a playoff game but we had to play Newton."

Morgan said all year long one major key to this year's success has been a strong senior squad on the team. Buna fielded 17 seniors on this year's team and all played vital roles on the squad.

"They have been successful and have experienced some success ever since they were in the seventh grade," Morgan said. "They were the leaders of the team and we had some juniors and sophomores step up for us this year. The seniors played to win this year. They are a big part to what happened this year for us."

In fact, Morgan knows this year's graduating squad will be hard to replace next year.

"Our seniors and juniors next year together won't make 17," Morgan said. "We have a lot of holes to fill. I just hope the success that these kids helped us get will spur our younger players to want to continue it.

"I think we can win some football games and I still think we have a good chance to be real successful," Morgan said. "We have to scrap and play hard to compete at a high level to win games."

And Morgan said his coaching staff is already making plans for next year's season.

"The two winning seasons got us out of that struggling mode," Morgan said. "I am ready to start talking football and putting people in the right spots for next year.