Football insider: Arlington coaches relish weekly visit

By Jarret Johnson

jmjohnson@star-telegram.com

It's hard to imagine a handful of rival high school football coaches sitting around a table talking shop the day before their teams duke it out under the Friday night lights.

Yet, that scenario plays out every week at the Arlington school district's Athletics Administration Building, where athletic director O.J. Kemp meets with the district's six campus athletic coordinators, five of which are football coaches.

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"They discuss their concerns and I give them information they need to share with their 39 assistants on staff that they are supervising," Kemp said. "For example, in Thursday's agenda we'll talk about a new weight room, how they have to get school reports into me, equipment purchasing and any UIL news."

Arlington coach Scott Peach, Bowie's Kenny Perry, Lamar's Trent Fuller, Martin's Bob Wager, Sam Houston's Anthony Criss and Seguin's Carlos Lynn along with Seguin athletic coordinator Courtney Phillips all attend the meetings with Kemp.

"Imagine this: you're sitting around a conference table every Thursday morning at 8 a.m. across from the guy you have to beat to accomplish your goals and keep your job," Wager said. "My first couple years here it was weird, but now I don't think anything of it. It's a cool dynamic, a family atmosphere."

The weekly meetings are a tradition that goes way back and is part of their weekly schedule that many of the coaches look forward to.

"I enjoy it because it's the one place where you're comfortable," Fuller said. "Sometimes it's refreshing to know you're not the only one with this problem or that problem. It's good and I didn't necessarily think it would be that way."

By all accounts the comedic value at these meetings are high.

"There's a lot of showmanship at those meetings and it creates a great atmosphere," Perry said. "Each coach has their little niche at the meetings and it's very entertaining."

Dragon football

Defending Class 5A champion Southlake Carroll is back to playing great football after getting humbled 24-0 in its season-opener at Allen.

The end of a 16-game winning streak has since been taken out on some quality competition.

First the Dragons crushed Midland 63-3 on Sept. 7 at home, and then they dispatched a 2-0 Temple team 34-0 at Cowboys Stadium. Carroll coach Hal Wasson said the turnaround was all about getting back to playing what he calls "Dragon football."

"We always focus on the things we can control," Wasson said. "We can control our energy, passion, that hunger to play the game and we have to minimize mistakes. Allen is a very good team but that first game we didn't take care of that."

Carroll opens District 4-5A play this week against Keller Central (2-1), which is expected to be one of the Dragons' top challengers for the league title.

Get to know

Fort Worth South Hills athlete Antwan Roberson is lining up all over the field for the Scorpions this season. The 5-11, 175-pound sophomore has rushed for 154 yards, five scores and has 13 receptions for 314 yards and four touchdowns through three games.

Roberson is also the starting free safety (nine tackles, three pass breakups) and returns punts and kicks.

"I get to be more active and help my team out more by doing this," Roberson said. "I like free safety the most because I like to hit but I also like being in the slot because it's one-on-one."

Private school game of the week

Arlington Oakridge hosts Fort Worth All Saints 7:30 p.m. Friday at Jeff Conatser Memorial Stadium in a rematch of last season's SPC Division II championship game.

The Owls (3-1, 0-1 in SPC North) handed the Saints (4-0, 1-0 in SPC North) their only two losses of the year in 2011.

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