Panthers find new roles for key players
During their bye week, Colleyville Heritage coach Joe Willis and his staff reviewed key players to find out how else they could serve the program.
Not long ago, Willis mentioned he thought as many as six of his players would play on both sides of the ball. That came to fruition last week in the Panthers 45-7 victory over Haltom. The Panthers (3-3, 1-1 in 7-6A) ended a two-game losing streak.
One of those was senior Jamarie Williams. While he’s made a living as a running back, the staff put Williams (6-0, 190) at outside linebacker. They came to that decision when they were watching Williams on special teams.
“He’s just in situations where he wants to be around the ball,” Willis said. “His athleticism is something we really want to take advantage of. But his motor is really impressive. He has length and speed and does things very naturally.”
Willis wants to make sure that he is judicious on how he uses Williams or any of his other two-way players. He also wants to defer to that player’s primary position.
That will be the same with defensive back Reid Harrison-Ducros. While the Boise State commit is strong in the secondary, Colleyville Heritage is also using him in the offense and return teams.
Gervon Thothion, the move-in from Mississippi, along with his twin brother Germon, who started at wide receiver, is now playing running back. He had an encouraging beginning against the Buffalos, rushing for 66 yards on nine carries.
“To some degree you calculate offensively and defensively how you want to use them,” Willis said. “That’s what we want to do. The last two weeks have been very important to what we want to do.”
The Panthers host Hurst L.D. Bell (0-7, 0-3) at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Mustang-Panther Stadium. It’s a must win for this team that wants to keep a playoff streak appearance going that dates back to 2005.
Notable
You couldn’t find a hotter receiver in the Dallas-Fort Worth area than sophomore Ke’Von Ahmad. He has consecutive 200-yard receiving games to raise his season total to 900 yards. He had 10 receptions for 232 yards against Haltom. That followed the single-game school record effort of 15 receptions for 257 yards on Sept. 24 against Euless Trinity. “Ke’Von and [quarterback] Cam Roane] just believe in each other,” Willis said.
Grapevine update
The Mustangs (5-2, 2-1 in District 6-5A) are enjoying their bye this week before they return on Oct. 23 against Fort Worth Carter-Riverside. The 55-13 victory over Fort Worth Dunbar last Friday avenged a 60-40 loss from 2014.
The program also got some good news when defensive back/linebacker Kareem Mohamed returned from a severe right knee injury. Mohamed suffered the injury in the Aug. 27 season opener against North Crowley.
Head coach Randy Jackson saw continued growth in sophomore quarterback Alan Bowman, who rallied from an early fumble and threw for 309 yards and six touchdowns. For the year, Bowman has completed 66 percent of his passes for 1,510 yards with 17 touchdowns and four interceptions.
“He’s doing a great job extending plays,” Jackson said. “On a touchdown pass to [RalphLauren McCauley], he did a great job of scrambling. He’s still fixing things. I have to remind myself he doesn’t have his driver’s license.”
In an unrelated note, the Mustangs used their seventh different offensive line combination this season. “That is the toughest unit that you have to find a way and mold into one cohesive unit,” Jackson said.
This story was originally published October 12, 2015 at 2:53 PM with the headline "Panthers find new roles for key players."