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Stephenville Begins Playoffs without Stidham

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Stephenville“We want to win a state championship” is quite often the generic answer given by players and coaches alike when asked what their goals for the season are. For some, those goals came to an end last Friday night. For others, like Stephenville, those goals are still alive as they head into their first round match up against Decatur.

Coming into the season the Stephenville Yellow Jackets were ranked by many media services as one of the best 4A division 1 teams. They were returning a plethora of talent on both sides of the ball, headlined by highly touted quarterback Jarrett Stidham.

The Yellow Jackets, coached by Joseph Gillespie, started off the season on the right foot with three consecutive wins against Gatesville, Everman, and out of state appointment South Anchorage High. Stephenville’s offense came out firing from the start, with a well balanced offense thanks in part to Stidham through the air and sophomore running back Keagun Williams. On defense the Yellow Jackets conceded only 27 points, combined, to their first three opponents. Their hunt for that coveted state title was still unblemished, but it wouldn’t stay like that for long.

The first test of the season for Coach Gillespie’s squad came in a game televised on ESPN, against Lubbock Cooper. After scoring the first 14 points of the game, Stephenville gave up 21 unanswered points and were never able to regain the lead. Lubbock Cooper’s ground game exposed a weakness in Stephenville’s defense, rushing for 306 yards. Fortunately, Stephenville had a bye week to prepare for their next opponent and shore up their defense.

Heading into the later part of October, Stephenville went on another three game win streak, notably beating district opponents Brownwood and Snyder. With each passing week and Yellow Jacket win, Stidham justified the preseason praise he had received. Posting 15 total touchdowns over the three game span. With over half the season gone and a 5-1 record to their name Stephenville looked primed for a deep playoff run. Unfortunately Stephenville hit the second road bump of the season when they played Big Spring.

Early in the first quarter against Big Spring, Stidham injured his hand on a running play. He stayed in the game for one more play, then came off the field, and remained there for the rest of the game due to a broken bone. The immediate negative response from the game was that the Yellow Jackets had lost for the second time. On a more long term scale though, Coach Gillespie learned he would be without his star quarterback for at least five weeks. If there was a silver lining to the situation, it was that Stephenville had only lost by 7 points and backup quarterback Anthony Chavarria filled in admirably.

The Yellow Jackets ended the season with a second straight loss, this time to Abilene Wylie, bringing their regular season record to 6-3. Some might say with the loss of Stidham their chances of making it deep into the playoffs look grim, however, come playoff time anything is possible. There’s still a talented group that surrounds Chavarria and can help take the pressure off of him. By focusing on getting the ball in the hands of Keagun Williams, the passing game should open up for Chavarria and the Yellow Jackets can go back to having a more balanced attack. Defensively, if Stephenville can focus on not losing the ground game to another opponent their chances of winning look to be pretty good. A win against Decatur would put Coach Gillespie and his team one week closer to getting Jarrett Stidham back, and one week closer to their overall goal.

Drew Schackmann

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