2005 Cedar Park Timberwolf Football

Game-by-Game Narratives
2005

PROLOGUE

Pack Night
August 31, 2005

I was the Master of Ceremonies at the annual community pep rally held the night before the football season opener. It was held outside at the Cedar Park soccer stadium, in front of a packed set of stands, and all the fall sports teams were introduced. The cheerleaders peformed, there was football music, and I closed with the following...

I’d like to close with a few words...

Coming through the summer, I thought to myself, how could we possibly top the adrenaline rush we got from last year’s run?

Eight district championships to run the school all-time total to 35. Amazing playoff runs in volleyball and football. State meet qualifiers in so many individual sports. A return to championship form in soccer and baseball. Great runs by wrestling and softball in defense of district titles won the previous year. How can we possibly get that excited again? Another year like that would be too much to ask, wouldn’t it?

And then I met Chris Ross.

And then volleyball exploded out of the gate with a state-ranked team that may just prove to be the best in central Texas, and maybe even far beyond.

A new era in football starts tomorrow night. It will be our 33rd home game ever, and it will also seem like our first. There’s a lot of excitement about this season.

To tell you the truth, it’s the best of both worlds. Yes, we’ve heard all about the prodigious talent that graduated, that we don’t have a lot of returning experience. That we have a new coach and a new system that may take some time to jell. But that coach and that system have worked in exactly these circumstances before and it may well happen again. Certainly there are no guarantees. But you can’t help but think this is a can’t-lose scenario: if we do lose, well, look at all we had going against us- tough league, little returning experience, new coach, yadda yadda. Rebuilding year. OK. It’s not like we’re USC with everybody and everything proven and returning. But if we win- man, that is sheer, live-forever glory.

I think that’s a good reason to be excited. A fresh start. A new look. And if we aren’t as impressive in our on-field results, cool. It doesn’t kill you. It won’t change your math grade or make your dog run away. And most importantly, it won’t diminish the regard you young athletes have in our community. We’re with you no matter what. Always have been, always will be.

And who could possibly expect a team with just four starters, ten lettermen, a new coach, a new approach, playing in one of the toughest districts around, and with a target on their backs placed there by great success the previous year...wouldn't it be unrealistic to expect great success? Perhaps.

But I know they expect it out of themselves.

And if you do win- it won’t get any more special or memorable than that. An upstart team, everybody’s talking about Leander and Pflugerville and McNeil. Heck. That’s who they were all talking about this time last year, too, wasn’t it? That actually helps a little.

That's what makes the prospect of this season so exciting. No real pressure. If we lose, we lose. If we win- batten down the hatches, it'll be a wild ride! We know that the future here is incredibly bright. All that remains to see is the starting date of that brilliant future. Some say next year, and if that's true, so be it. But perhaps, just perhaps, it's tomorrow night.

I was told by someone who's very fluent in Texas football that the players here at Cedar Park cannot yet know how incredibly privileged they are. Coach Ross is a gifted coach, not just in the X's and O's - you'll find that most HS coaches in Texas certainly are - but he's also a practitioner of the important intangibles that delineate the great coaches: excellent communications, the capacity to inspire, and mastery of organization. He has a history of on-field and off-field success, complete with deep-round playoff savvy. This recipe will take him very far. We are privileged to be able to have him with us at this moment. One day, you players, when you're off in the world, will point to Chris Ross and tell your friends, through a great wide smile, "Way back in another time, I played for that man."

This is that time, guys. Make the most of it. Tomorrow, you start building memories and experiences that will last your whole lives.

Twenty-three hours to liftoff.

NEXT - Week One: Harker Heights
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