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May 28, 2009

Harrison's 'era' begins tonight at spring game

By Tom Halliburton

Port Arthur needs a unifying football team. Kenny Harrison has understood that pressing need. Therefore no Memorial football excuses are allowed.

If a block is missed, Kenny may blow his stack. If a tackle is missed, none of Kenny's brand-new, blue-ribbon defensive coaching staff will accept alibis or explanations.

They seek to lay the foundation for a program at Memorial, just as a new program at Port Neches-Groves. New coaches, new standards, new acceptance levels are moving into place.

Some, but not all of Memorial's transformation, will be on display tonight in the Titans spring game on the PAISD auxiliary field at 7 p.m.

"We have a good coach and he's really pushing us," sophomore defensive lineman Javone Sloan said. "It's tough but we gotta do it if we want to be the best. This is more organized than last year."

The black and white game will reveal the first public peek but the 35-year-old Kenny Ray would warn that the revisions, upgrades and renovations are still a work in progress.

"Our summer conditioning is going to be very important," Harrison said during Wednesday's workout.

Memorial is a school and a football team in transition, but the 2009 Titans football team is the tonic that can blend SFA, Lincoln and TJ alumni into a unified group. These Titans really do take to the air with Eagles wings.

When these Titans blitz, their defense led by senior-to-be linebacker Earl Hines really is a Beehive of activity. When these defenders tackle, in TJ terms, another one bites the dust. Fiery defensive coordinator Tony Brown spearheaded Memorial's off-season program. The Titans plan to play at a very high defensive level soon.

"We still have some work to do," Harrison said. "Tony is a high-intensity guy. He's been setting the tone for them and we're a little ahead of the offense (on defense). But we're going to get there on offense, too. Trust me."

The Titans will adopt the same format for their spring game as last week at PN-G -- four 12-minute quarters with a running clock, first offense and second defense on one team vs. second offense and first defense on one team.

Actually, PN-G and Memorial will scrimmage each other at the new Reservation on Aug. 22. A bunch of Titans watched PN-G's scrimmage last week. The teams have looked quite similar in their practice routines and drills, too. As with Brandon Faircloth's Indians, Kenny Harrison's Titans are full shotgun on offense.

"They're (PN-G) probably doing some things better than we are right now and we're probably doing some things better than they are," the Memorial first-year mentor said. "Our biggest concern without a doubt right now is in our offensive line."

Memorial has avoided any serious injuries to date during its month of spring football but it has endured much of the session minus two offensive guards. Junior Marquee Pitre has returned from a knee strain while Jeremy Powell (twisted knee) is still sidelined.

Juniors Corwin Keal and Stedman Haynes offer Harrison two capable quarterback candidates. Junior running back Daleon Sinette is a leader and plans to behave that way. The leading receiver candidates -- K'Sean Wesley, Nathan Davis, Chris Reed and Vincent Wilson -- give Memorial a better-than-average base to build more experience.

The best of Memorial's defenders certainly starts with two-year regular Hines, but tackle Stanton Smith has been the biggest surprise of the spring. Ends Trashard Lewis and Darrell Johnson are among the improved linemen.

Hines needs to be a demanding leader and help to raise the work of linebacker cohorts Javonte Stephens, Paul Roy and Ashton Wilson. Michael Johnson has to be very attentive to Tony Brown's requests in order to lead the secondary.

Harrison has earned and deserved the reputation of being a good guy. Yet Kenny has had to shed some of his 'nice-guy' image in order to lead this staff and these players.

"That part has not been that hard, really," he said. "One thing they took on real early were my work habits..."

No matter how impressive or improved they become, the Titans are climbing a tall 21-5A district mountain. Memorial's opening league opponent, Galena Park North Shore, owns a state-record regular-season winning streak of 78 games dating back to Nov. 2000.

Instead of being intimidated by that reality, the Titans face their realities, evaluate themselves, and ask themselves, "Is that part of our game good enough to beat North Shore."

That's how the Big 12 football league became so tough. When Texas and Oklahoma began to dominate, the others began to ask if this or that was good enough to beat OU or UT. Now the Oklahoma States, Texas Techs and Baylors are all becoming competitive.

Harrison and his staff are setting extremely high standards. Excuses are a thing of the past.

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