Homecoming, District Opener as Bulldogs Ready for Rival Diboll

By Greg Ritchie

Messenger Reporter

CROCKETT – The decorations, dress-up days and homecoming traditions will all be there this week, but when the lights come on Friday night, the Crockett Bulldogs will also be playing a game that could help define the second half of their season.

Crockett hosts Diboll on Friday, Oct. 9, in The Messenger Game of the Week, with homecoming festivities surrounding what is also the Bulldogs’ district opener.

After completing a difficult pre-district schedule and getting an open week to recover, Crockett Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Jody Jordan said his team is looking at this week almost as a fresh beginning.

“We just finished our pre-district schedule, so we’re kind of resetting everything,” Jordan said. “We had an open week getting ready for opening district and homecoming. I think our kids understand they’ve got to get up and be ready to play Diboll this week.”

That reset may come at a good time for the Bulldogs.

Crockett enters district play 1-4 overall, but none of those losses count against the Bulldogs in the race for a playoff spot. Jordan said the pre-district portion of the schedule included several strong opponents and gave his players experience he believes will help them over the next five games.

“We played a pretty good schedule,” Jordan said.

Rather than dwelling on the overall record, Jordan said he believes those early tests prepared Crockett for what comes next.

“We feel like that hardened us,” Jordan said. “It’s prepared us for district, and so we’re ready for this five-game stretch right here to get in the playoffs again.”

Friday’s game will arrive with considerably more noise and color than an ordinary district opener.

Homecoming week has brought Spirit Week activities to the school, including themed dress-up days, while Ring of Honor activities will also be part of the celebration.

“It’s homecoming week, so we’ve got Spirit Week,” Jordan said. “Every day is something different. Camouflage day, sunglasses day — they’ve got something for every day.”

For Jordan, however, homecoming is not limited to what happens during the school day.

“It’s a homecoming for the community,” he said. “The kids know it, and we expect them to step up this week and play our best.”

They will need that kind of performance against a Diboll team Jordan believes matches up closely with Crockett.

“I think we’re pretty evenly matched,” Jordan said.

One difference could be the number of players asked to remain on the field for both offense and defense. Jordan said Crockett has several athletes playing both ways, while Diboll is able to spread some of that workload across more players.

Schematically, Jordan expects the Bulldogs to see a Diboll offense willing to spend plenty of time on the ground.

“They’re going to try to grind it out and run the ball,” Jordan said.

Diboll operates from a slot-T look, but Jordan cautioned that Crockett cannot simply crowd the line of scrimmage and assume the game will remain there.

If the Bulldogs succeed in slowing the running game, Diboll has another option.

“If we shut down the run game, they’ll flip into a spread offense and they’ll try to sling it around, throw it around a little bit,” Jordan said. “They’ve got some well-skilled kids.”

Jordan said Diboll may have an edge in overall size, particularly along the lines, but he believes Crockett has its own advantages.

“They might be a little bigger than us, but we match up with them with athletes and speed,” Jordan said. “We expect it to be a great game, a great homecoming game.”

The open week last week also gave Crockett something it badly needed entering district play: time.

Several Bulldogs who had been sidelined by injuries are expected back, while another player who might not have been able to play last week had additional time to recover.

“We got a couple kids back from injury that haven’t played in a couple weeks, some key guys,” Jordan said. “Then we had one kid that had an injury that, if we had had to play last Friday, he might have been held out, but he’s going to be 100% this week.”

That made the timing of the open date particularly helpful.

“That was a good time to have an open week for us to kind of rebound from injuries,” Jordan said.

The Bulldogs did more than heal.

Jordan said the coaching staff used the additional practice time to add a few wrinkles while also returning to some of the fundamentals they want Crockett to rely on during the district stretch.

“We put a few wrinkles in here and there and also went back to basics, trying to reestablish the good things we’re doing,” Jordan said.

And there will be no shortage of motivation Friday.

Jordan described Diboll as a rival and said the combination of district football, homecoming and a healthier roster has created plenty of anticipation around the program.

“It’s Diboll week, and it’s a rivalry game too,” Jordan said. “We’re excited about the upcoming game.”

Jordan said that enthusiasm has extended beyond the players and coaches.

Bulldog parents have supported the program throughout the season, including helping provide team meals on game days. Jordan also pointed to the recent Decals for Heroes event, when community members joined players to place special decals on their helmets.

“We have a great group of parents,” Jordan said. “They’ve been supportive, providing us team meals on games, and we had Decals for Heroes, where the community came up. That was a good day.”

Now the Bulldogs arrive at the part of the schedule they have been preparing for since August.

The non-district record remains in the book, but Friday starts another race entirely.

Crockett and Diboll enter the night with district records of 0-0, and for the Bulldogs, homecoming provides a particularly large stage on which to begin again.

“I think they want to see us have a good game this week,” Jordan said of the Crockett community. “We’re expecting it.”

Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]