***Week 6: Alto Yellowjackets (2-1) @ Grapeland Sandies (3-2) - 10/1/2021***

[StingEmALTO]

DISTRICT OPENER! The Alto Yellowjackets will travel to Grapeland Friday to take on the Sandies in the District 11-2A D1 opener; kickoff is 7:00 p.m.! The Jackets are on a 2-game win streak after beating Winona (42-7) and San Augustine (47-20); the loss was to Troup (48-18) in Week 1. The Sandies handily defeated a much-improved Burkeville team 58-22 Friday and have wins over Shelbyville (50-30) and Cayuga (36-20); their two losses are to Elkhart (40-14) and Kirbyville (33-14).

Both teams should be feeling confident after experiencing success in their respective pre-district schedules. Alto returns 20 lettermen while Grapeland returns 22. The Jackets have 8/8 returning starters on O/D while the Sandies return 8/7. Both are under new head coaching leadership. Grapeland defeated Alto for the first time since 1991 in last year’s contest 50-28. The Sandies are picked by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football to finish 3rd just ahead of Alto. The Mean Sting leads the series 39-23-1. Who gets the win and a leg up in district play?

Interesting side note: Alto and Grapeland first played in Alto’s inaugural season in 1927, a 14-0 Jacket win. Grapeland began playing football 2 years earlier in 1925. Grapeland’s first win over Alto came in 1934 18-6. These two go way back!  Lol

[Bear9T1]

Jackets

[Alto2621]

ALTO BABY! Let’s go boys!! 

[upullinmychain]

Them Alto's all the way...

[jacketgrad06]

Think the Jackets take care of this one. Should be a pretty good ball game. 

[BearcatBlue]

The Gamble split back veer wins this one.

[StingEmALTO]

9 hours ago, StillGreezy said:

I'm not sure Grapeland can play 4 quarters of football.   Alto has to come out of the gates strong and keep up the pressure.   

We have to play 4 complete quarters. We can do it. I think the 3rd quarter of the SA game the other night has been our best football to date. Both sides of the ball were outstanding. I know these young men have it in them to do it all 4 quarters. It’s exciting to watch and be part of.

”All gas, no brakes/breaks” right Timpson folks? Lol

[upullinmychain]

11 hours ago, StillGreezy said:

That's also what I call real football. 

Just takes a qb with brains and guts....know when to give,and when to force end to take him and timing on the pitch...smu with Eric Dickerson and Craig James ran it to perfection,with a qb that nobody remembers his name.

[BearcatBlue]

47 minutes ago, upullinmychain said:

Just takes a qb with brains and guts....know when to give,and when to force end to take him and timing on the pitch...smu with Eric Dickerson and Craig James ran it to perfection,with a qb that nobody remembers his name.

Also takes an Oline that is very physical and quick.  That unit has to sell out!

[upullinmychain]

36 minutes ago, BearcatBlue said:

Also takes an Oline that is very physical and quick.  That unit has to sell out!

Yes sir,I played right gaurd in the veer offense...still remember the play book and my assignment on each play..I bought in all the way,35 years ago.  Lol 

[Blue42]

Alto get another W

[Ramfanforever]

2 hours ago, upullinmychain said:

Just takes a qb with brains and guts....know when to give,and when to force end to take him and timing on the pitch...smu with Eric Dickerson and Craig James ran it to perfection,with a qb that nobody remembers his name.

With dickerson and james how could anyone remember. Both getting over a thousand yards, they just couldn't be stopped.

[SwarmingOnEm]

I know a few Jackets who’ve had this one on the calendar since the moment it hit 0:00 last year. Whole lotta flexin and chirping happening after the game. Ready to see how it goes. 

[StingEmALTO]

18 hours ago, BearcatBlue said:

The Gamble split back veer wins this one.

It’s for sure coming along!

[StingEmALTO]

5 hours ago, BearcatBlue said:

Also takes an Oline that is very physical and quick.  That unit has to sell out!

They have definitely made progress. Getting better every week!

[upullinmychain]

The veer has a feel to it,can't just run it overnight,gotta find ya vibe during the game...then it becomes electric,everybody moving as one and then bam...back is gone up field...many times I've rolled a linebacker and looked up from the ground and seen the runningback headed for the end zone...awesome feeling to be sure..

[RETIREDFAN1]

Grapeland

[East]

Them Jackets out of Alto

[StingEmALTO]

11 hours ago, SwarmingOnEm said:

I know a few Jackets who’ve had this one on the calendar since the moment it hit 0:00 last year. Whole lotta flexin and chirping happening after the game. Ready to see how it goes. 

They were a little excited weren’t they? My guess is that it was kind of pent up after 29 years…… Still, it was a bit over the top. Lol

[Washington76]

12 hours ago, SwarmingOnEm said:

I know a few Jackets who’ve had this one on the calendar since the moment it hit 0:00 last year. Whole lotta flexin and chirping happening after the game. Ready to see how it goes. 

[TheWolf]

On 9/25/2021 at 11:54 PM, StingEmALTO said:

We have to play 4 complete quarters. We can do it. I think the 3rd quarter of the SA game the other night has been our best football to date. Both sides of the ball were outstanding. I know these young men have it in them to do it all 4 quarters. It’s exciting to watch and be part of.

”All gas, no brakes/breaks” right Timpson folks? Lol

Y’all did play better in the 3rd, but SA literally gave you turnover after turnover on back to back drives deep in your territory.  They pretty much quit after that.  I do think y’all can beat teams with not much going for them like SA, Winona, Groveton etc.  But I think both of Alto’s lines will be under matched against good defenses.  Alto does look a lot better than last year!

[Guest Tiger03lb]

Alto

[StingEmALTO]

5 hours ago, TheWolf said:

Y’all did play better in the 3rd, but SA literally gave you turnover after turnover on back to back drives deep in your territory.  They pretty much quit after that.  I do think y’all can beat teams with not much going for them like SA, Winona, Groveton etc.  But I think both of Alto’s lines will be under matched against good defenses.  Alto does look a lot better than last year!

I’ll tell you what I saw:  a team that came out in the second half and wanted it more. And that, my friend, will go a LONG WAY no matter your size. There have been many times over the years when Alto has been outsized and you might think in warmups that we don’t stand a chance. But then WE PLAY THE GAME.

Yes, SA had a couple miscues when they didn’t get the snap off and we recovered the fumble. But there were other times (like play #111) when our defense FORCED the fumble by hitting your back so hard he couldn’t hang on to the ball. We batted down passes, we put pressure on the QB, and we lived in the backfield. We even had a defender that leaped higher than he ever has to rob your receiver of a well thrown ball. Our little guys were scrappy and the bottom line is they handled your big guys. Go watch the film. SA had athletes all over the field and yes, some of them might be young. But guess what, our QB is just a sophomore and we had two RBs in the backfield that were a sophomore and freshman. And that FRESHMAN blocked like a grown man when they put him in. 

We may just beat the “SAs, Winonas, and Grovetons”….(and btw last year when we were fighting our a**** off in every game and coming up on the short end of the scoreboard, I would never have said we were a team “with not much going for us.” Not nice to belittle your own team.), but you know what….if we keep progressing like we are, we might just beat someone we’re not supposed to beat. Surprise a few people, maybe even you!

All the best to San Augustine. I like those kids and your program. Several of them came over after the game and chatted with our guys. I thought that was really nice. I got to speak to a few of them and wished them well.  I think they have what it takes to compete in District 10. BUT, they need everyone of their folks behind them, including super fans like you!

Good luck to SA!

[StingEmALTO]

5 hours ago, TheWolf said:

Y’all did play better in the 3rd, but SA literally gave you turnover after turnover on back to back drives deep in your territory.  They pretty much quit after that.  I do think y’all can beat teams with not much going for them like SA, Winona, Groveton etc.  But I think both of Alto’s lines will be under matched against good defenses.  Alto does look a lot better than last year!

Oh, and I just remembered in the second quarter when SA had the opportunity to go up with a 27-6 lead, our defense held them out of the end zone. Y’all had just scored your third touchdown and WE had a miscue by fumbling the kickoff return in our own territory. That was a very low point but our defense held. I just say that to say in the first half we had our own miscues and SA had some opportunities but did not manage to capitalize. 

[SwarmingOnEm]

4 hours ago, StingEmALTO said:

Oh, and I just remembered in the second quarter when SA had the opportunity to go up with a 27-6 lead, our defense held them out of the end zone. Y’all had just scored your third touchdown and WE had a miscue by fumbling the kickoff return in our own territory. That was a very low point but our defense held. I just say that to say in the first half we had our own miscues and SA had some opportunities but did not manage to capitalize. 

I’m gonna agree, if you can’t drive the stake in a team when you have the chance, it’s your own fault. We came out the 2nd half and absolutely destroyed SA in every aspect of the game. Coaching was a huge factor in that as well, as we obviously saw what we needed to see, then the masterminds in the headsets made adjustments that SA had absolutely zero answers for.

In chess, they call that “check mate”.

Best of luck to SA the rest of the year.