2012 VARSITY Football Schedule (1-0)

Striving to be 1-0 after we play Cedar Ridge on Friday

August 31-- Hendrickson (WIN 50-23)
September 7 @Cedar Ridge
September 14 @ Hays
September 21-- Del Valle
September 28-- Dripping Springs
October 5 @ Leander
October 12-- Marble Falls
October 19 @ Cedar Park
November 2-- Vandegrift
November 9 @ Vista Ridge

Currently 1-0 on the Season

Number of Visitors since August 2010

Total Pageviews since August 2009

NOTE from Brandi

NEW FEATURE!!!
check out the new email feature on the right hand side of the page. You can sign up with your email (I will never see it), and each time I update, you will get an email saying that i updated the blog:)


Saturday, February 27, 2010

Congrats to Mackenzie Alspaugh!

I know this is a football blog, but I wanted to let you all know that Mackenzie Alspaugh, our Sophomore Swimmer made it to the State Swimming Prelims held yesterday morning:
Mackenzie Alspaugh went into this meet with a time of 1:58.34 (8th place) for the 200 freestyle. Yesterday morning she swam it with a time of 1:57.67 securing her in 7th place.

THIS morning, Alspaugh swam in the finals and finished in 7th place. That means she is 7th in the STATE in her Sophomore year, which is fantastic. This also means that she has 2 more shots at this in her High School career- whereas most of the girls that were competing were Juniors and Seniors.

All of us Raiders are very proud of Mackenzie and looking forward to watching her the next 2 years!

This is actually pretty impressive. In year 2 of Rouse HS Athletics, we have watched both Cross Country Team and also one of our Swimmers compete for a state title. I think we have a lot to be proud of.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Brandi Sounds Off... Again

I am not going back on my previous post, I am still upset with the Hill Country News. Unfortunately, my husband refuses to allow me to email HCN, or write a letter to the editor, so this is the only way that I can openly gripe to those of you that case.
I am very irritated that our Boys Basketball team didn't get a write up last week regarding our big win over Llano, but yet Vandergrift got a write up over their win over us. Great for Vandergrift- glad you got some coverage ** that is NOT sarcasm, I am serious, just wish we would get as much coverage or hell, even half as much.
Our sweet swimmer, McKenzie Alspaugh is going to STATE on Friday to compete with the big boys. A SOPHOMORE swimmer swimming at the STATE swim meet, gets NO freaking write up? I mean COME ON, we deserve at least an article for her!

With all that said...

I have to throw a big HUGE, gigantic THANK YOU to Leander Ledger.
Man those guys do a great job. We have all sorts of write ups and pictures of ALL sorts of clubs and athletic stuff at Rouse. Those guys do an amazing job and I am very happy and love reading about our kids. Last week they had an article about Alspaugh and also some photos of the Rouse band and I just thought it was great and I appreciated that so much.
So to the Leander Ledger: Keep it up! We loove the exposure and appreciate all that you do for us over at Rouse. To the Editor: Habeab Kurdi- THANK YOU!!!

Now, if only the Hill Country News could possibly learn a few lessons from you:)

www.leanderledger.com

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Brandi Sounds Off:

I have been going to the Hill Country News website, just hoping that MAYBE at some point Rouse will get a little bit of coverage. But still, nothing. The last article that was written about the Raiders was back when our Cross Country team ran at the State Meet. If my memory is correct, I would say that that happened before Thanksgiving. That's been awhile.

There is a picture on our page of our Boys Basketball team playing Vandergrift. There isn't an article, just the picture with a caption.

No articles about the Raider Girls or Boys Basketball, no articles about the realignment, no article about how our 1st YEAR VARSITY GIRLS SOCCER team is tied for 1st place in district, no articles over the Boys Soccer team, or pre-season baseball, softball, or track. NOTHING, notta

But go to Vandergrift and their page is full- but really, even they don't have as many articles as they should have, I don't think. I mean, both Vandergrift and Rouse,

Where I grew up, High School sports is the thing to write about. They have a 5-8 page section strictly for sports and there are articles written everyday, not just on Thursday's. AND 90% of the sports section is High School sports. They write about EVERY event. During EACH season for EACH sport a typical sports newspaper week looks like this (I am using football season for example, but they did it for EVERY sport)


Monday: all NFL
Tuesday: NFL write-ups and What was happening the upcoming week in our town(sports wise)
Wednesday: MVP's and players of the week- for each sport that competed the week prior AND they even have small articles about the Middle School games.
Thursday: what our opponent's were going to be like. Their records and featured players.
Friday: Write up with interviews from the Town COaches, and players as well as what the opponent's coaches have to say about the game that was playing that night
Saturday: Front Page write up covering the Friday nights game and all college stuff AND they also had about a paragraph write up of about 15 of the area school's teams.
Sunday: all college and NFL reports

Everyday they had the district standings and also the schedules of each game, all of this and Wichita Falls has 3 4A schools and they also wrote about 4 of the close surrounging schools in the area.(Burburnet, City View, Windthorst and Holiday. This is weekly, not just for football, but for all sports.

I am not suggesting that they Hill COuntry turn into W.Falls Times Record News, but they could at least put forth a little more effort in covering all the High Schools equally- especially the ones that are playing at a Varsity level. AND, I would like to point out that I am advocating for Vandergrift as well as Rouse, not one over the other. I think we both deserve it. And honestly, I think we should get a little more sports coverage for all the schools. If its a paper that only comes out on Thursday's, then there is no reason to not have more coverage on every school.
Maybe then I would actually subscribe to it.

Just my opinion... whose with me?

Friday, February 5, 2010

Smack Boards are good for Something!!

For instance, I of course, was on the smack board throwing some bones for the 2 new schools in District 25-4A and one super awesome Lake Travis fan pointed out that this past season Pearland Dawson - (a 2nd year school) played Lake Travis in the SEMI-FINALS last year. That's 4 Rounds deep as a 2nd year team. Now LT throttled them 57-12, but they still beat 4 teams to get to play them.
That's pretty dang good and rare.

http://www.dawsoneagles.org/

If they can do it, so can the Raiders!!

I'm going to get in BIG trouble for this.....

So my husband is NOT going to be just too, too happy with me over promoting this because as a coach it can be a nightmare.

However as a Veteran Football Fan, I feel that it is MY duty as a good fellow football fan to disclose to the number 1 fun way to get excited about the season. Because lets face it- off season is just no fun and now that NFL is coming to a close we don't even have that to look forward to anymore.
So the BEST way to stay Focused on Football during off-season is:


Smack Talk/ Trash Talk- I prefer smack, sounds classier

refers to inflammatory comments made by a person or team in order to insult, anger, or annoy opponents
Its just part of the game. When it comes to your team, nothing is greater than some good 'ole smack talk. Its part of that rivilry thing.

Number 1 rule is to NEVER, NEVER, under ANY circumstance, no matter HOW much you want to throw something in a fellow smack-talkers face, no matter what, you can never, ever give away any vital information to the enemy. You may think that is obvious but its been done, don't do it. Don't do it. GIVE nothing away. Protect your team no matter how tempted you are. if you win- you have that much more to smack about.

Rule #2 NEVER quote the coach. You may make a mistake and then you have misquoted the coach. That's never good. He won't like it

Rule #3
Be smug and cocky- you aren't the coach- you can get away with it- be that cocky son of a gun that you dispise and be as sarcastic and as demeaning (respectfully) that you can be.

BUT ONLY follow this Rule, if you are absolutely 100% CERTAIN that your team will win the game. You don't want to look like a chump.

Rule #4
Protect your team and take up for them whenever possible. You are going to belittle other teams, so of course- they will do this to you, so take up for your team- that's what a TRUE fan is all about. DON'T be fair-weathered if you lose, stick with your team and be a good loser- this is important so that you will be a RESPECTED SMACK TALKER

Where can you smack talk?
Well, preferably not in the stands- you need to smack talk to opposing smack talkers.

I like to go to the following websites to smack talk- and I from Wichita Falls, look up smack talk and a map of the Falls will show up and you will see a large Raider and a Coyote.
I was born a SMACK TALKER- ask anyone, I am good at it-
(although, word of caution, DO NOT try to smack talk in Spanish or you MIGHT just call someone a "Noun". Hate to make fun of myself, so I will lay that one on Lisa Pelt)


Oh yeah, the places I go to smack talk are:
http://www.5atexasfootball.com/ (bet you'll NEVER guess who I am on that site)
click forums, then click rest of the best 4a and below- you have to have a user name to smack talk or ask questions or post comments
www.texashsfootball.com
www.txprepsfootball.com
www.buckinfootball.com

There are many others and throughout the next week, I will create a column to the right of all the great websites for you to go to. Now that we are Varsity, we have a LOT more options of places to go to read information about our teams and don't forget- we will be on High School Extra!!!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Raider Basketball gets Redemption! 49-46 (?)



















Wow!! What a game!!
Raider Basketball was on FIRE last night! Raiders led the entire game- sometimes the Vipers would get close, but then our guys would pick up the pace and go a little further ahead.

I don't know much about basketball, but it was fun and entertaining to watch. Our Home Crowd was great, and it was a little dissappointing that the Vipers didn't bring a better crowd.

3 Baby Showers Down- 2 more to go!

















With the chaos of football season, then basketball, then THanksgiving and then Christmas, we decided to postpone any baby showers until after everything settled down. Taylor Elrod and Julie Cooper did a fantastic job at planning baby showers for 3 of our wives! I love it when we are able to get together!!
One of the Rouse Teachers is a WONDERFUL baker and she made the cupcakes for our party. I can honestly say that they were the BEST cupcakes I have ever tasted and they were beautiful! They even had glitter on them.
Lindsay's little one, Bennett, was a little sick, so he stayed home, but Mandy brought Reese and Melissa brought Grayson.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Rival Team?

Rival Teams....
Every team in every sport has one and those make some of the best games. I lived in a town that 2 of the schools has a bitter, hatred towards one another- it was such an unhealthy rivalry between the two schools, that it was almost immature and the main issue was the parents, not the students!

What is a Sports Rival by definition?
an intense competition between athletic teams or athletes. The pressure of competition is felt by players, coaches and management, but it perhaps felt strongest by the fans.The intensity of the rivalry varies from a friendly competition on one end to serious violence on the other that, in one case (the Football War), was suggested to have led to military conflict. Team owners typically encourage rivalries as they tend to improve game attendance and television ratings for rivalry matches, but a rivalry that gets out of control can lead to fighting, hooliganism, and rioting. Often the topic of sports rivalries is as heated and controversial as politics and religion.

Some of the biggest Rivalries in High School Football are:
1) Odessa Permian and Odessa High School
2) Euless Trinity and Southlake Carroll
3) Rider High School and Wichita Falls High School

(this list will grow as you guys comment)


Here are my picks for who will be rivals in our District

1)Rouse vs. Vandergrift-This might be the obvious rivalry in our district seeing that we are both going to be a 3 year program and with the only teams playing a Varsity Schedule with Sophomores and Juniors, we are the most evenly matched. We played 2 really great games against each other this year, each winning a game. The next time we meet again, it very well could be for a playoff spot. I think that definitely makes us Rivals- and hungry ones at that.

2)Rouse vs. Cedar Park-This might not even cross your minds, but in my own head, this is going to be a definite rivalry team for the Raiders and the Timberwolves, and maybe not so much for the students as it will be for the Coaches of each School.
Raider Coaches: Josh Mann, Tony Cooper, Steve Walker, Darrell Knight and Cory Elrod have all coached with
Timberwolve Coaches: Chris Ross, Michael Quintero, Carl Abseck, Brent Brittain,
OH and lets not forget that our very own Paul Cochran will be coaching AGAINST his own father (Connie Cochran) in not only football, but baseball too!

Poor Miss Kathy, I would stay home- imagine having to cheer either FOR or AGAINST your own husband or son! Talk about a deli ma!

This might not be a HEATED rivalry, but there will be some intense feelings on the Field and in the stands as well!

3)Cedar Park and Lake Travis-
This, in my opinion will be heated. Cedar Park will try for redemption for this past year and Lake Travis will try to hold onto its winning streak. Cedar Parks linebacker, is the grandson of the Lake Travis Athletic Director and not to mention that Cedar Park is going to try and hang onto its District Title (even though they will be in a different district)

4)Rouse vs. Vista Ridge-
Battle of 1431 as we have nicknamed it
Vista is coming off a decent 2009 record and Rouse is hungry. Some of our players have brothers and sisters still at Vista and vice versa. I believe that we will be battling it out on the Field at the very last game of the season both going for the
3rd spot in District, the other getting 4th place.

5)Cedar Park vs. Vista Ridge-
Same issue- battle of Buttercup Creek maybe? Not sure, but I know this will be a great game. Vista fell to Cedar Park last year, but just barely and they had me scared that they would beat my Timberwolves. I was amazed at how Vista improved over the season and they can only get better. This is going to be a GREAT game and one that might be more evenly matched than it ever has before.


What are your thoughts? Go Vote on the Poll on who OUR major rival will be and leave some comments- you can do it anonymously if you prefer- but please be respectful- we have friends at all the schools!!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Official Schedule!!

2010 Rouse Raider Football Schedule
(I do not know the locations for Week 0-3 at this time)

Scrimmage- Harker Heights
Week 0- Liberty Hill

Week 1- Bryan Rudder -THIS happens to be my 30th Birthday and we will NOT lose this game- so get busy in the weight room and make me a happy 30 year old because Lord knows that will be the only thing that I look forward to that day:)

Week 2- Pflugerville Hendrickson

Week 3- Lampasas

Week 4-BYE WEEK! Pumped that we drew a bye week the week before starting District!

Week 5- Marble Falls (Bible)

Week 6- Cedar Park (Away)

Week 7- Dripping Springs (Bible)

Week 8- Lake Travis (Away)

Week 9- Vandergrift (Bible)

Week 10- Vista Ridge (Away)

ALL we have to do is beat 3 teams to make it to the Playoffs. How far can we make it?

Week 11- Bi District?
Week 12- Area?
Week 13- Regional?
Week 14- Quarterfinals?
Week 15- Semi-Finals?
Week 16- State Championship?

Raiders on News Channel 8

Josh just finished his first live tv interview!! Check out News Channel 8 tonight.

Here is the Link!!
I think my MANN looks pretty dang good!! LOL.

http://www.news8austin.com/shared/video/video_pop.asp?destlist=76497

Our District Opponents

District 25-4A, Region 4

Well, we are in a TOUGH district! But after the initial shock of it all, I am pretty excited!

We have an amazing group of hard working coaches that are willing and ready to take on this task. Josh has coached in one of the toughest districts in class 5a when we were at Cedar Park, so this is not new to him. We have some advantages where that is concerned, but we are also have some disadvantages to face

Some Upsides to being a Varsity Team
1- We will now be featured in Dave Campbells Magazine each year!
2- We are a part of a Real football program and our wins count!!

Now, Lets take a look at our District:

Lake Travis Cavaliers-
Colors Black and Red
http://www.ltcavalierfootball.com/

Well, what can we say? This is a team that has been a powerhouse in 4A for the last several years. They have pummeled almost every team that they have played in their last 46 games. They were State Champions in 2007, 2008 and again in 2009. They have been District Champs every year since 2004.

After 2 years with the Cavaliers, their Head Coach (Morris) leaves the program, excepting a job at the University of Tulsa as the Offensive Coordinator! The Cavaliers staying in house, by promoting Defensive Coordinator, Hank Carter as their Head Coach.

Josh went to school with Coach Carter's wife and we also are friends with one of their newest hires: Jarrett Lambert, who will be coming the LT from Odessa Permian! While we are excited that Jarrett, Amber and Kyle are now in the area- we were hoping to be able to cheer them on- not cheer against them! ha.. Either way, we are excited that they are hear and it will make this district even more fun for all of us!

This is going to be a tough team to beat, but if we work hard and set some goals, I think that it is do-able!

Cedar Park Timberwolves-
Colors: Green, Silver and Black
www.cedarparkfootball.org

Man, this is a hard team for me to talk about. As you know, Josh coached with their Head Coach for 8 years before heading to Rouse. Josh and I have a special place in our hearts from Cedar Park. For me, its going to be tough to just quit cheering for them! Its going to be fun thought! 4 of our Coaches have either coached with or played against 5 of Cedar Parks! And 3 of our Coaches Wives will, for the first time ever, be sitting on opposite sides of the stadium than Leslie, Audra, and Heidi!

In the 2009 football season, the Timberwolves were District Champions with wins over Leander, Vista Ridge, Georgetown and Round Rock: High, McNeil, Stony Point and their only district loss to Westwood by 3 pts. (CP just signed 3 Division 1 recruits this past week)

Its going to be tough to break through their huge Offensive Line, so our boys need to be hamming it up in the weight room!! (think Rockdale X's 10)

Dripping Springs Tigers
Colors: Maroon and Gold
http://www.dsisd.txed.net/index.aspx?NID=92

Dripping Springs had it tough last year. They were in Lake Travis's District and lost all of their District Games, but that isn't to say that they aren't a good team. With the exception of Lake Travis, Pflugerville Hendrickson and Killeen High, they played in every game. It is my opinion that we will match up well with them

Josh also has a friend that coaches for the Tigers, his name is Ben Reid and they, along with our very own Luke Harrison, played football at Angelo State.

Marble Falls Mustangs

Purple and Gold

http://marble.tx.schoolwebpages.com/education/components/sectionlist/default.php?sectiondetailid=11815&PHPSESSID=2fe88ce22f7f2eba2b9e8ebf1b722bdb

Marble Falls had a rough 2009 football season, they were in a district right along with Dripping Springs, playing that same tough schedule. They beat Dripping Springs and Pflugerville Hendrickson, but once again, they fared well against the other teams.

I think this might be the only school in our district that Josh doesn't have a good friend that coaches there!

Vista Ridge Rangers

Colors: Red and Black and Silver

www.vistaridgefootball.org

Vista Ridge has had the toughest of schedules of the 10 years that it has been open. Like us, they are a relatively new school, they have only been open since approximately 2002. They have a new head coach as of last year: Rodney Vincent, who is a WONDERFUL guy. He wife is equally as great and is a part of our Coaches Wives Bible Study Session.

They had it rough the last 2 years being in with Cedar Park and that group. BUT, as a spectator at some of their games- it should be stated that the Rangers were IN every game that they played last year, so they will only improve!

I think we will match up well with Vista and I am looking forward to playing them.

Vandergrift Vipers

Colors: Black and Silver (what is it with LISD and the Silver?:)

www.vandergriftvipers.com

Its official- us and Vandergrift are now Varsity Teams- together, in the same district. WE are both in the exact same boat as far as we are both new schools that haven't played in a true Varsity game yet. I wish I had more information on the Vipers, as far as this past season, but I couldn't find much. I will keep researching and get you updated!

Well, as you can tell, we have our work cut out for us! WE have to stay focused and come into each week prepared and ready to play- no slacking from the players- or the fans!!

Because we are in a 7 team district, we have to beat 3 teams and we can make it into the playoffs. That would be pretty big considering we are in Region 4. If we can make it out and stay strong, then we have a legitimate shot at going a few rounds deep.

But for now, we have to focus on the task at hand before we can start focusing on Playoffs!

Spring Ball is coming up quick and I am ready to see how you prove yourselves!!!


The 2010-2012 First Ever Rouse Raider District will be:

(Drum Roll Please:)

The 2010-2012 Rouse Raider Athletic Program will be in an 7 Team District with the following schools:

1.Rouse
2.Vandergrift
3.Lake Travis
4.Cedar Park
5.Vista Ridge
6.Dripping Springs
7.Marble Falls

Our Non District Games are as Follows
Week 0-Liberty Hill
Week 1-Bryan Rudder
Week 2- Pflugerville Hendrickson
Week 3- Lampasas


This is a big moment for all of in Athletics. We will be in a district with these 7 Schools for the next 2 years.
Come back in about 3 hours and I will have researched all these schools to tell you a little about their football programs, I will also list their websites and I will have revamped my own with each of our information on it!

This is a day that we have been waiting for since Josh first was named Head Coach at Rouse High School. There's no turning back for us now!!!

Its a Raider Christmas!!!

UIL Realignment Day!!!!

Today is the day we have been waiting 2 1/2 years for!! I have nicknamed it Raider Christmas, because, like Christmas, you wake up not knowing what you are going to get!

I will be facebooking, texting and blogging the results. If you are interesting in knowing right away, then tune into Fox Sports Southwest at 9am. It will be a 60 minute program that will feature all districts and classifications in Texas Football!!!!

Can't wait! 22 minutes left to know our fate!