Willie Bans says: Rough start makes Braves appreciate their turnaround

Before sharpening pencils in preparation for a sketch of the Iraan Braves at this point, on the brink of an outright District 8-1A title, it is worth comparing the early parts of this season and last’s.

Iraan started the 2008 season considered among the best Class 1A teams in the state and backed it up with an undefeated regular season, earning a No. 2 ranking in the Associated Press poll along the way. The Braves’ run ended in the Division II quarterfinals with a 55-15 loss to Stratford and a 13-1 record.

The Braves embarked this year with two returning offensive starters, six on defense; little preseason hype; a new defensive coordinator for a unit that was so dominating last year (Stratford was the only team to score more than 19 points); and a change from the flex bone offense to the spread.

Two games in, Iraan’s new starters struggled and both sides of the ball did not click. The Braves allowed 251 rushing yards in a 20-13 season-opening loss to Mason, followed by a 41-20 loss at Ozona.

There are lower places than 0-2. This felt pretty low, though.

“We hate to lose,” said senior defensive back Dakota Green, the team’s third-leading tackler last year and so far this season. “When we were 0-2, our locker room, it was bad. I know a lot of us still had confidence. And when we changed offenses, our confidence came back up. I don’t think we lost it completely. We picked it back up.”

Like Green said, the Braves reversed course after the two losses and went from the spread to the flex bone.

And it’s not like it was the obvious move, switching to what worked last year. In fact, most of head coach John Fellows’ job early this season involved mixing and matching, realizing what parts of 2008 he could blend into ‘09.

It took patience and flexibility and a willingness to shun stubbornness and flip the pencil around to use the eraser.

Not all coaches could do that. Fellows did.

“Any time you have such a successful year and you come back, you see things that were working for you in years past but you may not have those type of kids the next year,” Fellows said. “It took a while for us to see what we were as a team.”

The Monday practice after the Ozona loss, with the flex bone back — the offense players used since seventh grade — and the spread out, the Braves started to see.

And they started to win.

The offense showed life in a 45-7 victory over Eldorado following the Ozona game, and it never died. Iraan (7-2 overall, 3-0 district) has averaged 41.5 points in its seven-game winning streak.

And the defense, the unit that allowed opponents to average 159.7 yards through the regular season last year?

It is just as good. Through nine games, the Braves have allowed 157.8 yards per game.

With Green and linebackers J.D. Tankersley and Carlos Rodriguez, the top tacklers on the team, the defense gets it done in similar way — the 3-3 stack — but with a different style.

Mistakes still happen, but they are not dwelled on.

Turnovers are created, too, and those are celebrated maybe a little more compared to years past.

“I’m not gonna say it’s been greater, but in a way it seems more fun,” Green said. “I’m not saying the other defense (last year) was uptight. This defense is kind of loose; we play loose.”

And if identities changed, if the colors of this sketch are different from previous teams, then so be it. They must, really. The fact is last year’s team did not begin 0-2.

For the 2009 Braves, the humbling start added texture, even if the losses were unattractive in the beginning.

“This year we know what it’s like to lose.” senior offensive tackle Dillon Dees said. “We know how hard we have to fight in order to not be in that position. Last year, we never lost and never knew what it felt like until the 14th game of the season.”

Though Iraan is not overlooking Marfa in the regular-season finale Friday, it is already practicing with the playoffs in mind.

The goal is the same as last year, Fellows said: a state championship.

This is just a sketch for now. There are still storylines to fill in.