DCTF Team to Watch: Pflugerville Weiss off to terrific start after 0-10 2018 season

Courtesy of Pflugerville Weiss

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Pflugerville Weiss coach Tommy Aultman knows exactly how the statement you’re about to read sounds.

Call it crazy. Call it blindly optimistic. Use whatever term you prefer. Just don’t call him wrong.

“We knew that our first year of varsity football without any seniors was going to be a struggle,” he said, “but we felt we had the talent to really compete in Year 2.”

After an 0-10 debut in 2018, the Wolves competed, and then some. Fresh off a hard-fought 17-16 win over Bastrop Cedar Creek, Weiss is 6-1 overall and 4-0 in the unpredictable District 13-5A-II.

“Maybe not to this degree, but I felt we could contend for a playoff spot,” Aultman continued.

In the Wolves’ brief existence, Aultman hasn’t asked too much of his team. Last year, knowing success may be hard to come by on the scoreboard, he asked the Wolves to focus on things that can build a program’s foundation.

“I was really pleased last year,” he said. “In that situation, you want to see your team compete, stay the course and prepare each week. I thought in nine of our 10 games last year, we did that really well.”

When the team reconvened for offseason workouts, Aultman could see that the 2018 experiences had hardened the players, motivating them to take the next step as 2019 approached.

“That set us up to think that Year 2 would be good,” Aultman said. “We’ve got the mentality that we want to be 1-0 every week no matter what, and the kids have carried a chip on their shoulder based on last year.”

The Wolves opened 2019 by earning the program’s first win and followed that up by dropping a 21-20 heartbreaker against Canyon Lake. They bounced back by shutting out Rouse, 25-0, before the bye.

“Rouse made some critical errors that gave us good field position, but we came away thinking that we left a lot there,” Aultman said. “When we got to the bye, I really saw a change in our kids. They owned the Canyon Lake loss, and we went to work. That set a tone for us, and I really thought we got a lot better in a hurry.”

Opponents won’t argue. They followed a 34-7 win over Bastrop with a 42-0 blanking of defending district champion Leander Glenn.

“If you had told me before that game that we’d beat them 42-0, I’d have told you no way,” Aultman said. “But that has propelled us. It showed us what we are capable of. It was a huge confidence booster.”

So was last week’s 17-16 struggle against Cedar Creek, a program on the upswing in its own right. But thanks to a bruising defense led by 6-foot, 240-pound defensive end Marcus Lyons and a versatile running attack featuring Tavian Cord, Devin Cross and Jaden Askew, the Wolves didn’t flinch.

“Our running game has been solid, but we knew last week was going to be a struggle,” Aultman said. “We ran our best play on the first play of the game and they stuffed it for a six-yard loss.”

The back and forth game hinged on some late drama. Weiss took a 17-14 lead on Oscar Jaramillo’s 40-yard field goal with 3 minutes left. After taking one safety that brought Cedar Creek within 17-16, the Wolves intercepted an Eagles’ pass at their own 2-yard line with just seconds remaining. On the ensuing shotgun snap, officials ruled that Cord got the ball out of the end zone before being swarmed, despite arguments to the contrary from the Cedar Creek side.

“(Cord) was definitely out of the end zone from our angle,” Aultman told the Austin American-Statesman immediately after the game. “If I’m on (Cedar Creek side), I’m gonna argue (for a safety).”

With three games remaining, the Wolves have all but locked up a playoff spot. While that may have been the goal coming into the season, bolstered by their successes, Weiss has its sights set a little higher now.

“We told the kids a week ago that we believe we have three of our toughest games in the final four weeks of the season,” Aultman said. “We are going to be in some playoff-type tests, which will help us get ready, but if we can take care of business, we could be playing for a district title in our last game [against Brenham, also 6-1, 4-0]. You can’t ask for much more than that.”

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