Go Bears

I found this article online and it just hit too close to home not to repost. 

Regardless of what side of the stadium you sit on, I think we will all be cheering for the Bastrop Bears Friday night

 

After a week of tragedy, Bastrop football team is ready to play again –Kevin Robbins

SAN MARCOS — The coaches agreed to meet at the football game. They wanted to be with Stuart.

Stuart Pearson hadn't seen everyone for a week because the fire took his home. But the linebackers coach at Bastrop High came Friday night to Bobcat Stadium: in part to scout, in part to fellowship and in part to immerse himself in triggers — claps, shouts, whistles, songs — that mean so much, especially now.

Pearson settled into a chair to watch the San Marcos Rattlers play Hays. He was, at last, back in the game.

No one talked about the situation at home. Pearson and the 10 other coaches from Bastrop discussed formations and pulling guards and the good blocks they saw.

Pearson hadn't seen his players yet.

They were supposed to practice each afternoon after school. But there hadn't been school since the fires.

They were supposed to play Akins on this particular night. But the district canceled games in all sports.

The Bears were supposed to have a record of either 2-1 or 1-2. Instead, they remained 1-1. Like football just forgot them somehow.

School resumes Monday. Many roads through the forest, impassable last week, have opened or will soon. Life in the pines of Bastrop County will begin to resemble life in the pines before the fires, with this notable exception: There are fewer pines, and 1,400 fewer houses in them.

Football returns this week. San Marcos plays Thursday in Bastrop, which is why the coaches came to watch the San Marcos game with Hays, but not the whole reason.

Memorial Stadium in Bastrop holds 9,000. Pearson and the coaches can only imagine.

"It's going to be electric," said coach Brian Miller.

"I bet it'll be packed," said head coach Gerald Perry.

"I hope it's the tie that brings everybody together," Stuart Pearson said.

Everybody actually has been together for the past seven days in Bastrop County. The community has unified in ways shared only by communities that know the scope of catastrophe.

But sports can mend big community wounds. That's especially true for sports in high school. That's especially, especially true for football in high school in Texas.

"If our kids had a choice, we'd be playing tonight," Perry said.

The Bastrop Bears had a voluntary practice Thursday at the school. Before they stared, a player approached Miller, the co-offensive coordinator who also coaches slot receivers.

Will we practice hard tonight, coach?

"Not tonight," answered Miller. "Tonight's about being together."

At Bobcat Stadium, Bob Shelton, who retired last season as the coach at Hays, found Perry. He patted Perry on the shoulder and asked how he was holding up.

"It's tough," Perry said. "We've got 10 football players that have lost homes."

"You've got your lives," Shelton said.

The coaches stretched and nibbled cookies at halftime. They needled each other and had some laughs.

Pearson mentioned that he hadn't visited what remained of his house in a neighborhood called Tahitian Village. He'd been in Houston a lot, he said.

"You want to see a video?" asked Miller, who filmed a drive through Tahitian Village, where he encountered Pearson's house.

"Yeah," Pearson said.

"I've been holding out on it," Miller said. He wanted to make sure Pearson was ready.

Pearson motioned for the phone. He watched.

"That's my driveway.

"It burnt my windows.

"Whoa."

"Why didn't you see if there was anything in there?" Pearson asked.

"There's nothing in there, babe," Miller said gently.

It was such a nice night for football in Central Texas. Cool, windless. Hays beat San Marcos, but the Rattlers gave the Bears coaches plenty to think about. They took lots of notes.

Bastrop will be ready for Thursday night at Memorial Stadium. In so many ways.