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PHS coach takes blame for defeat
By Van Hilburn
Published November 10, 2009
Travis Smith says last week’s loss at Van Alstyne was one of the most disappointing ones since he’s been head coach at Paris High.
The Wildcats 28-21 loss left Van Alstyne with a perfect 10-0 record, 5-0 in District 10-3A, and the district championship.
It left a sour taste for the Wildcats, who had won nine consecutive district games until that one.
“I’m extremely disappointed in the loss,” said Smith. “We played the worst game of the year. They just flat out beat us and I’m taking the blame because I didn’t have them prepared.”
“Last year at this time we played (Van Alstyne) to win it. We were hungry because we had not won a title in so long. This year we played not to lose it. We didn’t have the fearlessness in our eyes,” Smith added.
As bad as the loss was, it may make Paris (6-4, 4-1) more focused entering Thursday’s Class 3A Division II bi-district game against Argyle (10-0, 5-0), which claimed the District 9-3A title by beating 29-14 on Friday. The Paris/Argyle winner advances to the area round to face the Kaufman/Lake Worth winner.
Celina (6-4, 3-2) faces Van Alstyne in another Division II contest at Little Elm on Friday.
Van Alstyne played a mistake-free contest in order to prevail against Paris. The Panthers also took advantage of two Wildcat mistakes to score touchdowns.
“We had too many penalties. We caused those penalties by jumping offsides. We just weren’t very sharp,” said Smith. “The coaching staff takes the blame in this one. We lost that one and we’re blaming ourselves.”
There were some bright spots, like sophomore receiver Tavarius Williams, who had four catches for 123 yards, including 36-yard touchdown catch.
Sophomore quarterback Corban Taylor was 8 of 23 passing for 140 yards and now has 1,641 yards, 79 shy of the season record.
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