PORT ARTHUR, Texas — Coming off a nine win season, Port Arthur Memorial is entering this fall as the district favorite with a top twenty state ranking, but Coach Brian Morgan is ignoring the hype.
"You know I don't know if the kids ever mentioned it amongst themselves. We hadn't talked about it a bit. We kind of have something that we talk about as far as just climbing the mountain and there's a mountain we're trying to get at the end of the season. Even this week against Nederland, we're just walking to the mountain right now. We're not even on the way up. So each week we're trying to get up there and trying to understand whether it's West Brook, Nederland, Lancaster, Barbers Hill, Crosby. None of those really have a bearing on where we're trying to get to, they're just preparing us for that journey."
The Titans have nearly thirty returning letterman including seven starters on both sides of the ball.
"Overall just experience at a bunch of different positions. You don't look at one position and think this is a weak position. This is young. Really there's probably two sophomores at most that are going to start for us. Both of them are really talented kids. So we've got a senior heavy team."
Last season memorial was left scrambling for a week one game when their opponent had to pull out due to COVID restrictions. So far there are no changes being made to the schedule.
"Yeah it's kind of funny I was just thinking about that. Do we need to have a district meeting to come up with alternative plans. Last season we had open weeks built in and so and so. What happens if you get a bunch of guys out? We've had some already. So how does that affect you going forward? Is it going to affect you at all? Are you just going to roll the dice and play? I'm glad to at least have a schedule. We're not waiting another for weeks to play. And hopefully we can tee it up in a couple weeks against Lancaster.
PORT ARTHUR MEMORIAL TITANS
Last Year: (9-1, 7-0)
Playoffs: Bi-District (Hightower, L 41-34)
Players to Watch: QB Jah'mar Sanders, DE Christian Thomas, DB Jaylon Guilbeau, OL Cayden Bowie, RB Adrian Hayward, LB Jayden Fisher
2021 SCHEDULE
Aug. 27 | vs Lancaster (at Prairie View A&M) | 7:00 pm
Sept. 3 | vs Barbers Hill | 7:00 pm
Sept. 10 | at Crosby | 7:00 pm
Sept. 24 | vs La Porte* | 7:00 pm
Oct. 1 | at Goose Creek Memorial* | 7:00 pm
Oct. 8 | vs Galveston Ball* | 7:00 pm
Oct. 15 | vs Beaumont United* | 7:00 pm
Oct. 21 | at Baytown Lee* | 7:00 pm
Oct. 29 | vs Baytown Sterling* | 7:00 pm
Nov. 5 | at Friendswood* | 7:00 pm
(*) District