After losing 43 lettermen, including 14 starters, from last year’s regional finalist to graduation, Reagan High School was expected to finish in the bottom half of the District 26-5A football standings this season.
You know where this is going, right?
Picked behind Madison, Smithson Valley, Roosevelt and MacArthur in a preseason poll of 26-5A head coaches, the Rattlers beat three of the four projected front-runners en route to winning their second consecutive district title and making the playoffs for the fourth year in a row.
“It’s gratifying because we had so many questions coming into the season,” Reagan head coach David Wetzel said Thursday. “But the kids worked hard to improve and they stuck together when we had a few bumps at the beginning of the season.”
The Rattlers’ strong finish in the regular season was in stark contrast to their shaky start, when they lost two of their first three games, including a 17-12 heartbreaker to Smithson Valley in their district opener. Reagan led 12-11 until the Rangers scored the winning touchdown with 44 seconds left.
“We hate to lose, especially to Smithson Valley, but I think that loss was beneficial,” said senior guard Chad Rocheleau, one of four team captains. “It brought us together and made us realize we had to work a lot harder.”
Reagan (8-2) will put a seven-game winning streak on the line when it plays Pflugerville (6-4) in the Class 5A Division II bidistrict playoffs at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Comlander Stadium.
The Reagan-Pflugerville winner meets the Brandeis-East Central survivor.
After riding the legs of prolific running back Marcus Wright to the Region IV finals in 2006 and 2007, the Rattlers were expected to drop back into the pack after he graduated last year. All Reagan did without Wright was win its first district title since the school’s first varsity season in 2000, and advance to the regional finals again.
Wetzel, who is 48-24 in six seasons as the Rattlers’ head coach and 97-53 during a 13-year career, has been the common denominator in Reagan’s success.
“Coach Wetzel is consistent,” Rocheleau said. “He’s our rock.”
Born in Gatesville, Wetzel was a junior wide receiver and defensive back on Goldthwaite’s Class A state-championship team in 1985. He went on to play wide receiver for Grant Teaff at Baylor, lettering in 1990 and 1991.
A nice guy whose friendly nature belies his competitive ferocity, Wetzel has done a masterful job of getting his players to buy into a blue-collar work ethic that’s become a source of pride for the Rattlers.
“We’ve seen it evolve,” said Wetzel, 40. “I always tell the kids to bring their lunch pails and hard hats because we’re going to work hard every day. I believe we have a blue-collar mentality in a white-collar community. It’s hard to define, but I think it comes down to expectations.
“Whether it’s academics or athletics, our parents are involved in our students’ lives. Most of them want teachers and coaches to push their kids, and push them hard. We practice our kids hard and they respond with that blue-collar attitude. They’re not afraid to work hard.”
Senior strong safety Kyle Davis said it doesn’t take long for Reagan opponents to discover the Rattlers thrive on playing physical football.
“I think we’re known to be a spoon-fed school with rich white kids,” Davis said. “But we hit the other team first. You hit them in the mouth, so to speak. That’s the attitude we have.”
Said Wetzel: “We even want our smaller players, like our wide receivers, to be physical.”
Offensive tackle Armani Brumfield, also a captain, and Rocheleau said the Rattlers worked out on their own consistently throughout the summer, meeting at school at 6:50 a.m.
“We basically go hard in everything we do,’ Brumfield said. “It’s part of our mentality. That’s what drives us.
While the Rattlers’ motivation to succeed starts at home, Wetzel sets the tone for the football program with his passion to work with high school kids and his commitment to set a good example as a mentor.
“David does everything well, but what makes him a good person and a good coach is that he’s genuine,” East Central head football coach Robert Walker said. “Kids can see through somebody who isn’t genuine right away, but I guarantee you David is genuine.
“Besides having a passion for kids, he’s knows his X’s and O’s. And I don’t say that lightly. He’s a student of the game. I see him at all the lectures at clinics. If you ever wanted anybody you couldn’t say anything bad about, David’s that guy.”
Wetzel was secondary coach on Walker’s staff at Killeen Ellison for two years (1995-96) before taking his first head-coaching job at Hyde Park Baptist in Austin. He left Hyde Park after three seasons to become head coach at Killeen High, where he worked for four seasons.
Wetzel succeeded Irl Kincaid at Reagan in February 2004, going 3-7 and 6-4 his first two seasons. The Rattlers are 39-13 since then.
“What I think is great about Coach Wetzel is that he never puts you down when you make a mistake,” said starting quarterback Trevor Knight, who has been outstanding as a sophomore this season. “He’s always trying to lift you.”
Reagan secondary coach David Winbush, who played running back at Killeen Ellison when Wetzel coached at the school, said the bond between Wetzel and his players is grounded in trust and respect.
“Coach Wetzel values the lessons you get from hard work and what you learn about life when you play football,” Winbush said. “The players know he cares about them on and off the field. If he asked them to run through a wall, they wouldn’t ask why. They would ask him how he wanted it done.”
That says it all.
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