One of the top stories of the 2009 high school football season in the San Antonio area has to be the rapid ascent of the Brandeis Broncos.
Playing in only its second season, Brandeis finished runner-up to District 28-5A champion Clark and takes a 10-1 record into a Division II second-round playoff game against Pflugerville at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Alamodome.
Guided by former Jay head coach John Campbell, the Broncos have reeled off an eight-game winning streak since losing to Clark 33-14 in the their third game of the season.
Pflugerville (7-4) looked strong in a 10-3 victory over 26-5A champ Reagan last week, but the Broncos could prove to be a tougher matchup for the Panthers.
Led by senior running back Noah Copeland, senior linebacker Cody Rogers and junior free safety Roddy Reyna, Brandeis has won because it hasn’t gotten caught up in its impressive story.
Credit Campbell, who spent one season as head coach at Katy Taylor before returning to the Northside Independent School District last year, and his staff for doing a masterful job of keeping the Broncos focused.
“When we sat down at the start of the year, we thought we were sitting on a playoff-caliber team,” Campbell said Friday. “We didn’t know our potential, but we thought we could be competitive and would have a chance to be in every game.
“Our goal was to make sure we made noticeable improvement every day. That’s probably the hardest part because we don’t have a reference point. Each win is a milestone.”
Brandeis, located at 13011 Kyle Seale Parkway, drew students from O’Connor, Clark and Marshall when it opened last fall.
Campbell’s familiarity with the Northside ISD – he’s a 1990 Jay graduate who played linebacker for the Mustangs – made him a leading candidate for the Brandeis job from the get-go. He joined Larry Pullin’s staff at Jay in 1997, and was promoted to defensive coordinator three years later.
Campbell was named the Mustangs’ head coach in 2004 after Pullin retired. He has a 41-23 career record and is 14-7 at Brandeis, which finished 4-6 in its first season last year.
“We started with a pretty good foundation because we got kids from three proud communities,” Campbell said, citing the stability of the Clark, Marshall and O’Connor programs. “They were willing to work hard and even though they were young, came in with a sense of urgency.”
Copeland is the only player on the Broncos’ roster who was a varsity starter at another school before enrolling at Brandeis, playing in the Clark secondary as a sophomore in 2007.
Copeland has rushed for 1,769 yards on 229 carries and 26 touchdowns this season. He averages 7.72 yards per carry.
“I can’t ever do him justice when I talk to the media about him,” Campbell said. “Noah is what high school football is all about. He was one of our better athletes when we started. We wanted him to touch the ball as much as possible, so we moved him to running back.
“Probably the best thing about Noah is that he’s a smart kid. He also has great character. He probably has shown the most improvement from week to week of any player on our team. He’s been phenomenal.”
Juniors Kyle Sewell and Michael Barrientos, each of whom has passed for six TDs, share the quarterbacking duties. Sewell has thrown for 638 yards and Barrientos has 338 passing yards.
“They both have their strengths and they’re both unselfish,” Campbell said. “Our philosophy is that the game is not going to be won or lost by what our quarterbacks do. We try to win with a good, solid running game, a sound, fundamental defense and a good kicking game. That recipe has worked for us.”
Rogers and Reyna anchor the Broncos’ defense. Reyna has blocked four punts and has five interceptions, and Rogers has blocked three punts.
“Cody has really, really come on,” Campbell said. “He’s been outstanding this season, He’s your prototypical linebacker. He really enjoys the game. Roddy is a good leader for us, too.”
Brandeis has won because it has talented, disciplined players and coaches who put them in a position to succeed. But maybe another good thing the Broncos have going for them is that they’re too inexperienced to even consider that second-year programs aren’t supposed to be in the second round of the playoffs.
“I don’t know how they’re going to react when they play in the Alamodome,” Campbell said, looking ahead to Saturday’s game against Pflugerville. “It’s so important to concentrate on the task at hand, and not on the history we’re making.”
So far, the Broncos have done just fine in that area.
