While most of the other Orange County football teams begin play this week, the Orangefield Bobcats will have to wait another week to host the LCM Bears. That’s because the Bobcats got a little more from Harvey, than the other schools.
After Tropical Storm Harvey, the Bobcats will have a football season of seven games, unless they make the playoffs. And going to the playoffs will be more difficult than ever because the team has missed two weeks of practice.
Coach Josh Smalley said the break gave “our kids time to first clean out their homes, clean out grandma’s home, clean out aunt and uncle’s home.”
Many of the players and a couple of coaches had houses that flooded. Smalley can empathize and understand the situation. His home flooded during Hurricane Ike in 2008 and at the time, he was an assistant coach-teacher in Bridge City.
He learned then that it’s good for students to go back to practice or school to see their friends. “They just hug on each other and tell jokes to each other,” he said.
The team went back to practice this past Monday. Not everything was the same. The team’s field house had a couple of inches of water. A few things on the ground were wet, but most is being saved.
However, like all flooded buildings across the county, the field house has to be stripped and cleaned. The high school team is using the junior high locker room.
Smalley said the high school gym didn’t flood and the volleyball team has been back.
He has learned that “adversity will sometimes pull out the best in people.” Now, the Bobcats will see how long the season will last.
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