The Crandall Pirates entered their bye week by beating district opponent North Forney 71-43. This put the Pirates’ overall record at 4-1 and 2-0 in district play.
For this week’s article I wanted to share a little about the Pirate program and the building blocks Coach Hardin has instilled in his program to make everyone successful. Coach Hardin enters his second season as the head coach of the Pirates. Last season Hardin laid the foundation for what we are seeing come to light in a great start to the season. The Pirates bought into what Hardin was selling and ran with it into the offseason.
The three building blocks for the Pirate program are Team Over Individual, Inside Over Outside and Longterm Over Short-term. One player that personifies all of these is 6’2’’ junior outside linebacker and tight-end Samuel Omosigho. Omosigho is a 3-star recruit currently and has offers from Maryland, Kansas, UTSA, Kansas State, Texas Tech, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Hawaii and Houston. In speaking with Sammy, I found that even with all the accolades he is a hard-working young man who is a Team Over Individual kind of guy. “I play both sides of the ball and try to contribute wherever I’m needed to make the team as best as possible.” Sammy has done just that this season with four hundred and eighty-seven yards receiving on twenty-six receptions scoring three touchdowns. He is also a destructive force on defense. In his last game Sammy forced two fumbles and took a pick six back to the house.
The up-tempo Hardin ran offense has been a hard pill to swallow for many defenses this season. Leading the way is senior quarterback Jamonte Gordon-West who has thrown for over 1,335 yards and sixteen touchdowns! West told me he lives by the mantra of “Work until you can’t no more”. This is evident in his work ethic and relationship with QB/Head Coach Hardin.
West is surrounded by an all-star cast of receivers in the speedy junior Luke Moffitt, 6’4” sophomore Josh Smith, junior Deondre Morgan and Samuel Omosigho. Moffitt is one of the top receivers in District 5A currently with five hundred and sixty-four yards on twentyfive receptions scoring eleven touchdowns! Luke is an IOO type of player. He has the heart of a warrior and is a very vocal leader and encourager for the team. Moffitt said, “Love bringing the energy to get my teammates pumped and putting in the extra work with my QB to learn the new routes each week with Coach Hardin.”
Add in two hardnosed running backs and you have an offensive coordinator’s dream team! Junior running back Chris Abron has been tearing it up this season with over six hundred and sixty yards rushing and thirteen touchdowns. Back up sophomore Andrew Anderson has seen more playing time recently allowing both backs to feed off each other. The two combined for two hundred and seventy-four yards rushing last game and five touchdowns! When asked about being a dynamic duo Abron said, “I love having my homeboy in the backfield with me! We help each other out and won’t miss a step.”
At the break the Pirate offense has scored a staggering two hundred and seventy-four points. That’s an average of 54.8 points a game. Plug in a Crandall defense that loves to cause turnovers and you have a winning formula.
In speaking with the players, it’s evident that they truly do love each other, their coaches and the community they represent. What I loved most was the good times they were having as we spoke and the smiles on their faces. It will be exciting to see what the Pirates do next!
Crandall will play old cross town rivals Forney tonight at City Bank Stadium.
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