Simply stout: Angelo State football's defense paves way to second round of playoffs
The Angelo State football team came to this season with a big to-do list on defense.
The Rams lost three all-conference linebackers, two all-conference safeties and generally were hit hard by graduation.
What didn’t graduate was their tradition, their system and the belief in it. Those departed players left a lot behind and here is the upshot.
More:NCAA Division II football bracket
Angelo State heads to the second round of the Division II playoffs against Bemidji State with an 11-0 record and a defense that matches the team’s No. 2 national ranking.
A superb Angelo State defense got better this year.
“After last season we graduated a lot of really good leadership, seniors off that defense,” coach Jeff Girsch said. “But the biggest thing is we built a bunch of depth and those kids had opportunities to learn from some really good football players from last year, both on the field and off the field — the leadership in the weight room, the locker room, those type things.
“We knew we had great talent this year, we had to see if it would work as hard as we wanted it to to get to where we’re at.
“It did.”
Replacing stars
So how did replacing three all-conference linebackers go? The Rams replaced them with three more first-team all-conference linebackers in Daron Allman, Micah Flores and Eric Rascoe.
The other two units produced Lone Star Conference position players of the year — defensive lineman Western Bauer and defensive back Andrew Pitts.
Add in safety K’Hari Watson and seven of the 11 starters were first-team all-conference. Two more were second team.
All of that was a sign of respect for what Angelo State accomplished as a team on defense.
“The neat thing about them, you look at our numbers, we don’t have just huge stats,” Girsch said. “These guys play together, they play to the system well, they are the best team defense I’ve ever seen.
“That goes back to the leadership of it. (Defensive coordinator) Adam Clark has built exactly what he’s wanted from the start.”
That began to show this year at the earliest stages of the season. Angelo State opened with a shutout of Chadron State, then went to No. 12 Colorado School of Mines (currently the No. 3 offense in the country) and held it to 273 yards in an overtime win.
“We had some games early in the season where our kids played really well,” Girsch said. “We were waiting to see, ‘OK, next week we’re playing someone who might be a little better.’
“But the numbers stayed consistent. We kept teams down running the football. We held a really good Colorado School of Mines team in Week 2 to one of their lowest outputs in offense in three or four years.
“Our kids felt comfortable in the schemes we were doing. As the year went on we almost got used to that happening and that’s not good, you don’t want to rely on that every single time. But we got used to it because they were so consistent in keeping people down.”
Ready for the playoffs
Befitting of the second round of the playoffs that just gets harder. Bemidji State is No. 6 in the nation in total offense while quarterback Brandon Alt is third nationally in passing yards (307 a game).
“We’re going to have to keep their quarterback under wraps, he’s a great player,” Girsch said. “They have great receivers. It’s kind of strength on strength. They are one of the top offenses in the country, we’re one of the top defenses.
“I’m excited for our kids to get a chance to go out and show what they are about. They are going to take a lot of pride, a lot of ownership to the game on defense against a talented offense. It should be exciting to watch on that side of the ball.”
Whenever the Angelo State defense takes the field excitement is close behind.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at 915-546-6359; bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.
Bemidji State at No. 2 Angelo State
What: An NCAA Division II second-round playoff game
When, where: 1 p.m. Saturday, LeGrand Stadium
Records: Angelo State is 11-0; Bemidji State is 10-2
Stakes: Winner plays Colorado School of Mines or Minnesota State for regional championship
Tickets: $12 and $10; $5 for students
Radio: 101.9 KWFR-FM
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Angelo State defense paves way to second round of playoffs
