AUSTIN – Every now and then, a family comes into a school district and produces a number of standout athletes. But the kids usually come in waves. Yoakum got two of them at the same times in twins Joshua and Jordan Moore, who have helped power the Bulldogs.
Yoakum will need them this week against Goliad.
“They’re obviously great players,” Yoakum (12-1) coach Bo Robinson said. “It’s great having one, but you love having two.”
The Moore twins project as defensive backs at the collegiate level (Joshua is going to Nebraska, Jordan to Texas A&M). They lead a hard-hitting secondary that’s allowed 15.9 points per game.
Like many great athletes at small schools, they play both ways and are Yoakum’s two leading receivers with a combined 49 of the team’s 58 receptions. Jordan has 26 catches for 700 yards and nine touchdowns. Joshua has 23 catches for 330 yards and six touchdowns.
Jordan recently took on another hat when senior running back/defensive end Henry Enoch suffered injury before the playoffs. This opened the door for Jordan to show what he could do as a ball carrier, and the future Aggie did not disappoint. In three postseason wins, he’s had 588 yards and seven touchdowns,
Enoch will be back on Saturday, but primarily playing defensive end, which is his stronger position.
Robinson said along with the Moore twins, he has two or three more Division I caliber players in 6-foot-5, 300-pound SMU commit Silas Robinson, senior cornerback Isaac Pope and Enoch. That’s a lot of next-level talent for a 3A school, but Robinson knows the team on the other end has a lot of talent as well.
“(Yoakum) is really good,” Robinson said. “Our strength is we’re great, big and strong up front. We’ve got a really good offensive and defensive line and they do too. On the backend, we’re very athletic. I think we may be a little more talented than them on the backend but they look a lot like we do. They’re very similar to the type of team we have.
“They’re been playing well and obviously anybody that’s still playing is playing well, and they’re going to be a great test for us.”
Robinson played defensive back at the University of Texas from 1989-92 and is the son of Texas High School Coaches Hall of Honor member Wendell Robinson. Bo is in his third year at Yoakum and 21st season overall. He had a pair of nine-year stints at Bangs and La Vernia, accumulating a 158-68 record with three state championship appearances. Every where he’s been, his team’s have had a reputation of being tough.
“If you’re in this business you learn that a lot of kids act the way their parents do,” Robinson said. “They’re a product of their raising, right? And you’re team is usually going to take on your personality. If you act like you’re tough, if you can fool them, let them think you’re tough, they’re going to be tough too.”
Goliad has a fearsome bunch led by junior running back/defensive end Logan Bland, who’s rushed for 1,531 yards and 31 touchdowns.
He also leads the defense in tackles for a loss (23) and sacks (five).
“He’s the real deal,” Goliad coach Bobby Nicholson said. “Some kids, in high school especially, they like offense and they just play defense. Or they love defense, and they just play offense. They like playing one side of the ball more than the other, but heck, I’m trying to sell him to college as a running back or a defensive end. He’s a real quiet kid and just leads by example, but when we want our offense to take over we put it in his hands and he kind of takes the bull by the horns and goes at it.
“So it’s awesome to coach that, and that’s kind of the resemblance of this team. There’s a lot of them like him. They just go to work, don’t say a whole lot, so that’s a good thing.”
Goliad lost its season-opener to Class 2A-power Refugio (35-28) and has won every game since by at least 26 points.
The Tigers’ season ended last year at the hands Yoakum in the regional semifinals. But that was with an inexperienced team which returned only two varsity players from the year before. This year’s bunch should be more prepared for a game of this magnitude.
“We ended up coming back and should’ve beat them, but they beat us 23-21, and so just walking off that field, with them knowing (that), that’s the only momentum that they needed because they (have) been looking forward to this for 365 days,” Nicholson said. “So it’s kind of good when something like that happens early because we kind of set the tone with that and then here we are again one round later, but we’re still meeting up with them again, so we’re looking forward to the matchup.”
Saturday’s Class 3A Div. I Regional Final is at Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium at 6 p.m. in Austin.
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