El Paso Irvin can gain respect against Cooper?

By LANCE FLEMING / Staff Writer

The phone rang at the El Paso Irvin switchboard Monday and the operator picked it up and said, "Good morning, Irvin High School."

"Tony Shaw, please," the caller requested.

After a few seconds of silence, the operator came back on the line.

"And what does he do here, sir?" the operator asked.

Think anyone at Cooper or Abilene High or Odessa Permian or Midland Lee would have any trouble identifying the head football coach? No way.

But things are a little different in El Paso, and even the coach of the city's best team can't get any respect on his own campus.

So it's no wonder the Rockets don't get any respect across the state, even though they are 9-2, District 1-5A champions and are led by the state's most-coveted quarterback in Edmund Stansbury.

But Shaw understands that and accepts it as part of coaching football in El Paso, a city that has had very little success in the area round of the playoffs over the years.

"The only way to gain people's respect is to get it on the field," said Shaw, whose Rockets will play Cooper Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at Shotwell Stadium. "We might be the ones to do it. But until it's done, the respect is not deserved. It's something you earn."

The Rockets earned Cooper's respect last year when the Cougars used a Jamine Rozzell 60-yard fumble return in the final minute to escape with a 19-13 win. The game was tied, but Irvin was ahead in penetrations and needed only to run out the clock to advance to the regional semifinals against Flower Mound Marcus.

But it didn't happen for the Rockets, and it's a loss that still bothers Shaw.

"I haven't forgotten it at all," he said. "It's one of those things that happens with that oblong-shaped ball. Things just didn't bounce our way. We were already seeing the hole in the roof of Texas Stadium, and then we gave it away. They (the Cougars) killed our dream. So, yeah, it's been in the back of our minds."

To beat Cooper and finally get to Texas Stadium, the Rockets will rely on a wealth of experienced offensive skill players.

Aside from Stansbury - who has said to have narrowed his list of college choices to Texas and Syracuse Q the Rockets return running back Jason Flores, receivers Edgar Aguero, Richard Serrano and T.J. Baird and tight end Terry Nichols.

Stansbury has completed 110 of 207 passes for 1,837 yards and 23 touchdowns while throwing just seven interceptions. Flores has rushed for 1,216 yards and 18 touchdowns on 221 carries.

Aguero leads the Irvin receivers with 28 catches for 419 yards and one score, but Nichols has seven touchdowns, Baird has six on just 11 catches and Serrano has five TDs.

But everything the Rockets do offensively begins and ends with Stansbury.

"He makes good things happen for us," Shaw said. "We're never out of a game with him in there. Plus he's really matured this season. He's better at audibling to another play and reading secondaries. He's doing a lot of stuff at the line of scrimmage. He's the man for us."

The Rockets lost nine starters off last year's defense, including a dominating set of twins named Bradford and Stadford Glover, both of whom went to the University of Arizona.

Leading this year's defense are cornerbacks Baird and Rondu McMaster, defensive ends Jason Clark and Nichols, tackle Marco Ramirez and linebacker Mike Smith.

Shaw hopes all of those players finally add up to an appearance at Texas Stadium.

"Every once in a while a beautiful group of kids comes along that can compete with anybody," he said. "This may be the one."