ONE FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS ...
Cats rewrite school records, raise bar for future teams

Photo/Jim Jackson

“We’ve really messed up a good job.”

That’s the joke making the rounds with Wildcat coaches, who know that football will never be the same in Whitehouse following the team’s history-making playoff run.

“We’ve raised the bar and the expectations of the football team. That’s a good thing,” said head coach Randy McFarlin. “I like winning, and hopefully our coaches like being in a situation where they’re expected to win.”

If the team’s turnaround from a 2-5 district squad last year to 6-1 area qualifiers in 2006 caught other coaches, fans and sportswriters off guard, they just weren’t paying close enough attention, said McFarlin.

“The previous year, we were so close,” McFarlin said. In a season marred with ineligibilities and forfeitures, McFarlin said the team could have – and should have – won three games that would have put them in contention for a playoff spot.

“Nobody else really saw that; no one realized that but our coaches and kids,” he said. “That’s why we surprised people, because they overlooked us the year before.”

In McFarlin’s version of the team’s “fair y-tale season,” Cinderella fully expected an invitation to be at the ball.

“We kept it lowkey at the beginning of the year, but we thought we had a shot to win district,” he said.

And making it to the third round of the playoffs?

“Yes. We expected that,” said McFarlin.

“Playof fs are a funny thing. You don’t really face anyone better than you’ve already played.

“We played quality teams in our district race each week,” he said. “In the playoffs, you keep going until basically you make the mistakes that cost you. Teams that play mistake-free win longer.”

Ultimately, that’s what tripped up the Wildcats in the area championship, he said. “We had to play at such a high level of mistakefree ball from September through November to win,” said McFarlin. “The kids can only go so long without mistakes.”

Now that the shock of the loss has subsided, it’s time to set back and enjoy the accomplishments, said McFarlin, whose team set a number of new school records this season.

“There were only 16 teams playing the last Saturday we played,” said McFarlin. “I don’t think they quite understand yet what they’ve accomplished.”

McFarlin is no stranger to this stage of winning. In fact, the thirdyear Wildcat coach broke his own personal string of playoff appearances -- 11 in a row -- when he came to Whitehouse.

“The playoff experience feels about the same, and the loss felt similar, too,” he said. “If it’s special, it’s in seeing the community get excited about something they hadn’t seen before.”

With all of McFarlin’s coaching experience, he said this team maybe the most closeknit he’s ever seen, and they showed their character after the early loss to Sulphur Springs.

“That was definitely a turning point in the season,” he said, adding

that the team might not have continued to win if they hadn’t lost that game. “It made our coaching staff make tough decisions.” Key personnel changes were made and the team traveled to Kilgore and won their first district game.

Wins over Jacksonville and Marshall followed. “That’s when the chemistry of our team was made,” said McFarlin. “We bonded together, and they really began to believe in themselves.”

Of course, winning brings a different set of problems.

“I don’t think the teams who usually call us to schedule preseason games want to be calling anymore,” said McFarlin with a smile.

FOR THE RECORD:

Most single-season wins in school history.

First time to win 10 games a season.

First time to reach third round (area) of playoffs.

Brady Attaway: single-season passing yardage, 2,005 (previous 1,326).

Attaway: Single-season completions, 183.

Attaway: Single-season TD passes, 16 (previous 11).

Seth Cashion: Most receptions for a single game, 10.

Luke Shivers: Career yardage (rushing, receiving), 4,676

Shivers: Most career touchdowns, 39.

Shivers: Career rushing yardage, 3,517.