Tough One! fall to Kirbyville

Alex Castillo makes a huge catch for the Jacks during last Friday's game against the Kirbyville Wildcats. To say the Jacks got off to a rough start to the 2008 Football season would be an understatement, but the Jacks found themselves in a situation of day and night as the team stepped up in the clutch.

The 2008 edition of the Jacks went into Kirbyville and a contest against a strong Class 2A squad that is amongst the best in Texas that ended in a tough 36-28 defeat.

The Jacks came out sluggish and they would suffer an over abundant number of penalties that really cost the boys from Diboll.

"We had a lot of penalties and we committed them," Diboll Head Coach Tom Sheppard said.

The Jacks had about 25 penalties to only a mere four were called on the Wildcats.

Sheppard was concerned with a problem tackling by the Jacks and he felt it was simply just to costly for the hometown team.

"We came out flat and we just didn't tackle well," Sheppard said.

Sheppard was however extremely proud of his team and the poise in which they showed during the contest. Most schools would have fallen apart down the stretch, especially against a team in Kirbyville that Sheppard strongly believes may win the 2A state championship.

Diboll Lumberjack Head Football Coach Tom Sheppard expresses his frustrations with the Official during Friday nights contest in Kirbyville. "That team was better than any team in 2A that we played at Tatum going all the way to the state championship last year," Sheppard said.

In the end the Jacks made a very impressive comeback that was really just put to an end by a lack of time remaining.

Diboll QB Jacolby Spencer hooked up with Trey Loche and William Tudman on a couple of touchdown receptions in the end of the contest to bring the Jacks within a score.

"A lot happened in the fourth quarter that defined our team this year," Sheppard said enthusiastically.

All in all Sheppard really was impressed with how his squad was able to come together and continue playing with a purpose.

"Kirbyville can't stop us from going all the way, they are just a bump in the road," Sheppard said.

Kenneth Curry makes a big break against the Kirbyville Wildcats defense in the Lumberjacks opening game of the season this past weekend. The Jacks came up short in the contest in 36-28 loss to the Wildcats. Diboll hits the road this Friday night against the Silsbee Tigers. As for some of the areas where the Jacks need to improve that will be addressed by the Jackc.

"We are going to fix those mistakes," Sheppard said.

Now the Jacks have the Silsbee Tigers on the radar and the Tigers are coming off a loss to Houston Davis.

For Silsbee the offense will look a lot different from that of Kirbyville's and this may allow the Jacks to open up their defense a little but more against the Tigers.

The Tigers seemed to have a few issues on their offensive line in their loss, and that could allow for the Jacks to make a whole lot of noise.

If the Jacks play like everyone witnessed late in the game against Kirbyville, well this weeks road trip may be a whole lot better on the ride home.

Game time is 7:30 pm in Silsbee.