WHAT’S CAUSING ALL THIS? | KC’s, Kilgore’s seasons don’t have to be defined by final losses

The most miserable things in the world to an eight-year-old boy are girls, square dancing, black olives on his pizza (I still feel that way), having to talk in front of people, and getting killed on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1,569 1/2.

But on Sunday afternoon, this was pretty miserable for Mitch: I was home, sitting with my laptop, because I didn’t go to Council Bluffs, Iowa. I had told Kilgore College football coach Willie Gooden that WHEN, not if, they beat Iowa Western, I would be headed up to Little Rock, Arkansas with them to watch the Rangers play whomever for the national championship on Dec. 13.

And then, 37 degrees, an 11-hour trip, a 47-7 score and three hours of misery later, and our trip to Little Rock was off. That’s how KC’s football season ended.

But that’s not how their 2023 season has to be remembered.

And it’s not how it should be remembered.

I was thinking about it, and it’s three hours. It was only three hours.

Gooden and those young men and all of his coaches started working MONTHS ago on this season, months. They started preparing for this season in spring. They took May, June and July off, technically, then came back together in August, and have been spending every waking hour since then, often probably more time than they wanted to spend together – losing sleep if I know coach Gooden as well as I think – and it is a disservice to think of this season only for how it ended.

They lost to Iowa Western, 47-7, in a road game that was below 40 degrees with some circumstances that were just out of the norm. Consider:

• A freakish hardly-ever-happens 95-yard touchdown run early in the game by IW running back Jonathan Hupal that gave the Reivers a two-touchdown lead (14-0).
• Starting quarterback Cam Peters, who played almost all the snaps of the season, didn’t play in the SWJCFC title game, and Tyler Webb played out of his mind in helping KC knock out Navarro. He was great in that game. Webb ran into a very good Iowa Western defense, though, in the NJCAA semifinal, a defense that had 55 sacks coming in, and at one point in the semifinal, he was smacked from behind for a sack, and lost the ball. I saw that hit – it reminded me of the hit on Joe Montana in the 1990 NFC Championship Game against the New York Giants when Montana was hurt, and lost the ball (Rolls Away Now Runs Away! Leonard Marshall Knocks Out Joe Montana 1990 NFC Championship Game). It was vicious. And the hit on Webb allowed the Reivers to go up 28-0.
• At another point in the game, a kickoff and out of bounds situation left the Rangers with the ball at their own 1-yard-line. That led to a safety.

It was just one thing after another, snowballing into the loss.

But the sun came up the next morning, and I checked, and it’s supposed to come up tomorrow morning, too, God willing and the creek don’t rise.

Did you know Willie Gooden was once a walk-on at Kilgore College?

He was.

I don’t want to see Willie ever get cut. And I wasn’t in the room when they’ve done any of his 956 knee surgeries (sorry, coach; I couldn’t resist). But I’m betting he bleeds Ranger blue.

He played for the Rangers when they went 12-0 in 2001, one of the greatest Kilgore College teams ever – one that beat Tyler three times (twice in the regular season and then again in the now-defunct Red River Bowl.

He’s been on both sides of the ball as an assistant coach, under Jimmy Rieves, then under J.J. Eckert, two of Kilgore College’s winningest head coaches, both of whom won Southwest Junior College Football Conference championships.

And now Willie himself has won the conference title – twice.

In five years, Gooden and his coaching staff have led the Rangers to a 37-14 record, two conference championships, is 9-1 against Tyler Junior College, has been ranked in the top 15 every single season he’s been head coach and spent all of this season in the top 10, was the conference coach of the year this season, and was one win away for playing for the national championship in 2023.

Along the way, Michael Phoenix and Aldyn Bradley, offensive lineman Caleb Leonard, defensive lineman Derek Burns, and linebackers Vincent Paige and Julian Payne have all been named first-team all-conference.

At one point, the Rangers put together six straight wins and had the number-one scoring offense in the nation (just over 42 points per game).

In addition, Peters, wide receiver Zeek Freeman, and defensive linemen Kajuan Robinson and Wilburn Smallwood were second-team all conference, and KC had several honorable mentions: offensive linemen William Boone, Brandon Uhlmann, Cam’Ron Lambert, Austin Yeager and JaDarlon Key; wide receiver Chris Marshall; running back Kaden Meredith; tight end Donovan Johnson; kicker Chris Baldazo; and long snapper Kiritapu Galeai.

And here’s one thing that won’t show up in the statistics.

A few weeks ago, I texted him on a Wednesday afternoon, really kind of short-notice, honestly, to ask him when practice began. I had no idea it was a night practice. I just wanted to come out and talk with the coach and tape some video, but I didn’t realize I was hitting him with the request at just a couple of hours before he’d need to do it.

As usual – as always – he was gracious, and when we showed up, not only did he spend time with us, he spent at least 9-10 minutes with us, answered all our questions, and went back to practicing with the team.

I remember when Willie was promoted to head coach of the Rangers, from assistant to head coach, and I talked with his mom that day.

One proud lady, one proud mom.

It was a crowded room. I looked around, and there was a lot of the usual suspects: myself and Jack Stallard, of course, the sports editor of the Longview News-Journal; Travis Martin (Travis is everywhere; this town doesn’t have an athletic event that Travis isn’t at, bless his heart); all the KC leadership; too many more to mention.

But Willie’s family was proud of him that day, they encircled him, and his Ranger family encircled him, too.

And I’d like to think that right now, after that loss at Iowa Western – and come to think of it, after Kilgore High School’s loss to Chapel Hill – we all huddle up. Not literally, LOL.

But we huddle up. Just when you see these guys out and about, instead of telling them what they could’ve done differently, tell ‘em what they did right.

Kilgore High School and Kilgore College football are institutions in this town. Both of them go back a long, long way, way longer than many of us have even been around. They’ve made a lot of people happy.

I know I fit into that department. And I’ll bet you do, too.

A lot more than black olives.