Clear Springs Righting the Ship

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Clear Springs Clicks for Win No. 2

By Ahmard Vital

@ahmardvital

After the first quarter of the Clear Springs/ Eisenhower, it looked as though it could have gone either way. But a couple of defensive breakdowns here and there by Eisenhower and a some long passes completed by Springs contributed to a 49-32 Springs win a Veterans Stadium in League City.

“I think we saw the shift in the second quarter. When we ran the trick play, that ball stayed in the air for a while, and that was a big play,” Hartman said.

One thing stood out for Hartman was the play of quarterback Zach Cripps, who seemed like he put on a clinic Thursday night.

“We knew he was a special player, and we have been saying that for a while. It is hard for a quarterback, in the state of Texas in a competitive area like the city of Houston (most highly recruited area) and play quarterback as a sophomore,” Hartman said. “As a junior, things start slowing down a bit,”

And according to Hartman, the noise from the outside about his quarterback has been pretty loud, and constant. The fact that he hadn’t won a game, as a starter was one of the criticisms faced by the junior prospect, but after a win over La Porte, some of that calmed down.

Either way, Hartman has stood by the fact that Cripps is his guy. And even within that, Cripps does not have to go at this alone. All of those passes tossed out had a receiver on the other end and Devin Armstrong, Byron Jones and the versatile Matt Guidry were all in the end zone and making a number of plays.

Recently, Hartman said that Cripps, who completed 70 percent of his passes, tossing out four touchdowns with 326 passing yards, has been much more happy overall and that has led to much better play.

“I seen him smiling at practice and having fun playing the game. That and we have less missed assignments as a team, has helped overall,” Hartman said.