Hawks continue to soar after 10 years

Oct. 6, 2006

By Jeremiah Bartz/ Frontiersman

HOUSTON - On Wednesday afternoon, Jared Barrett watched as the Houston High School football squad worked through a drill on the Houston High practice field.

Ten years ago, Barrett - then a senior at HHS and now the Hawks' defensive coordinator - was part of the first Houston football squad to ever practice on that field.

The Houston program has made tremendous strides since Barrett, fellow Hawks' assistant Craig Seime and about 30 other Houston student-athletes formed the first football team in school history. The path has been rocky at times - Houston was 0-6 during that first season and had to wait until the following year to feel the thrill of victory. But the battle that has sometimes been fought uphill, has led the team to success. This season, Houston was 48 minutes away from sole possession of its first conference title in school history. While the Hawks did have to settle for a piece of a three-way tie at the top of the Greatland Conference standings, Houston posted a team-record 4-1 mark in conference play and earned a trip to the small-school state playoffs for the third time in school history.

Saturday, Houston travels to Soldotna to face the Northern Lights Conference champion Stars.

The beginning

Barrett and Seime are two of the three

former Hawks coaching for their alma mater. Peter Clemens, a three-year starter at quarterback for Houston, is also on staff. Barrett and Seime led the Hawks into their first game as a program, and Clemens led Houston into its first postseason game in school history.

On Aug. 4, 1997, Barrett and Seime were two of 28 players who hit the practice field for the first time, wearing the Houston colors of black and red.

Aug. 4, a Monday, marked the first official day of practice for the 1997 season, and Houston wasted no time getting started. Houston High School celebrated the birth of Hawks football with a ‘Midnight Madness' celebration. At 12:01 a.m., Houston ran through drills for the first time.

&#8220I'd never hit anyone before,” Barrett said. &#8220I'd never seen how fast the game (is).”

Seime said the &#8220Midnight Madness” celebration added to the atmosphere the addition of football brought to HHS.

&#8220It brought a little more hype to Houston football,” Seime said. &#8220It got everybody a little more enthusiastic.”

The first Houston squad played a schedule made up primarily of junior varsity teams from surrounding schools. On Aug. 22, 1997, Houston took the field against the Colony High School junior varsity squad, marking the first official game in the history of the program. The game was scoreless for the first 46 minutes, but the CHS junior varsity scored 14 points in the final two minutes to claim the win.

Just two weeks into the 1998 campaign, the Hawks were able to score the first win in school history.

After opening the season with a 26-14 loss to Homer, Houston beat the Wasilla junior varsity 36-0.

The following week, on Aug. 29, 1998, Houston notched its first Greatland Conference win in program history, a 38-0 victory over Glennallen. Houston standout running back Jeff Nagel rushed for 221 yards and four touchdowns in the game.

Houston head coach Norm Bouchard, then an assistant with the Hawks, said the win over Glennallen was exciting because that was the first victory against an official varsity program.

The wins over the Wasilla junior varsity and Glennallen were part of a four-game winning streak. Houston finished 5-3.

Houston in the playoffs

Clemens was just a sophomore when he, Houston's quarterback, led the Hawks to their first postseason appearance in school history.

&#8220It was nerve-racking,” Clemens said. &#8220Being part of a young program, it's always exciting to be the first-ever of the school to do something.”

Clemens said he can feel some of that same nervous excitement as Houston's players are preparing for the first playoff game of their careers.

&#8220It's exciting,” Clemens said. &#8220We've got to make sure the guys know it doesn't happen every day.”

Some of the coaches are having similar feelings.

&#8220I've been a Hawk since 1997, and this is my first time in the playoffs,” Barrett said.

Houston faced the same program the Hawks will play Saturday in that first playoff game, and the rookies to the postseason actually put a scare into a powerful Soldotna team.

The Clemens-led Hawks took a 13-13 lead over the second-ranked Stars, with less than a minute left in the game. Nagel scored an 8-yard touchdown to give Houston the lead.

Soldotna would prevail, scoring a final touchdown. But Houston made an initial statement, that the small school from Valley had a promising future.

In his senior season, Clemens led the Hawks to the postseason once again. Clemens eclipsed the 1,000-yard passing mark in a 42-17 win over Anchorage Christian School, a victory that assured Houston of a postseason

berth.

Only four

In its 10 years, Houston has amazingly had only four starting quarterbacks at the varsity level.

Seime started as a sophomore, and lined up under center for the final three years of his career. After Seime graduated, Clemens took the torch, and the snaps, for another three seasons.

Taylor Richey was the only Houston quarterback with only one season at the position. After Clemens left, Richey - Clemens' favorite target in the Houston offense - was moved from receiver to quarterback.

Three years ago, Houston's current starter, Ryan Thamm took the position.

&#8220Almost everybody who has played quarterback here at Houston has been able to start at a fairly young age,” Clemens said. &#8220Players here get to start for two or three years. In a lot of the bigger programs, you don't get to do that.”

The return

When Bouchard took the reigns as head coach of the Houston program three years ago, he made it a priority to bring players from the past back to the program.

Despite playing just one season of organized football, when Barrett graduated from Houston, he actually had the opportunity to play at the collegiate level. Barrett, a middle linebacker, played for three seasons at Culver Stockton College in Canton, Mo.

&#8220I wasn't a smashing player down there. But I got to play the game some more, and I got to love the game some more,” Barrett said.

Barrett said Bouchard's brother, Fred, organized the first football camp at HHS, and Fred Bouchard helped Barrett earn a spot on the Culver Stockton roster.

It didn't take long for Barrett to become hooked on the game, and it quickly became part of his future plans. After leaving Houston Barrett decided, &#8220I'm going to teach P.E., and I'm going to coach football.”

Barrett didn't know where his career would taken him, but his journey led him right back to where he started.

&#8220I didn't think I'd be back at Houston. I had some other teaching opportunities down in the states,” Barrett said. &#8220I came back and Norm gave me a call one day. I was subbing around, and he asked if I wanted to be on the coaching staff.”

Barrett is a teacher at Houston Middle School now, and is also a wrestling coach at HHS. After football and wrestling season, he spends his afternoons in the Houston High weight room with his athletes.

On the field Bouchard has given Barrett most of the control of the Hawks' defense.

Obvious to even those who do not know Barrett personally is his fire and enthusiasm for the game.

&#8220He's a passionate guy,” Bouchard said. &#8220He has a lot of energy.”

Barrett's fire parallels the important traits he said he wants to instill in his players.

&#8220I want to teach these kids how to play the game right, how to play tough, and see what kind of men they are,” Barrett said. &#8220(I want to) teach them about adversity, how to deal with stuff when they're down, be good men, tough men out there.”

After graduating from Houston, Seime attended a technical school. Like he did with Barrett, Bouchard asked Seime three seasons ago to join the staff.

Seime said a key to having a few younger coaches helped the next generation of Hawks is their ability to relate to the new athletes. Plus players like Seime, Barrett and Clemens have been in the same situations the squad has worked through this season.

Clemens is continuing his college education at the University of Alaska Anchorage, with the goal of obtaining a degree in history. He wants to eventually teach, and continue coaching. Bouchard brought the former quarterback back to the program last season.

The future

Although it is not always a clear path for the Houston Hawks, the program continues to progress. The number of athletes entering the program continues to grow, and Houston's success on the field is earning notice from other students and even opposing coaches.

&#8220When Norm got the job here, I knew in a couple years they were going to be making a push for it,” Eielson head coach Dave DeVaughn said. &#8220They're pushing hard. They've got some good football players here.”

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.