Cayuga ranked No. 1 in Texas Football

By SCOTT TYLER
The Palestine Herald

PALESTINE June 27, 2009 10:45 pm

— During a run to the Class A-Division II state championship game, the Cayuga Wildcats started to get a target on their backs.
After the release of the 2009 Dave Campbell Texas Football Magazine, that target has doubled in size.
Cayuga has been ranked the No. 1 team in the Texas Football Class A preseason poll, which makes the Wildcats a target for everyone they face this year.
“When you are the No. 1 team, everyone is shooting to knock you down,” Cayuga head coach Tommy Allison said. “That is just the nature of the beast.”
While Allison calls it an honor to be ranked No. 1 by Texas Football, he also said it will not affect his team.
“The rankings are more for the media and the people who read that kind of stuff,” Allison said. “It is not something we try to look at. We are going to continue to go out and work hard.”
Cayuga is one of three District 20-A to crack Texas Football’s Top 25 — Alto is ranked No. 6 and Grapeland is ranked No. 25.
After reaching the state championship game against Stratford in December and having key players returning, Allison felt like the Wildcats would get a top five ranking, but no the top spot.
“With the run we had last year, we expected for our team to be ranked high, but we were not really thinking No. 1,” the Cayuga head coach said. “It is nice for our program to get that kind of respect, but with it comes the pressure and a lot of exceptions on our team.”
Being ranked at the top of a poll is not new for many of the Cayuga players. Last year’s basketball team was ranked No. 1 to start the season and kept the ranking throughout the regular season.
With the experience Cayuga has coming back to the football field, the No. 1 ranking should not be a distraction.
“For most of the players, this is the third or fourth year on varsity so they have matured,” Allison said. “We are not going to make a whole lot of it as a team.”