Published: November 20, 2007 11:53 pm      

Allison back on familiar ground

By SCOTT TYLER

H-P Sports Editor



BETHEL — When Cayuga head coach Tommy Allison steps onto the field of Wildcat Stadium Friday night, he will be on familiar territory.

For four years, Allison developed one of the best offenses in East Texas as the offensive coordinator at Palestine High School. Now in his first year as a head coach, Allison returns to Palestine in Cayuga’s playoff game against Lovelady Friday night.

“It is going to be exciting,” Allison said of coaching at Wildcat Stadium. “I spent the last four years there and was able to be a part of something special and now to bring this football team there is going to be fun.”

Not only will Allison return to Wildcat Stadium but with Cayuga being the home team, Allison will roam the same sidelines and be in the same lockerroom he was a part of when he was at Palestine.

“It will be a little more meaningful being back there,” Allison said. “But also it will be exciting for our kids to play in a big stadium in one of the feature games in the area.”

In four years as the Palestine offensive coordinator, Allison built an offense that statistically got better and better each year. Under Allison, Palestine saw its offensive numbers grow each year by about 10 yards a game.

In 2003, Allison’s first season as offensive coordinator, Palestine averaged 355.6 yards a game and that number increased each year and last season, Palestine averaged 385 yards a game.

Allison has taken that successful offensive scheme and implanted it at Cayuga, where the numbers continue to grow.

Cayuga is averaging just under 400 yards a game (399.7) in the Wildcats’ first year in the spread offense.

“I did not know what to expect when I came here,” Allison said. “I knew we had a good group of young kids and it has been a pleasant surprise to see how these kids have excelled, learned the game and have competed.”

With his success both as a football coach at Palestine, along with being a winning basketball coach and a two-time state golf championship coach, Allison has seemed to bring an air of confidence to Cayuga which has rubbed off on the athletic program.

“Hopefully I have brought a positive attitude that lets these kids know they can be successful,” the Cayuga head coach said. “They are having fun this year and they are seeing the results of working hard on the football field and in the weight room.”

The positive attitude may be one of the reasons why Cayuga is 7-3, one of the best records by a Wildcat football team in several years.

“Coach Allison is always on us to stay focused and unlike some coaches who are negative, he is always positive to us,” Cayuga junior quarterback Broc January said.

Sophomore running back Traylon Shead, who has excelled in Allison’s spread offense with 28 touchdowns this season, said he has learned a lot in his first year under the Cayuga head coach.

“He has done a great job teaching,” Shead said. “If something is wrong, he takes off to the side and works with us.”

Allison said win or lose Friday night, it has been a successful season for Cayuga.

“When we came into this season, I thought we needed to overcome a mental block that Cayuga could not have a lot success in football,” Allison said. “In the past they have felt like underdogs but they showed this year they are no longer the doormats for other schools.”

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Scott Tyler may be contacted via e-mail at styler@palestineherald.com