Houston Dynamo vs. Vancouver Whitecaps

The Houston Dynamo returned to the friendly confines of BBVA Compass Stadium on Saturday night follow a disastrous two game roadie.

The hometown lads held their own in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League against Santos Laguna at home in a last second thrilling 1-0 win.  Unfortunately the return leg to Santos ended the CCL run in a 3-0 defeat.

Dynamo then went on the road to the hated Dallas Burn (yeah I'm not calling them FC Dallas).  After spotting the Burn a 2-0 lead, the Men in Orange roared back to even things up at 2-2.  In the closing minutes it looked like the Dynamo would salvage a point on the road.  The Burn stole a win with a last second goal and the Dynamo limped home with two loses.

From the get go, Houston dominated Vancouver all over the field.  Possession, shots and corners all favored Houston.  The only problem is the Dynamo failed to find the back of the net. 

Unfortunately the Whitecaps managed to put one in the old onion bag.  I was screaming at the Dynamo for a first half goal for a change.  I didn't mean it for the Whitecap to score though.  I'll give credit where credit is due.  Darren Mattocks earned every bit of that goal in the 36th minuted.  He made a beautiful move against the defense and blasted a shot from about 20 feet out.  Dynamo keeper Tally Hall didn't have a chance.

It's not like the Dynamo didn't have chances to score.  Warren Creavalle had three chances in the first half to net goals.  All three shots ended up in the seats.  At this point I'm lamenting how much the team misses Brad Davis.

Fortunes and opportunities changed in the second half.  If it's one thing the Dynamo have it's a never surrender attitude.  For a while I thought they looked rattled in the first half after the 'Caps goal.  They gathered themselves and came out determined in the second half.

In the 55th minute the Dynamo equalized.  In what seemed a slow but wonderfully developed play, Rico Clark put the ball where only Giles Barnes could reach it.  Barnes out jumped two defenders on the perfectly placed ball and headed it in for the tying goal.  Watching the goal on replay and it developed much faster and the pass was harder than I realized.  Great team effort on the entire sequence.

For the game winner, the Dynamo struck with their bread and butter...the set piece.  On a corner in the 62nd minutes, Adam Moffat put one in front of the goal that Will Bruin appeared to make contact on.  The ball didn't go in but it was there for the taking.  Creavalle this time made sure he didn't miss.  As he went to the ground he poked it in and the Dynamo went up 2-1.

The Whitecaps didn't go quietly into the night though.  In the end Hall stood big in goal and made saves.  The Dynamo were also beneficiaries of a little luck.  Mattock almost knotted up the game but his howling free kick bounced off BOTH posts and the good guys unbeaten home streak remained in tact.

Official highlights:
Creavalle's game winner from video taken with my phone.

Houston Cougars Recruiting - QB John O'Korn

Crown Jewel of the 2013 Class

Without a doubt, St. Thomas Aquinas (FL) quarterback John O'Korn is the most popular recruit for the Houston Cougars.  UH message board posters herald him as the next quarterback in the line of Andre Ware, David Klingler, Chuck Clements, Kevin Kolb and Case Keenum.

In the post-Keenum era, the Coogs fell hard last season with redshirt sophomore David Piland.  Piland struggled to get any consistency all year and ended the season on the bench behind former walk on Crawford Jones.  The official word is that Piland was injured but speculation was he was benched.  Further internet rumors state that Piland will not be the start next season.  That all remains to be seen.

Adding fuel to the fire Piland rumors, the Cougars went out and recruited Billy Cosh from the JUCO ranks.  He played for Butler Community College in Kansas.  Also sitting on the Cougar roster are QBs Bram Kohlhausen and Rex Dausin. 

Heading in the Big East in 2013 things were looking thin for the Coogs at QB.  Again, only rumors, but word was Piland was quitting football and Kohlhausen was transferring unless given a fair shot to start.  If both left the Cougars were left with only Dausin at QB.  Instead the Cougars will have five scholarship quarterbacks going into the Big East.

His senior season, O'Korn lead his school to the Florida 7A title.  Along the way, St. Thomas Aquinas stunned the top ranked Manatee from Bradenton, Fl. 35-18.

In the title game, O'Korn accounted for 4 TDs with 2 rushing and 2 passing.  He finished the game 11 of 29 for 339 yards and an interception.  He carried the ball 10 times for 95 yards.

2012 was O'Korn's first as full time starter.  His season stat line read:

Games Rushing Passing Year Att Yds Avg TD PA PC Pct Yds TD Int 2012 (Sr.) 15 95 576 6.1 15 280 157 56.1 2,552 22 4

If indications from Holman are true then it will be a wide open competition for the starting quarterback spot this fall.  Head coach Tony Levine will not name a starter a week into spring like he did last year.  Based on popularity from UH fans, O'Korn be the starting quarterback in the Big East inaugural season.

Houston Cougars Recruiting - Kicker Ty Cummings

As of two days ago, my pain from the 2012 University of Houston Cougars football season died.  I can now look forward to a new start in what is left in the Big East (more on that in a probably a multi-part feature) and the 2013 recruiting class.

Right now, only four players for 2013 class are on campus.  They are the midterm signees and count against last year's scholarship limit.  From the Houston Chronicle's UH beat writer Jose Duarte's twitter feed:

Joseph_Duarte Four UH football signees have enrolled for start of spring semester: DE Trevor Harris, ATH D'Juan Hines, LB Caleb Tucker and Turon Walker. 22 hours ago · reply · retweet · favorite.

So why am I focusing on a kicker as the first recruit highlight post?  Why not?  For starters, UH is losing a legendary in kicker Matt Hogan. If for nothing else, Hogan etched his name in Cougar Lore for this kick:

With the Coogs losing such a valuable asset, it's great to see that the current regime sees fit to expend a scholarship on a kicker.  Seriously, kickers are an integral part of the team.  As the video shows, a great kicker can pull the team out a jam.  A good kicker can also affect field position and eliminate a potential kick off return TD.

Currently, Southlake Carroll Tx kicker Ty Cummings remains committed to the Cougars.  Cummings ranks #11 in Rivals ranking of national high school kickers.

For an idea of what the #11 kicker can do, I present the following video.

The video starts off with some field goals off a stand with no pressure.  Nice but I don't put much stock in those.

However, at the :22 mark, the game situation kick off start.  For starters, two kickoffs out the back of the endzone happen and not wind aided.  The kicks are dead air kicks.  Nice leg strength if you ask me.  Texas high school kickoffs are from the 40 but some of his kickoffs would be touchbacks from the 35 yard line college kickoff.

The video ends with a series of kicks from both hash marks 40-55 yards out.  While impressive, I'd like to see more in game film of field goals. 

Then again, Cummings is the #11 ranked kicker...in the nation....the nation, Cougar fans.  When was the last time the Cougars had a #11 ranked player nationally in football?

Hopefully, I find time to write more about the incoming 2013 Houston Cougars class and what I think will happen with our beloved Coogs in realignment.