Teams to watch: Is Cedar Ridge the next big CenTex power?

[caption id="attachment_25428" align="alignright" width="350"]Photo by Carlos Barron Photo by Carlos Barron[/caption] A boyhood spent watching his father coach high school football engrained something in Round Rock Cedar Ridge head football coach Shawn Bell. The former signal-caller at China Spring and then Baylor has his team marching through district play and in position to be the surprise Class 6A team from the Austin area. “This is all I ever wanted to do,” said Bell of being a high school football coach. His dad, Mark, coached Shawn and his brother, Brian, at China Spring High School outside of Waco where both played quarterback before furthering their careers in college. Mark is still the head coach and Brian is now the offensive coordinator. “I was very blessed to coach both of my sons. I wish I had one more game with them. It was a great feeling. It was a tremendous opportunity to watch and be a part of it,” Mark said. “I was extremely tough on my two boys. It gave me the opportunity to be tough on the rest of the team. We all know the stigma attached to a coach’s son, especially the head coach and a quarterback.” This built toughness in Shawn, who took over Cedar Ridge in March after stints at Magnolia West and Clifton. It also erased ego. From an early age, Shawn realized he took the criticism from his father for the good of the team. He had to be patient. Those same lessons applied at Cedar Ridge. “The first thing I did was sit back and watch. You’re usually getting hired because the last coach was fired or because he had success and went to a different place. This team was good. We went 10-2 last year so it wasn’t broken,” Shawn said. “It was testing week the first week I got here. I saw how fast and strong the team was and we went from there. I didn’t want to force me on them. I needed to adapt myself to the program.” The results are a 7-0 start with a signature non-district win against Temple. Through three district games, Cedar Ridge is outscoring opponents 150-27. The Raiders defense is allowing 7.2 points a game though seven games, while the offense is scoring a tad over 44. Cedar Ridge is no longer a new program. It is now the standard. “It is a different situation here now,” Bell said. “We’re used to being the hunter and now we’re the hunted. We’re getting each team’s best show and we can’t overlook anybody,” Shawn said. “We’re buying in and we couldn’t know that until the season started and we faced adversity. It is easy to feel good when you’re up 35-0. We were mentally tough in the win over Temple. That was my first real sign that we were bought-in.” A game with Round Rock looms Friday. The winner likely claims the District 13-6A crown. Where the Raiders go from there could shake up the pecking order of large school programs in the Central Texas area.

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