Teams to watch: Kilgore hoping district success translates to the playoffs

[caption id="attachment_26466" align="aligncenter" width="800"]Photo by John Murphy Photo by John Murphy[/caption] Mike Wood is teaching his program how to learn from the past while not dwelling on it. The learning process took a step forward for Kilgore when it knocked off Henderson to avenge a 2015 district loss which cost Kilgore a district title. Two weeks later, Kilgore was out of the playoffs thanks to El Campo. “The Henderson game is a big rivalry game for us, but we couldn’t live in last year,” Wood said. “We were undefeated in district going into that game and they were out of the playoffs. We weren’t healthy and they were. It was one of those games where nothing went right and they beat us. It wasn’t a good sign heading into the playoffs.” A playoff berth is all but guaranteed again for Kilgore out of District 9-4A D1. The Bulldogs started 2-0 in district with wins over Palestine and Chapel Hill to set up an Oct. 7 showdown with Carthage. A Kilgore victory over Carthage was followed up a week later with a two-point victory over Henderson. “These past two weeks can tell you a lot about this team’s mettle. Our toughness was on display and I’m proud of our guys for facing adversity in both games and coming up with the win in the fourth quarter,” Wood said. “We handled it with composure because both of those games could have gone either way.” The season didn’t begin with promise. Kilgore lost three of its four non-district games, starting district play a week removed from a 44-0 loss to Texas High. Wood credits the Palestine and Chapel Hill wins as the catalysts for the turnaround. Yet, history tells him his team can’t think ahead. Kilgore beat Carthage in 2015 but it was Carthage that lasted the longest in the postseason. “We’ll talk about last year. Getting those first two district wins helped us a lot. We needed that momentum for our big district games,” Wood said. “Our open week comes at a great time. We have a chance to heal physically and mentally. We need to finish this season how we want and to do that we need to keep getting better.” After the open week, Center and Bullard remain on the district schedule for Kilgore. An outright district championship is for the taking in one of the best districts in the state. “I say it all the time – if you can get out of this district with health you can make a run in the playoffs,” Wood said. “Week in and week out, this district tests you with playoff caliber opponents. It helps a program to play in those types of atmospheres and in big games once playoffs start.”

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