Winless 2020 Season Underscores Pandemic Hardships

A global pandemic didn’t make losing any easier.

For McNeil High School football coach Scott Hermes, this was especially true on the chilly evening of Oct. 23. He led his struggling team into Ed W. Monroe Stadium to battle his former squad: the district-leading Vandegrift Vipers.

For months, rigorous mask-wearing and equipment sanitizing protocols had kept the coronavirus out of McNeil’s locker room.

If only, McNeil fans thought, they could keep Vandegrift out of our backfield.

Two first-quarter fumbles quickly turned into touchdowns for the hometown Vipers, and the rout was on before the socially distant band could finish their fight song.

The 49-0 final score proved to be the most lopsided of the nine losses McNeil suffered in a winless 2020 season. This midseason loss dropped them to 0-5, ensuring a 13th consecutive losing season for a program that has often been overshadowed by its Round Rock competitors.

Before they left the field, Hermes called for a huddle in order to deliver an impassioned message.

“I can’t repeat some of the things I said,” Hermes recalled, “but I wasn’t happy with the way we went about our business.”

Hermes accepted his first-ever head coaching job when Round Rock Independent School District hired him for the McNeil position this past January. His goal was to turn around a football program that had struggled on the field for most of its 29-year existence. The Mavericks have not qualified for the playoffs since 2004.

“He’s in a transition time – he’s setting cultures and setting precedents,” Vandegrift head coach Drew Sanders said. Eight years ago, Sanders hired Hermes as a defensive assistant.

“But it’s hard to do all of that,” Sanders explained, “at a program without an offseason.”

Barely two months into Hermes’ tenure, the University Interscholastic League suspended all athletic activities due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Hermes was still in the process of filling vacant staff positions and had only seen his players via a handful of weight training sessions. With his new office in the midst of renovations, he hadn’t even moved his belongings in before he was locked out.

Hermes said that daily conversations with his mentor and friend Sanders helped him navigate a slew of challenges that he never could have anticipated.

“Coach Sanders taught me a lot,” Hermes said. “Not just when it comes to football, but in terms of how to run a program and take care of its people.”

During the initial pandemic-related pause, Hermes arranged virtual one-on-one interviews with everyone involved in the football program. It’s a practice he brought over from Vandegrift, and he said it helped him make up for some of the lost time.

When optional summer workouts were permitted to resume on June 8, Hermes’ new assistants eagerly met their players and one another in person for the first time and got to work.

“We’re trying to change habits and get into game condition,” defensive coordinator Steve Fanara said during preseason workouts. “We’re just excited to be getting reps in.”

But just 18 days later, Round Rock ISD Superintendent Steve Flores halted summer workouts again, citing a spike in virus cases in the Austin area.

“The hardest part,” Hermes said, “was not knowing how long we’d be shut down.”

It would be another two months until Hermes could see his team in person again. When practices were cleared to begin on Aug. 20, the season was just 35 days away. A new sense of urgency was necessary.

“When they came in, everything just changed,” senior defensive back Jalen Mosely said of the new staff. “They brought some accountability and attention to detail.”

Mosely said that he and the other senior defensive leaders quickly bought into Hermes’ message and coaching style. Mosely formed instant connections with the new staff, crediting them in part for his much-improved 2020 season.

Unfortunately for the defense, they received little help from the offense. McNeil scored a mere ten points per game and led the district in turnovers.

The team’s struggles led Hermes to simplify his approach, placing a focus on one weekly theme. By preaching communication and discipline, Hermes hoped to instill a strong sense of mental toughness in his team.

“Good teams are very good mentally,” Hermes said. “There’s a mental learning curve, and we’re a little bit behind it.”

While two other Round Rock ISD teams’ seasons were interrupted by coronavirus cases and subsequent contact tracing, McNeil never suffered such setbacks. This continuity allowed them to improve in the latter part of the season, playing their last three opponents much more competitively than they had the previous six.

The underdog Mavericks mounted a strong upset bid against playoff-bound Cedar Ridge but couldn’t keep pace in the second half. On senior night against Stony Point, the Mavericks squandered a fourth-quarter lead.

While their progress was evident, they were still frustrated by the results.

“It’s hard to be a losing team,” sophomore running back Kaleb Cooper said. “They’re winning coaches, but we’re still learning how to win.”

In their season finale against rival Westwood, Cooper racked up a career-high 229 rushing yards. The game went back and forth, and McNeil doubled their season-high point total. Still, they came up short by a score of 42-28.

The senior class, including 20 members of the Mavericks’ roster, never relented. They were the first to learn a new playbook remotely, the first to wear masks in team meetings, the first to experience a drive-thru version of their traditional postgame Whataburger meal.

“We want to be remembered as the senior class that started to turn things around and set the example for McNeil football,” offensive lineman Caleb Black said. “My brother is a freshman, and I’m really excited for him.”

Only 34 of 50 states played high school football through the pandemic. The winless Mavericks can count themselves lucky.

“The results weren’t always there, but I hope they learned a lot,” Hermes said of his players. “I hope their character is better because of it.”