Port Arthur Memorial and Beaumont Central have faced their toughest opponent this year, and it was not each other.

It was Harvey.

While coming back to prepare for a football season hasn’t been the easiest thing for either team, getting to play after a storm that has impacted so many in both cities is a big reward for both teams.

“We kind of came back and had to stay focused and get back to work and not worry about how the storm affected us because we’re going to get back to normal and fight through it,” Memorial senior linebacker Jomard Valsin said.

It took a week after Tropical Storm Harvey’s flood reached its highest level in Jefferson County for both teams to return to practice. Players from both teams had been displaced by Harvey, but most of them returned.

“Thank God, all of them have returned,” first-year Central coach Jeff Nelson said. Memorial coach Kenny Harrison said Friday all but two of his displaced players have returned to the program.

Neither team has played a game. Wednesday’s game at the Thomas Center was to be Central’s fourth of the season and the third for Memorial, who would have had an open date last week.

Nothing like a Port Arthur vs. Beaumont game to get going, huh?

“Central is a team we’ve played all the years that I’ve been heard coach,” said Harrison, a Thomas Jefferson graduate starting his ninth season at the helm. “I wouldn’t say it’s a rivalry, but playing those guys every year that we play them, our guys know their guys and they know our guys from the Beaumont-Port Arthur middle school league. So, it’s going to be a very entertaining game. Our kids will be focused and ready to go, and I’m sure Central will be, too.

The extra practice days have been very valuable for both teams, to say the least.

“It’s just work, work, work,” Memorial quarterback Keitha Jones said. “You just keep working. You focus. We’re ready. We’ve worked all summer and worked hard all two-a-days, but we came back and kept working hard, so we keep going.”

The Titans, however, got in some live action Sept. 9 in a scrimmage at Channelview.

“It was very beneficial,” Jones said. “We needed that extra game situation so that we could get ready for an actual game. This one [against Central] being district, we feel like it helped us.”

The Titans indicated they’re not worried about playing on a Wednesday night, or that they haven’t played a game. They know a season that once was in question has finally arrived.

At Central, getting used to a different schedule hasn’t come easy.

“It’s been hard coming off the weekend, Monday being a Wednesday,” Nelson said. “That was kind of an issue, keeping them in a frame of mind. They’re kids. When you have change, it’s a change for the kids.”

Nelson said the Jaguars are appreciative for a season and learned about the importance of living in the moment in Harvey’s aftermath. He knows some aren’t too excited about Friday night lights coming on two nights earlier.

“I think everybody’s just excited to get out of their homes and drive to a game. There’ll be some upset because it’s prayer night,” he said.

“They’re 16 or 17 year old kids. They’re ready to play a game.”

That would accurately describe the Titans’ frame of mind.

“We’re going to come out and get after it with high intensity,” Valsin said. “It’s going to be a good show.”
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I.C. Murrell: 549-8541. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews