Expectations High for Grape Creek in Thiel's First Year at the Helm

GRAPE CREEK, TX-- Grape Creek’s first-year head coach Tanner Thiel said he was so excited he couldn’t sleep the night before the Eagle’s first practice of 2018.

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“I’ve been up for a while,” Thiel chuckled. “It’s been good. I’ve been up here since 4:45. I had my first kids show up at 5:00. So, everyone is really excited.”

Thiel was promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach and athletic director on Jan. 22 when Justin Mueller resigned after just one year.

Last year, the Eagles made history by going to the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time. This year, Thiel and the Eagles want to get over that hump and prove their doubters wrong.

“We expect to make the playoffs. We expect to be a top four team in this district,” Thiel said, before referencing media speculation on their season. “We feel, the kids feel like we’re a top four team. So, we expect to make the playoffs. We expect to win a playoff game.”

The Eagles are 0-3 all-time in the playoffs. In Thiel’s eyes, a playoff win would get Grape Creek around the corner and begin to lay a winning foundation.

“We’ve tried to get (the team) to realize we’re not okay with just being a playoff team,” Thiel said. “We want to make that jump. We want to win a playoff game...It’d be huge.”

With Thiel’s promotion came a sense of stability that has rarely happened at the relatively young program.

Typically at a coaching change, Grape Creek would look outside of their own program for a hire. This year, they wanted a change which meant keeping things more or less the same and the kids have bought into that, according to Thiel.

“I’ll tell you, last year’s first day we had 15 kids show up,” Thiel recalled. “This year I’ve counted 53 so far. There’s a lot of kids buying in and realizing that we need everyone to build something. The coaches, kids and administrators are all excited.”

Thiel admits that excitement is from the familiarity the kids have with the coaches and their trust in the coaches.

“Them knowing that we’re going to be here, and we care about them and that we want them to succeed has been the biggest hurdle,” Thiel said. “Building that relationship and that trust has allowed us to get more kids out. The word is starting to get out that these coaches are here for the right reasons and they want what’s best. That’s really helped us gain numbers.”

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Since the Kyle Atwood era, the Eagles have operated more of a spread type offense. Thiel is changing that by implementing a more run-heavy offense.

“We’re going to go to more of a running attack. We’re going to get into the pistol formation and run triple option out of it,” Thiel said.

Garrett Steele and Cairo De La Torre will compete for the starting spot at quarterback according to Thiel.

Steele stepped in for the Eagles when Jesse Jio went down injured in 2017. De La Torre is said to have run a 4.7-second 40-yard dash.

“He’s one of our track athletes. He’s kind of a burner, Thiel said of De La Torre. “He’s one that we’d really like to see pick up the offense pretty quick. If he can pick up the offense pretty quickly, we’ll have another weapon in the backfield.”

The Eagles will open up the 2018 season on the road against Baird on Friday, Aug. 31, at 7:30 p.m.