Best / Worst Case Scenario Nixon

Nixon is coming off of twin 1-9 seasons but new head coach Tommy Ramirez has the team practicing hard leading into their opening game of 2010. Nixon was the dominant force in town for the first half of the past decade and Ramirez was a big part of that, coordinating the defense for many of those years. 2010 will be the first glimpse of what to expect out of the new Mustangs coach and fans are hoping he will have Nixon back in the spotlight before long.

BEST CASE SCENARIO

Nixon has had a strong quarterback competition through the off-season between Manuel Martinez and Joseph Contreras. In a ideal world the better player will have won out and established himself in time for the season opener on the road against Valley View and the runner up will be making himself comfortable as a valuable member of the wide receiver or running back corps. Valley View went 1-9 a year ago and is 2-38 over the past four years. A best case season begins with a stomping of Valley View on the road for a 1-0 record.

Nixon will face Cigarroa in week two of the season. Much about Nixon is a mystery at this point, but if the Ramirez can work enough magic into the Mustangs offense to stop the run they should be able to stop Cigarroa for a 2-0 start.

Nixon's third game will be the team's second road trip in three weeks for a match up with Eagle Pass Winn in Eagle Pass. Two road games in three weeks is nothing to laugh at, but a dream season will witness Nixon going 3-0 with a hard fought road win over Winn.

Game four is where things begin to get dicey. Nixon faces an LBJ program which is on the rise under coach Villasenor. The key threats in this game will be LBJ running back Ricky Flores and Wolves defensive tackle Jose Solis. Nixon lost this one a year ago 13-28, a revenge fueled victory would put the Mustangs one step closer to their bygone days of prominence and deliver a 4-0 record.

Nixon follows up its game against LBJ with a five week stretch which has “trouble” written all over it. The Mustangs face, in order, Alexander, United, united South, Eagle Pass and Del Rio with Del Rio coming on the road. Four of those five teams are likely playoff contenders, and Nixon is going to have to be hitting its stride at the right time of the season to emerge with wins during this daunting stretch. In a best case scenario, Nixon would emerge with at one or two wins during this five game stretch, and if I'm generous I could say the best case scenario has them sitting at 6-3 entering the final week of the season.

That brings Nixon to its final game of the year, the much awaited return to prominence of the Nixon v. Martin game. Rivalry games like this are always wild and unpredictable, but a dream season would end with a win over the Tigers.

Nixon's dream season in 2010 would end with a 7-3 record, a massive six win improvement over their 2009 campaign. It would be a year where the defense improves by leaps and bounds and where the offense rediscovers itself and gallops into the sunset with a potential Mustang playoff appearance.

WORST CASE SCENARIO

A worst case scenario for 2010 is one where coach Tommy Ramirez's energy fails to rub off on his players and the team's rut proves inescapable.

Even in the worst of scenarios I still don't see Ramirez faltering out of the door however, and the team should be able to pull off the win over Valley View in week one.

A nightmare year would see this promising start prove to be all for naught, however. If Nixon fails to find a way to stop the big bodies at Cigarroa they could suffer a week two loss to the Toros.

The nightmare would continue if, after one week on the road and another week of facing the Cigarroa offensive line meat grinder, the team was too battered and bloodied to emerge victorious over Eagle Pass Winn on the road. This would put Nixon at 1-2 on the season.

Worst case scenario would have Nixon dropping the game to LBJ and suffering a series of losses as it ran the Alexander, United, united South, Eagle Pass, Del Rio gauntlet.

The nightmare would reach its conclusion if a beat down and tired Mustangs squad met up with Martin for their rivalry game and season finale only to be blasted by a prolific Tiger passing attack to end the season with a third straight 1-9 record.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN?

It's hard to forecast Nixon as they have loads of potential, but not a lot in concrete. New coaching staffs tend to bring change with them and Ramirez is no exception. The energy which the Mustangs have been displaying in practice is reassuring, however, and it makes me want to pick a result on the higher side of the possible outcomes scale. Color me impressed by my pre-season impression of the boys in green, I see Nixon delivering a 5-5 season with at least one upset of one of the big boys. The Mustangs should be one of the most improved programs in town.