FROST — — At Frost, where the Polar Bears started two-a-days Monday, they’re talking about 2001.

That’s the last time the Polar Bears made the playoffs. It’s the longest running playoff drought in the Golden Circle.

The bible of high school football, Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, predicts Frost will finish third among five teams in District 9-1A DII. The top three teams in the district will make the playoffs.

The Polar Bears have taken notice of the favorable prediction.

“It means a lot,” junior fullback Woody Woods said. “We like that people have faith in us and believe we can do good things.”

The Polar Bears have hit bottom and come back up to respectability in the last decade. It’s a great story, a credit to Clark Moore and now the Polar Bears first-year coach, Eric Blenden.

Things bottomed out in Frost in 2007 when the Bears didn’t finish the season. They played six games, then a rash of injuries and grade problems forced them to forfeit their last four games.

It’s not an indictment on Frost’s coach at the time Jerry Baldridge, who was put in a bad situation that season. He’s a good guy whose resume and coaching ability are strong enough that he got another job coaching at Rice this season. That speaks for itself.

Football will always be a number’s game at Frost. Geez, it was in softball, where you need two less players. Frost didn’t field a softball team in the spring. And the weird thing — as we found out in the TTAS State Softball Tournament in Mildred last month — is there our some talented and up-and-coming softball players in Frost.

No, for the coaches at Frost, it’s about getting as many students as possible out for sports, and then keeping them healthy and academically eligible.

Frost had 29 players at two-a-days Monday morning (there was one missing because of work). That was enough for the Bears to run plays two deep on offense and still have younger players looking on and learning the playbook.

“That really helps us,” Blenden said. “It’s good to have a first- and second-string out there running plays.”

The year 2007 rarely comes up anymore. For the coaching staff, it comes up twice, Blenden said. Once before the school year starts, and again before the first six weeks grading period is up to remind the players to keep their grades up.

“That’s a year that doesn’t come up anymore,” Blenden said.

But I did find it interesting that the players that were in middle school still remember Frost not finishing the season. Senior quarterback Jake Stroder, who was a seventh grader in 2007, remembers it well.

And if a current player wants to use ‘07 as motivation, personally I see that as a good thing.

“That’s embarrassing to not finish the season because you don’t have enough kids,” Stroder said. “Come on now. Hopefully this year we can prove to everybody that we’re going to finish strong and get to the playoffs and get work done.”

Frost is on the right track. After going 0-10 in Moore’s first season at his alma mater, the Bears have gone 3-7, 3-7 and hit the .500 mark at 5-5 last season.

Blenden, who was Moore’s top assistant, has seen the turnaround take place first hand at his alma mater.

“Coach Moore gets all the credit for that,” Blenden said. “He turned it around.

“We want to come out and play hard every game,” Blenden said. “The real number we talk about is 2001.”

Blender was upbeat Monday. He has a great rapport with the players, which allows him to joke with them but also get on them. Like when one group didn’t get up to the line of scrimmage quick enough for his liking. Blenden was quick to get on his players with a raised voice you expect on the first day of practices.

“Yeah my voice carries more (than Moore’s),” Blenden said. “We’re going to have fun, but at the same time if it’s something I don’t like I’ll let them know about it. If I’m not getting on you for not getting lined up fast enough, in the fourth quarter you might not be able to.”

The players see a nice transition from Moore to Blenden.

“Coach Moore he’s a great guy,” Stroder said. “He showed us how to work hard and how to do things right. Coach Blenden is a lot like Coach Moore. He actually played for him in high school.

“So (Blenden) has a lot of the same of coaching styles,” Stroder said. “He’s a little more laid back. He likes to joke around. He likes to make it fun. They’re great coaches, they know how to win and they’re ready to play some football.”

And winning is what it’s all about this season at Frost. The season that didn’t get finished is becoming a distant memory.

Soon maybe 2001 will be.

“I want to be the team, the senior class that makes it to the playoffs when no one else could,” Stroder said.