RRV Football Magazine

RED RIVER VALLEY PLAY BOOK

la arsner Publisher

Football is finally here,

riday night lights, especially in Texas and even more especially in the ed iver alley, nothing seems exactly right until foot all season starts. t doesn’t even have to officially egin, it just needs to get started. Life is etter when practices start and even more when games kick off.

t’s all foot all. With N L camps and colleges getting ready for their seasons what really gets things on the right track is high school foot all. Our riday night lights are the calm efore the storm as hundreds of area high school foot all players hit the field.

While that might e an exaggeration, Texas takes its foot all seriously, and the ed iver alley does as well.

n the annual ed iver alley lay ook season preview we strive to ring you up to the level of our love for foot all. This year, our lay ook is even etter,

all The ed iver alley area teams enter the 202 season with optimism whether it e a new offensive system, a new defensive system or new coaches. There is a lot to tackle in a short amount of time.

t the same time, schools will open the season with new players and new positions.

The lay ook wouldn’t happen without our talented staff, we strive to cover high school sports like few others, eginning with this project long efore pads were put on or plays were made.

lso, we need no further proof of the impact of high school foot all in the area than to see the usiness partners who teamed with us to produce our lay ook. That num er grows su stantially each year, and these are the same usinesses that are always there to support each of our schools’ athletic programs throughout the year.

nd yes, finally, it’s time for Texas high school foot all.

DERRICK THOMAS DEBRA LARUE LESA PEDERSEN CLAY CARSNER

Favorite NFL team: ansas ity hiefs

Favorite professional player: Justin Jefferson

Years playing football: 10

Favorite sport other than football: Basketball

Favorite subject in school: Math

Dream college to play for: LSU

Plans after graduating high school: ontinue laying s orts either football or basketball

WIDE RECEIVER, SENIOR PARIS WILDCATS

Dycurian Douglas

Blake Hildreth

QUARTERBACK/DEFENSIVE BACK, SENIOR North Lamar Panthers

Favorite NFL team: allas o boys

Favorite professional player: re Brees

Years playing football:

Favorite sport other than football: Baseball

Favorite subject in school: Math

Dream college to play for: e as M

Plans after graduating high school: ursue a he i al engineering egree an lay football or baseball

Favorite NFL team: allas o boys

Favorite professional player: Mi ah arsons

Years playing football:

Favorite sport other than football: Baseball

Favorite subject in school: ien e

Dream college to play for: e as M

Plans after graduating high school: ollege to stu y to be o e a hysi al thera ist

Case Chalaire

CENTER, SENIOR CHISUM MUSTANGS

KARDADRION COULTER

RUNNING BACK/DEFENSIVE BACK JUNIOR PRAIRILAND PATRIOTS

Favorite NFL team: Buffalo Bills

Favorite professional player: Justin Jefferson

Years playing football: 10

Favorite sport other than football: Basketball

Favorite subject in school: Math

Dream college to play for: Georgia

Plans after graduating high school: Making Money

PARIS WILDCATS

Wildcats poised to return to contention

by Evan Grice

It’s een said that pressure can either create diamonds or dust.

or the aris Wildcats, this season is a out not only responding to pressure ut putting ehind a disappointing 2022 campaign.

Last year the Wildcats endured a 2-8 finish, their worst finish since the 200 season when aris recorded arecord.

The mission this season is simple for the aris Wildcats, get ack to the postseason for what would e a 2 th time in program history and put itself in position to compete for what would e a second state title for the Wildcats.

“ f you do this long enough, you will have seasons when things are tough, aris head coach teven ohen erger said. “We had the sixth toughest schedule in the state of Texas out of all the classifications. We’re not going to apologi e for that, ecause we have tradition and respect when it comes to scheduling teams for our non-district schedule.

“There’s a couple of ways to grow, ohen erger said. “ onfidence is uilt through success, ut growth a lot of the time is uilt through failure. f you are willing to get ack up, and o viously these kids are more than willing, or else they wouldn’t have prepared as hard as they do. o, at the end of the day, always talk a out keeping the main thing, the focus. The main thing for us is faith. aith is elief, and sometimes its what you can’t see ut you can feel it at the same time.

mong the teams the Wildcats played last season were elina who finished 112, ilmer who finished 11-1, leasant rove, 11- , and of course district opponent nna who finished with its est season in school history at 1 -1.

Out of the Wildcats five non-district opponents this season, three of them are ranked in the preseason top-2 with elina at No. 6, ilmer at No. and leasant rove at No. .

“ ometimes things just snow all, and that’s what happened last year, ohen-

erger said. “There were a lot of things that happened last year, and we just never got our footing. We’ve got some good players and there has een a lot of improvement in the offseason, we just need to go out there and execute. To me, if you are going to e the est, you have got to play the est and eat them. There’s three seasons in Texas high school foot all. There’s non-district, district and then the playoffs. The great thing a out all of those, is that everyone starts at 0-0. To me that’s exciting, and that’s why we play non-district foot all like we do, so we can grow and learn from those challenges. t’s ecause of those that we will ecome a etter footall team.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us this season, ohen erger added. “ t’s not going to get any easier, ut we have a lot of experienced players ack this season. s difficult as last season was, couldn’t have een prouder of our players and the character they showed on the field. You’ve got to e careful in this game of getting complacent with success or dwelling on past failures. ’m a process type of guy, and elieve that if you take care of today, then its going to give you a chance to succeed tomorrow. uccess reeds confidence, which you need. You need to learn how to measure success, too. ut for us, the growth through even last season is going to etter prepare us for this year.

Offense

aris will e returning nine starters on offense this season and eight on defense. Taydrick awson will e one of the Wildcats to watch for on the offensive side of the all, as part of the Wildcats offense. Last year awson accounted for 610 yards on the ground with six touchdowns.

efensively, the Wildcats will e running out of a - - scheme, which will look to limit the opponents in more ways than one.

Schedule

Key Number

There are 150 players involved in the Paris football program, the most ever. There are 60 freshmen and around 30 on junior varsity, signs of a healthy program not in need of complete overhaul after a down 2022 season.

ycurian ouglas and eivarius ooper will e relied upon to help carry the secondary after oth players earned ll- istrict honors in 2022. ouglas finished with three interceptions, while ooper totaled tackles, along with six sacks and two interceptions.

“We’ve een great in the secondary in the past , ut we struggled last season, ohenerger said. “ t wasn’t ecause we didn’t have good players, we just need to play etter than we did last year, and that goes for the offensive side of the all as well.

There will also e some new faces on the field this season including eddie ruce who is a sophomore that stands at 6’ . atthew olen will play at defensive end, hoping to emulate the performance of his rother who was a three-year starter at center for the Wildcats.

aris made the switch from the Wing T offense in 2018, and the Wildcats are looking to keep that improvement going this season, as well as improving on defense at the same time.

“ ’m a ig eliever that you’ve got to play defense if you are going to win games, ohen erger said. “When you get into the playoffs, defense comes into play more than usual. The Wing T fit us at the time we were using it, ut coming into this summer, we didn’t know you weren’t going to e a le to cut, so we stayed in it.

“We’re going to e more of a speed and space offense with the same mindset, ohen erger added. “We still want to get ody lows, and control the running game. Teams are going to have to deal with Taydrick awson and hris ouston, ecause they are going to e tough to ring down.

Defense

or the Wildcats the message is simple this season, “ et fter Them lways, or T .

“

t’s more of a mentality than anything, ohen erger said. “ ll of us are going to come across something in life where it feels like we’re defeated, and you just have to have toughness. To me, the most powerful tool you have isn’t your height, your speed, it’s the power of your mind. That’s what

T is, the power of the mind.

aris is picked fourth in the preseason standings of istrict 8-4 ivision 1 according to ave amp ell’s Texas oot all aga ine.

2022 egional inalist nna is picked to win the district with ulphur prings and aufman rounding out the top-three in the district. Nevada ommunity and a ank are picked fifth and sixth respectively.

fter missing the playoffs for the first time since 2010 last season, the Wildcats will take their first step towards redemption on riday night, ug. 2 , when they travel to o cat tadium to take on elina.

aris’ home opener will take place the following week against Li erty- ylau, followed y another home contest against ilmer the next week on ept. 8. espite the o cats entering the season with a top-10 ranking, coach ohen erger is ready to egin the journey towards the postseason.

“ rom a competitor standpoint, ’m ready to wash the taste of last year out of my mouth, he said.

2022:

2-8 overall 1-4 District 7-4A D1

Coach: Steven Hohenberger 1-70 overall at Paris 6 -4 , 11th year

Returning Starters: offense, 8 defense

Players to watch:

RB/LB Taydrick Dawson, RB/LB Trevin Hohenberger, T/DL Salvador Gome , OL/DL WR/DB Dycurian Douglas

Offensive Strengths:

The Wildcats are entering the season with a fixed offensive plan. Last year, Paris tinkered with the quarterback position before landing on Trevin Hohenberger as the guy. Now, with an entire offseason of training to play quarterback, the Paris offense should reform into the consistent force it is known for.

Defensive Strengths:

Paris returns lots of experience at linebacker. Tkyerian Gray and Eli ah Turner are in line to lock down the position and are oined by unior transfer DT Morgan.

“

t’s a ad taste for sure, ut we’re ready to get rid of it. elina is going to have to play a tough game against us ecause we’ll e ready to go.

Bruce is a sophomore with the stature of a senior, He stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 280 pounds, and figures to be a wrecking ball on the defensive line.

Wildcat fans might get ashbacks watching Rolen, becasue his brother started at center for the Wildcats for three seasons.

D Tadrien DT for short Morgan oins the Wildcat linebacker room. Coach Steven Hohenberger said Morgan excelled this offseason.

Reddie Bruce, SO. DL

Matthew Rolen, JR. DL

D'Tadrien Morgan, Jr. LB

PARIS WILDCATS

Aldren Gill RB, SO.

Jaydrien Henderson QB, SO.

Kerry Crittenden DL, SR.

Anthony Lopez WR, SO.

Jeremiah Smith OL, JR.

Keshawan Roberts DB, SO.

Cameron Floyd LB, SO.

Keilond Wright DB, SR.

LaChaunston Grigsby LB, JR.

Carson Vest OL, JR.

Keivarius Cooper DB, SR.

Malik Johnson DB, JR.

Chris Garcia OL, SO.

Kenton Franklin DB, JR.

Marcave'us Washington RB, JR.

Brayden Beck DB, SR.

Jordan Perkins TE, SR.

Kyler Ethridge LB, SR.

LAST YEAR

Overall: 8-4, 3-2 in district- Area Finalist RETURNERS

5 offense, 4 defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

WR/DB Kylevon Morrow, QB Ty Burleson, DL Will Bowers

OVERVIEW

Last season the Lions finished as district runner-up and made the playoffs for the third season in a row but fell in the area round for the second consecutive year. Ty Burleson will return as quarterback after throwing for 1,316 yards as a sophomore.

LAST YEAR

Overall: 7-4, 3-2 in district- Bi-District Finalist RETURNERS

7 offense, 5 defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

QB Brady Driver, RB Malachi Roland, DB Austin Chaney

OVERVIEW

Sulphur Springs rebounded from an 0-10 ’21-22 season to win seven out of eight to start the season. Unfortunately, three straight defeats derailed the Wildcats momentum including a first-round playoff defeat to Dallas Carter. Look for Driver to improve at the QB position after totaling 1,337 and 17 touchdowns in eight games last season.

LAST YEAR

Overall: 13-1, 5-0 district - Regional Finalist RETURNERS

7 Offense, 7 Defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

WR/RB Jacob Emmers, LB C.J. Miller, LB Grayson Stewart

OVERVIEW

The Coyotes were head and shoulders above the rest in district play last year, winning 13 straight games, recording the best season in school history. Anna will look to Emmers to improve on his impressive 1,241 yards receiving with 18 touchdowns.

LAST YEAR

Overall: 3-7, 0-5 in district RETURNERS

6 offense, 4 defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

DB Jordan Flores, DB Noah Romero, RB Kyler Howeth OVERVIEW

The Panthers started brightly enough winning three of their first five games before district play. Mabank though would lose five straight to end the season, extending its playoff drought to 15 years dating back to the ’07-08 season.

LAST YEAR

Overall: 6-5, 3-2 in district- Bi-District Finalist RETURNERS

4 Offense, 4 Defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

RB/LB Gabe Duron, CB Sheldon Adams, OL/DL Jack Scott

OVERVIEW

The Braves posted their highest win total since 2008 with six wins last season, which included a playoff appearance for the third straight season.

Address: 1323 Lamar Ave. ite Paris 75460

PH: 903 785-8481

Website: www.wells-world.com

NORTH LAMAR PANTHERS

Gritty Panthers readying for resurgence

by Evan Grice

Sometimes, the est kind of progress is slow and steady.

When it comes to the North Lamar anthers, this season they are hoping for a igger step forward towards consistency and success.

“ ince ’ve een here, ’ve tried to improve everything related to this program, anthers coach renton Whitaker said. “This place was pretty down when got here and a lot of people will tell you the same thing, ecause the program was on its last lim s.

“When got here, tried to hire a good staff of people and help the kids most importantly. Whitaker added. “

t’s een an uphill attle, ut it’s een worth the clim . We’ve made a lot of improvements, and we’re hoping that trend continues this season.

One of the major improvements this season will e very noticea le to fans of the anthers and their opponents. North Lamar has a new and improved logo, and its something uilt to unite everyone related to the anthers.

“We just wanted to have something that was trademark North Lamar, Whitaker said. “When you walk around here, you’ll see a lot of different logos everywhere, and it was constantly eing changed. One of coach ay line’s iggest things is he wants to have one united look.

“ e sought out and worked with some decal design guys, Whitaker added. “They went through the process and created a logo that was special and unique to North Lamar. You aren’t going to find this anywhere except at North Lamar. ight now we’re in the process of re randing and getting the anther head everywhere. or us it’s kind of an out with the old and in with the new type of process.

Last season, the anthers wentoverall and 1-4 in district. Normally, those records wouldn’t e viewed as right spots, ut for a program that had totaled just three wins from 2018-2021

com ined, the total was a welcome right spot.

ccording to Whitaker, last season wasn’t just a step forward for the program as far as wins are concerned, ut it was a step toward giving athletes ack a sense of pride and joy in their athletic atmosphere.

“Things are so much more positive now in the locker room, Whitaker said. “We’ve een very lucky to hire some great people who are also very smart. These coaches want to make sure the kids are given what they need to succeed. We’re all a out doing the right thing as a team and as a program. There’s some great leadership around us right now.

“The kids are having fun in practice again, Whitaker added. “We re em racing the grind a little more as a program. ven around campus there’s a more positive vi e and even around town North Lamar foot all is eing associated with hard work and positivity. When you hear people outside of the office and school talking a out what’s going on with this program, it tells me we’re doing a lot of things right, and that foot all is fun again for these kids.

North Lamar is no stranger to the postseason, having made the dance 11 times in program history. The anthers last made the playoffs in 2016, when they won five games.

To make it a 12th time to the playoffs, the anthers will have to navigate through a gauntlet in istrict -4 ivision .

mong the o stacles standing in the way of the anthers are Texarkana leasant rove and ilmer, oth of whom enter the season ranked in the preseason top-2 in lass 4 ivision according to ave amp ell’s Texas oot all. The awks are slated at the No. position while the uckeyes are posted at No. .

leasant rove and ilmer are slated to attle it out for the top two spots

Schedule

2022 Results

Key Number 5

t has been ve seasons since the Panthers made the playoffs. This year, coach renton hitaker has a motivated group ready to ght though a dif cult district to break that streak.

in the district with the awks picked first and ilmer second. Li erty- ylau is picked third, with itts urg at fourth. North Lamar is picked fifth with pring ill in the last spot.

Offense

The anthers are returning seven starters on offense with six returning on defense. s the saying goes, there is “strength in num ers and coach Whitaker is anking on his solid num ers once again proving eneficial not just for the team this season, ut for years to come down the road.

“We had a out 4 kids come out for foot all last year, Whitaker said. “That was a le to get us three full teams during the season. We’re expecting around 0 or so kids this season. ids want to e around success, and getting the monkey off our ack in year one was a ig step. Last year winning three games was huge for us. Our su -varsity teams are starting to e successful again as well, and once those kids get a taste of victory, that makes more kids want to participate.

“This senior class is small, ut these guys have ought in, Whitaker added. “ lake ildreth, who is a four-year starter and alaki Tillery are going to e huge pieces for us. When got here alaki was on the fence a out playing, ut his friends convinced him to play and he’s just soaked it up and given everything. hett estul is going to e playing corner and slot for us, and he’s a three-year starter. nother guy who has made some sel ess choices to etter us is uddy osey. e’ll e starting on the offensive and defensive line. When you have guys choosing to e sel ess and do what’s est for the program, it gives us a chance to e successful.

ildreth finished last season with a total of 81 yards rushing

along with 12 yards passing and 11 touchdowns with 41 tackles.

“The only ad part a out lake playing quarter ack is that he can’t take every snap defensively, Whitaker said. “ e is our est foot all player, and the most natural player we have. e’s the perfect guy that em odies our offense, and he’s just a toughnosed kid who takes a lue-collar approach to hard work. think we are going to progress even further ecause we will have consistency under center this season.

North Lamar will e trying to make life difficult for opponents y running the lex one triple option offense. With its many options and schemes, Whitaker is hoping it will ring not just a lot of offense, ut some victories as well.

Defense

“When got here, num ers were a struggle for us, Whitaker said. “We only had a couple guys over 200 pounds my first season here, so we were very small. or us it’s not necessarily a out gaining an advantage ut trying to level the playing field. We know we’re going to e ehind the eight all athletically pretty much every game we play this season.

“ had known a out the triple option offense and ex one, ut ’d never coached it, Whitaker added. “When got here then reached out to a couple of guys and figured out what it was, ecause it leveled the playing field. t was taking our lack of si e and we were a le to use it to our advantage to where we could get some angles. f you can’t lock someone then the next est thing is to e a le to read them, which is what we try and do.

North Lamar will open the season ug. 2 at home against arrollton anchview, efore hitting the road the following week to play ommunity.

2022: 3-7 overall, 1-4 District 8-4A D2

Coach:

Brenton Whitaker 4-16 overall at North Lamar 4-16, third year

Returning Starters: 7 offense, 6 defense

Players to watch:

QB/DB Blake Hildreth, OL/DL Atticus Finley, RB/DB Rhett Bestful, LB Cody Stevens

Offensive Strengths:

A teamwide blue-collar mentality led by QB Blake Hildreth.

Defensive Strengths: Seniors Malaki Tillery and Rhett Bestul lead a veteran secondary. The back end of the North Lamar defense is fast, versatile and aggressive.

Connor Brasseaux, JR. DB

Brasseaux drew praise from coach Brenton Whitaker for his work ethic over the summer and versatility. He could play three different offensive positions this season

Dallas Foster, So. RB/WR

Foster is easy to get excited about. He bring lots of speed, as his backround is in track. He owns a 4.7 second 40-yard-dash time.

Zack Neilson, Sr. RB/LB

Neilson is a handful coming out of the backfield. A baseball player by trade, he decided to play football for his senior year and is a welcome additition.

Alex Russell DL, SR.

Anthony Gordon RB/DB, SR.

Blake Hildreth QB/DB, SR.

Brayden Reynolds DL/OL, JR.

Brentin Jackson WR/DB, JR.

Buddy Posey RB/LB, SR.

Cameron Widner FB/LB, JR.

NORTH LAMAR PANTHERS

Jackson Hoskins LB/WR, JR.

Jeremiah Norris WR, JR.

Jesse Troy RB/LB, JR.

Jonathan Bridgers OL/DL, JR.

JT Franklin FB/DL, JR.

Levi McCloure OL/DL, JR

Malaki Tillery RB/DB, SR.

LAST YEAR

Overall: 11-3, 4-1 district region finalist RETURNERS

8 offense, 5 defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

QB/DB Ahkari Johnson, LB/RB Kaden McFadden, DL/TE Lance Jackson

OVERVIEW

The Hawks posted their first double-digit win total since 201 last season with 11 wins, finishing second in the district behind Gilmer. PG has gone at least four rounds deep in the playoffs for six consecutive years, including three state title game appearances.

LAST YEAR

Overall: 11-1, 5-0 district Regional semifinalist RETURNERS

5 offense, 5 defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

RB/DB Will Henderson, FB/DL Aron Bell, OL Lucas Cano

OVERVIEW

Gilmer will be looking to add to its three plus year district winning streak, as the Buckeyes havent lost a district game since October 201 . Henderson will be viewed as a ma or offensive threat after totaling 1,036 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns in 2022.

LAST YEAR

Overall: 2- , 2-3 district Bi-District finalist RETURNERS

5 offense, 6 defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

RB/LB Jaylin Holloway, RB Twan Thompson, DB Marcus Moton

OVERVIEW

Pittsburg has struggled in recent years after winning 10 games in the 2018 season. The Pirates last playoff win came in the 2021 season against Brownsboro.

LAST YEAR

Overall: 1- , 0-5 district RETURNERS

4 offense, 4 defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

RB Julius Hawkins, WR Dwaylon Richardson, OL Jason Jordanl

OVERVIEW

Second-year head coach Brandon Joslin will be looking for improvement after a one-win campaign last year. The Panthers will look to add depth from a J team that finished 5-5 in 2022

LAST YEAR

Overall: 7-4, 3-2 district bi-district finalist RETURNERS

8 offense, 6 defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

WR/DB Dequane Prevo, TE/LB W.T. Jones, RB/LB Greg London.

OVERVIEW

Despite conseutive playoff appearances the last few seasons the Leopards have struggled to find their footing in the postseason. Look to Prevo to improve on an impresive 2022 season in which he totaled 33 catches for 601 yards and 10 touchdowns.

PARIS, PLANT GOOD LUCK TO ALL AREA TEAMS!

PRAIRILAND PATRIOTS

Patrots embracing T.P.W. motto

by avi ney

Prairiland coaches and players have een working to uild a culture of team toughness in preparation of the coming foot all season.

“ ids are working hard in the offseason. They’ve een uying in. t s een a good offseason, hopefully now in year two you hope to see some growth. t’s year two in the offense so we’re way ahead where we were at this time last year ecause last year we started fall asically from scratch offensively. We’ve got another year under our elt so hopefully we’ll make more strides offensively, said head coach er mith. “ think this could e a special year for us.

The players have een uying into mith’s T W motto which translates to tough people win.

“We live y a term called T W that got from coach andy ackson. e was my head coach at Lone Oak my senior year in high school. Tough people win, it isn t just a out the physical part of it. t’s more mental, can you overcome a mistake if something happens, if you miss a tackle or you give up a touchdown, how are you going to respond s far as that, that’s our standard and what we want to uy into. nd then e a le to compete. We represent luecollar toughness and then e a le to finish. Those are the aspects of our culture right now, mith said.

mith egan his coaching career in 2010, so he’s entering his 14th year overall coaching, second year as a head coach.

“ started in ivercrest in 2010, was there for two years, went to aris and spent a year under arry owman and then spent the next five years under coach teven ohen erger and then came to rairiland in ’18 under coach reg ouser. was defensive coordinator here for two years then went ack to aris for two years for more offensive coaching. Then came ack here to rairiland.

e said he is always learning and

sharing what he learns with fellow coaches and players.

“ ’ve learned a lot, een under a lot of great leaders. ve kind of put my own philosophy, my own things on top of that, so ’ve got a lot of resources can go ack to, not just head coaches, ut a lot of assistant coaches that have helped pave the way to where ’m at now, he said.

Offense

The running game will continue to e a ig part of the team strategy.

“We want to esta lish the run game then if they start ringing people into the ox and loading up the line of scrimmage, then we’re going to pass it and try to hit them over their heads so that’s kind of the philosophy. The old saying is gain three yards and a cloud of dust, we want to stay positive yards. This offense isn’t predicated on a lot of second-and-long, third-and-long situations so we want to stay ahead of the chains.

e said the offensive line is going to have a major impact on the team’s play.

“ asically, we return four starters, if you want to count tight ends, asically five starters along the seven-man front. That’s going to e key for us. ’ve got some acks returning, so eing in the second year of the system and it not eing rand new to them is going to help us out this year. We’re a run-first offense ut we can pass it if we need to, he said.

“ avin Nicholas, he’s ig, he’s getting some looks y some ivision colleges. arsen ox is another one, he’s our strong guard, oth of them are ig key guys. They’ve een getting varsity playing time since they were sophomores so they have a lot of experience coming ack, he said.

mith also mentioned junior Ty hannon who started all 10 games last season as a sophomore, raeden Yet ,

Key Number 5

Prairiland returns all ve offensve lineman from a year ago. The Patriots will have an advantage in the trenches in almost every game they play.

and ischer orrison as dependa le returning players.

“ t’s huge having those guys with experience coming ack and like said we should average 2 0 across the oard from tackle to tackle. That’s huge for an offensive line, especially with what we do. We should e a le to esta lish the line of scrimmage and pave the way for those acks to find some holes, he said.

“ eeton ina rew was our quarter ack last year. e’ll e a sophomore. e played all the games last year as a quarterack for us so we’re expecting him to do ig things as far as the run game and the passing game, mith said. “ think we’ll e a le to run him a little it more and keep him involved in the run aspect of the offense.

This year’s squad has three running acks.

“We have a tail ack, a full ack and a half ack. Our tail ack, ardadrion oulter, he’s returning as a three-year starter. e was an honora le-mention ll- tate utility player last year y Texas portswriters ssociation. think he was just shy of 1,000 yards. o, expect ig things from him this year.

ason usateri will e in the full ack slot, mith added.

mith said he has three guys who could slot at half ack.

Logan olderness, allan ridges and possi ly olten c ntyre could fill in as half ack, he noted.

“We’ve got a plethora of acks. This year is pro a ly the most depth we’ve had. This year we’ve got some depth ehind us in the ackfield, we go two, three deep in some positions, mith said.

Defense

The depth will help a it just in case injuries strike the squad.

e said the team has een working hard in practices this summer.

“We were kind of thin last year depth-wise. epth is going to e a ig part of us as far as if guys need a reak or get hurt. That’s one thing we have this year that we didn’t have last year, mith said.

“ eep down m a defensive guy. call the offense here, me and coach eith pangler. We share the offensive duties here, mith said.

“ efensively we run a - stack. Last year we were pretty young defensively and at the line acker position there were a handful of games where we were starting sophomores and freshmen, he said. “ o, overall if you’re looking at our roster, we’re still going to e fairly young. We’ve got may e five, six seniors and so we got a handful of juniors and a lot of sophomores and a lot of sophomores so we’re still going to e fairly young. ut a lot of those sophomores got experience at the varsity level, aston Newman got a lot of experience last year as a freshman, coming ack as a sophomore.

mith said he is looking for his defensive line to plow through opposing offenses this season.

“Our front is going to e ig for us. Like said, we got some ig guys to hold down the trenches and, if we can stay healthy, then the line ackers will e a le to run through gaps and read their keys and make some tackles for us. We should e O , mith said.

2022: 4-6 overall 2-5 District 10-3A D2

Coach: Herb Smith 4-6 overall at Prairiland 4-6, first year

Returning Starters: 8 offense, defense

Players to watch:

OL/DL Carsen Cox, LB Fernando Corte , RB/LB Kardadrion Coulter, OL/DL Gavin Nicholas

Offensive Strengths:

The Patriots have a stellar offensive line that makes everything behind it work. And the blocking doesn t stop there. Tight end Fischer Morrison can move players when called upon.

Defensive Strengths:

t turns out, having a bunch of big guys on the offensive line is helpful for defense. Much of the front five play defense as well, and can be rotated in and kept fresh tackling ballcarriers and chasing quarterbacks.

Top Newcomers

Kinabrew is an athletic player who will be trusted with an important back-end position on defense. He has also shown he has the maturity to lead an offense at quarterback.

Whitaker was added to the varsity roster last year and he held his own. He ll be a player depended on to help a run-first offensive attack.

Prairiland coach Herb Smith mentioned Bridges, the young running back, as someone who can step into a larger role this season.

Aiden Youngblood RB/DB, SO.

D.J. Ledbetter RB/DL, JR.

Hagen Jordan OL/DL, JR.

Logan Holderness RB/DB, SO.

Keeton Kinabrew QB/DB, SO. Luke Rhoades TE/LB, SO.

Kardadrion Coulter RB/DB, SR.

Logan Widener OL/DL, JR.

Kolton Jackson RB/LB, SR.

Mason Pusateri RB/DB, JR. TY Shannon OL/DL, JR.

Callan Bridges RB/LB, SO.

Fischer Morrison TE/LB, JR.

Braeden Yetz OL/DL, SR.

Easton Newman RB/LB, SO.

Carsen Cox OL/DL, SR.

Jayden Whitaker RB/LB, SO.

Austen Gordon RB/DB, SO.

Dalton MacKenzie TE/DB, JR.

Camdyn Watson TE/LB, SO.

Gavin Nicholas OL/DL, SR.

Butler Mathews OL/DL, JR.

Ethan Miranda OL/DL, JR.

Colten McEntyre TE/LB, JR. John Huff RB/LB, SR.

Keeton Kinabrew So. QB/DB

Jayden Whitaker So. RB/LB

Callen Bridges So. RB/LB

Not Pictured: Trey Ihle, RB/DB, JR.

CHISUM MUSTANGS

Mustangs, back at full strength, on a mission

by en c en

foot all season can e a fickle thing.

n week five last season, the hisum ustangs were winning y multiple scores and driving down the field to further surge ahead of rival rairiland. atthew riffith, hisum quarter ack, ran a sneak in a short-yardage situation. rairiland defender landed on riffith, and when the quarter ack picked himself up off the turf, he clutched his shoulder.

riffith roke his collar one and remained out for the rest of the season. The injury to a two-year starter hit hisum like a punch to the gut, and the night ended with rairiland hitting a game-winning 0-yard field goal as time expired.

The ustangs don’t use the injury as an excuse. hisum coach ach illsap said hats off to the rairiland team that made ig plays late in a rivalry game, ut a simple look at the schedule illustrates how much it hampered the team.

N lyton, a senior last year, filled in admira ly at quarter ack, it just wasn’t his natural position. hisum was winless in its final five games without riffith, averaging only eight points a contest.

“ im going down last season really affected our season as far as we really didn t have any ody who was ready, illsap said. “ ut he had een the quarter ack for two years, he’d started as a sophomore at the varsity level and so when we lost him it affected our season rairiland eat us, ut not having him out there affected us. We freaked out a little it not having him there in a ig game.

hisum finished 1- last season and winless in district 10- .

t was a season filled with turnover as illsap assumed head coaching duties midway through the season. ut it appears the revolving door of change has stopped spinning, the ustangs return a fully recovered riffith and are led y illsap, who is as deeply engrained in hisum foot all as anyone.

illsap is eginning his 11th season coaching at hisum. e graduated from the high school in 2010 and found his way ack on staff in 201 .

“ hope m a le to stay here my entire career, illsap said. “This is home for me, so staying here long term is what want to do so m very lessed. ’m homegrown, working at the school went to, and got the jo want to have.

illsap’s roots run deep in hisum. The moment he was told he’d e the full-time head coach and athletic director meant a lot to him.

“ t’s een a dream of mine to e an athletic director, illsap said. “ always knew in school wanted to coach. When started coaching, knew what wanted to eventually e and so ’m super pumped a out it. ’m excited to get rolling with every ody and we have a good staff so, think it’s going to e nice for us.

Offense

riffith is ack under center, a statement that odes well for the entire ustang offense. hisum will continue to run the slot T offense, a system the ustangs are familiar with.

“ t’s pretty much a lot of down linemen, we don t have wideouts very often, illsap said. “ o, we’ve got three running acks, quarter ack, two tight ends and we want to run the all down your throat. f we throw the all, five times a game is a high num er. t s smash-mouth, old-school foot all they used to run in college a lot. nd it’s kind of made its way ack.

illsap said one thing he may do more of is throw the all, and left the possi ility open, ut reiterated the run game will e a core identity of the offense.

“ t’s got to e one of those things like if it fits into the ow of things, illsap said. “ think in the past there’s een some times we’ve een kind of

2022 Results

Key Number 38

n the Mustangs two wins last year, they averaged 38 points per game. They ll look for similar levels of production in the 2023 season.

scared to throw it ecause we have so many downs and we only have so many opportunities. That’s the downside of running the lot T offense, it’s three yards and a cloud of dust. o, if you waste a down throwing the all and don’t have any gains on it, sometimes that can freak you out. ut most of the time in it ecause we don’t throw it very much, when we do it will e ig gains.

powerful hisum offensive attack makes a successful run game a possi ility. There will e at least four seniors starting up front, with another spot up for gra s. illsap said the line will e a ig strength, pointing to players like senior ickey pradlin, junior atthew olen, senior ase halaire, senior li rose, senior en Wooters and senior Tucker ohnson.

“They don’t get a lot of the credit, ut they make us go, illsap said. “ feel like that’s a strength for us this year ecause we got some veterans, some of them started for three years for us.

illsap isn’t approaching the season with a running ack workload already doled out. The eauty of the slot T is it spreads carries around to multiple players, keeping everyone fresh and operating at peak efficiency. One of the main draws of the slot T offense was its deceptive nature featuring cutting and turning acks.

“Our quarter ack has the a ility to run the all, illsap said. “We’ll have three acks in the ackfield so we could give it to our full ack, our tail ack or our half ack. eally, you’ve got four guys who can take reps. ometimes it will e the quarter ack who gets all the carries and yards. Other games will e all fullack. Tail ack not as much, half ack yeah. o, in the ow of the game, depending on what you see what defense we face is what you’ll see.

Defense

The iggest strength of hisum’s defense is in the secondary, ut that’s not the unit occupying illsap’s mind. e knows how important line acker play will e this season.

hisum lost line acker rayden rown to graduation, a huge hole to fill.

“ think they set the tone for the whole defense, illsap said. “ f your line acker play is good, think every ody else kind of follows suit ecause the defensive line is like These guys are making plays ehind me the secondary is like These guys are making plays in front of me. hisum’s secondary has tremendous speed, and that’s the group illsap said he feels like is a strength of the team.

“ efensively, we want to make it simple, ut we want to play fast, illsap said. “ o, we don’t want it to e super ela orate and people are going to say they don’t do very much ut want to e a le to play really, really, really fast ecause think that makes a difference. We will have the a ility to e in multiple fronts. hisum returns nine total starters from a season ago.

“The more senior leadership you have a solutely makes a difference, illsap said. “ would never say we need less. ut think nine is a worka le num er, when you have 11 guys on the field, and you have nine you can find a way to enefit oth sides of the all. t rings some leadership ut also allows some young guys to e a le to step in and play. illsap, who has seen generations of ustang foot all, has a grasp on where the program is at. e thinks ack to the six-win streak hisum went on in 2021 and thinks days like that will e ack soon.

“We had a rough season last year, illsap said. “ ut we just had a good group of kids, we had an athletic unch of kids and they were ought into what we were doing, ut we have that coming. o, m kind of in etween. There were times when was like, an that feels a long time ago’ and then see our young group and say this group has a lot of that that they had and they’re going to e really good if not etter. nd so, that makes me think our time is coming up. o, would say we’re kind of in etween, we’re close.

2022: 2-8 overall 1-5 District -3A D2

Coach: ach Millsap 0-3 overall at Chisum, 0-3, second year

Returning Starters: offense, defense

Players to watch:

QB Matthew Griffith, OL/LB Ben Wooters, OL/DL Case Chalaire, TE/DL Hunter Holland

Offensive strengths: The Mustangs have a tremendous offensive line. Big, veteran players will clear lanes for the running backs and protect the quarterback as good as any team’s offensive line this year.

Defensive strengths: A veteran secondary provides a calming presence on the back end of the defense. Matthew Griffith will see snaps at safety along with quarterback.

Top Newcomers

Holland is a player primed for a breakout. The lineman started on both sides of the ball last year as a freshman and is emerging to one of the Mustang s best players

Chisum coach ach Millsap said Gavin Jonson is a name Chisum fans will hear a lot of. Johnson is a playmaker, and could see action on both sides of the ball.

Ben Wooters OL/LB, SR.

Hunter Holland OL/DL, SO.

Gunner Termin WR/DB, FR.

Matthew Rolen OL/DL, JR.

Tannner Spear RB/LB, FR.

Matthew Griffith QB/DB, SR.

Slade Farmer WR/DB, JR.

Rickey Spradlin OL/DL, SR.

Tucker Johnson OL/DL, SR.

Zeke Baird RB/DB, FR.

Casen Bult WR/DB, JR.

Case Chalaire OL/DL, SR.

Collin Atwood RB/OLB, SR.

Gavin Johnson RB/DB, SO.

Eli Grose OL/DL, SR.

Hayes Charlaire RB/LB, FR.

Jasiah Weiss OL/DL, JR.

J.D. Johnson RB/OLB, SR.

Lukaas Dickson OL/DL, FR.

Ismael Thiessen TE/DB, JR.

Jimmy Lewis RB/LB, SR.

Jarrett Leverett OL/DL, SO.

Luke Lamb TE/OLB, FR. Ryan Urizar RB/LB, SO.

Hunter Holland So. OL/DL

Gavin Johnson So. RB/DB

LAST YEAR

Overall: 4-6, 2-2 district RETURNERS

7 offense, 7 defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

QB Gavin Carrell, WR Marque Jones, LB/RB Colt Morrow OVERVIEW

The Dagons were bitten by the in ury bug last season, and it cost them a playoff spot. Look for improvement from both Carrell and Jones on the offensive side of the ball this season.

LAST YEAR

Overall: -3, 6-0 district Area finalist RETURNERS

6 offense, 6 defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

RB/DB Winky Williams, DL Hayes Murphey OVERVIEW

Dekalb has shown consistency since 2018, averaging at least six wins every season. With a first-year head coach in Troy eringue, the Bears will be looking to take the next step in 2023.

LAST YEAR

Overall: -3, 6-0 district Area finalist RETURNERS

6 offense, defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

RB Keyshawn Walls, WR/DB Jatavious Johnson, QB/DB Michael Baysinger

OVERVIEW

Hooks stormed back in 2022 to erase a four-win season from the previous year with a district championship. Baysinger set school records last season as quarterback with 1, 00 yards and 21 touchdowns with ust two interceptions.

LAST YEAR

Overall: 6-6, 4-2 district - Area finalist RETURNERS

6 offense, 8 defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

ATH Connor Bobbitt, RB Dontae Thompson, DB Chris Ganaway

OVERVIEW

New Boston gave head coach Jody Littleton a debut season to remember as they won four district games and reached the playoffs. avier Rowden will be stepping in at the quarterback position this season for the Lions.

LAST YEAR

Overall: 2-8, 2-4 district bi-district finalist RETURNERS

7 offense, 8 defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

OL/DL Bralyn Nix, ATH Champ Bailey, DB/WR Gage Smith

OVERVIEW

The Brahmas will be depending on Nix to turn in another stellar performance, after he didn t allow a sack last season. Pewitt hasn t won more than 10 games since the 201 season, when the Brahmas won 14 games.

COOPER BULLDOGS

Canon Ingram key to shoot Cooper deep in playoffs

by avi ney

Last season the ooper ulldogs charged into the playoffs with a gritty determination, plowing their way past teams like orrigan- amden and oaquin efore Timpson ended the ogs’ state title chase.

ead coach od astorena was proud of last year’s effort and has confidence in the players who will line up for him in the coming high school season.

“ eally proud of that senior group that just left, ecause they were not thought of to e a very good class and they won a lot of foot all games, and not just foot all games, they turned the program around, astorena said. “O viously it takes the kids in front of them and ehind them ut we kind of came full circle with them last year and it s just a re ection of their hard work. That’s what we have now is we have kids that do it our way, they work really hard for us, they’re extremely coacha le, we’re pretty demanding on our kids and they rise to those standards. t was just a matter of time efore we could get it going. ust like anything, once you get your kids ought in and working really hard you have a chance to e successful.

astorena also knows that a good staff is a edrock in uilding a strong program.

“This will e the sixth season together as a staff. t was pretty tough there early, ut we were lessed to get the program up and rolling and we’ve had some success even early we were a le to come in and win a district title,“ he said. “ t still was like anything when you go in and you’re changing things up and doing things differently, you’re going to get some fight ack a little it and kids have to get used to what you’re ringing in. nd there were some growing pains there at the eginning.

e said the team is uilding a camaraderie and having fun adjusting to the rigors of the start of a new season as they prepare for their opponents.

“This year we’re not looking to take a step ack. ust like we say any year to our guys, you got to do it every single year. Our kids have had a great spring, they’ve had a really good summer. don’t know what the season is going to e like, ut our standards are high and our kids elieve they can go compete at a really high level again. ut you got some really good teams like oney rove

and ivercrest, he said.

“ t’s a lot of fun when you get it that way and you can e demanding of your kids. You see them grow up throughout the years and mature as young people as well. t’s really rewarding and a lot of fun, astorena said. “ tell our coaching staff all the time. Yeah there’s pressure to win, ut we spend way too much time away from our families and with each other to not make it fun. t etter e fun and it etter e rewarding.

This year there are 1 seniors on varsity and 11 will e playing quite a it according to astorena.

enior anon ngram has een in a leadership position since last season playing line acker, essentially the quarter ack role on the defense, so he should move seamlessly into the quarter ack role this season, astorena said.

“ e knows what it takes from setting the tone on defense to now ipping over and having to e the guy who runs that huddle. O viously, he has some ig shoes to fill, ut have a lot of confidence in him eing a le to do that.

“ aving anon, ed drian apps and eywine enson ack, all guys who carried the foot all a ton for us last year, think we’re going to have a chance to e really, really explosive. o, would say experience ack there with all those guys carrying the foot all. nd then, up front we have our center ack, we have three seniors coming ack on the offensive line, so think experience on the ack end and up front is going to e really, really important to our success, astorena said.

Offense

“We got a really good group of seniors, astorena said. “ oss oody will e a leader on the O-Line as a senior. ngram will fill the quarter ack spot and apps will e in the slot.

“ nd then, up front we have our center ack, we have three seniors coming ack on the offensive line, so think experience on the ack end and up front is going to e really important to our success, he said. “Our inside ackers and our outside ackers, three out of the four are going to e seniors.

2022 Results

Key Number

Cooper went on a 13-game win streak last season, which was great until a season-low 13 point performance against Timpson got the ulldogs bounced from the playoffs.

gain, a lot of the same guys, ut a lot of guys who can get around the foot all in a hurry. We got some good pieces right there with senior leadership.

s the quarter ack, ngram will direct the offense.

“ don t know if he’s ever een fa ed y anything. e’s just a super confident kid who loves to play the game and he has a knack for making plays and he’s a tremendous leader. We’re looking forward to him eing a leader for us again, the coach said.

astorena has his eyes on his players on oth sides of the all as several players play multiple positions.

e said riday night spectators should keep an eye out for playmaker arkell mith.

nother guy is senior defensive lineman lfred Wilkerson.

“ e s going to e a tremendous player on oth sides of the all. mean, he was a really good tight end for us and he’s een a tremendous defensive end for us and we’re excited to have him ack, astorena said. “ oss oody, another senior, think he’s going to e a really good player for us on the offensive line. e’s a ig kid, works really hard.

Tristen Wicks is another senior to watch out for.

“ ackson ogel erg is going to have to e a ig important piece plugging into that safety position, astorena added.

“ think everything goes ack to having a vision and having kids that every single year we’ve een a le to push them in the right direction. We invest a lot in our junior highs and we knew that when these guys were seventh graders. They know the standards that we’re trying to reach and accomplish. To me, when you invest in a seventh grader, y the time he’s a freshman you’ve already had him for

two years and you just keep that thing going and think it starts to ecome a culture, a way of doing things at a really high level, astorena said.

Defense

With several players playing oth ways astorena plans to have his defense set the tone in the games.

“That’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to take a lot of pride in playing everything. ut yeah, we take a lot of pride in playing defense and having a championship-cali er defense, he said.

“ efensively, when you reak us down, we graduated our two corners and our safety and we graduated three of our defensive line guys.

The ulldogs had to give up defensive end aron oody to graduation and also two inside guys, so the staff put a lot of focus on those spots in the spring and summer, he said, adding that the team still has a ways to go.

“O viously, you won t know until you put the pads on and see who is going to e physical in there. That’s a ig hole right there, he said. Three guys there gone from one of the top defenses in the region, if not the top in the region. The secondary that’s a ig concern for us. We graduated three seniors ack there so we’re definitely going to have to plug those in.

Wilkerson ack on the defensive line “ e’s going to e a real good player, astorena said.

astorena has faith that the guys will get it when it comes time to play, however.

“ t’s like it is at any small school, plugging in some holes in some spots and getting those guys some reps. ut have a lot of confidence in our guys ecause they’re extremely coacha le. s long as they’re coacha le and willing to work hard think we can go and plug those holes, he said.

2022:

13-1 overall 6-0 District 6-2A D1

Coach:

Rod Castorena 43-13 overall at Cooper 43-13, sixth year

Returning Starters: 8 offense, 5 defense

Players to watch:

RB/LB Markell Smith, RB/LB Canon ngram, OL/DL Alfred Wilkerson

Offensive Strengths:

The Bulldogs have one of the district s best players in quarterback Canon ngram. After the graduation of his brother, Colin, Canon should be a seamless fit to lead the Bulldog offense.

Defensive Strengths:

Cooper possesses a physical, imposing defensive line and mature linebacker unit. An aggressive and smart defensive unit, Cooper only surrendered 21 or more points twice last season.

Adryean Finney SB/DB, JR. Beachley Bills WR/DB, JR.

Tyler Rutledge OL/DE, SR.

Tristan Wicks OL/DL, SR.

Zach Harper WR/LB, JR.

JR. yde el , R/DB, JR. el

r R/ B, R.

Seth Conklin WR/DB, SR.

Tyler Hoskison OL/DE, SO.

Courion Finney WR/DB, SO.

David Roush OL/DL, JR.

Joshua Scantlon OL/DL, SO.

Creighton Lenahan WR/DB, SR.

John Ramos QB/DB, JR.

kevin Ugalde OL/DL, JR.

Keywine Denson RB/OLB, SR.

Ross Moody OL/DL, SR.

Markell Smith SB/OLB, SR.

RIVERCRESTREBELS

Rebels eying playoff run in McClain's first season

by en c en

In arch, immediately after coach Travis c lain interviewed to e the ivercrest coach he attended a e el asket all game. omething stuck out to him as he watched ivercrest kids are gritty and determined. t was then, c lain reali ed ivercrest was the right fit.

“The num er one thing is the kids, they don’t know anything ut hard work, clain said. “You ask them to do something and they’re going to. lot of our kids are working on ranches or farms or they’re working construction, so the hard work is kind of ingrained in their N .

c lain played college foot all as a receiver at aylor. e comes to ivercrest after a stint at the storied elina where he coached receivers, quarter acks and was offensive coordinator. c lain is taking over a e el team that went -6 last season.

ivercrest made the playoffs, a muchimproved result from a three-win campaign in 2021, ut c lain has the team’s goals more than a playoff appearance. The re els want to go on a run.

There are some indicators ivercrest could continue to improve. ark rider, a junior, returns to play quarter ack. c lain said rider added 12 pounds of muscle this offseason, has gotten faster and thinks he’ll do a great jo running the offense.

ivercrest also returns 12 starters from a year ago. lus, c lain simply knows how to win foot all games. elina has een to eight state championships, and c lain was on the coaching staff for one. e returns a winning mentality for a e el team with historic success, appearing in the playoffs in seven of the past eight years.

n a competitive district -2 , ivercrest is aimed at eating the est and ripping the crown. ut not all at once, of course, clain feels anything is possi le if the team focuses on day-to-day development.

“ think that we just need to go in every week knowing we don t have to win district this week, c lain said. “We just have to take care of our jo every step, every snap. We’re really just trying to get them committed and ought into the process of eing a good foot all team every step of the way and not looking so much at the ig picture.

think we’re right in the middle of the pack with a really competitive district and we’re set up for an opportunity to go have

a successful year and play for a few weeks into Novem er, may e ecem er. That s the goal for sure.

Offense

c lain wants the ivercrest offense to play fast. ore snaps mean more points and more tired defenses. lot of the focus in offseason workouts and two-a-day practices was spent conditioning players to play at a rapid-fire tempo.

ivercrest averaged almost 21 points per game last season, ut at times struggled to score. Three times ivercrest was held under 10 points, losing each of those contests.

espite his receiving ackground as a player, c lain is all a out the run game. Two of the four seniors ivercrest graduated played on the offensive line, making replacing the talent up front a priority to succeed in a ground attack.

“ ’m definitely not an air raid guy or anything like that, c lain said. “ want to run the foot all. n the three years that was the offensive coordinator at elina we ran the all for over 2,000 yards every year. ll ut my first year we had a 1,000yard rusher and this last year we almost had two. unning the foot all is how you win games.

ivercrest will run a spread offense, ut don’t e fooled y multiple receivers on the field.

“We’ll e in shotgun, ut we want to run the foot all, c lain said. “ uys are going to e a le to watch 1 seconds of tape and reali e that, ut firmly elieve that this staff is going to do a great jo at finding unique ways to get the mismatches we want and put our guys in a great situation to e successful.

That said, c lain made it clear he isn’t afraid to throw the foot all. e pointed out a foot all field is and 1 yards wide and thinks a defense should have to cover every piece of it.

“We’re going to use every inch of the field to create opportunities for our skill kids, to create opportunities to run the foot all, c lain said. “We want to e good at who we are and what we do and we want to e creative in our alignment

Schedule

2022 Results

Key Number

Rivercrest graduated two starting offensive linemen last season. New coach Travis McClain brings a run- rst mentality reliant on controlling the line of scrimmage.

and creating matchups that we think can put our kids in the est situation to succeed.

focus of the new offensive system is to get the all to playmakers in space. Two speedy position players c lain is excited to see are freshmen saiah unter and Lance Taylor. oth have had successful track careers and c lain called them strong and athletic for their age and thinks they have a shot to contri ute at the varsity level this season. xpect them to receive carries in relief of all-around-athlete rown.

“One of the things took from elina is the value and importance of track, c lain said. “ put a huge emphasis on that. We were running efore school. wanted those guys to know that there is no sport that you will play where eing stronger and faster will make you worse. t doesn t matter, in the asket all gym, on the ase all diamond or on the tennis court. There is no sport where eing stronger and faster makes you inferior.

rider has always had the athleticism required to play quarter ack, hence eing named an all-district receiver. ut he has matured this offseason and moves to play quarterack full-time. e played the position through junior high and waited ehind former e el hase uffer to assume the reigns of the offense. There was never a conversation of if rider was ready to handle the quarter ack position.

“ had an idea of where he was mentally and just kind of went to him and said, think you’re the guy,’ c lain said. “ think you’re the dude that can captain this ship and take us places people don t expect us to go,’ and he welcomed that responsi ility with open arms.

nd he’s een challenged multiple times throughout the offseason in the spring and the summer and he’s answered the ell every time, just as good or if not etter than any coach could ask for.

c lain said rider is a quiet leader. e isn’t outwardly emotional or fiery, c lain said there are two types of leaders, vocal leaders and action leaders. rider falls into the latter.

“The first thing we ever talked a out which was lead from the front, c lain said. “ never wanted him to change his personality, and said, think you have all the tools in the world to lead this entire athletic program into something really special.’ When you have a kid who’s that eager to do something that hard and pro a ly a little uncomforta le it sets you at ease that he is ready, willing and capa le to do something like this. That alone really calmed me down and let me know got one piece early that can uild around and get guys to rally around.

Defense

raduation thinned the ranks of the ivercrest defense, a unit that held up against most of its competition ut faltered in games against high-powered offenses like eckville and ooper. einforcements are coming in the form of an experienced defensive mind.

hris avis, who was the head coach at larksville, joins the e el staff this season as assistant head coach defensive coordinator.

“ told avis in our conversations that ’m not going to try and tell you what you should do or overly critique, c lain said. “ y iggest thing is have a plan and execute the plan. ’m hiring you ecause trust you. trust you to do your jo and run a great defense and so have total faith in him to put our kids in great situations to e successful on that side of the all as well.

ive defensive starters return for the e els. aquan rown, a junior, anchors the defense from his middle line acker position. fellow junior onnor erring joins rown in the heart of the e el defense.

c lain considers line acker the strength of the defense.

“With aquan coming ack, he’s transferring into a slightly different position, ut at the end of the day he’s just a foot all player and he’s going to e surrounded y guys in that line acker core that are athletes, that are downhill, that will strike people and so think that they’re going to e a le to make a lot of plays for us, c lain said.

2022: 5-6 overall 3-3 District 6-2A D1

Coach: Travis McClain: 0-0 overall at Rivercrest 0-0, first year

Returning Starters: 7 offense, 5 defense

Players to watch: WR/LB Connor Herring, RB/LB Jaquon Brown, WR/LB Chance Duffer

Offensive Strengths: The Rebels have athleticism at skill positions that could cover up some trouble spots. Two of the four seniors who graduated last year played on the offensive line, so talent in the backfield will make replacing those holes up front easier.

Defensive Strengths: Linebackers will lead the Rivercrest defense. Jaquon Brown returns to that role and will lead a position group unafraid to y around the field, strike people and make plays.

Aaron Raulston TE/DE, SR.

Austin Urteaga

Blake McNary WR/DB, JR.

Braxton Cheney OL/DL, JR.

Brayden Burnett OL/DL, SR.

Cameron Lowe WR/S, JR.

Canaan Wells OL/DL, SO.

Cason Fields WR/DB, SR.

Sign Your Classroom Up Today! NIE NEWSPAPERSINEDUCATION

D T ,

he Paris ews alon with other area sinesses have oined to ether to provide classroom newspapers and no cost to yo or the school. t s p rpose is to enhance the f n and val e of ed cation y providin the newspaper as a s pplemental teachin tool. t will reinforce asic academic s ills for st dents thro ho t Lamar annin elta and ed iver co nties.

ewspapers offer a creative s pplement to traditional classroom tools. hey are livin te t oo s that are pdated daily teach a o t c rrent events have practical life-s ills applications and o tline initiatives ta in place in the st dents comm nity.

t dents can relate to newspapers on a relevant real life level which they will e a le to carry over into their ad lt lives. he pro ram e cites st dents and compels them to learn

you are i eres ed i re eivi ree ews a ers or he 202 2024 s hool year ll ou he re ues orm elow

f yo have any estions a o t the pro ram please call me at 903-785-6903 email lisa.shew@theparisnews.com

ill-o t and ail to he Paris ews B T

r ret rn the form in person SE T

HONEY GROVE WARRIORS

Playbook

Fletcher establishing Warrior Mentality

by en c en

There’s one thing a out Warrior ield that oney rove coach hane letcher had to point out There’s only one gate.

That means there is one way in, and one way out. nd last ugust, after a season-opening loss against owe, the simple fact haunted letcher. t was his first game at oney rove, a program familiar with elite foot all, and he had failed.

“The thing a out this stadium is there’s only one way in and one way out, letcher said. ll the parents and crowd were standing at this exit, and we got eat 20-1 . was still on the field and said, ain t leaving till all those people leave. ’m em arrassed.’ t was my fault, didn t have the kids prepared, so ’m going to try and not e em arrassed any more.

letcher did eventually walk through the gate that night, and oney rove has een a different program since that point. The Warriors ripped off six straight wins en route to a - season and playoff appearance.

t could e said oney rove donned a warrior mentality, which is the very thing letcher and his staff have started to uild up this offseason. very Wednesday leading up to the season was called Warrior Wednesday. letcher orrowed the idea from Texas Tech foot all coach oey c uire when c uire was at edar ill. Warrior Wednesday put players through a series of six workout stations. s soon as the whistle that always hangs around letcher’s neck lows, it’s on to the next station for three and a half minutes. sually, oney rove gets through all six stations plus three or four more then goes ack for round two.

o yeah, it’s intense. ut the main focus of Warrior Wednesday isn’t to uild up players’ odies.

“ nd it’s not a out us eing igger, faster, stronger that day, it’s a out us trying to kick your tail, letcher said.

t the eginning of the summer, the players dread the Wednesday sessions,

ut after a few weeks, come to em race it.

“We did it today and it’s 100 degrees outside, letcher said. “That was our last one of the year until foot all starts so they took pride in that and usted their tail. Yesterday we were doing a complex and its 10 different exercises and you can t put the ar down. ts mental. These kids we keep throwing it at them and they just keep taking it.

letcher expects to see the traits of a tougher team in the fourth quarters of games this season and in Novem er.

“Those ig games, whether it e for a district championship, for a playoff game, we don t want to lose a fourth quarter game, letcher said. “ nd that’s where this warrior Wednesday stuff and complex will come into play, in the fourth quarter. We want to make foot all easy, compared to what we’ve done.

There is a different feel around oney rove. letcher said he tries to make things fun, he said he wants to raise the roof in the weight room.

“ ’m a kid’s coach, letcher said. “ ids come in this office every day and hang out, they want to e around us. think if a kid loves me, and he knows love him can coach him harder. think that’s kind of een the iggest deal, is them understanding we’re doing this for you and we’re going to work this hard for you and it’s going to pay off. nd they saw that, we won nine games last year they saw a little it of that, and we hope that’s just the tip of the ice erg for this year. ecause you talk a out ought in, these kids are ought in ig time.

Offense

art of the offseason conditioning has een getting players’ stamina up to play as fast as possi le, and with the offensive talent at oney rove, who wouldn’t want to snap the all as often as possi le

“What we do offensively, we’re try -

Schedule

Key Number 3

oney Grove has three capable uarterbacks in senior Lucas Morrison and sophomores Ryelan Morris and arrme Daniels.

ing to snap the all as fast as we can get lined up and our kids got to get in shape and they practice themselves in shape, ecause we practice fast, letcher said.

Last season, oney rove’s highpowered attack put up totals of 8, , 2 and 4 points.

oney rove is going to utili e three quarter acks this season.

ophomore yelan orris and junior Lucas orrison return to the quarter ack role and will e joined y sophomore arrme aniels.

t will e a difficult situation to manage, ut letcher said having three excellent quarter acks is a good pro lem to have.

ach of the three signalcallers ring different elements to the ta le. oney rove will have specific packages tailored for each and will manage each game with a hot-hand approach.

“ The split s it will hurt their stats, ut it ain t a out stats as long as we get those Ws in the win column, letcher said. “There’s not a lot of selfishness here and we don t have a lot of complaining. ids don t complain a out working hard.

ids worked hard efore ut you’d always have that group that would complain, we just don’t have that here.

orris is one of several impressive young players will e wearing Warrior orange this season. e has a track ackground and ran a 10.8 in the hundred meters. orris’ speed, along with athleticism and foot allsavvy has already drawn five ivision college offers, including from Texas Tech and ichigan tate.

“ e’s the total package, he’s powerful, he’ll e our free safety and quarter ack, letcher said. “When he’s not at quarter ack he’ll play receiver. e’s one of the fastest kids in the state of Texas, hands down, and he’s 1 years old.

t’s hard to get up to top speed if holes aren’t there to run through, and there should e plenty of holes opening up on the Warriors’ side of the all. letcher said he has 10 offensive lineman who can contri ute this season, an unheard-of num er for a 2 school. t’s all part of a healthy foot all program with 0 kids involved.

“We’ll control the line of scrim -

mage, that’s going to e the num er one key, letcher said. “ ut our quarter ack, running acks are fast enough to where all they need is a crease and they’re gone. They can go.

Defense

oney rove’s calling card for years has een a stingy defense that keeps opponents to low point totals, and the change in head coach isn’t expected to change that precedent, letcher said.

Last year, even though the Warriors had a disappointing season with just one district win, the defense did its part. n only one district game did oney rove give up more than 28 points.

efensively, the Warriors will likely spend most of their time on defense in a - formation, though letcher added that they might utili e a -4 stack formation when needed.

“We’re going to e a three-man front most of the time, letcher explained. “We will use other schemes when necessary ut this is what we’re going to e for the most part.

Looking at this year’s squad, letcher said the team’s iggest defensive strength will lie in the defensive line.

“Our defensive line is just outstanding, he said. “They’re ig, they’re strong and they’re fast.

The coach had nothing ut glowing remarks to say a out ortney ooper, a defensive lineman who letcher descri ed as a lynchpin for the team.

“ e might e the most important piece to this team, letcher said. “ ’m not sure if ’ll e a le to take him off the field this year, he’s that important in all phases to the game.

nother ig defensive lineman will e rody ahan, a rising junior with si e and quickness.

The team’s defensive acks are also expected to play a ig role for the team, with players like Nick Ottmo and re att all coming off of stellar 2022 seasons.

“ think our defense is going to surprise some people this year, letcher said. “We’re focused. We want to take oney rove ack to the playoffs and that starts on the defensive side of the all.

2022: -3 overall 5-1 District 6-2A D

Coach: Shane Fletcher 113-86 overall at Honey Grove -3, second year

Returning Starters: 10 offense, defense

Players to watch: QB Ryelan Morris, RB/LB Deon Morris, TE Levi Beavers

Offensive Strengths:

f there is strength in numbers, Honey Grove is going for a deadlift world record. With three capable quarterbacks and a stacked offensive line, Honey Grove can play the hottest hand and develop packages tailored for each quarterback.

Defensive Strengths:

Speed. There will never ust be one Warrior defender in on a tackle because players across the board y around the field.

Winning Trend

Aidan Vega RB, SR..

Cortney Cooper OL/DL, SR.

Lazarus Asberry LB, JR.

Manuel Diaz K, SR.

Lucas Morrison QB, LB, SR.

Ryelan Morris QB,SO.

Levi Beavers LB, JR.

Mason Banker LB, SO.

Luis Mendez OL, SR.

Sawyer Price OL, JR.

Tatum Banker C, JR.

Axel Sanchez

Asher Price Brody Mahan JR.

Antonio torrez OL/LB, JR..

Brady Banker OL, SO.

Austin Freeman

Jarrmez Daniels WR, SO.

Deon Morris RB, SR.

kendal Wolfe WR/LB, JR.

Cyrus McMorris OL, SO.

Jayden Galindo OL, JR.

Dre Patt WR, JR.

Kobe Patt DL, SO.

LAST YEAR

Overall: 1- , 0-6 district RETURNERS

5 offense, 5 defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

RB/LB an Rodgers, RB/LB Julian Rodrigue , RB/DB Kevin Hernande

OVERVIEW

The Eagles have struggled the past two seasons, totaling ust three wins overall, and no wins in district play. On the offensive side of the ball, Como Pickton will look to solve issues which have resulted in an average of 10 points per game being scored

LAST YEAR

Overall: 6-4, 2-4 district RETURNERS

8 offense, 8 defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

WR Payton Dickinson, RB/DB Jake Hallman, QB Easton Campbell

OVERVIEW

The Panthers will be looking to Campbell to improve on a 2022 season in which he threw for 1,652 yards with 12 touchdowns, including three rushing touchdowns. AlbaGolden has recorded two straight six-win seasons since finishing 1-8 in 2020.

LAST YEAR

Overall: 5-6, 4-2 district bi-district finalist RETURNERS

7 offense, 5 defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

LB Cayden Herron, DL/TE Warren Richardson, DL/TE Cavan Armstrong OVERVIEW

The Wolves will be lead this season under new head coach Brad Smithey. Wolfe City will look to break a streak of five-win seasons the past three years, with their last double-digit win total coming in 2018 in a 10-2 campaign.

LAST YEAR

Overall: 3-7, 1-5 district, RETURNERS

5 offense, 6 defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

WR/DB Jon Cruthird, WR/DB Layton Morgan, QB/LB Kole Lively OVERVIEW

The Hornets lost most of their starting offensive line to graduation. Quinlan-Boles recorded a seven-win season in 2021, which snapped a streak fo three seasons below five victories.

CLARKSVILLETIGERS

Tigers think focus on new culture will lead to victory

by en c en

As the world emerged from the O-1 pandemic, longtime foot all coach Nic Williams had a thought. ay e it was time to take a reak from coaching.

fter all, he reasoned, he wasn’t even sure the high school he was coaching at would e a le to play a full regular season. o, Williams made the switch to administration, where he served as assistant principle for two years at alo uro igh chool.

Then Williams had another thought. e missed foot all.

“ missed the camaraderie, Williams said. “ missed going out there on Thursdays and doing walk through, from to , just eing around the guys and eing a le to mentor student-athletes on a daily asis. .. missed it, the riday nights are un elieva le. ust eing a le to e around student athletes and watching them mature and watching them get etter day y day and week y week is what missed. winding foot all career that included time as a high school coach in New exico, an ntonio and the Texas panhandle and time as a junior college foot all coach rought Williams to larksville.

Williams’ first order of usiness was to esta lish his 0-day transition plan. The plan has two facets.

“ t involves community involvement, community service, and making sure that set a positive relationship with our faculty and staff and most importantly with our kids and their parents so that’s what we’re doing, Williams said. “ ’m just making sure make stops along the way in the community and shake peoples’ hands at the ank and in churches The other thing that’s a part of it is making sure our coaches know what our expectations are for our kids we want to make sure our girls and our oys side of athletics is successful.

One of the core identities of larksville is going to e community involvement. t his every stop as foot all coach, Williams has implemented a “ eroes of the ommunity program, which is a way for his team to give ack.

“ ecause at the end of the day, players are our community, Williams said. “ o, could look out into a crowd of our kids and pro a ly point out the next mayor of larksville, so we want our kids to understand service and eing servant leaders and successful citi ens. We want all of our sports and all of our coaches to make sure they’re involved in our kids’ lives on an everyday asis.

larksville is coming off a 4-6 season, and Williams has every intention of guiding larksville ack to deep in the playoffs, ut he has a larger view than just on-field or on-court success. To him, his role is more than coaching all.

“We know immy can play foot all, we know Lisa can spike a volley all, ut can they graduate and go to college Williams said. “That’s what we want to do. Yeah, we’re going to coach them hard, ut at the end of the day we’re going to love them harder. We are going to make sure if they want to go the next level and play a sport that they’re going to get there. f they don’t want to go to college, that’s fine ut we want to make sure we help them succeed in their career whatever they want when they graduate from high school.

Williams knows it will take some time to feel the uy-in from his players, their parents, and the community. That’s what happens, he said, when they’ve een a part of five different athletic directors in the past six years, ut remains confident it will happen and the end result will e worth it.

“ think that our kids are resilient, ut at the same time, think that to gain their trust is going to e hard, Williams said. “ ut think with the things that we’re going to do and the love that we’re going to give our kids they’ll uy in. We want our community to uy in, too. Our community means a lot to us and we can’t get our kids commitment unless we have our parents commitment. We want to win games, ut overall, we want to win our kids. nd if we win our kids, think winning games will come.

Key Number

n all four wins last season, the Clarksville defense held its opponent to 20 or fewer points.

Offense

The Tigers are going to spread the offense out. ormations will often feature two y two receivers and sometimes an empty ackfield. The Tigers want to play fast. Williams is ringing a no-huddle offense that can speed the game up or slow it down, depending on the scenario in the game.

“ f we want to slow the game down and control the clock we’ll do that, too, Williams said. “We just dictate what we want the defense to do. We put positions in inds so we can e successful on offense.

larksville won’t e afraid to throw the all, and a lot of the confidence comes from the return of quarter ack onathan “ ot organ. organ, only a sophomore, earned the nickname “ ot from the way he throws dots to his receivers. organ played quarter ack last season as a freshman and registered more than 2,000 all-purpose yards. Williams said he’s already getting calls a out him to play college foot all.

“ think this kid can sling it, Williams said. “ e’ll e good for our offense, we run a lot of one read stuff. e can run and it kind of fits in exactly what we’re trying to do offensively.

ven as a freshman, organ showed an a ility to lead an offense.

“ e’s a true leader, Williams said. “When met the kid, he was straight and narrow. e’s a kid that understands who to read whenever he needs to read a person. e’s a smart kid, an academic kid, and kid. e’s going to go somewhere, guarantee it. f he doesn’t go ower- , he’ll go vy League. e’s just that type of kid.

To add to organ’s development, Williams recruited illy alone to e the larksville quarter ack coach. alone, played quarter ack at North Lamar in the late 0s and

collegiately at Tulane. e’d een teaching at larksville and Williams convinced him to join the staff.

“This guy has een through it, he’s coached, he’s played and think ot is soaking everything in like if do everything he coaches me to do then we’ll e successful, Williams said.

ore key contri utors to larksville’s offense will e a duo of juniors. Williams said inter, who stands 6-foot- and weighs 22 pounds, is pro a ly a ivision athlete. Lance iller returns to the ackfield and will get a significant num er of carries.

Defense

lexi ility is king, for larksville. The Tigers will operate out of a ase 4- defense, ut athletic personnel retains the a ility to ranch into a 4-2- or even a -at times.

Last year, the larksville wasn’t consistent from week-to-week. n average points allowed figure of 1. points a game doesn’t tell the entire story.

41-0 lowout loss in week one was followed y a 14-0 shutout win. The following week, larksville surrendered 2 points. n each of the Tigers’ six losses last season, they allowed a minimum of 4 points. f the Tigers are to make significant strides this season, the defense will have to improve.

This season, the deepest part of the larksville defense is the line acker room. inter will play outside lineacker alongside senior onathan Olguin, one of larksville’s most athletic players, capa le of playing on the offensive line and kicking as well as line acker.

long with the returning veterans, Williams is excited for freshman emaj arris, who is listed at 210 pounds and expected to play significant snaps at line acker.

2022:

4-6 overall 3-2 District -2A D

Coach:

Nic Williams 4-5 overall at Clarksville 0-0, first year

Returning Starters: 7 offense, 6 defense

Players to watch:

QB/ Jonathan Dot Morgan, WR R.K. Minter, OL/DL Rylan Rosser

Offensive Strengths:

Clarksville has perhaps the district s best passing game. While some teams will attempt a handful of throws all season, sophomore quarterback Dot Morgan isn t afraid to sling it and will develop under a new QB coach.

Defensive Strengths: ersatility. Across-the-board athletecisim gives Clarksville the ability to go into a number of different defensive looks.

DETROITEAGLES

Eagles expect improvement in 2023

by en c en

Young kids in the etroit area love wearing their “ uture agle T- hirts around town.

The shirts, gifts from the newly estalished pee-wee foot all program, are seen often downtown on kids excited a out etroit foot all. ore than 60 elementary students showed up for a camp and interacted with players and coaches while going through foot all activities.

“We’re trying to lay the groundwork, the foundation, for long term success, ut no ody has ever een here long enough to do that, coach ayle eard said. “We gave them future agle T-shirts and they wear them all over town. They see and recogni e the varsity kids who helped with camp around town. Those kind of things that every high school program does has not een done here. ome of the things we’re trying to change.

eard, entering his third season at etroit, is focused on the long-term success of his program. The agles went 1-8 last season, although three of the losses came in one-score games.

“The hard thing is, we’ve done some things, ut the only thing we haven t done is win, eard said. “ nd we’ve een so dang close. We’ve lost games, just freak of nature things that it’s like the gods of foot all are against us We’ve een right in every game ut just have had ad things happen. art of that is sometimes you have to make your own luck, ut we just haven’t.

gain, the youngest team in the ed iver alley, etroit aims to uild on lessons from previous seasons and return to area prominence.

t’s een tough for the program to retain any consistency. eard came to etroit from an administration role at regional power Lindale. e has coached two full seasons, nota le, ecause prior to eard, etroit had 1 different head coaches in 1 years.

“ t was stepping stone for young guys that had got their first head coaching jo or it was a try to uild my retirement up for old guys, eard said. f m fortunate enough to finish this contract will e the longest tenured coach at etroit since 1 84, which will e four years. y first

spring here ’d say, uys we’re going to have a meeting’ and players would think ’m leaving.

eard said he is in it for the long-haul and is finally starting to convince players used to seeing a revolving door of coaches the same. e accepted the jo knowing he would face challenges with player participation and depth ut is laying the groundwork for success.

Of course, he wants to win, ut his igger goal as the coach of the agles is to uild up the young men on his team.

“That s the thing, hope when ’m dead and the kids are sitting on the ack of a pickup truck and they talk a out all the stories of oach eard, hope they never dou t my love for them, that’s why ’m here, eard said. “ nd it sucks ecause

etroit is a tough place to win . often refer to it kind of like a garden, you get this piece of land and its weed-infested and terri le and you weed it and fertili e it and plant something and then after the end of the day you’ve got this eautiful garden that’s producing stuff. hope that’s what etroit looks like when m done.

Offense

This season, the offensive dynamic completely changes.

enior running ack loedus cales led the agle offense in many ways a season ago. e was a 1,000 yard rusher who, in tandem with his rother laude, lifted the agles for a num er of years. Now, oth rothers are graduated.

“We’re going to e a different game this year ecause laude and leo were two special athletes, eard said. “They weren t necessarily great foot all players, ut special athletes. Their drive and level of competition were off the charts, they just competed.

“The departures of such talented players leaves a hole to e filled. Without cales, of course, an explosive athlete is gone. ut etroit will also e looking to fill the void of a playmaker’s mentality.

“ lot of times our kids would wait for them to make a play and it ecame a situation where if something happened and they had a little off game we

Sept.

Sept.

Sept.

Nov.

Key Number 10

Detroit returns 10 starters on each side of the ball, including the entire offensive line. ow the Eagles will replace their star running back Cleo Scales remains the big uestion, though.

weren’t productive ecause they were ready for laude and leo to do their thing, eard said. “ nd so it’ll e different this year ecause now they know that laude and leo are gone, and so we’ve got to make plays.

ow do you replace such talented players s a group.

“ think our kids have taken ownership knowing five or six of them need to make plays instead of two, and so it’s een a different mentality this offseason, eard said.

One of the players poised to step up into an even larger role is running ack laine armer. armer is etroit’s lone senior and has taken on that urden in camp leading up to the season.

“ e’ll have a pivotal role for us, eard said. “ laine last year was all ed iver ounty outside line acker. e could e our heart and soul we’ve put that responsi ility on him and he’s had a pretty good offseason as far as developing some leadership skills.

unior illin xum is argua ly etroit’s est athlete. The agles will e creative using motions and sweeps to get him the all in space. cross the oard, etroit is relatively undersi ed compared to opponents, so creative offensive playcalling will e important for success. arson ulen, a junior, is one of the igger kids on the team, standing at 6-foot and weighing 21 pounds.

eard has run a spread offense featuring one running ack the past 1 years, ut feels it’s time to adjust his scheme to meet the personnel on the roster. e’ll e adopting the un-T offense, which he feels gives his team a healthy mix of running and passing.

“We’re going to go with what they call a gun-T which gives us some of the enefits of the spread offense as far as the passing game and the run-pass-option, ut also it gives us two more lockers in the ox, eard said. “ o, it s a wing-T scheme with a variation of the spread passing game.

o think we can have one or two receivers a year Yes. ut we’re going to have three or four running acks, so it just makes sense to us to switch offenses.

player eard is excited a out is freshman atavian ones. ones won the 100-meter dash last year as an eighth grader in district with a time of

“ ones is fast, he’s smart, has a chance to e a special athlete efore he gets out of here, eard said. “ e doesn t want to play quarter ack, which most freshmen don t, ut he’s a gifted runner, a gifted thrower and smart.

ven though most of his players are less than six feet tall and under 200 pounds, eard doesn’t dou t their toughness. n fact, he considers toughness one of the strengths of the offense.

“We feel like we’ve got tough kids, eard said. “ nd we’re not afraid to grind it out. think we’ve got kids that can e the three yards and a cloud of dust type kids. o, if you look at our strength, think our strength will e our toughness and then our offensive line should e pretty good, we’ve got five returning starters on the offensive line. nd think we’ve got a good mixture of skill players and linemen, so think we’ll e pretty alanced offensively, whereas we’ve not een.

Defense

topping teams was a struggle for the agles last season.

etroit surrendered an average of 40. points per game. The est defensive performance came against larksville, when the agles held the Tigers to 26.

This season on defense, the agles will ase out of an odd front, with an intent to stop ground attacks.

“We’ll pro a ly ase out of the ear, which is asically five down linemen, eard said. “ t this level you got to stop the run, so we’re going to try and stop the run with our ear front.

There are some signs pointing to a potentially improved defense. eard said he’s seen the agles develop a desire to get to the foot all.

“There s an urgency when you play defense and our kids this offseason have gotten stronger and think they understand now what it takes to e a good foot all team defensively and that’s to run the foot all, eard said. “We’ve simplified our system, so they don’t have to think, they just line up correct and run to the foot all and hopefully good things happen.

2022: 1-8 overall 1-4 District -2A D

Coach: Cayle Beard 17-42 overall at Detroit 2-16, second year

Returning Starters: 10 offense, 10 defense

Players to watch:

RB/LB Blaine Farmer, WR Dillin Exum, TE Carson Hulen

Offensive Strengths: Everybody on the offensive line returns. Continuity along the front will be important for the Gun-T offense Detroit will run.

Defensive Strengths:

Speed. Detroit has adopted a new defensive mentality The Eagles have a desire to get to the football, and in a simplified scheme where less mental energy is spent on lining up and more on disrupting an offense, it could be successful.

Winning Trend

Austin Middleton QB, SO.

Carson Hulen OL/DL, JR.

Blaine Farmer RB/LB, SR.

Dilin Exum QB/RB, JR.

Beaux Cox OL, SO.

Cy Garrison WR/DB, SO.

Blayne Tucker WR/DB, FR.

Ethan Gatlin OL/DL, JR. Gabe Hampton LB, FR.

Jaden Campsey RB/LB, FR.

Lane Cashion WR/DB, FR.

Kason Henderson TE/DL, JR.

Maddux Ramirez OL/DL, SO.

James Hickson RB/DL, FR.

Layne Vaughn OL, FR.

Kode Ewing WR/DB, FR.

Mason Barton OL, FR. Nickolai Reine RB/LB, SO.

Preston Hooks OL/DL, SR.

Thomas Farmer OL/LB, SO.

Robert Jackson OL/DL, FR.

Triston Eldrod OL/DL, FR.

Preston Lejeune TE, SO.

Tripp Lamm OL/DL, SO.

Sonny Farmer OL/LB,

Truman Cooper TE/LB,

HUGO BUFFALOES

Hugo looks to build off strong season

by en c en

Krystopher ross isn’t stuck in his ways.

nd as coach of the ugo uffaloes, a school as used to change as any in the area, that’s a good thing.

ross enters his third full season as head coach. e’s een at ugo for five seasons total, a nota le num er, considering he was the 10th head coach in 1 years.

Last season, the uffaloes went -4 on their way to a playoff erth. t was ugo’s fifth-consecutive playoff appearance, esting a streak of four straight set during the 1 80s.

ut this season, the team will look much different, and that’s O . young team and new look offensive system will make the route different, ut the end goal remains the same ross and the uffaloes are intent on getting ack to the playoffs.

“We’re trying to get in the tradition of practicing week 11, ross said. “We know that everything after week 10 is just practice for week 11.

Offense

ecause of his tenure, ross has seen the entire development of former uffalo Landon Lemmons and knows how difficult the quarter ack will e to replace. Lemmons led an air-raid attack last season.

ow do you replace such a gifted quarter ack Not easily.

“ We’ll have to change offenses, ross said. With what we had, and we had some studs, we had a quarter ack that was very smart, very agile, could sling it a mile, could read a defense. When you have that, he was like a coach on the field. Now, we’ve got to move on from that. We don’t have that long gunslinger anymore we don t have that huge offensive line we’ve had any more so now we’re going to progress into the old school split ack veer. We have a different kind of athlete, so we’re going to make our system fit

the athletes and not the athletes fit the system.

The split ack veer offense ugo is transitioning to is consistent with what ugo traditionally did in the past. The spread offense has really only een run the past 10 seasons, ross said. efenders are challenged to make instant decisions when trying to stop the split ack veer. t’s a triple-option offense, and ross said it s difficult to stop for coaches who’ve never seen it in action efore, and in this day, ross said lots of younger coaches are unfamiliar with it. qually unfamiliar are the teenagers etween the lines charged with physically stopping the split ack veer.

“ ixteen-year-old kids who aren t very good at making decisions when they have an hour to do so, it makes them make a decision instantly , ross said. “ o, we think that with that and knowing 16-year-old kids like we do, that that will give us our est shot.

Lots of deli eration took place efore completely scrapping last year’s offensive scheme and starting fresh. The move wasn’t taken lightly.

“We looked at every single offensive scheme you could possi ly run and we all arrived at the same decision that with the players we have, split ack veer was going to e the est that we could do to give our kids the est possi le shot, ross said.

ross is confident his team is picking the system up and will have it operating smoothly in time for the season-opener. ugo installed the split ack veer in the spring.

“The hardest thing isn t teaching the new concept, it’s them understanding how we’re calling it, ross said.

“The play calling system has to change a little it ecause it has to e more precise. n the spread, you can call it a counter, whatever now we’re tagging the ack, we’re tagging the hole and we’re tagging the option. nd it’s actually going to e more difficult for

Key Number 6

After setting a school-record last season with ve consecutive playoff appearances, ugo's goal is to e tend the streak to si .

me as well, it’s a very old school way of doing it. That’s the hardest part, ecause these kids have never een in a play calling system like that.

ut at the end of the day, ross pointed out, foot all is still foot all. ugo has a veteran coaching staff well experienced in the veer offense.

“ ’m very very confident in my staff, think there’s 111 years of com ined experience etween five coaches, ross said. “ o, m very fortunate there There’s a lot of knowledge on that staff. o, think that’s going to help us more early on than later on.

enior Travion ing will pick up the mantle at quarter ack. ing rings athleticism and speed to the position, plus, his shorter frame will hide ehind some of the larger guys on the offensive line.

oining ing in the ackfield will e senior running ack La arcus avis. avis rie y played quarterack as a freshman and was primary used as a runner. This season, he’ll e the tail ack and receive pitches on the outside, getting one of ugo’s most dynamic players the all in space.

ross said at the eginning of the season, avis won’t get overworked with carries. There is value in putting things on film, using avis as a decoy, and setting up the offense for games down the road.

“ t first, don t think La arcus will e getting as many touches as he thinks he will, ross said. “Once we start handing that dive or that - nd starts ying up the field to get to La arcus, as that egins to happen, and it won’t take long, think it will open up things for him.

The third leg of the ackfield rotation will e senior running ack ashon ims. e’ll handle lot of the work etween the tackles.

The iggest challenge with the run game will e replacing almost half a ton of si e on the offensive line. ugo graduated three 00-pound linemen last season, which is another reason ross felt good a out switching to the veer offense.

“ t is what it is, they were se-

niors, ross said. “We’re going to e smaller on average, the split ack veer fits for a smaller o-line. They were some fantastic kids, ’m going to miss them dearly, ut you can’t dwell on what you’re losing ecause you’re not getting that ack.

ugo still has one ehemoth up front in junior onnor ra ier.

ra ier is 6-foot- and weighs 80 pounds and will anchor the uffalo front.

Defense

any of the names who will lead the uffalo offense will also shore up the team defensively. avis ips from his running ack role and will play free safety.

“La arcus avis playing at safety is a safety net for us, ross said. “ ecause he started every game at safety except his first game his freshman year. o having a senior whose een in the system for four years, who understands the coverages at this point he doesn t really have to think a out much.

cross the oard, speed is a strength of the defense. ross said ugo has a reputation for eing a fast school, ut not in the same way other schools will have one or two guys quicker than every ody else.

“ ugo is faster is on average from the o-linemen and eyond. We’re pretty athletic and fast across the oard, ross said.

n four of its wins last season, ugo held opponents to 14 or less points. specially with a new offensive system finding its level, defense will e a determining factor in ugo’s goal of reaching the playoffs.

Our goal is to make it to the playoffs again, make that num er six, ross said. “The record is five, we set it last year, we’re trying to get to num er six. That’s our main goal this year. We got to re uild, e competitive and e the est us that we can e and try and get into the playoffs ecause you don’t get a chance at the state championship unless you’re in the playoffs. Once you re in, every ody’s got a chance.

2022: 7-4 overall 5-2 District 6-2A

Coach: Krystopher Gross 14-8 overall at Hugo 14-8, second year

Returning Starters: 4 offense, 6 defense

Players to watch: RB/LB LaMarcus Davis, LB/WR Carlos King, OL/DL Connor Fra ier

Offensive Strengths: The Buffaloes are a fast group. Speed at multiple positions will force defenses to key in on several different skill players.

Defensive Strengths: The Buffaloes have experience in the secondary. The defensive scheme remains largely unchanged, giving safety net LaMarcus Davis the freedom to ust make plays.

Winning Trend

HUGO BUFFALOES

Amari Wallace RB/LB, SO.

Clayton Keith WR/LB, FR.

Caydin Benjamin WR/DB, SO.

Dacorion Cook RB/DB, JR.

Carlos King WR/LB, SR.

Connor Frazier OL/DL, JR.

Chance Mitchell QB, SO.

Damarion Ramsey WR/DB, SR.

Dashon Sims RB/LB, SR.

Ethan Wesley WR/DB, SO.

Dontez Cherry WR/DB, SR.

Isaiah Greer OL/DL, JR.

DK Wilson WR/DB, JR.

Gavin Crawley WR/DB, SR.

Ethan Sparks OL/DL, SR.

Jamari Scroggins RB/LB, FR.

James Starr OL/DL, FR.

Jonathan Chavez OL/LB, SO.

Jayse Ainsworth WR/DL, FR.

Kamden Bostic WR/DB, FR. Jayka Santillan QB/LB, FR.

Jordan Gentry RB, SO.

Jayse Trantham OL/DL, SO.

Keldin Cochran TE/LB, SO.

Kenny Montoya WR/DB, SO.

Robbie Bautista

Tristen Crowder

Quincy Shelton

Kory Mitchell LB, SR.

Travion King QB, SR.

Pierson Evans TE/LB, SR.

Zaven Siniga WR/DB, FR.

Logan Allen TE/LB, JR.

Zachary Roper OL/DL, FR.

LAST YEAR

Overall: -3, district 4-1 Area finalist RETURNERS

4 offense, 6 defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

RB/DB Cason Leavitt, LB/WR Trentyn Sisson, LB/TE Micah Bishop

OVERVIEW

Maud will bring back several key pllayers including Slyder Sanders, who is the only returning starter from the offensive or defensive line. Leavitt will look to capatali e on a strong sophomore season in which he ran for 1,300 yards.

LAST YEAR

Overall: 3-8, 2-3 Bi-District Finalist RETURNERS

4 offense, 6 defense PLAYERS TO WATCH

LB Max Belford, WR/DB Charlie Kirkland, QB Omar Rui

OVERVIEW

The Tigers are looking to earn their first five plus win season since 2018 when they won six games. Kirkland will be relied upon to produce again offensively after recording 27 catches for 354 yards and two touchdowns last season.

LAST YEAR

Overall: -3, 5-0 district Regional Semifinalist RETURNERS

10 offense, defense

PLAYERS TO WATCH

FB/DL Dylan Braley, RB Lane Johnson, QB Logan McCullough

OVERVIEW

Last season, the Pirates improved their 2021-win total with four addittional wins, as they made a deep run in the playoffs along with winning a district championship.

LAST YEAR

Overall: 2-8, 0-5 district RETURNERS

6 offense, 6 defense

PLAYERS TO WATCH

QB Chett aughan, RB Dakari Johnson, WR/DB Jace Evans OVERVIEW

The Tro ans will be relying on a talented freshman class to help them improve off a last place finish in district. Several returning players should help the Tro ans this season.

RRV DISTRICT SCHEDULES

istrict i ision

Sept. 15Brownsboro7:30

Sept. 22Grace Community7:30

Oct. 6 Liberty-Eylau7:30

Oct. 13 North Lamar7:30

Oct. 20 Pittsburg

Oct. 27 Gilmer

Nov. 3 Pleasant Grove7:30

Pitts rg

Aug. 25Mt. Pleasant7:30 p.m.

Sept. 1 Carthage7:30 p.m.

Sept. 8Tatum 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 15 ndependence7:30 p.m.

Sept. 22Sabine 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 6 North Lamar7:30 p.m.

Oct. 13 Pleasant Grove7:30 p.m.

Oct. 20 Spring Hill7:30 p.m.

Oct. 27 Liberty-Eylau7:30 p.m.

Nov. 3 Gilmer 7:30 p.m.

Li ert la

Aug. 25Henderson7:30 p.m.

Sept. 1 Paris 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 8Mt. Pleasant7:30 p.m.

Sept. 15 Atlanta 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 22Sulphur Springs7:30 p.m.

Oct. 6 Spring Hill7:30 p.m.

Oct. 13 Gilmer 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 20 Pleasant Grove 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 27 Pittsburg7:30 p.m.

Nov. 3 North Lamar7:30 p.m.

Pleasant ro e

Aug. 25 Brock 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 1Byrd 7:30 p.m.

Sept. Midland Christian Neutral Site

1 p.m.

Sept. 15Memorial 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 22Paris 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 6 Gilmer 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 13 Pittsburg7:30 p.m.

Oct. 20 Liberty-Eylau7:30 p.m.

Oct. 27 North Lamar7:30 p.m.

Nov. 3 Spring Hill7:30 p.m.

istrict i ision che le nna

Aug. 26

Sept. an Alstyne7:30

istrict i ision che le

Sept. 15vs Collinsville7:30

Sept. 22vs Wolfe City7:30

Sept. 2 Rivercrest7:30

Oct. 6 Como-Pickton7:30

Aug. 31Linden-Kildare7:30

Sept. 8 Clarksville7:30

Sept. 14 Big Sandy7:30

Sept. 22 Boles

Sept. 2 Honey Grove7:30

Oct. 6 Wolfe City7:30

Oct 13 Rivercrest7:30

Oct. 20 Como-Pickton7:30

Oct. 27 Cooper

Oct. 6 Linden Kildare7:30 p.m.

Oct. 13vs Detroit DETRO T7:30 p.m.

Oct. 20 James Bowie 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 27vs Maud 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 3 Cumby

Sept. 2 Como-Pickton7:30

Oct. 27 Rivercrest7:30

Sept. 1vs Trinity Leadership7:30

Sept. 8vs Whitewright7:30 p.m.

Sept. 15 Simms Bowie7:30 p.m.

Sept. 22B E

Sept. 2 vs Alba-Golden 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 6vs Rivercrest7:30 p.m.

Oct. 13 Quinlan Boles7:30 p.m.

Oct. 20 Cooper

Oct. 27 Wolfe City

Nov. 3 Como-Pickton7:30 p.m.

R R R

Aug. 25vs Queen 7:30 p.m.

Aug. 31 Harleton 7:30 p.m

Sept. 8 Prairiland7:30 p.m

Sept. 15vs Chisum 7:30 p.m

Sept. 22 Como Pickton7:30 p.m

Sept. 2 vs Cooper 7:30 p.m

Oct. 6 Honey Grove7:30 p.m

Oct. 13vs Alba-Golden7:30 p.m

Oct. 20B E

Oct. 26vs Boles 7:30 p.m

Nov. 3 Wolfe City7:30 p.m

olfe it

Aug. 25Leonard 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 1 Chisum 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 8 Celeste 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 15Blue Ridge7:30 p.m.

Sept. 22 Cooper 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 6 Alba-Golden7:30 p.m.

Oct. 13 Como-Pickton7:30 p.m.

Oct. 20 Boles 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 27 Honey Grove7:30 p.m.

Nov. 3Rivercrest 7:30 p.m.

istrict i ision

L R LL

Aug. 25vs Whitewright7:30 p.m.

Sept. 1vs Boles 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 8vs Alba Golden7:30 p.m.

Sept. 15 Queen City7:30 p.m.

Sept. 22B E

Sept. 2 B E

Oct. 27 Detroit 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 3 Maud 7:30 p.m.

Bowie

Aug. 25Como-Pickton7:30 p.m.

Sept. 8 Overton 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 15Honey Grove7:30 p.m.

Sept. 22 Smackover AR 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 6 Maud 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 12 Linden-Kildare7:30 p.m.

Oct. 20 Clarksville7:30 p.m.

Oct. 27 Cumby 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 3 Detroit 7:30 p.m. istrict i ision che le

Aug. 25 alley iew 7:00 p.m

Sep. 1vs. Wolfe City 7:00 p.m

Sep. 8vs Bells. 7:00 p.m

Sep. 15 Rivercrest

Sep. 22vs Prairiland7:00 p.m

Sep. 2 B E

Oct. 6 Hooks 7:00 p.m

Oct. 13vs Redwater7:00 p.m

Oct. 20 DeKalb 7:00 p.m

Oct. 27vs New Boston7:00 p.m

Nov. 3 Paul Pewitt7:00 p.m

e al

Sept. 1Elysian Fields7:30 p.m.

Aug. 25vs Big Sandy7:00 p.m

Sep. 1 Ore City 7:00 p.m

Sep. 8vs Rivercrest7:00 p.m

Sept. 15 Scurry-Rosser7:00 p.m

Sep. 22 Chisum.7:00 p.m

Sep. 2 vs Hooks. 7:00 p.m

Oct. 5 Redwater.7:00 p.m

Oct. 13vs De Kalb.7:00 p.m

Oct. 20 New Boston.7:00 p.m

Oct. 27vs Paul Pewitt7:30 p.m, klaho a istrict

HUGO Aug.