kilgore news herald routine special section entry for tpa bnc

By MITCH [email protected]

The Kilgore CollegeRangers missed the South-west Junior College FootballConference playoffs for thefirst time in many years in2011.

And KC head coach J.J.Eckert wants to make that avery, very rare occurrence —like a blue moon. In fact, hewants it to be even more rarethan that.

The Rangers — the win-ningest junior college pro-gram in the state of Texas,with a 459-268-14 all-timerecord — lost what amount-ed to a playoff game lastyear, falling at Tyler JuniorCollege in a loser-stays-home scenario. TJC went tothe playoffs and won agame, then lost to Navarroin the conference title game.

Eckert and company havehad a little more time to di-gest missing the postseason.And they’ve decided theydon’t like it.

“I’m really excited aboutour 2012 football team,”

said Eckert, entering hissixth year at the helm of theRangers. “Going back toJanuary, you see them work-ing hard, you know whatkind of kids you have andthe things they’ve had achance to learn last year, onwhat was kind of a roughseason for us.

“...It was a tough learninglesson when you’ve got abunch of young kids outthere on the field. But Ithink that’s why we’re so ex-cited about 2012. They’vebeen through (those badthings). They’ve seen it.That was our big thing inspring. We want to learnhow to make a commit-ment, a commitment to fin-ishing things and to dothings the right way all thetime. And we were able toaccomplish a lot in spring.”

The Rangers bring back25 lettermen, and eightstarters on each side of theball. Eckert has said he feelsvery good about the team’sdefensive front. KC runs a4-2-5 scheme (four defen-sive linemen, two lineback-

ers, and five defensivebacks), and the Rangers haveD-linemen that bring thebeef.

Among those back: defen-sive tackle DeAngelo Brooks(6-foot-1, 295 pounds;Shreveport, La.), linemanEthan Perkins (5-10, 290;Nacogdoches), and defen-sive tackle Paul Brown (6-2,280; Conroe).

“Those guys have experi-ence inside,” Eckert said.“They create a lot of havocinside. They’re active, they’reathletic, they’re very soundfundamentally. They usetheir hands well. ...All threeof those are really going tohelp us out. We feel goodabout our inside (defensivefront).”

Defensive end will need toinclude some incomingfreshmen, Eckert noted.

“At end, we’ve got someguys that we feel like can putpressure on the quarterback,but we’re having a hard timefinding that prototypicalend, that 6-foot-5, 250-pounder that can get outthere and allow you to rush

four. You know, you feel likeyou signed a couple of kidsin the recruiting process thatcan help with that, but Iwould say that’s going to beone of our biggest issues go-ing into the fall.”

Also returning are line-backers Kevin Palin (6-1,205; Houston), MatthewGregg (5-10, 215; Houston)and Charles Woods (5-11,195; Humble). They mightbe a little undersized forlinebackers, but Eckert ex-pects good things fromthem.

“I don’t know if they meetthose prototypical num-bers,” the coach said.“They’re little-type guys.But as far as the effort theyput into film study, all thethings we ask them to do,I’ll take them every day.Those guys are good as aunit. They’re very sound.They lead well, and they doa good job of making surethey’re lined up ready toplay.”

The secondary will needto be prepared in a confer-ence that includes Blinn.

Demarcus Armstrong (6-1,175), a sophomore fromPittsburg, should be a keyplayer there, Eckert noted.“(He’s) really blossomed,”Eckert said. “He’s put onsome weight, and he’s reallyturned into a leader backthere. His preparation hasbeen really good. He was vo-cal in the spring and did agood job.

“James Jones is a youngman who played safety forus last year, probably a little

KILGORE COLLEGE RANGERS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2012KILGORE NEWS HERALD ◆ PAGE 2C

Photo by MITCH LUCAS

READY FOR FOOTBALL — KilgoreCollege head coach J.J. Eckert(above, center) stands with whistleready at a recent practice. Eckertenters his sixth season as head

coach of the Rangers. He is marriedto wife Amanda, and they have adaughter, Abby. Eckert is 18-11 infive seasons at KC, including a bowlappearance.

A Ranger revival?Eckert, KC plan on playoff return in 2012

See RANGERS, Page 3C

Kilgore College Rangers ScheduleSept. 1 Dodge City, Kan. Home 7:00

Sept. 8 TJC Away 7:00

Sept. 15 Trinity Valley* Away 7:00

Sept. 22 Navarro College* Home 7:00

Sept. 29 Cisco College* Away 3:00

Oct. 6 Blinn College* Away 3:00

Oct. 13 N.E. Oklahoma Away 2:00

Oct. 20 Southeast Prep Home 3:00

Oct. 27 TJC* Home 3:00

* Denotes Conference game

We support All Area Football Teams

1201 Stone St. • Kilgore, TX • 903-983-1494

bit out of necessity,” Eckertsaid. “We moved him over.We feel like he’s got a lot oftalent, and being a formerhigh school quarterback, heknows what’s going on. He’sthat guy that’s always a stepahead. He gets the releases,and the kind of situationsthat you want to put him in.And part of that is becausehe’s played quarterback, andhe knows what they’re look-ing for. He’s grown, got big-ger, and we really feel goodabout him.”

Eckert said that a signeefrom Crosby, Mike Mathe-son (6-2, 205), will get timeat safety, and said Mathesonmight be the best overall ath-lete on the team.

“Hopefully, with our depthand experience (on defense),we’re able to have a chancewith eight guys coming backto have a very solid defensiveunit,” Eckert said.

In the KC intrasquadscrimmage last Wednesday,the defense did play well —they scored a touchdown offan interception and only gaveup one score in 76 plays.

Eckert’s co-defensive coor-dinators are longtime KC as-sistant Willie Gooden andNick Doblerco. Doblerco isin his second season at KCand is also the defensivebacks coach. Other defensiveassistant coaches are line-backers coach Cory Whit-field and defensive assistantJohn Martin.

At media day, TJC headcoach Danny Palmer theo-rized that to win in theSWJCFC, a team needs avery good quarterback. TheRangers don’t have a quarter-back that has taken snapshere, but they do have fourthat are hopeful of becomingthe starter: Ty Chapa (6-1,185; So. Grand Prairie), Tan-ner Tausch (6-2, 190; KellerCentral), Emory Miller (5-11, 190; Mesquite Horn),and Averion Hurts (5-10,180; Channelview), the sonof coach Averion Hurts Sr.

“We don’t have a man oncampus that’s taken a snap atKilgore College,” Eckert said.“That’s a concern. You lookat it, and we have four guyscompeting at that position.They each bring somethingto the table, and add somedifferent elements that theycan utilize and help them-selves have a chance to be thestarting quarterback.

“I think we’re going to haveto lean on our defense a goodbit, and hope that the offen-sive line can come alongquickly so that we won’t puthim in a bad position. Obvi-ously, the quarterback posi-tion is a huge concern. We’regoing to need him to growup early, and hopefully, we’llbe able to get comfortablewith whomever wins the bat-tle at that position.”

Tailback will include a hostof players, including return-ers Terrence Simon (5-10,190; Palestine) and Ja’meelWoodard (5-9, 215; Sweeny).Also in the mix are some newfaces, like Hasan Lipscomb(5-11, 200; Houston), a for-mer Minnesota signee, and

Kilgore’s own Dondra Hal-ton (5-10 190).

Woodard ran for about 500yards in 2011, and Simon,who didn’t get much playingtime, rushed for 106 yardsagainst Arkansas Baptist.

“We’ve got two guys backthat are kind of a thunder-and-lightning group,” Eckertanalyzed. “Woodard is moreof a downhill, run-you-overtype guy, about 210, 215pounds. Terrence is a guythat will try to get out to theperimeter, get out to the edgeand find a way to get yardsthere. I think the runningback position is solid. I thinkthe freshmen will find waysto get in there and compete.”

Tight end is almost alwaysa star-studded position forthe Rangers (think formerNFL standout Kevin Everettand Chase Ford), andshouldn’t be a position ofconcern for the Rangersagain this season. They bringback two sophomores in Ma-son Powledge (6-6, 255;West) and Nigel Goods (6-5,230; Houston). Goodsmissed 2011 due to a kneeinjury.

“They compliment eachother well. They do a goodjob as far as catching thefootball and creating somegood matchups for us. Theydo a good job of stretchingthe field and helping out inthe passing game.”

At receiver, Eckert said

both Ed’Marques Batties (5-11, 190; Houston) and Dar-rin Brown (6-1, 180; Dun-canville) had a good springsession. “They’ll both chal-lenge other teams downfieldand find ways to get to theball, try to tuck their headsdown and fight for yards,”said Eckert, who also expectssome incoming freshmen tocontribute.

The offense will only go,most experts say, as far as theoffensive line will take it, andif that’s the case, then theRangers should be in goodshape. They bring back fivelettermen there, includingGreg Lunceford (6-2, 285;Port Neches Grove), who’sbeen moved to Center. Oth-ers who will contribute in-clude Kenny Walker (6-2,275; Montgomery) and Tra-mon Shead (6-4, 280; Cayu-ga) at tackle and converteddefensive tackle Taj Cleaver(6-2, 320; Rusk).

Eckert said the Rangers al-so signed six freshmen thatthey feel good about, and atransfer is in the mix, too.

Offensive assistant coachesinclude offensive coordinator

Josh Pruitt (second season atKC), and running backs andtight ends coach Adam Con-way, in his first season here.

Another area Eckert said hefeels good about is the kick-ing game. Yovany Arvizu (5-10, 185; Waxahachie) andDylan Nowak (5-10, 190;Pearland) both return there.

“We got pretty good at thesky kick, and actually recov-ered four kickoffs last yearbecause of that, so we’re go-ing to keep doing it,” Eckertnoted. “Yovany’s improved

and done a a good job withit, and he’s found a way tomake that his niche. Nowakwas our field goal guy. Hedidn’t have a great fall, but hedid have a great spring. Hereally improved, got moreflexible, and his length in-creased. I mean, he was hit-ting from 53, 54, 55 in thespring.”

Gary Wade is the Rangers’special teams coach, in hisfifth season.

The Rangers will have todo a lot of damage on the

road (see our conference pre-view, page 4C), because theyonly have four home gamesthis year, and two of them arenon-conference.

Eckert knows it’s going tobe a battle.

“You look at this confer-ence and it’s by far the mostdominant conference in thisnation,” he said. “I thinkthere were four of our teamsranked in the top 20 in the fi-nal poll last year. You’ve gotto strap it on each and everyweek.”

KILGORE COLLEGE RANGERS KILGORE NEWS HERALD ◆ PAGE 3CWEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2012

RANGERS Continued from Page 2C

Photos by MITCH LUCAS

WHERE THE BIG BOYS PLAY — KC head coachJ.J. Eckert (above, right) gives a few pointers tomembers of his offensive line. Right: KC defend-ers make a tackle in a practice last week. Thedefense gave up just one score in last Wednes-day’s intrasquad scrimmage.

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All coaches believe thattheir conference boasts themost difficult challenge inthe country.

But the coaches of theSouthwest Junior CollegeFootball Conference mightvery well be right.

Three times in the last sev-en years, the NJCAA’s na-tional champion has been aSWJCFC team, and remem-ber that the primarily-Texasconference starts every sea-son with a series of gamesagainst Kansas’ JayhawkConference.

As discussed in the Kilgore

College preview that beginson page 2C, the Rangershave only four home gamesthis year, and two of thoseare against non-conferenceopponents (the season open-er Sept. 1 against DodgeCity, Kan., and the Oct. 20date against Southwest Prep,where the KC-Lon Morrisgame was scheduled prior toLon Morris’ dismantling ofits athletic department).

That means the Rangerswill have to be road warriorsto get back to the playoffs,and two of their games — atTrinity Valley on Sept. 15and at Blinn on Oct. 6 —will be against preseasontop-10 picks. Trinity Valley,

who won the coaches’ poll asthe conference favorite onmedia day back in July, isranked No. 7 in the NJ-CAA’s preseason poll, andBlinn, with two nationalchampionships since 2006,is ranked fifth.

• Dodge City, Kan. (Sept.1)

The Rangers open the sea-son here at R.E. St. JohnMemorial Stadium againstDodge City CommunityCollege, one of the JayhawkConference members. Un-fortunately for KC, in thenear-decade long series be-tween the Texas and Kansasconferences, the Rangershave yet to win a game in

that series, having playedagainst the upper echelon ofthat conference.

KC might be catching theDodge City Conquistadorsat a good time. They comeoff a season-opening contestagainst No. 1-ranked Butler.

The Conqs, as their schoolwebsite refers to them, fin-ished 3-7 last year, makingthe playoffs but falling toButler. Coach Bob Majeskiwill be in his fifth season incharge of the program, andhe loses quarterback BryanParnes from a year ago.There are four quarterbacksattempting to win the start-ing job, including LoganSinghisen, who played atwideout last year.

There are no returnees atrunning back for DC, al-though they do have JaceBanner, a transfer from But-ler. Wide receivers GarrisonHendricks and ErvinSwonger are both back.

Defensively, the line is ex-perienced, with sophomoresacross the board. Linebackeris also a shining spot, withthe return of sophomoresJohn Goetz and JeremySpringer. The secondary isan area of concern, with on-ly one defensive back com-ing back from a year ago.

• Tyler Junior College (non-conference: Sept. 8; confer-ence: Oct. 27)

The Rangers’ 2011 seasonended at Rose Stadium inlast year’s regular-season fi-nale, the first time that KChas failed to make theSWJCFC playoffs in the fiveseasons under head coachJ.J. Eckert. TJC, coached byDanny Palmer, hasn’t hadconference success in quitesome time, but did make theplayoffs last year, losing to

Navarro in the conferencechampionship game.

The Apaches will count onthe two-headed quarterbackmonster of former SulphurSprings star Tyrik Rollisonand Randy Price once again— both return for theirsophomore seasons aftercombining for over 1,800yards passing in 2011. Rolli-son, Palmer said, hasdropped 15 to 20 pounds inan effort to improve his per-formance.

Sophomore running backRyan Young returns, as doboth tight ends and a centerwho took every snap for theApaches a year ago. Theyhave a wealth of experienceat receiver returning as well,but lost their entire defen-sive front. Palmer said theApaches signed 14 offensivelinemen and 12 defensivelinemen.

“We’re pleased with cer-tain positions, just likeeveryone else,” Palmer said,“In this league, though,you’ve got to have a goodquarterback, and you’ve gotto have a good defensivefront. We’ve got work todo.”

Palmer pointed out thatthe Apaches won five gamesin the final minute last sea-son.

They’ll be playing on a re-vamped surface on bothdates. Rose Stadium, muchlike R.E. St. John’s new turf,went through a renovationin the offseason.

• Trinity Valley (Sept. 15)As mentioned, coach Brad

Smiley’s Cardinals were thepopular pick among thecoaches to win the confer-ence this season. They’vebeen the Buffalo Bills, so tospeak, of the conference the

last two years, losing the titlegame in both 2010 and2011. They gave Butler agood game in the CitizensBank Bowl, losing 21-17.

They finished 8-3 a yearago, and lost only one regu-lar-season conference game.They bring back nine offen-sive starters, and one ofthose isn’t at quarterback,but they do have a transferfrom UTEP in Javia Hall.Beau Nowell, Smiley said,had the edge coming out ofspring.

The offensive line shouldbe a strength of the team,with starters Buck Spurger,Shawn McKinney and Ken-neth Milo — each weighingin at over 300 pounds — areback. Two tight ends also re-turn (Cade Carter and Pay-ton Owen) and three widereceivers (Adrian Hender-son, Buddy Nunn and DrewHellriegel). TVCC also has awideout transfer from Tulsa(Gary Owens).

Defensively, the Cardsbring back six of sevenstarters along the front lineand in the linebackingcorps, and Smiley says thedefensive line is the best it’sbeen in his six seasons. Sec-ondary is a question: no oneis back from last year.

• Navarro (Sept. 22)This will likely be the

biggest home game thatEckert’s Rangers will play allyear, against a Bulldogs’team that, along with Blinn,has been the dominant forcein the conference the lastfive seasons.

Coach Nick Bobeck hasgone, and former assistantBryan Mayper has taken

KILGORE COLLEGE RANGERS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2012KILGORE NEWS HERALD ◆ PAGE 4C

2012 SWJCFC composite scheduleDate

Aug. 25

Sept. 1

Sept. 8

Sept. 15

Sept. 22

Sept. 29

Oct. 6

Oct. 13

Oct. 20

Oct. 27

Nov. 3,10

Kilgore College

Open

Dodge City

@ TJC.

@ TVCC *

Navarro *

@ Cisco *

@ Blinn *

@ NEO *

SE Prep

TJC *

SWJCFC playoffs

Tyler Jr. College

Open

@ Ft. Scott

KC

SE Prep

@ Blinn *

NEO *

@ Navarro *

Cisco *

TVCC *.

@ KC *

SWJFC playoffs

Cisco

Open

Garden City

New Mexico M.I.

@ Navarro *

TVCC *

KC *

SE Prep

TJC *

NEO *

@ Blinn *

SWJFC playoffs

Blinn

Open

@ Butler

SE Prep

NEO *

TJC *

Open

KC *

@ TVCC *

@ Navarro *

Cisco *

SWJFC playoffs

Northeastern Okla.

Open

Highland

Ellsworth

@ Blinn *

SE Prep

@ TJC *

@ TVCC *

KC *

@ Cisco *

Navarro *

SWJFC playoffs

Navarro

@ Ark. Baptist

Hutchinson

Open

Cisco *

@ KC *

@ TVCC *

TJC *

SE Prep

Blinn *

@ NEO *

SWJFC playoffs

Trinity Valley

SE Prep

@ Coffeeville

Open

KC *

@ Cisco *

Navarro *

NEO *

Blinn *

@ TJC *

Open

SWJFC playoffs

On the road again: five road trips for RangersConference opener at TVCC Sept. 15; SWJFCF champ Navarro here Sept. 22; at NEO Oct. 13

See CONFERENCE, Page 5C

2008 N. Longview St. Kilgore, Texas 75663Office: 903-983-3249

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over. Mayper said he plans oncontinuing the foundationlaid by Bobeck, and thatmuch of the Bulldogs’ philos-ophy will remain the same.At quick glance, Navarropicked up a home-run hitterin transfer Traylon Shead, theformer Cayuga running backwho transferred from Texas.Shead’s brother, Tramon, isan offensive lineman at KC.

The Bulldogs will have for-mer Gilmer standout Darian“Stump” Godfrey as their

likely starting quarterback(ironically, former KilgoreHigh standout Riley Toler al-so plays at NC). Godfreyplayed for the University ofNew Mexico a year ago.

Navarro has four returningstarters on the offensive line,and the Bulldogs haveweapons in returning All-SWJCFC tight end GerardShillow Jr., and sophomorewideout Eddie Johnson.

Defensively, Navarro runs a4-3 and has good talent up

front. Behind them, All-SWJCFC linebacker D.J. Si-mon returns. He had 64tackles, five for loss, last year.The secondary is experiencedand led by corner MontellGarner, who had three inter-ceptions last year.

• Cisco (Sept. 29)Cisco is usually the Great

Unknown in the conference,but transfers could drasticallyalter the Wranglers’ fortunesthis year.

Coach Scott Taylor and histeam went 3-6 last year, andonly won one conferencegame. But they lost threegames by a total of 12 points.

Ross Hudson is back at QBand his competition includes

a transfer from Auburn,Caleb Smith. Sam HoustonState transfer CameronBrown had a good spring,Taylor said, and should pro-duce. Three wide receivers re-turn (A.J. Stevenson, CedricGilbert and Terrell Smith),but the Wranglers will betested up front, with little tono experience coming backon the offensive line.

Defensively, Cisco has atransfer from Texas, a line-man named Taylor Bible,that Taylor believes will makea big impact, coming out ofDenton Guyer two years agoas the top defensive tackle inthe state. Quick linebackersBrian Hine and David Chan-

dler will be part of the 3-4defensive front, and GeraldWarner has converted fromlinebacker to safety.

• Blinn (Oct. 6)No SWJCFC team can

boast the recent fantastic his-tory of Blinn, who has wonfour national titles since1995, and twice this decade.

Ronny Feldman returns forhis second season as coach af-ter leading the team to a 9-2record in 2011.

The Buccaneers’ offensewas No. 1 in the nation a yearago, averaging 530 yards pergame, and the trigger man onthat offense — quarterbackEric Matthews — is back.Matthews tossed for over2,400 yards and 20 touch-downs last year, and threwjust two interceptions. Hedid lose four receivers, buttwo starters come back onthe offensive line.

Defensively, it’s a bit of adifferent story. The Bucs willconvert to a 4-2-5 (five de-fensive backs) defensive for-mation. They were rocked bythe transfers of three startingdefensive linemen in the lastthree months. Feldman saidthey are deep at linebacker,and in spite of only two of-fensive line starters returning,he considers the O-line thestrength of the team.

• Northeastern OklahomaA&M (NEO; Oct. 13)

NEO legendary coach DalePatterson returned last seasonin hopes of leading the Gold-en Norsemen back to thepromised land. It didn’t quitework out that way, althoughPatterson knew he would

have a tough road of rebuild-ing. NEO went 3-6 a yearago, and didn’t win a singleconference game.

They do have 45 sopho-mores coming back from ayear ago, including quarter-back Clayton Mitchem, whostarted the last five games.Expect competition there,Patterson said.

The offensive line shouldn’tbe a question with six playerscoming back who got signifi-cant playing time last year.Tailback Gerald Howse, whohad nine touchdowns in hisfreshman year last year, isback, and four receivers withexperience also return.

Defensively, linebacker Ja-iari Dunaway has convertedto defensive end, and shouldgive NEO a lift there. Patter-son said his team is young inthe secondary.

The Norsemen feel goodabout their incoming fresh-men: they signed 12 playerswho participated in Okla-homa’s high school state all-star game.

“We’re probably still a yearaway,” he said.

Like KC, the schedule was-n’t kind to NEO. In a four-week stretch in September,the Norsemen have to go toBlinn, to TJC and to TVCC.

• Southeast Prep (Oct. 20)This spot on the schedule

had been reserved for LonMorris, but that institution,the oldest junior college inTexas, decided to not playsports this fall. SE Prep(Houston) agreed to take onLM’s dates, but cannot winthe conference title.

KILGORE COLLEGE RANGERS KILGORE NEWS HERALD ◆ PAGE 5CWEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2012

CONFERENCE Continued from Page 4C


MAKING A MOVE — Kilgore College running back Hasan Lipscomb (23, right), a transfer, is one of several talented members of the Rangers’ back-field, including returnees Ja’meel Woodard and Terrance Simon, and other freshmen, like former Kilgore High standout Dondra Halton.

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Regular season finish only1.) Trinity Valley. This IS a surprise,

huh? But if you look at the big picture,this is the year the Cards should win it.They’re loaded on offense (particularly inthe backfield), and incredibly, they hostKC, Navarro AND Blinn.

4.) Navarro. Coach Nick Bobeck isgone, but new man Brian Mayper hasplenty left in the cupboard, includingTexas transfer Traylon Shead at RB. Mid-dle linebacker D.J. Simon heads a talent-ed defensive cast.

3.) KC. I believe the Rangers are goingto be improved this year, but two of theirthree toughest games (TVCC and Blinn)are on the road, and they also must go toNEO. A big O-line and experienced de-fense will help. (See our preview, 2-5B)

1.) ALABAMA. They do have questions(nine starters gone off their defense, for in-stance), but they’ve won two national titlesin three years and are 48-6 under Nick Sa-ban since 2008. Key game(s): Michigan(Sept. 1 in Dallas), at Arkansas (Sept. 15),at LSU (Nov. 3), and Auburn (Nov. 24).

2.) LSU. Here we go again. Rather thanNo. 2, the Tigers could very well be a co-No. 1 with ’Bama with all the talent theyreturn. QB Zach Mettenberger, a JUCOtransfer, should immediately be an up-grade. Key game(s): at Auburn (Sept. 22),at Florida (Oct. 6), and ’Bama (Nov. 3).

3.) USC. The Trojans (with 17 startersback) are ranked third because of QB MattBarkley, who threw for 39 touchdownsand just 7 picks last year. Key game: athome against Oregon Nov. 3. If they getpast that, the Trojans most likely will playfor the BCS title.

7.) S. CAROLINA. Remember thisname: Marcus Lattimore, a running backwho could be the leading Heisman Trophycandidate by week five. The defense is ledby DE Jadeveon Clowney (who had 291/2 sacks as a high school senior in 2010).Key game: at LSU on Oct. 13.

8.) MICHIGAN STATE. If they playedin the South, everyone would be crazedover them. They’ve won 11 games each ofthe last two years. But they haven’t been tothe Rose Bowl since 1988. Eight startersreturn from the No. 6-ranked defense in2011. Key game: at Wisconsin (Oct. 27).

9.) W. VIRGINIA. Everyone talksabout offense, but it might be the defense(they run a 3-3-5 scheme), which allowedover 30 points in six games last year, thatprevents WVU from winning a Big 12 titlein its first season. Key game(s): at Texas(Oct. 6), at Tech (Oct. 13), OU (Nov. 17).

4.) OKLAHOMA. Bob Stoops brings hisbrother, Mike, back to Norman. Will thatmean a defensvive revival? That could vaultOU into BCS title contention. Look for for-mer Whitehouse WR Trey Metoyer to have abig year. Key game(s): Texas (Oct. 13), at W.Virginia (Nov. 17) and at TCU (Dec. 1).

5.) FLORIDA STATE. FSU might reallybe “back” this year, bringing back 17 startersfrom a team that won seven of its last eightgames. They have a fifth-year senior at QB(E.J. Manuel). They do have to contend withClemson and Virginia Tech in the ACC. Keygames: those, on Sept. 22 & Nov. 8.

6.) OREGON. Maybe what the Ducksneeded was to be the underdog again afteraveraging 520 yards per game the last twoseasons. USC appears to be back, and the ob-vious key game — the Pac-12 Game of theYear — will be the Ducks visiting the Trojanson Oct. 3 (the same day LSU hosts ’Bama).

2.) Blinn. The Bucs went 6-0 in con-ference play last year, a feat in itself.They’ll break in new receivers, but theydo bring back QB Eric Matthews, whothrew for 2,388 yards and 20 TDs lastyear.

5.) TJC. Experience abounds for theApaches across the offense, but TJCshouldn’t expect all the breaks to go theirway this year. Last season, the Apacheswon five games in the final minute. Twosophomore QBs both return.

6.) NEO. The schedule again is a killer(at Blinn, at TJC and TVCC). All-SWJCFC RB Gerald Howse is back, andan experienced O-line. Remember thisname: Alex Villearrel, a defensive tacklewho originally signed with Oklahoma St.

7.) Cisco. A trio of transfers (QBCaleb Smith from Auburn, RB CameronBrown from Sam Houston and LB Tay-lor Bible) could make a big impact, andvault Cisco up this list. Of concern: onlyone O-lineman back from 2011.

BEST OF THE REST, AND FORECAST: Other teams who didn’t crack my “notable nine”but easily could play a part in their conference and even the BCS title race include Texas, TCU,Arkansas, Clemson, Louisville (believe it or not), Michigan, Georgia, Nebraska, and OhioState. Keep in mind that this “notable nine” is where I believe the teams should BEGIN theseason, not necessarily how I believe it’ll end up. I think USC or Oregon represent the nation’sbest chance to keep the SEC from winning the national title for a seventh straight season, al-

though as I mentioned above, if Oklahoma can return defensively to what it was earlier in thedecade, the Sooners could make big noise. They have a very tough schedule this year, though.Louisville is mentioned here because its strength of schedule is so weak, I believe it’ll win 10games. Clemson could change everyone’s big board with an upset of Florida State in Tallahas-see on Sept. 22. The Alabama-LSU winner will have the inside track to the national title gameagain, and will likely meet South Carolina in the SEC championship game first.

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Oklahoma. The old joke is that OUreally only plays one tough game a year(UT). Not in 2012. Road trips to TexasTech, W. Virginia and TCU will be stout.QB Landry Jones returns but was awfulagainst OSU in the finale last year. Itcould be feast or famine in Norman.

West Virginia. The Mountaineersmake a formidable foe, with QB GenoSmith and two wideouts that caught 20TD passes last year. Two dates in Octoberwill unmask WVU as contender or pre-tender: back-to-back trips to Austin onOct. 6 and to Lubbock on Oct. 13.

Texas. The makeover of the Longhornsfrom pass-heavy spread team to a morebalanced team should continue this year,and don’t sleep on UT. They’re always go-ing to have talent. If the defense playswell and the running game gets rolling,they could very well win the Big 12 title.

TCU. Gary Patterson will become theschool’s winningest football coach withone win this year. That’ll come early. Skillpositions on offense all look good, in-cluding returning QB Casey Paschall,who set a school record for single-seasonpassing yardage last year.

Texas Tech. We all love their kicker(former Kilgore standout Ryan Bustin),and I love their schedule. They do visitTCU and K-State, but they host OU, W.Virginia and Texas. They say coach Tom-my Tuberville is on the hot seat. It’ll coolif he wins two of those three games.

Kansas State. Last year, the Wildcatswon 10 games with QB Collin Klein, whoaccounted for 40 total TDs. They’ll betested early at home against Miami (Sept.8), and the reason I have them picked solow is the rugged road schedule (at OU, atWVU, at TCU).

Oklahoma State. Cowboys fans livedlarge last year, culminating the regular sea-son with a beat-down of OU. But the sto-ry for OSU this year is not who’s there,but who’s not (QB Brandon Weeden in-cluded). If they can find that solution,their schedule is favorable.

Baylor. The Cowboys won’t be the onlyones reminiscing about 2011, with formerBU QB Robert Griffin III now a Wash-ington Redskin. Still, three offensive line-men are back, seven defensive starters re-turn, and QB Nick Florence has a bigthreat in WR Terrance Williams.

Kansas. Doesn’t it seem like foreversince the Jayhawks had that 12-1 season(in 2007)? They went 2-10 last year andbrought in offensive guru Charlie Weis asthe new head coach. He will see a familiarface: QB Dayne Crist, whom he coachedat Notre Dame, has transferred to KU.

Iowa State. The Cyclones just namedQB Steele Jantz their starter this week,and although they’re just 18-20 undercoach Paul Rhoads, they almost alwayspull one huge upset a year (see OklahomaState in 2011). Watch the linebacking duoof A.J. Klein and Jake Knott.

CONFERENCE FORECAST: Obviously, we’ve picked OU to win this conference, but the Sooners, who are loaded with talent, couldjust as easily finish with two or more conference losses. There really is parity this year. I also don’t believe UT has reclaimed its status as afavorite just yet. My darkhorse picks are K-State and Texas Tech. Tech has a favorable schedule, and K-State is well-coached. Another wildcard could be if first-year member TCU shakes the “giant-killer” label for just “giant.” Here’s the picks, but it could be 52-card pick-up, Big-12 style, in 2012. 1.) OU; 2.) WVU; 3.) UT; 4.) TCU; 5.) Tech; 6.) K-State; 7.) OSU; 8.) Baylor; 9.) Kansas, 10.) Iowa State.

BBIIGG 1122 CCOONNFFEERREENNCCEE

NFC NORTH NFC SOUTH NFC WEST NFC EASTThis was the division easiest

to write about because I thinkit’s the most clear-cut. ThePackers were, somehow, simplynot very good defensively lastyear. CB Charles Woodsonmoves to safety this time out,and thatm o v es h o u l dhelp. Atany rate, ifthe Pack

start fast out of the gate with awin over the 49ers in week one,they’ll be hard to stop. Chicagoand Detroit will compete for thesecond spot, but both couldmake the playoffs. 1.) GB; 2.)Chicago; 3.) Detroit; 4.) Minn.

Make no mistake: the New Or-leans Saints still have the talent towin the NFC South and could,but I believe taking coach SeanPayton away in Bounty-gate willhave an effect. The Atlanta Fal-cons need a more balanced offen-sive attack,and if they getthat, I’m pick-ing them totake the divi-sion title.

Carolina should be improvedwith upgrades on defense, and anew coaching staff has quite atransition period on its hands inTampa. 1.) Atlanta; 2.) New Or-leans; 3.) Carolina; 4.) TampaBay.

San Fran is a popular SuperBowl pick after its showing lastyear, and the 49ers bring back all11 starters on the defensive sideof the ball (they were fourth inthe league on D last year). Still, Ithink they take a small step backfrom 13-3,but still win adivision thatis filled withteams thatjust aren’t

ready. Arizona could threaten, ifit figures out its quarterbackquandary. Ditto for Seattle. St.Louis has problems just abouteverywhere BUT quarterback.1.) SF; 2.) Arizona; 3.) Seattle;4.) St. Louis.

In spite of their late-seasonrun to the Super Bowl title lastyear, the New York Giants arestill a bit of a roller-coasterteam. That, combined with in-jury problems (and leadershipproblems) in Dallas and the un-certainty ofPhiladelphiaQB MichaelVick, andyou’ve got atight NFC

East race. Washington fans areoptimistic, but it’ll take RobertGriffin III at least a season tofigure things out. 1.) New YorkGiants; 2.) Dallas (misses theplayoffs; Sorry). 3.) Philadel-phia Eagles; 4.) Washington.

AFC NORTH AFC SOUTH AFC WEST AFC EAST

For the record, before my playoff predictions, I believe Tim Tebow will start for the New York Jets by midseason, and that the Minnesota Vikings will finish with the NFL’s worst record, securingthe No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft next spring. Now, on to the playoff projections. In the NFC, I believe the Green Bay Packers will go 12-4, win the North and capture the No. 1 seed. The New YorkGiants will be the No. 2 seed (11-5) and take the NFC East (the health of Philly’s Michael Vick is a key). San Francisco wins the NFC West with a 10-6 record, and the Atlanta Falcons also finish10-6 and win the NFC South. The two wild card teams are New Orleans (10-6), who will push Atlanta in the South, and Chicago (9-7). The Dallas Cowboys finish 8-8 again. If that happens, itlikely means the end of the Tony Romo era in Dallas. San Fran plays at Green Bay in the NFC title game and the Packers win, advancing to the Super Bowl. In the AFC, Baltimore (11-5) takes theNorth, Houston (11-5) the South, San Diego (10-6) the West, and New England (13-3) the East, and the AFC’s top seed. Denver (10-6) and Pittsburgh (10-6) make the playoffs as the AFC wildcard teams. Houston visits New England in the AFC title game, and the Patriots win it, moving on to face Green Bay in the Super Bowl. Super Bowl XLVII: New England 34, Green Bay 31.

It seems like every year eitherBaltimore or Pittsburgh winsthe North, and Cincinnaticomes and goes. I don’t see itdifferently this year. Clevelandhas a lot of young talent and Ibelieve is headed in the rightdirect ion,but not in2012. TheBengals willpush thetop two,

but for a little longer, theRavens and Steelers own thetop two slots. Both are aging rap-idly on defense, however. 1.)Baltimore takes it (by maybe asingle game); 2.) Pittsburgh; 3.)Cincinnati; 4.) Cleveland.

OK, Texans fans, there’s goodnews and bad. The good news:your team, if healthy, probablywins the South this year. Thebad: the team we thought wasgone (the Colts) may have justtaken a year off. Seriously, QBAndrew Lucklooks like at h i r d - y e a rpro. This divi-sion racecould be a lot

closer than I thought just weeksago, and injuries that plaguedHouston in 2011 could doomthem this year. But they’re theclass of the division. 1.) Houston;2.) Indy (a distant 2); 3. Ten-nessee); and 4.) Jacksonville.

No, your eyes don’t deceiveyou: I don’t have the PeytonManning-led Denver Broncospicked to win the division, andit’s because I’m not confident inhis cast. This was a really toughdivision to pick, because I don’tbelieve eitherKansas Cityor Oaklandwill be bad. Ih o n e s t l ythink all four

teams will have a shot at winningthe West for most of the season,and that SD (who averaged 25points per game last year, fifth inthe league) edges Denver in thevery end. 1.) SD; 2.) Denver; 3.)KC; 4.) Oakland.

I’ve got to be honest and saythat I didn’t really want to pickthe New England Patriots towin the division, but even withthe Tim Tebow factor for theNew York Jets, even with theBuffalo Bills and their fantastic-o n - p a p e rd e f e n s i v efront, I justcan’t see theP a t r i o t sfalling back

enough to lose it. Miami will beinteresting, but shouldn’t be afactor. The Tom Brady/ Bill Be-lichick-led Patriots could be onone final run. 1.) New Eng-land; 2.) New York Jets; 3.)Buffalo; 4.) Miami.

TTEEXXAASS AA&&MM’’SS SSEECC OOUUTTLLOOOOKKWell, it’s not great, in my opinion, not the first year. The Aggies will have to ride with a new head coach (Kevin

Sumlin) and an unproven quarterback into the country’s most difficult division, the SEC West, where Alabama,LSU, Arkansas and Auburn all reside. They do get LSU at home (Oct. 20), but have to go to both Auburn (Oct.27) and ’Bama (Nov. 10). Still, the enthusiasm of entering the SEC is high for A&M fans, and legitimately so. Theconference is college football’s king right now. But the Aggies will switch from a 4-3 defensive front (four defensivelinemen, three linebackers) to a 3-4 (the reverse), and that’s a big change. Running back Christine Michael (899yards and 8 TDs) is back for another season, as is receiving threat Ryan Swope (89 catches, 1,209 yards, 11 TDs).Key game(s): at Louisiana Tech in the opener (Aug. 30), Arkansas (Sept. 29), LSU, Auburn and Alabama.

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What do you do whenyou played 14 games, madeit to the later stages of theplayoffs and had your bestseason in a half-decade?

You line up and do itagain, of course. And thistime, you take it farther.

Maybe even to a champi-onship.

That's what coach MikeWood and the Kilgore HighSchool Bulldogs will at-tempt to do this season,their first at the Class 3Alevel in decades. Under newUniversity InterscholasticLeague (UIL) realignmentthat took effect this season,the Bulldogs are now play-ing on the 3A level.

The news gets better. TheRagin' Red brings back atalented cast of players from2011, when Kilgore went 9-5 and made it to the finaleight in the state in the 4Apostseason. Typically, whena team goes down a classifi-cation (based on enrollmentnumbers), their athletic pro-grams do well (see Hender-son, who won the Class 3Atitle in 2010).

Coach Wood's team washit pretty hard by gradua-tion on offense, losing RIleyToler, a three-year starter atquarterback, as well as run-ning backs Ladarius Antho-ny and Donta Halton, of-fensive line stalwart DonaldJackson and wide receiverMatthew Dickey.

But there's hope. SeniorTyler Jones (5-foot-9, 260pounds) and junior ClayWiley (6-0, 290) return onthe offensive line, and Kil-gore has a pack of tailbacks,including big Cornelius

"Spike" Bell (6-1, 230),who will play a host of roles,as well as sophomoresKevrin Justice (5-10, 170)and Davieonta "JuJu"Brown (5-9, 170), andspeedy senior Austin Jordan(5-6, 160).

Bell was primarily used asa blocking back last seasonin an offense that gainedover 2,500 rushing yards,and the bulk of those yardsin the trenches were gainedby Halton and Anthony.But Wood has said Bell willget some carries this year,and he believes a running-back-by-committee, withthe cast he has, can get thejob done.

Also in the mix as a full-back could be junior JakeBrantley (5-10, 185), whodoubles as one of the Bull-dogs’ best defenders.

Joining Jones and Wileyon the offensive line will beseveral players, includingsenior Jake Jordan (6-0,230) at tackle, as well assophomore Blake Guthrie(5-11, 230), junior NolanGrush (5-10, 200), seniorJustin Morrow (6-2, 310),senior Ryan Reinert (6-2,200), junior Caleb Thomas(6-3, 235), junior AustinClark (5-9, 180), junior JoelChavez (5-8, 170), juniorCarlton Fyffe (5-9, 170),and senior Kevon Price (5-10, 230).

As mentioned, Toler hasgraduated, so offensive coor-dinator Rafe Mata will havea new trigger-man. That willbe senior Cooper Coldiron(5-11, 170), who was veryimpressive as a safety on thedefensive side of the ball lastyear, but didn't take manysnaps on offense. Coldirongives the offense a new di-

mension, a quarterback thatcan scramble and makethings happen on the run.

He's going to have somegood targets. Dickey isgone, but several players willrotate in and out at wide re-ceiver, including juniorAaron Foy (5-10, 165), whocaught a touchdown fromColdiron on the final play ofthe preseason scrimmageagainst Carthage; seniorDaQuavian "Q" Brewster(6-1, 170), and sophomoreNick Orange (6-2, 180). Al-so seeing time on offense asa receiver will be senior Hec-tor Peralez (6-0, 160), wholed the team in interceptions(with seven) in 2011, andanother junior, Benny Col-bert (5-9, 170), a dynamicdefensive back/kick andpunt returner last seasonwho tends to make things

KILGORE BULLDOGS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2012KILGORE NEWS HERALD ◆ PAGE 2B

Take it to the limitWood’s ’Dogs aim to improve, win big

See KILGORE, Page 3B


WATCHFUL EYE —Kilgore High School

head coach MikeWood (left) looks on

as Caleb Thomas(center) and others

work in practice. TheBulldogs went 9-5 last

year, getting to thefourth round of the

Class 4A playoffs. KHSwill now compete in

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happen when he gets theball. Colbert also serves asthe second-string quarter-back, and will probably be a"slash"-type player, seeingaction in a lot of differentspots, Wood said.

“We’re going to find waysto get him the ball,” thecoach said.

Kilgore's all-state line-backer, senior A.J. Davis (5-11, 200), is also its most ex-perienced returning tightend. Davis had five catchesfor 69 yards and a pair oftouchdowns last season. Alsoplaying tight end for the Ra-gin' Red this year will be sen-ior Taylor Nixon (5-9, 175),senior Josh Burton (5-10,175), junior Steven Tipton(6-0, 185) and coach Wood'ssons, junior Caleb Wood (6-1, 175) and younger brotherJarod (6-1, 185), a sopho-more.

Another void left by grad-uation is at kicker, whereHugo Orta had handled theplacekicking and puntingduties in recent years. Thisyear, that will fall to Peralez,who will continue his role asa defensive back, Wood not-ed. Peralez follows a long,good tradition of kickers atKHS. Only two kickers havebooted extra points and fieldgoals at Kilgore since 2006:Ryan Bustin, now kickingfor Texas Tech, and Orta.

Defensively, the Bulldogswill run the 4-3 (four defen-sive linemen, three lineback-ers), led up front by seniordefensive tackle Josh Daniels(6-0, 300), junior DaQuel-lan Scott (5-9, 210), andjunior LaDarrin Anthony(5-9, 200). Scott had 37tackles and five sacks a yearago. Anthony had 30 tackles,and Daniels had 36, includ-ing two for loss and twosacks. Bell, the fullback, willalso see some time here atdefensive end, Wood noted.

Other defensive linemenon the roster include CalebThomas, senior Chad Her-nandez (5-7, 220), seniorDakota Hill (5-10, 230),junior Gabriel Gough (5-9,240), and senior Rocky Por-tillo (5-8, 230).

Talk of linebackers in EastTexas has to start with A.J.Davis, who had 179 tackles,100 of them solo, 13 for loss,a sack, two interceptions,five pass break-ups, andthree blocked kicks a seasonago. But also in the conversa-tion has to be junior JakeBrantley, who is simply aplaymaker. Brantley wasawesome last year as well,netting 134 tackles, 66 solo,five for loss, three intercep-tions, a blocked kick and acaused fumble.

Also seeing time at line-backer this year could bejunior Jack Johnston (5-9,165), junior Chad Bornes(6-0, 185), senior ColtonHicks (6-0, 185), junior An-drew Pinter (5-10, 180), andAustin Clark.

The secondary is a goodone. In spite of being theteam's quarterback, Cold-iron may still see time in thesecondary, and no wonder— last year he had 133 tack-les, 66 solo, five for loss, ahalf-sack, three interceptionsand two pass break-ups.

Peralez's seven intercep-tions led the team, and he al-

so had 59 tackles and fourpass break-ups. Colbert hada great year, too — he had45 tackles, 35 solo, one forloss, three picks, three passbreak-ups, and three blockedkicks. As a returner, he wasquite a threat, returning sev-en punts for an average of 31yards per return.

Others playing defensiveback for the Bulldogs thisyear will be Brewster, anoth-er who might play on bothsides of the ball, as well asjunior Joseph Shepherd (5-10, 160), Foy, Jordan, jun-iors Jacobie Vidal (5-9, 155)and Austin Lopez (5-10,145). If the Bulldogs are ableto extend the season longenough, they might get sen-ior defensive back Tyler Tur-ley (5-9, 155) back. Turleysuffered a broken leg in theBulldogs’ scrimmage here onAug. 18 against Carthage.

Kilgore's schedule won'tbe easy (see our story on page4B), especially not when thedistrict includes Henderson,Gilmer, and last year's 3Achampion Chapel Hill. ButKHS will tune up for it withthis Friday's season openerhere against Marshall, a rareSaturday game next week atCrockett against Sweeny,homecoming against PineTree and then a trip toMount Pleasant.

Wood is in his third seasonas head coach. Assistantcoaches in addition to Mataare co-defensive coordinatorsCharles Presley and Les Lop-er, as well as Jay Dean, KeithMeyers, Joey Pippen, JohnMcGilvray, T.J. Gillen-Hall,Mark Roskos, RonnieGarvin, Robert Cooley,Chad Loper, Aaron Erick-son, Ronnie Hobbs, JoeGuillory, Monte Miller, andRonnie Hendrix.

The trainers are Darrell“Red” Ganus and La’TameraFry, as well as student train-ers Zack Vick, PrestonStephenson and JuanOrhuiela.

Doug Duke is the assistantathletic director, and SharonBreedlove is the athletic de-partment secretary.

KILGORE BULLDOGS KILGORE NEWS HERALD ◆ PAGE 3BWEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2012

KILGORE Continued from Page 2B


READY TO GO — KHSsenior quarterbackCooper Coldiron (left)and wide receiverDaQuavian “Q”Brewster will try togive the Ragin’ Red agood balanced attackon offense this year,along with receiverslike Nick Orange,Aaron Foy, JefferySanders, HectorPeralez, Austin Lopez,Joseph Shepherd,Jacob Daily, andBenny Colbert.Coldiron will have alot of targets.

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REALLY? REALLY? — Senior Tyler Jones (right) cracks up as offensive line teammate Clay Wiley (left),a junior, decides whatever it was isn’t funny. The duo will be the anchors of a Kilgore offensive linethat produced over 4,000 yards last season, 2,500 of it in the running game.

Marshall, Marshall,Marshall — andthen a tough district


What's on tap for Kilgore football fans this year? Somepretty exciting matchups, actually, starting with a seasonopener against an old rival that KHS defeated in overtimelast year, and winding up the regular season with arguablythe most dominant program in East Texas since the middlepart of the last decade.

The Bulldogs will kick off head coach Mike Wood's thirdseason this Friday here at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium,perhaps fittingly, against Marshall, a team that KHS hasfaced more than any other in the last 11 years. The Bulldogsand Mavericks battled to an overtime classic in 2004, a yearthat they both played for state championships, and recap-tured a little of that magic with an OT game last year, wonby Kilgore when defensive lineman DaQuellan Scott recov-ered a fumble and sealed the win.

Marshall went on to have an uncharacteristically-bad sea-son, winning only two games and losing for the first time inprogram history to Pine Tree. The Mavericks have only fourstarters back, though, so coming back from an awful 2011won't be easy.

Wideout Chris Williams caught 29 passes for 307 yardsand four touchdowns last year, and will be a building blockfor the passing game.

Up next: a trip to Crockett for a rare Saturday eveninggame against Sweeny, a team from south Texas that Kilgorehas never faced. Kilgore is the home team for the contest,the first time the Bulldogs will have played at Crockett sincebeating Crockett on that field in the season opener of 2006.

Sweeny's team mascot is also a Bulldog. Sweeny is a Class3A school as well, and competes in District 24-3A againstprograms like Columbia, Sunnyside, and old Kilgore foe LaMarque, now also at 3A. Sweeny went 8-5 a year ago, andbrings back five starters on offense and four defensively.

The Bulldogs — the Sweeny version — have a duo ofgood offensive linemen in Kyle Rebector and Tyler LaFleur,and their defensive line isn't shabby, either. Greg Lenonrecorded seven sacks last year and linebacker Joel Higginshad 108 tackles. Quarterback Dorland Fields also returns(he threw for just 700 yards last year as a sophomore, andrunning back Duane Lemmons, who ran for 524 yards andseven touchdowns in 2011, is back.

Pine Tree will be the homecoming opponent for KHS thisyear, scheduled Sept. 14. The Pirates have long been a dis-trict foe for Kilgore; not any longer. They will have theirown problems to contend with in a district that includesJohn Tyler and Corsicana.

See SCHEDULE, Page 5B

2012 District 16-3A composite scheduleDate

Aug. 30 /31

Sept. 7/8

Sept. 14

Sept. 21

Sept. 28

Oct. 5

Oct. 12/ 13

Oct. 19

Oct. 26

Nov. 2

Nov. 9

Kilgore

Marshall

Sweeny (@ Crockett)

Pine Tree (HC)

@ Mt. Pleasant

Spring Hill *

@ Bullard *

Open

Gladewater *

@ Chapel Hill *

Henderson *

@ Gilmer *

Bullard

Quitman

@ White Oak

@ Diboll

Huntington

Open

Kilgore *

@ Gladewater *

Chapel Hill *

@ Henderson *

Gilmer *

@ Spring Hill *

Spring Hill

@ Pleasant Grove

@ Athens

White Oak

Brook Hill

@ Kilgore *

Gladewater *

@ Chapel Hill *

Henderson *

@ Gilmer *

Open

Bullard

Henderson

Prestonwood

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Hallsville

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@ Chapel Hill *

Open

Gilmer (@ Long.) *

@ Spring Hill *

Bullard *

@ Kilgore *

Gladewater

Gladewater

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Pittsburg

Athens

@ Atlanta

Gilmer *

@ Spring Hill *

Bullard *

@ Kilgore *

Open

Chapel Hill *

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Gilmer

Atlanta (@ Rose)

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Jacksonville

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Chapel Hill *

Henderson (@Long) *

Open

Spring Hill *

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Kilgore *

Chapel Hill

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W’house (@ Rose)

Carthage

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@ Henderson *

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Spring Hill *

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PT is coached by DerekFitzhenry, in his second yearafter the Pirates went 1-9 ayear ago. If they're ever goingto improve, Fitzhenry is go-ing to have to get someone toplay defense and tackle. PTgave up over 39 points pergame last year. They aren'tblank in defensive talent.State powerlifting championEddie Calico plays defensivetackle for the Pirates and had31 tackles, a 1/2 sack and an

interception last year. He'sup to 240 pounds.

He's joined on the defen-sive side of the ball by seniorsJustin Bledsoe and JeremyAllen, both linebackers.

The Bulldogs get to goback to Mount Pleasantagain this season, this timeon Sept. 28. The Tigers went3-7 last year, run a spread of-fense and play with five de-fensive backs on defense.They are coached by Mart

Graham, in his third season.They do bring back quarter-back Montravious James forhis senior season — hepassed for 1,025 yards andsix scores and rushed for sixmore in 2011. His main tar-get, wideout Kaderius Can-non, returns as well. Cannoncaught 61 balls last year for1,004 yards and 10 touch-downs, and also was a kickreturn specialist, averaging22 yards per return.

This year, there's no opendate between Kilgore's non-district and district sched-ules. The Ragin' Red returnfrom Mount Pleasant andjump into district play thenext week, hosting SpringHill on Sept. 28. The Pan-thers aren't a common oppo-nent for KHS, and went 2-8last year.

They have a new headcoach (Bobby Chadwick)and a talented player on of-fense in Ben Hollas, a seniorwho had four rushing touch-downs last year, and did a lit-tle bit of everything, alsoplaying defensive back andpunting the ball.

Spring Hill returns fourstarters on both sides of theball, but will try to improvean offensive unit that aver-

aged under 13 points pergame a year ago. The Pan-thers haven't made the play-offs since 2007, and mayfind the road difficult thisyear considering the compe-tition in the district has ac-counted for five state cham-pionships since 2004.

Kilgore will likely face ayoung, talented and hungryBullard team in Bullard onOct. 5. The Panthers areloaded on offense, and arehaving success for the firsttime (they had never won aplayoff game before 2011).Their coach is Shannon Wil-son, who took them to an 8-5 season last year. Quarter-

back Colton Mebane is backfor his senior year and ac-counted for 22 total touch-downs a year ago. ReceiverHaden Bryant caught ninetouchdowns last year andtailback Houston Alexanderalso returns.

KHS takes a bye week Oct.12, then returns to actionagainst an underrated Glade-water team here at R.E. St.John on Oct. 19. The Bearswent 5-5 last year but havesome size coming back, in-cluding a defensive tackle —Daylon Mack — that is abeast in the middle, a 290-

KILGORE BULLDOGS KILGORE NEWS HERALD ◆ PAGE 5BWEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2012

2012 KILGORE BULLDOGSNo., name Class Position Ht., Wt1 Austin Jordan Sr. RB/DB 5-6, 1502 Kiondric Abron Sr. RB 5-6, 1553 Aaron Foy Jr. WR/DB 5-10, 1654 Cooper Coldiron Sr. QB/DB 5-11, 1705 Cornelius Bell Sr. RB/DE 6-1, 2306 D. Brewster Sr. WR/DB 6-1, 1707 Narcio Amaro Sr. DB 5-8, 1608 Taylor Nixon Sr. TE 5-9, 1759 Jeffery Sanders Jr. WR/DB 5-9, 15010 JuJu Brown Jr. RB 5-9, 17011 Joseph Shepherd Jr. WR/DB 5-10, 16012 Jack Johnston Jr. RB/LB 5-9, 16513 Josh Burton Sr. TE 5-10, 17514 Jacob Daily Sr. WR 5-10, 18515 Benny Colbert Sr. WR/DB 5-9, 17016 Randall Jordan Sr. K 6-3, 19017 Hector Peralez Sr. WR/DB 6-0, 16020 Chad Bornes Jr. LB 6-0, 18521 Jacobie Vidal Jr. RB/DB 5-9, 15522 Austin Lopez Jr. WR/DB 5-10, 14524 Kevrin Justice So. RB/DB 5-10, 17027 Tyler Turley Sr. DB 5-9, 15531 Nick Orange So. WR 6-2, 18032 Colton Hicks Sr. RB/LB 6-0, 18540 Jake Brantley Jr. RB/LB 5-10, 18541 Andrew Pinter Jr. LB 5-10, 18044 A.J. Davis Sr. TE/LB 5-11, 20050 Nolan Grush Jr. OL 5-10, 20052 Austin Clark Jr. OL/LB 5-9, 18054 Jake Jordan Sr. OL 6-0, 23060 Caleb Thomas Jr. OL/DL 6-3, 23562 Joel Chavez Jr. OL 5-8, 17063 Ryan Reinert Sr. OL 6-2, 20064 Ciro Cazares Sr. OL 5-10, 20066 Chad HernandezSr. DL 5-7, 22068 Carlton Fyffe Jr. OL 5-9, 17072 Dakota Hill Sr. DL 5-10, 23073 Blake Guthrie So. OL 5-11, 23074 Justin Morrow Sr. OL 6-2, 31075 Kevon Price Sr. OL 5-10, 23076 Gabriel Gough Jr. OL/DL 5-9, 24078 Clay Wiley Jr. OL 6-0, 29079 Tyler Jones Sr. OL 5-9, 26081 Jarod Wood So. TE 6-1, 18582 D.Q. Scott Jr. DL 5-9, 21083 Stephen Tipton Jr. TE 6-0, 18590 Rocky Portillo Sr. DL 5-8, 23096 L. Anthony Jr. DL 5-9, 20098 Josh Daniels Sr. DL 6-0, 30099 Caleb Wood Jr. TE/DL 6-1, 175Athletic director/head coach: Mike WoodAssistant athletic director: Doug DukeCo-defensive coordinators: Charles Presley and Les LoperOffensive coordinator: Rafe MataAssistant coaches: Jay Dean, Keith Meyers, Joey Pippen, JohnMcGilvray, T.J. Gillen-Hall, Mark Roskos, Ronnie Garvin, RobertCooley, Chad Loper, Aaron Erickson, Ronnie Hobbs, Joe Guillo-ry, Monty Miller, and Ronnie Hendrix.Trainers: Darrell “Red” Ganus, La’Tamera FryAthletic dept. secretary: Sharon BreedloveAssistant trainers: Preston Stephenson, Zack Vick, Juan OrhuielaSuperintendent: Jody ClementsPrincipal: Greg Brown

SCHEDULE Continued from Page 4B


LEADERS ANDSENIORS — Kilgore’s

2012-13 seniors(right) are a big

group, and will be theRagin’ Red’s driving

force this season.Above: the KHS

coaching staff. Fromleft (front row): AaronErickson, Chad Loper,

Joey Pippen, RobertCooley, Rafe Mata,

Jay Dean, MarkRoskos and Ronnie

Lee Garvin. Back(from left): Charles

Presley, Keith Meyers,T.J. Gillen-Hall, head

coach Mike Wood,John McGilvray, train-

er Darrell “Red”Ganus and Les Loper.


GETTING THE JOB DONE — Kilgore trainer Darrell “Red” Ganus (secondfrom left) will have more than capable help with this year’s student train-ers (from left) Zack Vick, Preston Stephenson (third from left) and JuanOrhuiela (far right).

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Overton High School has anew head football coachonce again, but this one hasbeen a Mustang before —and he’s returned as a manon a mission.

Josh Barton, himself a for-mer OHS football assistantin 2008-10, was named thenew head coach and athleticdirector in spring, and tookover following the retirementof former head man Bo Talk-ington. It’s Barton’s first headcoaching job, following astint coaching wide receiverslast season at Class 5A NewCaney.

“Everything is great,” Bar-ton said. “Our numbers areup from what we’ve had here....The kids are respondingwell. We’ve had to adjust onthe fly on some things, andyou’re never sure how that’sgoing to work out, butthey’ve adapted to everythingwe’ve done.”

Like any first-year headcoach, Barton will look to hisseniors to carry much of theload. And he’s got some tal-ent to work with. One ofthose seniors is returner K.J.Luster (6-foot-1, 180pounds).

“He’s our starter for sure,”Barton said. “He split timelast year. He’s a dual threatfor sure. He should reallywork well for what we do.”

What the Mustangs do onoffense, Barton said, willlargely be out of the shotgunformation, an offense calledthe pistol, and Luster — whois a legit threat to take off —can also hold his own as apasser.

He’ll be protected by an of-fensive line who has some ex-

perience, including seniorGreg Moore (6-2, 250). “He’s our anchor,” Bartonsaid, noting Moore, a three-year starter, will play at lefttackle. Another senior, ClayMartin (6-2, 225), will suitup at right tackle. CenterWeston Gillis (5-1, 220) isalso a senior, and a two-yearstarter. Right guard will besophomore Seth Garrett (5-11, 180). “He’s worked reallyhard in the offseason), Bar-ton said. “We’ve seen himmature quite a bit.”

The left guard is a positionthat has seen continued com-petition between juniorsAaryn Bradley (6-0, 185)and Aden Williams (6-1,170). Both will play, Bartonsaid.

No one could talk aboutOverton without mention-ing Jesse Roach (5-10, 215),now a senior. Roach will getdouble duty: he’ll be an im-

portant part of the Mustangs’backfield and he’ll also beone of Overton’s startinglinebackers in a 4-2-5 set(four defensive linemen, twoLBs, and five defensivebacks. The 4-2-5, which iswhat Texas Christian runs, aswell as Kilgore College, haspicked up in popularityamong coaches lately. Bartonhad a theory as to why.

“Personally, for us,” he ex-plained, “it lets us be prettyversatile and get more speedon the field.”

Moore will be the line-backer next to Roach in thatset. “They’re both good,downhill players that we be-lieve will make a lot of playsfor us,” Barton said.

Junior Jamal Kelly (6-2,205) will also see time onboth sides of the ball: carry-ing it, and then as a memberof that five-headed secondaryon defense, a free safety. Join-

ing him back there will beanother junior, cornerbackDamion Dennis (5-9, 165),and senior Jeffery Phillips (6-2, 175).

Barton is joined on thecoaching staff by JustinArnold, Seth Drennan,Cedric Stallard, Aaron Wat-son, Jake Atchley, and Ro-drick Portley.

The Mustangs, who went4-6 last year, are looking fortheir first district champi-onship since 1995, and theirfirst appearance in the play-offs since 2005.

Overton will compete inDistrict 10-1A, along withCumby, Detroit, Union Hilland Maud. Detroit seems tobe a popular pick to win thedistrict, Barton said, because

the Eagles won their districta year ago and bring back sixstarters on both sides of theball. Cumby could be a teamto watch: it returns nine de-fensive starters from a playoffteam last year.

Barton said keep an eye onMaud, whose Cardinals went6-4 last year but missed theplayoffs. Maud also has afirst-year coach (Matt Lang-ley), but experience back atquarterback.

OVERTON MUSTANGS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2012KILGORE NEWS HERALD ◆ PAGE 6B

Renewed leadership,enthusiasm at OvertonJosh Bartontakes reinsas AD/coach

Photos by J.M. JONES

A NEW ERA FORTHE GREEN AND

WHITE — OvertonHigh School’s football

program is now ledby coach Josh Barton

(below), a formerOHS assistant coach.

His goal is for theMustangs to competeimmediately, and he

looks to have the sen-ior leadership to doso in District 10-1A.The Mustangs open

the season Fridaynight at Winona.

Overton Mustangs ScheduleAug. 31 Winona Away 7:30

Sept. 7 Beckville Home 7:30

Sept. 14 Colmesneil Home 7:00

Sept. 21 Cayuga Away 7:30

Sept. 28 Shelbyville Home 7:30

Oct. 5 Carlisle* Away 7:30

Oct. 12 Cumby* Away 7:30

Oct. 26 Detroit* Home 7:30

Nov. 2 Maud* Away 7:30

Nov. 9 Union Hill* Home 7:30

* Denotes District game

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I arrived in Kilgore in2002, preparing for my firstfootball season here (I hadeight under my belt already).

My oldest child, Teresa,was a first grader that schoolyear. My son Jacob was two,and Ashtyn — well, Ashtynhadn’t been born yet.

It’s 10 years later and wow,how things have changed.Tee, now a junior at KilgoreHigh School, worked so hardand is now a member of theHi-Steppers. Jacob, a seventhgrader, is in pre-athletics thisyear and lives and breathessports. I told KHS assistant

coach LesLoper a cou-ple of weeksago that Ja-cob wouldp r o b a b l ysleep at thefield houseif they’d lethim.

A n dA s h t y n ?She’s our

“football baby,” and she’snow seven. Ashtyn was bornat the tail end of Kilgore’sstate championship run in2004. She was born Dec. 2,2004, a day before the Bull-dogs played La Marque inCollege Station, and went toher first game — the state ti-tle game between KHS andDallas Lincoln — just twoweeks later. Yes, it’s true: Jen-na and I did make the deci-sion to induce labor to makesure I got to that game. But itwas mainly Jenna’s decision,and I didn’t want to let thecommunity down.

Such is the life of a sportseditor in Texas. Football is afamily business for me, andthis time of year, it’s a way oflife for most of us.

A look around the areamakes me think we’re all go-ing to have a very excitingseason. Kilgore enters a newera, in a way, by playing aClass 3A schedule this season(and next). The Bulldogs lostquite a bit of talent to gradu-ation, but bring back a lot,too, and I don’t give predic-tions on records here (to tellyou the truth, I don’t reallydo that, anyway), but I dobelieve Kilgore has an excel-

lent shot of winning not onlya district championship, butsomething a lot bigger. TheBulldogs have the talent andthe coaching to play untilnearly Christmas. I hope I’mright and I look forward tothe ride.

Kilgore College begins theseason not as a favorite in theSWJCFC, but as an under-dog to teams like Blinn, Trin-ity Valley and Navarro. KCcoach J.J. Eckert has got tolove riding under the radar.His Rangers will pull offsome surprises this year —mark my words.

Then there’s the new, as instadiums and faces.

West Rusk gets to play atrue home and away sched-ule again, as the awesome-looking Bruce Bradshaw Sta-

dium is finished. The Raidershave made the Class 2A play-offs four straight years, and Idon’t see that coming to anend. I think this could beone of coach John Frazier’sbest teams in New London.

We’ll break in new turfhere at R.E. St. John Memo-rial Stadium after 10 seasonsof playing on the first“turfed” field. There were alot of great moments therefor both KHS and KC, in-cluding district, state andconference title runs forboth. But the new turf looksgreat; time for some new spe-cial moments.

New coaches will take thefield at both Sabine andOverton, a pair of programsthat are hoping these newestreboots will take them tohigh ground. I feel very goodabout Sabine under newcoach Mark Comfort, andJosh Barton seems to haveinfused a playoff-level enthu-siasm in O-Town.

Leverett’s Chapel plans tokeep up its winning ways.With their returning cast,LC may well secure that dis-trict title that has eludedthem since they reinstatedfootball about six years ago.

Hey, there’s excitementeverywhere, and why should-n’t there be? Football is back,and there are plenty of excit-ing storylines for all the pro-grams in our area. I hopeyou’ll come along with mefor the journey.

KICKOFF 2012 KILGORE NEWS HERALD ◆ PAGE 7BWEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2012

Family, football, and fun — another season beginsWHAT’S CAUSING ALL THIS? By MITCH LUCAS

LUCAS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThis section wouldn’t be possible without a lot of people,

namely the football players and coaches at Kilgore HighSchool, Kilgore College, Sabine High School, Leverett’sChapel, Overton High School and West Rusk High School.

Bill Woodall is the News Herald’s publisher, and JessicaWoodall is our co-publisher. The advertising department isLinda Ballard, Joe M. Jones and Gary Price, and the com-

posing department is Charlotte Smith, Quenna Olson andKaty Mirtz-Myers.

Joe Jones also helped with West Rusk and Overton pho-tography this year, and Rev. Edwin Findley did our Lev-erett’s Chapel story and photos. William Templeman, ourpressman, and Misty Watson and Tara Hamblen are ourpress crew. Thanks to all!


ANOTHER SEASON UPON US — My children(above): Teresa, Ashtyn and Jacob, are growingup, but football still plays a big part in theirlives. Right: Kilgore’s Benny Colbert, one rea-son of many that KHS fans are dreaming big.

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Mark Comfort may haveheard it all before.

Most Sabine High Schoolhead football coaches, andeven the coaches that ap-plied for the job during itsvacancies, probably have.The Cardinals haven’t madethe playoffs since 1985 (thesecond year of Ronald Rea-gan’s second administra-tion). They were winless lastseason, won just two gamesthe year before, and haven’twon more than five in a sea-son since 2002. They play ina district that includesperennial power Tatum, al-most-always-good White

Oak, resurgent Troup,speedy Jefferson, and sud-denly-good Harmony, whowon nine games last year.

There are plenty of reasonsfor Sabine fans to not bevery optimistic.

But there are some goodreasons to believe Sabinemight be able to soon turn acorner.

The biggest: Comfort,who was defensive coordina-tor at SHS last year, is famil-iar with most of the players,and has won everywhere he’sever been. Another: experi-ence. Sabine had only fiveseniors last year and bringsback 10 starters on each sideof the ball.

Comfort told the News

Herald this week that ifSabine isn’t better, it won’tbe due to a lack of hardwork from anyone.

“(The players) haveworked so hard in the offsea-son,” Comfort said, “andthey’re still working hard.Our coaches are workinghard, too.”

Quarterback Collin Gray,a junior, will be handed thekeys to what Comfort callsmore of a triple-optionwishbone-style offense,guided by offensive coordi-nator Stuart Proctor. Themotor in that offense willlikely be another junior, tal-ented Qwaylen Chumley,who had 700 rushing yardslast season.

Receivers include RandallRussell, Zakkary Leroy,Blake Thompson, AllenFaircloth, and a sophomore,O’Shean Jagot, who willprobably get some time inthe secondary on defense,most likely safety, Comfortnoted. Senior Jared Streeterand sophomore BrennanWatkins are also listed asQBs on the roster, and BlakeMcCann, Tyler Mustin, Bil-ly Barton and Caleb Edneyare all listed as halfbacks.

The offensive line mightbe Sabine’s biggest strength.Zach Parnell, a senior, isback, and is the center.Colton Brown (at rightguard) and Dillon Cook (atright tackle) are on one sideof Parnell and Aaron Mon-talvo, a senior left guard,and Brandon Florence, ajunior, are on the other.Cook, who was all-district atlinebacker, will also be backthere, as well.

Several upperclassmen will

contribute, including BetoMena, Jay Horan, DanielCooley, Jacob Whitworth,Tell DeFreece, and OliverTan.

Senior Alvaro Castillo willbe one of the Cardinals’tight ends.

Longtime assistant BoBarrow, now the defensivecoordinator, has to like thenumbers he’s seeing (at least35 players on the Sabine ros-ter, as of media day).

Other assistant coaches forSHS will be AndreWilliams, kicking coach R.J.Bacon, and Jay Roy Mount.Coaches at the middleschool are Jerry Griffith,Michael Mayfield, BrianWilliams and Bobby Keel-ing, and Samantha Kraus isthe school’s athletic trainer.

Sabine will begin its 2012season at home against OreCity this Friday night. Infact, Sabine is at home forfour of its five non-districtgames.

Against Ore City, the Car-dinals will see a familiar faceon the opposite sideline: for-mer White Oak coach TracyBlankenship now guides theRebels, where his brother,Jerry, once coached. OC isin its 50th football season,and they’ll hope it goes bet-ter than their 49th. Theyfinished 6-5 last year, endinga postseason drought thatdated back to 1995.

The Rebels have a weaponin all-everything quarter-back/running back/wide re-ceiver Keynon Whetstone, ajunior who had 2,106 yardsand 26 total touchdownslast year.

Sabine is also home nextFriday against Rains, a 3Aprogram that won only oncelast year. Sabine’s lone roadnon-district game is Sept. 14against Waskom, and thenthe Cardinals return hometo host Harleton (Sept. 21)

SABINE CARDINALS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2012KILGORE NEWS HERALD ◆ PAGE 8B


LOOKING TO TURN IT AROUND — Sabine’s 2012 varsity football team(above) will be coached by Mark Comfort, a longtime area defensive co-ordinator with a knack for winning. The Cardinals have quite a job to doto turn it around, but bring back 10 starters on each side of the football.

Time to right the shipSabine, Comfort hope to do a 180º turn


SENIOR LEADERS —Sabine brings back a

big cast of seniors(above), and they’ll

be counted on to getthe Cardinals a

winning season forthe first time since

2002. Sabine opensthe 2012 season athome Friday night

against Ore City.

See SABINE, Page1B

got sports?Call Mitch,

(903) 984-2593

Sabine Cardinals ScheduleAug. 31 Ore City Home 7:30

Sept. 7 Rains Home 7:30

Sept. 14 Waskom Away 7:30

Sept. 21 Harleton Home 7:30

Sept. 28 Tenaha (HC) Home 7:30

Oct. 12 Harmony* Away 7:30

Oct. 19 Jefferson* Away 7:30

Oct. 26 Tatum* Home 7:30

Nov. 2 White Oak* Away 7:30

Nov. 9 Troup* Home 7:30


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By REV. EDWIN FINDLEYSpecial to the News Herald

There is one main goal thatLeverett’s Chapel head coachMatt Everett wants to ac-complish this year.

“We want to win a districtchampionship,” Everett said.“That’s something we haven’tdone since I have been here.”

Everett’s Lions, who com-pete in District 15, DivisionOne in UIL six-man foot-ball, brought back their pro-gram in the middle part ofthe last decade, and Everett,who is 41-26 as a headcoach, has been the coachthere since the rebirth.They’ve made the playoffs inthree of those seasons, mostrecently losing to Abbott,78-30, in the first playoffgame last season. They went8-3 in 2011.

The Lions are picked towin their district title in thealways-popular Dave Camp-bell Texas Football Magazine.This year, they have the mostexperienced returning cast ofpersonnel of any team intheir district, bringing backseven starters from 2011. Sixof the seven starters werenamed all-district. Three ofthem received regionalawards and two were namedto the all-state team.

One of those is senior ClayWhite, who has scored 55touch downs. White carriedthe ball 129 times for 1,558yards and was 86-of-153 for1,207 yards. He totaledmore than2,700 yards inLC’s 11games. Hewas the mostvaluable playerof the district,first-team allregional and amember of theall state team.

“ C l a ylooked reallygood in earlyw o r k o u t s , ”Everett said,“We expectanother greatyear fromhim. We hopehe does evenbetter thanlast year.”

Junior J.R.Rodgers re-turns as theLions’ kicker.

“(J.R.) had one of the bestyears last year of any kickerin the state in the history ofsix-man football,” Everett as-sessed. “He only missed fourextra point kicks on the year(in six-man the kick after atouchdown actually countsas two points). He ended upbeing the third top scorer onthe team, and was 52-for-56on the year.”

Rodgers scored over 100points for the Lions. Defen-sively, he had 13 tackles and14 assists. Rodgers wasnamed to the all-districtteam, the all-region team andthe all-state team. “We aregoing to relay on J.R. forthose extra points this year,”Everett said.

Mark Overman, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound junior, had 14carries for 89 yards a touch-down in 2011. He caught

nine passes for 188 yards andscored five TDs. Defensive-ly, Overman had 46 tacklesand 30 assists, averagingabout seven tackles per game.

“Mark had a great offsea-son and great summer,”Everett said. “Mark is a phys-ical player, and is fast. Lastyear, he led the team fortackles for losses (16), and al-so played some receiver whenwe needed him to. Mark ishard to cover. We expect abig year out of him.”

Dylan Cooley, also a jun-

ior, was the backup quarterback last year and carried theball 42 times or 507 andscored seven touchdowns.Cooley led the team withtackles with 38 tackles and56 assists in his first year. Forthat work, he was namednewcomer of the year in thedistrict. He led the team intackles. “He was our besttwo-way player,” Everettsaid. “He never stops.”

Senior Matthew Morrisfinished up last season with44 tackles and 40 assists.“Matthew is our defensiveleader,” Everett said. “He isour heart and soul on de-fense. He is our vocal leader.He makes all our calls.

“From his freshman year tonow, he is light years differ-ent. He has grown so muchas a football player andyoung man. We are really

pleased to have players likehim.”

Senior center Jessie Harriscaught 19 passes for 204yards last year, and sevenTDs in the process. He wasnamed first-team all districtcenter, second-team all re-gional center. “He has been asolid player for us for threeyears,” Everett said. “He hasdone a great job for us. He isone of the most consistentplayers we have. With ourspread offense, a center is im-portant. His consistence to

snap the ball withaccuracy is veryimportant in ourspread offense.He does a reallygood job for us.”

Another junior,Felipe Amaro,saw time at quar-terback last year,and started ondefense. Amarohad 20 tacklesand 20 assists.He had to over-come a surgicalprocedure on hisknee, an injurysuffered in thefourth game oflast season. ““Fil-ipe is lookinggood now,”Everett said. “Be-fore he got hurt,he was leadingthe team in tack-

les. It is good to have himback at full speed.”

A sophomore coming backwith a year of starting experi-ence is Paco Chavez.

“He looking really good,”Everett said. “He has ma-tured a lot from his freshmanyear. He is catching the ballwell, moving a lot better, andis stronger. He has put on 10or 15 pounds. He is one ofthose smart players. Heknows what he has to do andhe does it. He will be a start-ing receiver for us.”

Freshman will play an im-portant part on the Lionsonce again this year. Thereare six freshmen, the mostthe Lions’ program has hadin many years.

“Just cause you’re a fresh-men doesn’t mean you willnot play,” Everett said. “Ihave always used freshman

and this year will be no dif-ferent. When you play as afreshman that is another yearunder your belt. Billy Hall,Brady George, Jesus Garcia,Keaton Vaughn, JordanStegman, and Colby Shaw— all of these guys will con-tribute this year to the pro-gram on the field one way or

the other, and some of theseguys will start for us.”

The Lions kick off the2012 season at home againstformer district rival Chester.LC pounced on Chester hardlast year, and the game endedby the mercy rule (with LCup by 45 points) in the thirdquarter. Chester has a new

coach, and Everett said it willbe a challenge for his team.

Next Friday, Sept. 7, theLions visit Karnack, and onSept. 14, they’re at DallasAcademy.

“They had a strong teamlast year,” Everett said, of

LEVERETT’S CHAPEL LIONS KILGORE NEWS HERALD ◆ PAGE 9BWEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2012

Lions on the prowl: LC aims for championship

Photos by REV. EDWIN FINDLEY

THE DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIP PHOTO? — Leverett’s Chapel coach Matt Everett (center, fourth from left on back row) certain-ly hopes so. The odds appear to be in LC’s favor, with players like Clay White (inset) returning, as well as (below) Mark Over-man (10), Felipe Amaro (18), Dylan Cooley (8), and J.R. Rodgers (7), and a schedule that allows the Lions to play five of theireight games at home. They open the season at home against Chester this Friday night.

Experience,good schedulework in LC’sfavor in 2012

See LC, Page 11B

Leverett’s Chapel LionsAug. 31 Chester Home 7:30

Sept. 7 Karnack Away 7:30

Sept. 14 Dallas Academy Away 7:30

Sept. 21 Marshall Christian Home 7:30

Sept. 28 Longview Trinity Home 7:30

Oct. 5 Tyler H.E.A.T. Home 7:30

Oct. 12 Bloomburg* Home 7:30

Oct. 19 Fruitvale* Away 7:30

Nov. 2 Fannindel* Home 7:30

Nov. 9 Campbell* Away 7:30


LEVERETT’S CHAPELTHE SCHOOL WHERE LIONS RULE!

Our Best to the Teams of 2012-2013

Leverett’s Chapel

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7180 SH 42 (Hwy. 42 & 1-20 Exit 587)Kilgore, Texas 75662 903-983-1421

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It’s been a long journey —and a lot of stadiums otherthan their own — for theWest Rusk High SchoolRaiders.

But in the end, it might allbe worth it.

West Rusk, who hasn’tplayed a true home gamesince two seasons ago, has anice new stadium and othernew facilities, thanks to acommunity-approved bondissue, and will debut that sta-dium this Friday nightagainst Harleton.

“We love it, of course,”head coach and athletic di-rector John Frazier said. “It’sreally nice, even more nicethan we thought, and it’ll bea great place to watch a foot-ball game. A lot of hard workwent into this, and we appre-ciate that, and the communi-ty support.”

(For more on Bruce Brad-shaw Stadium, see the sportssection today)

The upcoming season willbe coach Frazier’s sixth at theschool, and the Raiders,while not having had truehome games lately, have stillmaintained a good level ofsuccess. West Rusk has madethe Class 2A playoffs for fouryears running, even gettingin with a 4-6 regular seasonrecord last year. They lost toCorrigan-Camden in thefirst round.

Frazier has brought stabili-ty to a program that had lit-tle of it before he got there.West Rusk football had somegood times in the 1970s,didn’t make the playoffsthroughout the 1980s, andthen had a few good yearsunder former coach BillyDavis in the 1990s.

Since Frazier’s arrival,though, it’s been upward, in-cluding the program’s best-ever season in 2010, whenWR went three rounds deepinto the postseason and fin-ished with 12 wins.

The Raiders have a back-field duo — senior CayleBickham (5-foot-10, 155pounds) and junior GeorgeAnthony (5-10, 205) — thatare as dangerous a threat asany program has in their dis-trict, District 10-2A, divi-sion 2. Anthony was a1,000-yard rusher last year(he finished with 1,064 yardsand 12 scores) and Bickham,in his first year as a starter,completed 43-of-87 passesfor 785 yards, and ninetouchdowns. He also rushedfor 519 yards.

Bickham’s chief targets arelikely to be seniors Mar-qualin Grant (5-11, 145)and Dakota McCoy. Granthad 129 yards receiving lastyear and two touchdowns,

and McCoy is very versatile,and will also once again seetime at linebacker.

Linemen Gary Higgin-botham and Dustin Bell area pair of seniors the Raidersare expecting a lot from, Fra-zier said, and other offensivelinemen will include JaceForshee and a pair of fresh-men, Corey Brister and JoeWright.

“We have some talentthere, but we’re also inexperi-enced,” Frazier said, of hisoffensive line.

Higginbotham and Bellwill also see time at defensivetackle, and senior Tristan Ed-wards (6-4, 200) will be backto cause havoc at D-end. Ed-wards had 77 tackles andthree sacks in 2011.

One player to keep an eyeon, Frazier said, is TyriceRoss (6-4, 210), who did notplay last year. “He’s beenplaying basketball, and he’sgood at that, but he’s been apleasant surprise this sum-mer,” Frazier said.

Expect Ramon Martinezto contribute on the WR de-fense in the linebacker role,

WEST RUSK RAIDERS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2012KILGORE NEWS HERALD ◆ PAGE 10B

Photos by J.M. JONES

PLENTY OF REASONS TO SMILE — The West Rusk High School footballteam (above) poses for the 2012 team photo under its new scoreboard.The Raiders open the season hosting Harleton Friday night, their first

home game in over two years. Inset: coach John Frazier, who has guidedthe program to the postseason the last four years, and (below) the WRseniors get ready to take a ride in the “Frazier-Mobile.”

‘Home sweet home’ never meant more for WRNew stadium, but winning attitude remains

See WEST RUSK, Page 11B

West Rusk Raiders ScheduleAug. 31 Harleton Away 6:00

Sept. 7 Troup Home 6:00

Sept. 14 Big Sandy Away 6:30

Sept. 21 Harmony Home 6:30

Sept. 28 Union Grove* Away 6:30

Oct. 6(Sat.) Arp* Away 6:30

Oct. 12 Hawkins* Home 6:30

Oct. 19 Winona* Away 6:30

Oct. 26 Garrison* Home 6:30

Nov. 9 Frankston* Away 6:30


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pounder. Another defensivelineman to watch out for:Gladewater's very own L.D.Anthony, who weighs in at302 pounds and had 10tackles for loss last year.

After Gladewater, Kilgorefinishes the regular seasonwith Amen Corner: a three-game run against last year's3A state champ Chapel Hill(at Chapel Hill on Oct. 26),a home game against archri-val Henderson (two years re-moved from a state title oftheir own), and regular 3Apowerhouse Gilmer.

Chapel Hill is the defend-ing state champ and did it instyle, going 15-0 undercoach Thomas Sitton. TheBulldogs run a spread of-fense, and although they losta lot of talent, they had amove-in named AndrewBlack, a quarterback. If thatname sounds familiar to Kil-gore fans, it should: Black isthe younger brother of for-mer Jacksonville standoutRyan Black and Andrewhimself engineered a bit ofan upset over KHS at theTomato Bowl last year. He'snow at CHHS. One defen-sive standout back is line-backer Wesley Thompson,95 tackles last season.

Henderson comes for a lit-

tle visit on Nov. 2, and willbe looking for a new signal-caller following the gradua-tion of Del Barnes. CoachDickey Meeks brings backfive starters on offense andseven on defense from a Li-ons team that went to thefourth round of the 3A play-offs in 2011. They have somequestion marks, but one cer-tainty is receiver PatrickBrown, who had a big season

last year, recording 21 totaltouchdowns, 10 receiving.

The regular season finale isa big one, a trip to Gilmer onNov. 9. Kilgore and Gilmertraded wins a few seasonsago, with the Buckeyes com-ing here and losing, thenbeating Kilgore in a rematchthe following year. Gilmeragain looks loaded, and ifcoach Jeff Traylor can find aquarterback, they might be

as dangerous as ever. Offen-sively, they return only twostarters, though, which hasto be a concern. They went13-1 last season, and will tryto fill in those holes createdby graduation.

The defense brings backlinebacker Adam Witcher,who had 124 tackles lastyear, and safety Tanner Barr,a junior who had 10 inter-ceptions in 2011.

KICKOFF 2012 KILGORE NEWS HERALD ◆ PAGE 11BWEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2012

WEST RUSK Continued from Page 10B

LC Continued from Page 9B

OPPONENTS Continued from Page 5B SABINE Continued from Page 8B


GROUND AND POUND — Kilgore running backs (from left) Davieonta“JuJu” Brown (10), Cornelius “Spike” Bell (5) and Kevrin Justice (24) willdrive the Bulldogs’ running game this season, along with Austin Jordan.

DA. “They have good athletes, goodrunning backs.”

LC will likely be looking for a littlevengeance when they host MarshallChristian Sept. 21, one of LC’s threelosses last year. LC will host TrinitySchool of Texas (Longview) on Friday,Sept. 28 — TST is on a short week inthat game, and will have played the Sat-urday before against Karnack.

“Trinity had a strong team last year, aphysical team with a good running backand good size,” Everett said. “This gamewill be a contrast of size and strength.We do a little more of the spread of-fense, and they’re a pound-it-down-the-field team. It will be a good challengefor us. ...Our pre-district schedule isgood we will get some good work out of

it. We are looking forward to it.”LC hosts the Tyler H.E.A.T. (Home

Educated Athletic Team) on Friday,Oct. 5, and then the district schedulebegins at home on Friday, Oct. 12against Bloomburg. The Wildcats went0-10 last season, and are still seekingtheir first win in school history, havingnot won a game in two years. Last year,LC scratched the Wildcats for a 61-13victory in a mercy-rule-shortened con-test. Bloomburg is also LC’s homecom-ing game this season.

LC makes a trip to Fruitvale Oct. 19,then has a bye to close out the regularseason. Fruitvale went 5-5 a year ago.

“This is their first year in districtplay,” Everett noted. “They were an in-dependent last year.”

LC defeated Fruitvale, 55-39, lastyear. “We have had a tough game withthem for the last two years,” Everettsaid. “They beat us two years ago, andwe beat them last year. They have a newcoaching staff coming in; they are a bigschool (90 plus kids in the high school)and they’re going to have the athletes.”

As far as the championship quest,Everett said he likes his team’s chances.

“If we can come out and play thefootball that we are capable of playingand avoid injuries, we feel good aboutthe season,” he said. “If we can stayhealthy and play our style of football,we should come out on top. ...Ourcommunity is excited about this season.I am excited about this season, and weare ready to get started.”

as well as a host of players inthe secondary: Grant, EricHardy, and a move-in, TylerWilks. Tyler is a move-in andis the grandson, ironically, ofBruce Bradshaw, the stadi-um’s namesake.

West Rusk will have atough road this season in andout of the district. The sea-son opener, as mentioned, isFriday against Harleton, the

first true home game in twoseasons. A trip to Frazier’sformer program, Troup, is upnext weekend, and then ahome game with Big SandySept. 14.

West Rusk hosts Harmony,who was much improved lastyear, on Sept. 21, and thenopens the District 10-2Aschedule Sept. 28 at UnionGrove, who now is coached

by former Kilgore standoutand Kilgore College hall-of-famer Roger Adams.

West Rusk’s annualmatchup against rival Arp ison a big stage this year: thetwo programs will meet inLongview on Saturday, Oct.6. The Raiders then play atHawkins (Oct. 12), hostWinona (Oct. 19), visit Gar-rison (Oct. 26) and have a

late-season bye week (Nov.2) before finishing the regu-lar season Nov. 9 at homeagainst Frankston.

Hawkins went 1-9 a yearago, as did Winona. Garri-son might be a beast. TheBulldogs went 12-2 and tothe 1A semifinals in 2011,and bring some firepowerback. Frankston went 4-7 in2011.

and Tenaha (Sept. 28).The tough District 9-2A Division I road begins Oct. 12

(following Sabine’s Oct. 5 open date). Sabine’s first districtgame of the schedule is at Harmony, who returns six starterson each side of the ball and includes a fearsome duo on de-fense, Tim McCoy and Daven Murphee. McCoy had 169tackles last year — in the secondary. Another player to keepan eye on: big tight end Luke Askew, a 6-foot-6 target whohad 33 catches and seven touchdowns last year.

Sabine heads to Jefferson on Oct. 19, and will have to putup with JHS running back Deion Williams, who had over1,800 yards and 19 TDs in 2011. Tatum, who seems to beagain the district favorite in most East Texas football publi-cations, comes to Liberty City Oct. 26. The Eagles went 12-3 last year, all the way to the 2A semifinals before losing toHempstead.

Coach Andy Evans’ Tatum team has a sizable offensiveline that includes Keaton Blanton (6-2, 325) and DariusWhiting Jr. (6-0, 265). If there is good news, it’s that thisTatum team looks to be very inexperienced, with only threereturnees back on offense and on defense.

Sabine hits the road again to play archrival White Oak onNov. 2. The Roughnecks finished 5-5 last year and run aspread offense. Running back Hunter Owens, who had1,100 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2011, returns, as doesstrong safety Darion Barr, a senior.

The Cardinals’ regular-season finale will be at homeagainst Troup, now the coaching home of Dennis Alexan-der, formerly of Henderson and Harleton. Alexander, one ofTexas’ all-time winningest coaches, will try his hand at re-vamping a Troup team that was a power under longtimecoach Andy Griffin. Troup went 6-5 last year and runs a 3-4defense (four linebackers). The reasons for that: MichaelDavis, Jacob Beaty, Marcus Davis and Bradley Stewart, thefour Tigers’ LBs. A standout offensively is likely to be run-ning back Seth Gibson, who ran for 1,546 yards and scored14 TDs last year.

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PPRREESSEENNTTIINNGG TTHHEE 22001122 KKIILLGGOORREE HHIIGGHH SSCCHHOOOOLL RRAAGGIINN’’ RREEDD

AUSTIN JORDAN K. ABRON AARON FOY C. COLDIRON C. BELL D. BREWSTER NARCIO AMARO TAYLOR NIXON JEFFERY SANDERS D. BROWN J. SHEPHERD J. JOHNSTON JOSH BURTON JACOB DAILY

BENNY COLBERT RANDALL JORDAN HECTOR PERALEZ CHAD BORNES JACOBIE VIDAL AUSTIN LOPEZ KEVRIN JUSTICE TYLER TURLEY NICK ORANGE COLTON HICKS JAKE BRANTLEY ANDREW PINTER A.J. DAVIS NOLAN GRUSH

AUSTIN CLARK JAKE JORDAN CALEB THOMAS JOEL CHAVEZ RYAN REINERT CIRO CAZARES C. HERNANDEZ CARLTON FYFFE DAKOTA HILL BLAKE GUTHRIE

TYLER JONES JAROD WOOD DQ SCOTT STEVEN TIPTON ROCKY PORTILLO L. ANTHONY JOSH DANIELS CALEB WOOD ZACK VICK P. STEPHENSON JUAN ORHUIELA

JUSTIN MORROW KEVON PRICE GABRIEL GOUGH CLAY WILEY


Here is the 2012version of the KilgoreHigh School footballteam — a completeteam shot (left), andindividual picturesbelow, including thetrainers. See acomplete numericalroster, with heights,weights and classes,inside. The Bulldogsopen the season thisFriday at homeagainst Marshall.

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++ CMYK

kilgore news herald routine special section entry for tpa bnc

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