RICEBIRDS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Welcome to another football season, one that will hopefully be packed with exciting games this upcoming season.
While both schools will be fighting for a playoff spot, El Campo and Louise will look a little different this upcoming season. The uniforms will look the same, but the two schools are under new leadership.
The Ricebirds are coached by Travis Reeve, who joined the ISD in March, taking over for Chad Worrell, who took another job out of the area. Reeve came to El Campo from New Caney and before that, he won a state championship leading Cuero in 2018.
The Hornets will be led
by Manny Freeland this year, taking over for Joe Bill who retired in January. Freeland was on staff in Louise last season as the offensive coordinator. Freeland’s roots are in Louise, getting his coaching start under David Lucio in the mid-2010s as his offensive coordinator.
Louise missed out on the playoffs in 2022, while El Campo made it to the second round before losing out to their postseason rivals, the Kilgore Bulldogs. Both schools had a strong summer during their offseason strength and conditioning. Louise for the first time had workouts twice a day, to catch all the athletes they could to get ready for the fall. El Campo had big numbers
show up for workouts early in the morning preparing for the football season. Along with workouts, El Campo and Louise played a lot of sevenon-seven to help learn some of their new offensive and defensive concepts.
El Campo and Louise will have to be road warriors this upcoming season with six games on the road. The similarities don’t stop there, both’s
regular season finales will be on the road each. For El Campo the last game could decide the district championship, battling Brazosport on Nov. 3. The Hornets game against Snook on the same date could determine a playoff seeding. This year of football should be interesting and make sure to keep reading the LeaderNews to stay informed about your favorite team.
Pictured on the front page (l-r) front row: Drake Resendez, Oliver Miles and Jake Samaripa. Back row: Mason Bystrek, Diego Gutierrez, Stephen Norman and Chase Starling. Special thanks to El Campo theater teacher David Otradovsky for use of the theater and help with the lighting to create the photo. Also special thanks to El Campo teacher Dwight Hudlin for helping with the staging to create the photo. Thanks to the senior class for coming to take the photo following a two-a-day practice out in the heat.
Expectations are always high for El Campo Ricebird football players with a district championship and a playoff run coming almost annually.
However, the 2023 season is a little bit different from years past. Expectations haven’t changed, but the pressure’s turned up more than just a few notches because the group of seniors leading the 2023 Ricebirds have been a part of the most dominant non-varsity run El Campo has likely ever seen.
Starting back in seventh-grade football as 12- and 13-year-olds, this group of Ricebirds went undefeated and kept that streak alive in eighth grade. As freshmen in high school, the group was still winning games and continued through the 2022 season.
In total, the group reeled off 36 straight regular season wins and went undefeated for four seasons.
El Campo came into the 2022 season riding high, state-ranked with lots of promise. Against the Cuero Gobblers, the Ricebirds couldn’t get anything going and were blown out at Ricebird Stadium. Cuero went on to go four rounds deep in the playoffs.
“Winning is fun. And we like to have fun on the football field,” senior center Cole Dewey said. “That loss against Cuero hit hard, I was sobbing.”
Dewey shared that at one point, he thought the group would have the same run as Trevor Lawrence, who now is the starting quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Lawrence went undefeated in high school and college, with his first loss coming in the NFL.
The loss to Cuero was a learning moment for a lot of the players.
“It made us realize that every other team is just as good as us, we just have to work harder,” senior linebacker Drake Resendez said.
Last season was tough after dropping the first two games of the year. However, the Ricebirds rebounded and finished with nine straight wins, a streak broken by a second-round playoff loss to Kilgore, a playoff foe of El Campo.
While they weren’t the senior ‘Birds in charge, last year’s losses still stung. Now, they’re back in charge just like back in seventh grade.
“I really think we can accomplish
By Joshua Reesesomething special,” senior offensive lineman Teagan Gallegos said. “We’re still going to face some adversity. Everybody is talking down on us, we’re not even ranked in the top 10 in 4A, but I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people.”
For the first time in recent history, the Ricebirds were not ranked in the preseason state poll.
During the streak, this group of Ricebirds faced their share of difficulties:
needing to come from behind in a few games, injuries and the hardest was learning two different systems.
When they entered middle school, they learned the Wayne Condra system. However, once they got to high school, Chad Worrell was hired and the group had to pick up a new style of play. To make things even tougher, now in their final year, they’re having to learn another system from Travis Reeve, who was hired in March 2023, after Worrell took another job out of the district.
“It’s been tough because we’ve had to learn three different offensive systems
For a final time, the 2017 El Campo ISD seventh-grade football team will play together this year as high school seniors. Pictured bottom row (l-r) Raymond Rodriguez, Gabe Ortiz, Cole Dewey, Dean Poenitzsch, Jake Samaripa and Drake Resendez. Top row: Diego Gutierrez, Alex Harper, Chase Macek, Stephen Norman, Davin Hicks and Chase Starling.
and three different defensive schemes and none of them were anything close to this one,” Resendez said.
Most of the seniors have been together since seventh grade with a few players tracing their bonds even farther, back to the pee-wee leagues.
“Not many teams have that chemistry like we do so it’s pretty neat,” Dewey said.
Not only do they lead in practice, but they’re close off the field which allows them to hold each other accountable and keep the mood and energy high.
“We can joke around with each other
and no one is getting angry or anything,” senior tight end Dean Poenitzsch said.
El Campo starting quarterback/defensive back Oliver Miles has been leading the team since pee-wee football in all but one season. Last year, Miles took over the starting job mid-way through the season after an injury to now-graduated Brock Rod. The group last year included Rueben Owens II, who is now graduated and playing football at Texas A&M. This year Miles will be back leading the team.
“We know we’re going to make plays (when we need to). We’ve been playing on the same team (for so long) I have
fun with them,” Miles said. “We’re good leaders during tougher moments and we have many guys that can step up.”
“Me and Oliver have good chemistry. If I break out on a post route he already knows to throw it on the line and I’ll grab it and go,” senior wide receiver/defensive back Jake Samaripa said.
While this group is a proven winner, it’s not because everyone is a five-star recruit, nor will all of them play college football, but they’re hard-working and show a lot of grit and determination.
“We’re just a normal group of guys, we’re nothing special. We just work good together,” Poenitzsch said.
“We just talked about it the other day. Talent only gets you only so far, there is no magical play,” El Campo head football coach Travis Reeve said. “It’s how hard you play and that’s determined by how much you care about each other. You play for each other ultimately. We want to play in such a way that we don’t want to let our teammates down because we care about them quite a bit. And this group cares about each other.”
With more than 50 members of A and B seventh-grade football year over year, that number has shrunk. However, while that number has gotten smaller, they’ve added players from St. Philips and different move-ins throughout the years and now are 18 strong heading into this season.
“I want to end the season strong, by going to state and getting a ring,” senior running back Stephen Norman said. “I think this year is going to be a good show to watch.”
“I want to end it having fun and with good memories,” Dewey said.
“I don’t want to leave any doubt,” Samaripa said. “I want to end it very strong and go farther than the second round.”
“I want to finish out this season and say that we gave it our all,” Miles said.
The Ricebirds will open the season against Cuero on the road, giving them an early chance to avenge their loss from 2022.
The senior class includes: Drake Resendez, Oliver Miles, Gabe Ortiz, Stephen Norman, Mason Bystrek, Dean Poenitzsch, La’darian Lewis, Alex Harper, Riley Riha, Chase Macek, Jake Samaripa, Austin Babcock, Chase Starling, Cole Dewey, Davin Hicks, Teagan Gallegos,
Are the El Campo Ricebirds going to throw the football this season? That’s a question fans have been asking a long time.
The answer from Ricebirds first-year head football Travis Reeve is yes. And if everything goes according to plan, the mix will be around 60 percent run and 40 percent pass. If that comes to fruition, it might as well be an air-raid attack in El Campo.
“We want to be balanced on offense. It starts with running the football, we’ve got to be able to run the football. But if our run game is where it should be, it should set up the
pass,” Reeve said. “We want to be able to take advantage of what people give us. Playcallwise, we’d like to be 60 percent run and 40 percent pass and our yardage to be even. But it will all be determined by what we can do. Some years we may be more heavy-run and some years we might be more balanced or more passheavy.”
With the transition from Ricebirds run, run, run playbook, Reeve said players are learning everything that goes into throwing the football. It’s not as simple as quarterbacks throwing to receivers.
“Your line has to know how to pass protect. Your receivers have to know how to run correct routes against differ-
ent coverages. Your quarterback has to know the reads and who to throw it to,” Reeve said. “There is a lot that goes into it and it takes a little time to learn that, but ultimately that’s our goal is to be a balanced offense.”
The Ricebirds passing offense was around 10 percent of their total offense last season. Had they hit 40 percent last year, the Ricebirds would have passed for around 1,500 yards, which would have been their most electric passing offense in more than a decade. Trey Krepec was the Ricebirds last 1,000-yard passer as he helped lead El Campo to a 9-1 record in 2010.
Reeve said, in terms of knowing his offense, the team is miles ahead of where they were from when he first got to El Campo in March.
Leading the Ricebirds at quarterback will be senior four-sport star Oliver Miles. The dual-threat quarterback took over for nowgraduated Brock Rod last season
after an injury. While he only threw the ball for 237 yards, he showed off his legs picking up 743 yards, averaging more yards a carry than now-graduated Rueben Owens II who received a full football scholarship at Texas A&M.
Following this season, Miles will play football and run track for Texas Tech. Backing up Miles will be sophomore Ridge Spenrath.
After losing Owens, it might seem like the Ricebirds will be taking a big step backward, however that’s not the case. As a backup to Owens the past two seasons, Stephen Norman, now a senior, racked up 1,110 yards while picking up more than seven yards a carry. Norman earned first-team all-district honors last season. Also picking up rushing yards this season will be senior Drake Resendez. Juniors Jakwuan Hudlin and Camdyn Phillips will also be in the mix. Resendez has 379 career rushing yards.
(See OFFENSE, Page 22)
After a couple of years of allout pressure, the defense will be switching to something a little more familiar underneath El Campo Ricebirds new head football coach Travis Reeve.
El Campo will be playing a style of defense that former Ricebird head coach Wayne Condra brought to the Ricebirds nearly a decade ago, however, Reeve will have a more updated look with some new tweaks.
Reeve actually played for Condra in high school in Victoria. Condra was the defensive coordinator for Reeve’s father, Mark Reeve, who was the head coach at the time.
“There are some differences between what they used to run (when Condra was here). There are some similarities, but there is a lot of differences too,” Reeve said.
Reeve’s last stop was New Caney, a 6A school, that played lights-out defense last season, giving up just under two touchdowns a game on average (13.1 points per game). His defense produced 20 takeaways last
8 Seconds
season as they ran through district play and finished the season 11-1. Their lone loss was to Tomball in the second round, but they still held them to 16 points.
The Ricebirds will be using a defense 4-2-5 this season trading in a linebacker for an extra defensive back. In the new passing era of football, the five defensive backfield is becoming more the norm.
El Campo will have a deep defensive line rotation with senior tackles Diego Gutierrez, Ray Rodriguez and Davin Hicks and juniors Camdyn Phillips and James Dorotik. Dorotik earned second-team all-district honors last season.
At the defensive end spot looking to put pressure on the quraterback will be senior Chase Macek and juniors Darrian Holmes, Ja’Kwuan Hudlin, Bryan Cisneros and sophomore Clay Stehling. Macek was used as a defensive tackle last season, however, the Ricebirds are opting to take advantage of his size and speed off the edge, which will create a lot of havoc with tackles trying to get their hands on him.
(See RETURNERS, Page 23)
El Campo senior defensive end Chase Macek jumps on the back of a La Grange running back to hold him up while two other Ricebirds fly to help finish o the tackle during the teams first scrimmage of the season.
The El Campo 2023 senior class, front row (l-r) Stephen Norman, La’Darian Lewis, Drake Resendez and Teagan Gallegos.
Second row (l-r) Gjabaree Allen, Jake Samaripa, Alex Harper, El Campo head football coach Travis Reeve, Gabe Ortiz, Cole Dewey and Chase Macek. Third row (l-r) Oliver Miles, Dean Poenitzsch, Davin Hicks, Mason Bystrek, Raymond Rodriguezm Diego Gutierrez, Chase Starling and Kayden Zajicek.
The 2023 El Campo coaching staff: Bottom row (l-r) Jonathan Bystrek, Clint Coles, Ryan Martin, Jonathan Blackman, Michael Barta, Gary Powell, Robert “Doc” Easter and Gabe Hamner.
Top row (l-r) Gary Figirova, Gabe Cavozas, PJ QUinters, Audie Jackson, Chris Kerzee, Jacob Garbs,Travis Reeve, Ramiro Jamie, Trent Popp, Matthew Sohrt, Jason WIlliams amd Jacob Hooker.
marching band row one (l-r) Jordan Fry, Carter Priesmeyer, Kaden White, Michaela Purnell, Dylan Johnson, Edith Del Agua, Abigail Cantu, Daniella Rodriguez, Trevor Smith, Nolan Poncik and William Labay. Row two: Iyanah Gonzales and Alma Rosales. Row three: Linda Martinez, Brenda Gonzalez, Ashton Corn, Shelby Krpec, Miles Sha er, Valoria Gonzales and Alyx Fisher. Row four: Selene Rodriguez, Isabella Dominguez, Estrella Brito, Miley Elizondo, Dolores Corona, Elizabeth Flota, Morgan Tupa, Sara Arriaga, Julianna Ontiveros-Torres, Jaedyn Phillips and Samantha Hurtado. Row five: Laura Reyna, Jennifer Hernandez, Analy Lopez, Joaquin Ratcli , Brynne Markwordt, Yasmin Rodriquez, Karen Rangel, Antonio Ramirez, Devora Loredo, Anahlysa Gonzales and Yesenia Gutierrez. Row six: Liliana Medrano, Katherine Nicks, Dillan Mancine, Delilah Casique,
Ruben Mejia, Jennesis Silbas, Yarelli Velazquez, Aaron Acevedo, Avery Corn, Aaliyah Williams and Delaney Kocian. Row seven: Jacqueline Martinez and Jayr Ruiz, Michelle Medrano, Andres Salazar, Antonio Flores, Eliska Shumbera, Julian Aguirre, Perla Verenise- Carreon, Angus Bolanos, JaDiah Clay and Sage Huerta. Row eight: Gloria Ontiveros, Trinity Jasso, Ray Hernandez, Robert Hopper, Oscar Piedra-Juarez, Alfredo Rojas III, Caleb Hudlin, Christian Lopez-Guido, Felix Garcia, Jose Sanchez and Baylie Lopez Row nine: Aubree Janik, Jasmine Sepeda, Richie Sha er, Chassity Clark, Mac’yia Warner and Yazmin Govea. Tenth row is Color Guard Captain Regina Barnes.
The El Campo Ricebird varsity cheerleaders: standing (lr) Jordyn Maldonado, Chesney English, Bethany Baker (Ricky Ricebird), Addison Tompkins and Codi Klatt. Bottom row (l-r) Allie Zalman, Holly Foegelle, Kinley Tomp-
kins (co-captain), Kaylynn Mendez, Emmy Lou Russell ( co-captain), Bailey York, Ally Sohrt and Angelena Solis. The Ricebird cheerleaders are coached by Terese Tompkins.
(Continued from Page 10)
Catching passes will be a mostly senior group led by La’Darian Lewis and Jake Samaripa. Juniors Petyon Perkins, Quincy Thornton, Stacy Norman and Braden Korenek will be part of the receiver core. Tight ends are seniors Mason Bystrek and Dean Poenitzsch.
Opening lanes in the run game and giving Miles extra seconds in the pocket will be a mostly new offensive line with senior center Cole Dewey the only re-
turner. At right guard are sophomore Angel Reyna and senior Teagan Gallegos; senior Oobrayveon Ball is playing left guard and seniors Kayden Zajicek and Diego Gutierrez are playing right tackle, junior Jack Dorotik is the left tackle.
Gutierrez is a returning all-state kicker, but Reeve felt they could get a lot more out of him this season outside of his special teams duties.
– Travis“He’s just too good an athlete just to kick,” Reeve said. “We want to play him and all of our guys in as many positions that can help us.”
Gutierrez has only kicked up until this year on varsity. As a kicker last season, he connected on a school-record 52-yard field goal. Over the past two seasons, he is 136 for 140 in extra points and perfect seven for seven on field goals.
“(On offense) we want to be able to take advantage of what people give us,”Reeve El Campo head football coach ANGEL REYNA Sophomore - Offensive Line RILEY RIHA Senior - Full Back/Linebacker WILL ROD Sophomore - Linebacker CHRIS RODRIGUEZ Junior - Defensive Back JAKE SAMARIPA Senior - Wide Receiver/Defensive Back, First-Team All-District DRAKE RESENDEZ Senior - Linebacker/Running Back, First-Team All-District
(Continued from Page 13)
“Our defensive line (is important) because we play aggressively,” Reeve said. “We expect them to make a lot of plays as well (everyone else). The key for us is for everyone to do their job and play with relentless effort. If we play with relentless effort, that’s going to make up for any mistakes we make, and we’re going to
make mistakes. But I think (the defense) is getting better every single day.”
The linebacker core returns senior Drake Resendez, but will include new faces this season in junior Riley Riha and sophomore Will Rod. Resendez picked off two passes last season. He is a returning firstteam all-district player.
“We play a lot of zone defense, but we like to mix it up,” Reeve said. “We like to mix up coverages, between base defensives and blitzing. The biggest change has been in the sec-
ondary. Last year they played a lot of man defense, this year it will be zone with man (coverages) so that’s been an adjustment.”
While the defensive line will be deep, the secondary will return the most experience with seniors Oliver Miles, La’Darian Lewis and Jake Samaripa. Lewis and Miles earned allstate honorable mentions for their play on defense last season. Between the two, they had 129 tackles and nine interceptions. Samaripa chipped two more interceptions and forced
a fumble. Samaripa earned first-team all-district honors.
“To play good defense you’ve got to be good you’ve got to be good in the secondary, because, if not, you’re going to give up big plays in a hurry. So we’re going to rely on them very heavily,” Reeve said.
Also getting snaps in the secondary will be juniors Quincy Thornton, Braden Korenek, Austin Babcook and Chris Rodriguez.
Punting duties were handled by Miles last season, who earned second-team all-district
More than 30 Derby Dolls make up the 2023 roster.
Pictured front row (l-r): Junior lieutenant MaKenze Trevino, junior lieutenant Natalie Canales, first lieutenant Juliana Vasquez, Captain Mindy Freeman, senior lieutenant Jolie Konarik, junior lieutenant Zoey Sabrsula and junior lieutenant Eliana Fonseca.
Second Row (l-r): Abigail
Zapata, Corresponding secretary Ce’Azmin Hood, Spirit president Jaliyah Anderson, president Ariana Metoyer, vice president Brooke Bacak, historian Chloe Zahn, recording secretary Yulisa Vazquez and Serenity Escochea. Third Row (l-r): Director Jenna
Zabodyn, manager Gabriella
Tijerina, Ariana Reyna, Baylee
Tarver, Madison Ho er, Abrianna Banda, Tayanna
Boston, Esmeralda Avalos, Allyssa Montes, Chelsi Lucio and manager Lesli Avalos.
Fourth Row (l-r): Lizet Soriano
Salas, Addison Mayfield, Katherine Nicks, Chloe Herzik, Rayann Cardenas, Leah Martinez, Megan Mamerow, Kaliyah Ramirez, Audrina
Acuna, Layni Rawlinson and Lilana Lopez. Not pictured are managers: Brisa Alonso Rubio, Isla Alonso Rubio and TaNiyah Levi.
The two-win Louise Hornets will be a thing of the past if new head coach Manny Freeland has his way this upcoming season.
Freeland’s first job out of college was as the Hornet offensive coordinator for David Lucio in the mid-2010s. When Lucio left for Tidehaven, Freeland became the head coach at Scared Heart-Halletsville then the offensive coordinator at Alief Taylor, a 6A school, before making his way back to Louise for the 2022 season.
Freeland succeeded longtime Hornet coach Joe Bill, who retired this January. Now the first-year Louise head football coach is trying to put his stamp on the program.
“It’s night and day from last year and that’s why I’m super proud of them,” Freeland said. “What you reap is what you sow and the leadership is buying in. There is not a lot of negativity and that’s the biggest thing that I’m proud of. I don’t hear the complaining, our kids are being positive and picking each other up. It’s not just towards the end, it’s all of practice.”
(See DEPTH, Page 31)
The Louise 2023 senior class is one their largest in recent memory with 10. Pictured front row (l-r) Joseph Suggs, Kyle Anderson, Ezepuiel Medina, Pete Galvan, Trey Drozd and Jayden Brown. Back row (l-r) Michael Parson, holden Watson, Louise head football coach Manny Freeland, Tayveon Kimble and Ben Blanco. The Hornets last year had three seniors to start the season. Of the
10 seniors eight started last season. All this year will play important roles on the team as they look to make a return to the playo s. Louise went 2-8 last season, and 1-5 in district play. Louise will also have a large class next season with nine juniors on the team.
Pictured is the Louise Hornet Marching Band: first row (l-r) Madilyn Kana and Julie Warzecha. Second Row: Adrianna Almaguer, Madilyn Kana, Sherri Webb, Ty’lerr Webb, Holley Trochta, Ezri Olvera, Matthew Sulak, Bayley Smithwick and Sanobia Webb. Third Row: Fatima Feregrino, Arleth Mendez, Cristal Medina, Francisca Vazquez, Xitlali Balderas and Allison Medellin. Fourth Row: Reagan Sanchez, Evan Jacinto, Julie Garcia, Jennifer
AUGUST 25 DANBURY (AWAY) 7:30 P.M.
SEPTEMBER 1 BLOOMINGTON (AWAY) 7:30 P.M.
SEPTEMBER 8 BRAZOS (HOME) 7:30 P.M.
SEPTEMBER 15 SACRED HEART (AWAY) 7:30 P.M.
SEPTEMBER 22 RUNGE (HOME) 7 P.M.
HOMECOMING
Rosas, Hazel Vasquez, Aeva Gaona, Brittany Aldana, Kirby Cortez and Allison Delgado. Fifth Row: Daniel Martinez, Aaron Rosado, Christian Ventura and Kyle Beeson. Sixth Row: Benjamin Medina, Javier Ventura,Andres Martinez, Jordan Aldana,Angelina Sparkman and Isaac Guevara. Seventh Row: Miguel Alvarez, Aedyn Gaona, Imanol Mendez, Kenadie Broman, Megan Trochta, Scooter Kight and David Delagarza. Eighth Row: Elijah Gonzales and Kobe Gussman.
OCTOBER 6 BUNTON (HOME) 7 P.M.
OCTOBER 13 FALLS CITY (AWAY) 7 P.M.
OCTOBER 20 YORKTOWN (HOME) 7 P.M.
SENIOR NIGHT
OCTOBER 27 (BYE WEEK)
NOVEMBER 3 SNOOK (AWAY) 7 P.M.
(Continued from Page 24)
The senior class in Louise is one of the larger in recent history, after three a year ago the Hornets have 10 this season.
Louise had several injuries which kept them from truly competing in District 14 last season. On offense, the Hornets in non-district averaged 18.75 points a game while playing tough competition. In district, after injuries suffered against Somerville, they only managed 6.75 points in their final four games.
Freeland is hoping that with added depth, returning experience and a simpler scheme, Louise can generate more touchdowns this upcoming year.
“We’re still going to run
our base eight plays,” Freeland said. “I’m a big believer in these plays, it’s four runs and four passes, but it’s just doing them out of different formations and us dictating more what we’re going to do against defenses.”
Leading the Hornets this season will be sophomore Conner Gonzalez. As a freshman Gonzalez showed flashes as a dual-threat quarterback, but his season ended early with an injury. Backing up Gonzalez is fellow sophomore Makendon Cash and freshman Dawnson Lott.
Protecting Gonzalez will be sophomore left tackle Noah Crane, left guard freshman
(Continued from Page 24)
George Florez, four-year starting center Pete Galvan, junior right tackle Preston Bodungen and senior right tackle Ezequiel Medina. Also on the offensive line this season is senior Joseph Suggs, sophomore Alex Farias and juniors Jetson Janik and Artemio Alvarez.
Louise has one of the better running backs in District 14 with senior Tayveon Kimble. While he will get a lot of carries, the Hornets want to use him all over the field. Fellow senior Ben Blanco will split time with Kimble. Blanco was beginning to break out last season, but his year was cut short after an injury.
Kimble will also figure into the Hornets’ plans at wide receiver along with three four-year starters in seniors Holden Watson, Kyle Anderson and Jayden Brown. Also catching passes will be juniors Caleb Taylor and Landon Trevino. Tight ends for Louise are sophomores Braden Wells and Chris Ochoa.
will be looking to crack the top four in district to make a return to the postseason.
sworth came up with a lot of big plays in his first year on varsity. Also making up the linebacker core is four-year starter Trey Drodz and Blanco. Junior Jerich Melchor will also see time.
Like the offense, the defense had its fair share of struggles following injuries after Somerville, allowing more than 50 points three times in their final four games. With a simpler scheme, Freeland is hoping it will allow the Hornets to play faster.
Kimble played in the secondary last year, but he’s moving to defensive end this season. Freeland hopes his speed and strength off the edge will be a gamechanger for Louise.
“We want to try and dictate what you do (on offense with our defense),” Freeland said. “His ability to pass rush will truly help us.”
Along with Kimble, Suggs, Wells, Bodungen, Crane, Medina and Galvan will be on the defensive line.
Hornet junior linebacker Lake Wad-
Louise’s most experienced position is the secondary, filled with four-year starters in Brown, Anderson and Watson. Also getting playing time will be Taylor, Trevino and the Hornets will also use Gonzalez on occasion.
“I truly believe you got to have 11 dawgs out there and ready to go to war with you on every down and if you can’t go, don’t feel bad, we’ve got depth this year. Get the next guy and let him go for a couple of plays, get some water and let’s go back out,” Freeland said.
On special teams the Hornets lost a big weapon in now graduated kicker and punter Roy Arrambide, who’ll be playing football with Coe College in Iowa. With him leaving, Gonzalez will handle punting duties and the Hornets are unsure who’ll be the kicker this season. Freeland said Anderson would be their kicker if they needed to play a real game during the preseason.
“We want to try and dictate what you do on (offense with our defense),”
– Manny Freeland
