OUT & ABOUT

Kilgore's Jermaine Roney (3) tries to get free from Palestine's special teams on a kickoff return last season. Roney is among the talent returning for the Bulldogs, who did lose a lot of starters to graduation. (File Photo)

Friday Night Lights return to the Kilgore area

BY MITCH LUCAS mlucas@kilgorenewsherald.com

Anew chapter for Kilgore High School football is probably the biggest headline as the 2021 football season starts, but there’s plenty of storylines that abound with kickoff at the end of the month.

Clint Fuller takes the reins of the Bulldogs’ football program, after the coaching retirement of Mike Wood, who remained with Kilgore ISD as athletic director. Fuller, whose father Phil coached at Kilgore College during several seasons in the 1980s, returns to his old stomping grounds older and wiser, after serving as an assistant coach for many successful programs, including as defensive coordinator for perennial state title contender Pleasant Grove.

Fuller, who brings a tremendous amount of energy to the job, didn’t have to find many assistants. Most all of the assistant coaches and teachers who have helped make the Ragin’ Red successful under Wood elected to remain on. But there will have to be a new collection of young talent to step up, if the Bulldogs are going to make the playoffs for a somewhat-staggering 26th time of the last 28 years.

Kilgore lost a lot of talent to graduation: record-setting quarterback Dalton McElyea, record-setting running back Tray Epps, dependable receiver Cade Pippen, just about the entire offensive line, members of the defensive front like linebackers Eli Caruthers and Brian Brown, linemen like Kaden Kenney and Brantley Propes, and all-everything defensive back/wide receiver/ return specialist Donovan Adkins.

But the Bulldogs almost always have an excellent re-stock in their junior varsity, and should this time, hopefully helping that loss of talent along the offensive line. Quarterback Da’Marion VanZandt got some playing time last year, and has the size — and the arm — to allow the Bulldogs’ passing game to keep growing.

Then there’s returning standouts like Jermaine Roney and Matthew Tyeskie, receivers who are poisonous to defenses if they

have any room to run whatsoever, and up-and-coming talents like Matthew Hardy out of the backfield. Kilgore always seems to find a running back, the saying goes, and Hardy just might be the next special back in the line of phenomenal runners like Ja’Mar Toombs, Keith Gilliam, LaDarius Anthony, Frank Reddic, JaQuorius Smith, Epps and so many more.

Defensively, players like Davin Rider at safety, Chris Ervin at linebacker, and Alex Chavez up front on the line will keep opponents in check and give Fuller’s Bulldogs a lift. Another name to remember: linebacker P.J. Wiley.

Kicker Chris Baldazo, incredibly, was the only returning Kilgore player to make the East Texas (preseason) Dream Team.

Kilgore opens the season — and the Clint Fuller Era — at home on August 27 against Nacogdoches. The ‘Dogs head to Hallsville the following Friday, on Sept. 3, and then welcome Pine Tree for homecoming here at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium on Sept. 10.

A trip to Gladewater is set for Sept. 17, and then former district rival Palestine rounds out the non-district schedule here at R.E. St. John on Sept. 24.

The Ragin’ Red is off on Oct. 1, and then opens Class 4A’s Division I, District 9 play at Mabank on Oct. 8. KHS hosts Chapel Hill Oct. 15, and visits longtime rival Henderson on Oct. 22.

The Bulldogs round out the regular season with a home game against Athens on Oct. 29, and a trip to Lindale Nov. 5.

Kilgore College: If it seems like coach Willie Gooden and the Rangers just finished a football season two months ago, it’s because they did.

The NJCAA — the governing body of junior college sports in the U.S. — elected to postpone its 2020 season from fall, 2020 to spring, 2021. And as usual, KC, the winningest junior college in the state of Texas, was right in the thick of the national championship hunt, reaching as high as second in the nation before finally finishing up sixth overall with a 7-1 record.

Gooden will be in his third season as head coach this fall, and is energized for the run. KC was picked second by both the media and the Southwest Junior College Football Conference’s coaches in the recent polls at media day, but has won the conference’s regular season title two of the last three seasons.

Among the players returning for the ’21 season: quarterbacks Clifton McDowell and Malcolm Mays, defensive back Tristan Driggers, a deep roster of talent at wide receiver that includes Anthony Isom, Zeek Freeman, former KHS standout Davondrick Crowe, and Naz Floyd, linebackers Jayce Bludau and Keith Harris, and running back Kenneith Lacy, another former Kilgore standout.

KC’s all-time record is 531-299-10, and the program has had seven straight winning seasons.

They’ll open this fall on Saturday, Sept. 4 at Tyler Junior College at Rose Stadium, and then host back-to-back home games against Blinn (Sept. 11) and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (NEO, on Sept. 18).

They make the trek to Roswell, New Mexico on Sept. 25 to take on New Mexico Military, host Navarro on Oct. 2, and then shoot for revenge against Cisco — at Cisco — on Oct. 9.

There’s an open date on Oct. 16, and then a big nonconference game. Snow College (Utah), who made it to the national championship game in the spring for the “2020” season, will visit KC at R.E. St. John on Oct. 23. Trinity Valley comes to town for the annual hall of fame game on Oct. 30 (where this year’s class will be inducted and recognized at halftime), and then the Rangers finish up with that second game against TJC, this one here at R.E. St. John, on Nov. 6.

As usual, the top four teams in the SWJCFC will have a miniplayoff, with the team with the best record hosting the fourth-best team, and the team with the second-best record hosting the thirdplace team.

This year, the NJCAA shook things up a bit, implementing a playoff system of its own, very similar to the one in major college football. The top four teams will face off in that same format — one hosting four, two hosting three — and then two will meet in Little Rock, Arkansas for the NJCAA national championship in a game that will be televised nationally on the CBS Sports Network.

High school football: The other high school programs in the Kilgore News Herald’s coverage area — Sabine, West Rusk, Overton and Leverett’s Chapel — are all poised to be better, as well.

Sabine, again under the strong-leadership hand of coach Rex Sharp, looks to recapture the magic of two seasons ago, as the Cardinals will try to forget a tough 2020. But, as always, they’ll have to do it under the gun: the Cardinals have once again one of the most difficult schedules in East Texas, at least based on last season’s final results.

Kilgore High School football has new leadership this fall: coach Clint Fuller. Fuller takes over a proud Kilgore program that has made the playoffs in 25 of its last 27 seasons, and was two wins away from a state title game appearance last year. (Courtesy of Mitch Lucas)