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20 Days 'Till Texas Football: Leopards of 13-3A feeling the Love
08/20/2009
Editor's Note: We start the 20-day countdown to the start of the Texas High School football season with our fourth-annual "20 Days 'Till Texas
Football," which will name, in our estimation, the toughest district, the breakout player, the top darkhorse and the preseason MVP for all five 11-man
classifications.
By Travis Stewart >> TexasFootball
Farmersville is listed somewhere on this page. So is Tatum. Both have won state championships in the past three years, and both are now unranked. So in the realm of darkhorses, our No. 1 must be pretty earth-shattering.
Let's just call it a super sophomore.
Little ole' Lucas Lovejoy gets the nod as our most-overlooked team in 3A football -- in just their second season of varsity play, the Leopards already look to be sporting the kinds of fangs reserved for playoff veterans. The obvious numbers are there: All 22 starters returning, 41 lettermen back (and just three lost) and nearly 20 kids who received some sort of all-district mention. But there's also some other elements at work that could propel Lovejoy to a district title.
Chief among those is 13-3A itself. Aside from Farmersville -- which you will read about shortly -- the competition is a bit diluted. Nevada Community strung together a solid 2008 (6-6 area finalists), but there's a new quarterback in town and just nine starters are back. The other three teams in the mix, Emory Rains, Princeton and Quinlan Ford all stumbled severely last season, and none of the three finished with more than two wins. Princeton returns the most experience (13 starters), but the strength of this six-team district still lies in the top two or three.
But there's also internal factors at work. Coach Jim Bob Puckett has done an excellent job of shaping this program from the very beginning, and he's now rewarded with a bevy of talented offensive linemen. Jeremy Russell and Drew Carson are both potential all-staters with the size for college football, and fellow rotation guys Armon Habibi, Tim Esfandiari, Patrick Thompson and Matt Berryman could all be bigger names on lesser talented teams. But you have to have the horses to run with, and RB Blake Martin (198-1,533, 12 TDs), '08's 13-3A Newcomer of the Year, can certainly offer that. QB Michael Means also put up solid numbers, and his 2-1 TD-to-INT ratio and solid completion percentage should both improve in his second year in the spread offense.
And lastly, the Leopards should have a bit more punch on defense -- LB Nate Krumrei, Lovejoy's best defensive player, is back from an injury that cost him the 2008 season. Returning tons of experience is one thing, but all the sudden adding more talent to a defense that struggled at times last season could make a huge difference. Within weeks of the opening kickoff, Lovejoy should show its true colors -- facing Sanger, Melissa, Frisco Liberty and Pottsboro in non-district play is a great way to open the season. If they can sail that ship, the Leopards could be cruising into the postseason with one loss or less.
Not bad for a program celebrating its second varsity birthday!
THE OTHER FIVE
In numerical order
| Team |
Noteworthy |
| Carrollton Ranchview |
Time for some elementary math. Back in 2008, Ranchview returned 15 total starters (8 on offense, 7 on defense) from an underwhelming 3-7 squad that managed just one district win. That veteran experience paid off in spades that season: a 7-4 record and a
playoff berth. The one postseason game, a 27-0 shutout loss to Alvarado, was ugly. But keep in mind that Alvarado topped eventual 4A semifinalist Waco Midway in Week 0 and lost to state champ Prosper in the second round of the postseason. You can only hang your head so much after losing to those boys. In any case, Ranchview once again returns 15 starters, and once again 8 are on offense and 7 are on defense. Another four game improvement like last year's would put the Wolves in a state final or semi! The only difference now is that, unlike last year, the skill positions are all open. QB Matt Haselroth, a converted free safety, takes over for Tyler Lynch. Dovian Ingram is filling in for Jared Jones. And Defensive MVP Justin Henderson? Off to Midwestern State. So can the Wolves continue their growth pattern? Or is 7-4 the plateau? Probably still second-best behind Dallas Madison, Ranchview should still be able to move into the second round -- especially if junior RB Xay Williams turns into a home run hitter and Jamari Akers' move to MLB from DE is smooth. |
| Farmersville |
The 2A DI champions in 2007, Farmersville took it on the chin in the '08 realignment -- back up to 3A, where it immediately became the smallest school in its district. With just two starters back on defense and the departure of both the coach and several superstars, that season was set up for struggles. But the Farmers made a game out of it, finishing 6-5 and playing a solid Kemp team pretty tight before
bowing out in the first round. But 2009 looks far more promising -- QB Austin Brooks (990 yards passing; 757 yards rushing) is entering his third year as a
starter, and his first two years of experience (one 2A championship season, one in 3A) are worth their weight in gold. C/NG Michael Thompson (6-4, 305
pounds) is a massive kid with standout athleticism; both he and OT Payton Adams will anchor a very talented and savvy offensive line. That should give
1,000-yard rusher Chase Wiggins (also an excellent CB) plenty of room to move. With 18 total starters back -- and a winning tradition ready to be
revitalized -- Farmersville looks like a safe bet to turn heads. |
| Fort Stockton |
So, Fort Stockton graduates one of the top backs in class 3A, Francisco Jaquez (1,948 yards in '07; 1,745 yards in '08) in the offseason, and we still give them cred? And then they lose their coach, Tom Howard? Well, sometimes you have to have a little faith. The Panthers were 7-4 in 2007. Then 9-2 in 2008. And then 6-5 last season. And every year they've lost standout players, too. What makes me feel the most confident is that 10 starters return on defense. In 2008, that side of the ball is ultimately what cost the Panthers games against San Angelo Lake View (42 points allowed), Seminole (twice, 48 in Week 3 and 62 in the first round) and Monahans (52) -- with all that experience back, I feel far more confident that Fort Stockton will be able to slow down the opposition. We'll know what kind of team we're looking at by mid-October: With early games against Midland Greenwood, San Angelo Lake View, Seminole and Monahans on the schedule, a winning record in non-district play could prove me right. A losing one like last year's could make a liar out of me yet. |
| Ingleside |
Buried way down in South Texas where it's commonly ignored by the rest of the state, Ingleside was similarly buried last season by the "three degrees of separation" theory. Comfortably dispatched by Rio Hondo in the first round, Ingleside then watched the 32-3A champ Bobcats easily ousted by Giddings, who was in turn trashed by Carthage, the eventual champs. So why could this season be different? Better question: Can Ingleside really wrangle the big East Texas teams? I don't know that answer. But I do know the Mustangs bring back 15 starters, including two first-team all-district running backs (31-3A Offensive POY Dale Fabacher and Raydell Perez) and a prolific quarterback in senior Brian Hull. But three other key guys on that offense are Allen Grove, Steven Flanigan and Matt Jones -- three first-team all-district offensive linemen that can control the clock and pace the offense. The toughest questions are still on defense; a lot of the playmakers there are still young, and that's what will ultimately make or break a team trying to get over the hump. But at the very least, Ingleside looks like a safe bet for the second round of the postseason -- pretty good for an unranked team. |
| Tatum |
Like Farmersville a few slots up, Tatum got swept under the rug pretty quickly after last year's disappointing 5-6 finish. It seems like just yesterday that the Eagles won back-to-back titles in '05 and '06 and battled for a third in '07, but, like Farmersville, '08 turned into a perfect storm of circumstance: inexperience and a move back up to 3A in a really tough district kept Andy Evans and the Eagles from becoming one of the few teams in state history to play for four straight state championships. But if there was ever a team that could bounce back, it's Tatum. The Eagles have produced an abundance of collegiate talent over the years (like Gilmer), and, like always, the I-formation running game has a onumber of backs to put on display. Chief among them is B.J. Allen (1,200 yards, 20 TDs), who some people have said is the equal of current UH standout Bryce Beall; still just a junior, Allen is already running sub 4.5 40s and his work ethic will surely help him improve. With senior Tyler Centers also ready to carry the load, expect a return to normalcy from one of Texas' most consistent contenders. |
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