Prior to the season starting, much of the attention garnered by Coahoma came through its offense, with veteran quarterback Boyd Cox expected to put up some of the best numbers in the area.
As it has turned out, Cox is gone for the season with an injury suffered in a season opener with Forsan. But the Bulldogs have found compensation with a defense that has been nothing short of spectacular.
Coahoma enters this week at 4-0, having topped Forsan (60-8), Roscoe (14-3), Kermit (51-0) and perennial power Albany (15-12).
CHS’ latest effort saw the Bulldogs limit Albany to only 163 total yards. And I’ve got news for you: anytime you do that to Albany on its homefield, you’re playing some serious defense.
“We made conscious effort in the offseason to change our defense to a different scheme,” said coach Chris Joslin, who has made the switch to a 4-2 base set. “I told them that tonight we’d have to lean on you guys.
“You guys have leaned on the offense for the last three years, but tonight you’ve got to go out and play the way you did in the previous week.”
A GORDON WIN? SURE, BUT BY 33 POINTS?
The fact that six-man DI state champion Gordon defeated Thorndale last week in a rare step up to the 11-man ranks didn’t stun me. In fact, I had a hard time picking the winner beforehand.
But for the Longhorns to put a 54-21 whipping on THS absolutely floored me.
Thorndale is a solid Class 2A DI team expected to fight for a playoff spot in District 14 with San Saba, Mason and Johnson City among others. And to have Gordon jump two divisions with little 11-man experience and absolutely crush them was stunning.
“To be honest with you, I really didn’t think we’d win,” Gordon coach Mike Reed said. “I thought we had bitten off more than we could chew. Because we’re playing 23 kids and we’re moving up two divisions. (Thorndale) is a big 2A, in fact, they’re going 3A in the next realignment.”
If that doesn’t give one a new level of respect for six-man football, what will?
LOBOES FINDING A WAY TO WIN
After opening the season with a 33-13 loss at Clyde, the Cisco Loboes put most area football fans on “wait and see” mode. And frankly, it didn’t look good.
Three weeks later, Clyde (3-1) is looking like a solid pick for the Class 3A Division I playoffs and Cisco (3-1) hasn’t lost since. In the meantime, the Loboes are finding ways to win close games when put to the test — an early sign of grit that coaches want to see.
Since falling to Clyde, Cisco has beaten 3A San Angelo TLCA (39-6), 3A Breckenridge (18-14) and 2A Coleman (23-14) in succession and is beginning to look like the team many projected to fight for a playoff seed. And in a league featuring the likes of Stamford, Hawley and an unbeaten Anson team, that’s significant.
“I think we have a lot of potential, but we’re a young team and we’re making young team mistakes,” Cisco coach Kevin Stennett said. “But once we get all of that cleaned up, I think we’ll be OK.
“But what they have going for them is effort and a drive to win. And right now, they’re finding ways to win games.”
For a young team, that’s huge. Stay tuned.
SANTO’S 19-14 WIN AT RIO VISTA WAS JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED
Entering Friday’s game at Rio Vista at 3-0, the Santo Wildcats had yet to face any real adversity in the non-district portion of their schedule.
Having posted wins over Electra (30-6), Valley View (48-0) and Bruceville-Eddy (53-13), the Wildcats were starving for a four-quarter test to get them ready for district play.
It arrived in a 19-14 win at Rio Vista, a 3-0 team which gave the Wildcats their first real scare for 2025.
Leading 19-7 in the second half, Santo nearly put the game away with a 24-play drive to burn up the entire third quarter. But a pair of delay of game penalties halted what would have been a game-clinching score. Rio Vista rallied with a late touchdown, cutting the gap to 19-14 and forcing Santo to hunker down and hold on to its late lead.
It was precisely what they needed prior to district play.
“To hold them to what was about 170 yards in offense and to execute our plan of controlling the clock and running right at them (was big),”coach Escobar said. “But what I was most excited about is that the pressure got built up and we made some mistakes. But we came out of it and I’m excited to be 4-0.
“It was as opportunity to learn and grow. We needed to get hit in the mouth. We needed some adversity. We needed to get tested. And all of those boxes got checked on Friday.”
IS COMANCHE TURNING A CORNER?
It’s difficult to say if Comanche has turned a corner just yet, but have you noticed that the Indians are getting better each week?
Huge losses to 3-1 Caddo Mills (54-24) and 3-1 Llano (62-23) have been since followed by victories over winless Eastland (42-14) and 2-2 Tolar (36-33).
Commanche’s latest exploit saw them enter as an underdog with Tolar and battle through a tough evening to pull off the upset — something they weren’t capable of a month ago.
“Our kids are always going to perform better than what people think,” coach Jake Escobar said. “Our kids just never quit. They surprised a lot of people. Not us. Not the coaches, because we know how hard they work and how long they’ve been working since January.
“From the outside looking in, everybody thinks we’ll be down. But our kids find a way. I’m not saying we’ll go unbeaten in district, but our kids always give us a chance.”