COLEMAN — After seeing their football team robbed of a would-be playoff berth by COVID-19 a year ago, the Coleman Bluecats entered 2021 determined to make up for lost time. And they were off to a pretty good start with a 2-0 record and convincing wins over Miles (24-0 in one quarter) and Anson (33-6). 

Unfortunately, an old nemesis has crept back into the picture. 

Slated to play at Brady (2-0) in what was to be Big Country Preps’ Game of the Week on Friday, the Bluecats received word on Wednesday that Brady had to cancel the varsity game due to COVID-19. Coleman scrambled to find a replacement game, but was unable to find an available team on short notice. They are, therefore, taking an unscheduled bye week, just as the program was seeing its momentum on a real upswing.

COLEMAN — If there was ever a Big Country football team that deserved to taste the postseason, it was the 2020 Coleman Bluecats.

Led by a group of seniors who had guided the program through a difficult rebuild, that squad had faced and overcome adversity and earned the opportunity to play in the playoffs with 6-3 record through its first nine games.

Unfortunately, that opportunity never came. Instead, the Bluecats became the only area team to have their season cut short by COVID, which forced them to forfeit their regular-season finale to Winters and watch Goldthwaite — a team they beat 28-7 — take their playoff berth with a win over De Leon. It was a heartbreaking end to what was otherwise a breakout campaign for Coleman and a gut punch for the seniors who had to see their careers end that way.

But if you’re into silver linings, one does exist. First, CHS returns 18 lettermen from that squad and has an outstanding sophomore class coming up, so that setback was likely only temporary. And second, that experience has provided the 2021 Bluecats with a unique motivating factor — and placed a Texas-sized chip on their shoulder.

COLEMAN — After an extended rebuilding period that saw them post a 9-22 record from 2017 to 2019, the Coleman Bluecats are back.

Coming off the program’s first winning season since 2016, coach John Elder’s squad is loaded with experienced talent and will be welcoming reinforcements from a 10-0 junior varsity squad.

And if that’s not reason enough for excitement about the upcoming season, the Bluecats will have an added bit of motivation driving them in 2021.

As the Big Country’s only team to have its season ended early by COVID-19 last fall, CHS had to watch district mate Goldthwaite take the spot it earned in the Class 2A Division I playoffs. So no team will be more hungry than the Bluecats to get back to the postseason this year.

Football is just around the corner, and we at BigCountryPreps.com are committed to bringing you the information you need to prepare for your favorite team’s season.

We’ll be releasing our Big Country Preps Preseason Football Preview, the most comprehensive look at the upcoming Big Country football season anywhere, on Saturday, Aug. 14. But you won’t have to wait until then to sate your gridiron appetite.

Leading up to the first day of fall football practice on Aug. 2, we’ll be spotlighting each 11-man team in the area and posing some of the key questions they’ll face in 2021 as part of our annual “Countdown to Two-a-Days” series.

Today, we stay in Class 2A Division I with the Coleman Bluecats. On Wednesday, we will take a look at the De Leon Bearcats, followed by the Goldthwaite Eagles on Thursday.