OZONA, TX-- The “Biggest Little Town in the World” has a lot of excitement heading into the 2018 season.
Head Coach Kyle Freeman enters his third year at Ozona with eight offensive starters and nine defensive starters returning from their playoff appearance last year. That group includes one of the better backfield duos in West Texas with quarterback Alec Lara and running back Sebastian Delacruz, both juniors.
Last year Lara had 1,814 total yards of offense with 18 touchdowns. Delacruz was just shy of the millennium mark at 992 total yards last year.
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Having that duo back means the Lions can continue to build in the right direction. “You’re allowed to start from where you finished last year, which is a good place to be,” as Freeman put it.
Freeman said he’s seen substantial growth from the duo during the offseason before their junior year.
“They were sophomores last year. So, you know, they were young and didn’t know what they were doing all the time early on,” Freeman said. “They grew up a lot last year. Now, they’re starting the year with a year of experience and they’re confident.”
Helping that duo be successful on the field is a sizable offensive line. Freeman is confident that group will do good things this season.
“If we can develop there, we can be very good,” Freeman said. “We’ve got good size there and more depth than we had last year.”
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At the Class 2A level, having a big offensive line typically gives you an advantage most teams struggle to overcome and Freeman knows it.
“It’s a great advantage,” Freeman said. “If you have a good offensive line and take care of things up front, you can do a lot of good things. That’s what we’re trying to develop right now.”
It’s been nearly six years since the Lions have won a playoff game. That 2012 season, when they won their last playoff game, started the Lion’s current six-year playoff streak.
Freeman admits the Lions are close to cementing their identity in his third year at the helm. The reason for that is the depth his team has, according to Freeman.
“We’ve got kids fighting for certain spots and there’s good competition there,” Freeman said. “It’s not a situation where one kid has it locked up at just about any position. We’ve got a lot of kids fighting for positions and that makes them all better.”
The Lions were slotted into District 3-2A Division I with Forsan, Hawley, Stamford and Winters in the UIL’s biennial realignment. Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine picked the Lions third in the five-team district.
While preseason predictions are best taken with a big grain of salt, Freeman and the Lions use it as motivation.
“This is my fifth year as a head coach. I think Dave Campbell’s has picked my team first once,” Freeman said. “Our first year here, when we won district, I think they had us picked second or third.”
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To help prepare for the tough challenge of dealing with the likes of state-ranked Stamford and Hawley, the Lions put together a tough preseason schedule.
The Lions face Sonora, Iraan and Reagan County to open up their season. Freeman feels that will help the Lions grow ahead of district play.
“We plan on making a nice, deep run in the playoffs,” Freeman said after saying their district will prep them for the playoffs. “We have a nice schedule to prepare us for that. The teams we play right off the bat are really good. Sonora is as good as it gets. We won’t face a better team in the playoffs. We start off with some good preparation there.”
Ozona will host the Broncos on Friday, Aug. 31, to kick off the 2018 campaign.
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