Bobcats Look to Start Metroplex District on the Right Foot Against Weatherford

SAN ANGELO, TX-- On Friday, the Central Bobcats will open up play in their highly anticipated new district, 3-6A.

The talk all offseason has been about how the Bobcats would stack up in the Metroplex. They get to find out with a road trip to Weatherford this Friday.

However, a lot has changed since February’s realignment.

Senior QB and Texas Tech commit Maverick McIvor was the focal point of this Central team. His season ended in the third quarter of their week 2 clash with Del Rio. Sophomore Malachi Brown has stepped up to right the Bobcat’s ship with a phenomenal performance in their 31-20 win over El Paso Pebble Hills last week.

“I thought he really stepped into himself and played a lot better,” Davis said of his sophomore QB. “You know, kinda what we knew we had in him, I think he showed it. A big part of the success was the way he played quarterback.”

Brown rushed for 218 yards and a pair of touchdowns while adding 130 yards and one touchdown passing in the win over the Spartans.

It was also thought that Central’s defense was going to be a place with a lot of room to grow through nondistrict play. Behind a solid pass rush and stellar secondary play, the Bobcat defense has stepped up to shoulder the load so far this year.

“I think they stepped up a bunch,” Davis praised of his defense. “They’re a young bunch and they play extremely hard. The coaches do a great job on that side of the ball, coach [Mark] Chester and his defensive staff. I think it’s just a testament to things that we knew were in the growth process would eventually come. We’re getting there. We’re not all the way there, but you’re seeing improvement each week.”

Now, starting district play on the right foot is “really important” to the Bobcats having success in this district, according to Central head coach Brent Davis.

“You don’t want to start off with a loss in district,” Central’s head coach added. “Then we’ve got Euless [Trinity] and Abilene right behind [Weatherford], which are probably two of the toughest teams in the district if you just look at records. They’re all important. They all matter. This is the one we’re concentrating on right now.”

Davis is mindful of Weatherford’s apparent turnaround under second-year head coach Billy Mathis. Last year, the Kangaroos went 0-10. This year, they’ve gone 2-2 through the first four weeks of the season.

“They’re well-coached. I know that,” Davis said. “They’re 2-2. They’ve played good in every game. They’ve been in all the games. Birdville got the best of ‘em a little bit, but they still were in the game until the end...I’m impressed. I think they’re going to make some noise in this district.”

The Kangaroos are much like the Bobcats, running a spread offense with typically one running back in the backfield.

Weatherford’s quarterback Ken Seals has stepped up for the Kangaroos in his first season after being deemed ineligible last year after transferring from Azle. Last week Seals was 22-of-29 passing for 191 yards and two touchdowns in Weatherford’s win over Fort Worth Southwest.

“They have a great quarterback. I mean an unbelievable quarterback,” Davis said. “This guy is big, tall and has a really strong arm. Puts it on the money. Receivers catch a ball extremely well.”

For defensive coordinator Mark Chester, the Bobcats need to get a good pass rush against Seals and lockdown play from the secondary to continue their success.

“He’s a very accurate thrower. He doesn’t need a very big window,” Chester said. “We need a big pass rush out of our defensive line to try to affect the quarterback and hopefully get sacks.”

Anthony Gonzales tallied three sacks in Central’s win last week. His performance was “huge” in Chester’s eyes.

“We weren’t quite sure he was going to do that,” Chester said. “I mean, he was all over the place. He had a huge night. That’s huge because, now, you don’t have to blitz to get pressure with a front four that can get off the football.”

Gonzales, Xy’Kerion Paulk and Daylon Green will look to continue their flying start by keeping pressure on Seals Friday night.

Central’s pass rush has been relentless throughout the season, mostly because of the frequent rotation in the trenches.

“We’re trying hard to stay fresh in the front,” Davis said at his Monday press conference. “That’s a big deal. I think that every football team at every level is trying to have fresh people on the defensive line. So, we have a little rotation to keep those guys as good as we can for the fourth quarter push and stuff like that. We feel like it gives us an advantage and it lets a lot of other people play.”

Defensively, Davis says Weatherford is “aggressive and they play fast.”

“They’ve shown three and four man fronts,” Davis said. “I think we’re going to see a little bit more three man just because of the offense we run. But they’re capable of doing both and they’ve shown both in all their games. They try to make it difficult. They have a good scheme and it’s complicated...It’s going to be a game of strategy probably more than anything else.”

That will mean another tough test for Central’s offense, who “have a lot of passing game on” for Brown.

“We’ve just gotta fine tune it to his skills,” Davis said. “We really have on as much as we’ve had on as far as scheme goes. We’ll call the game based on what we’re getting. What the defense does dictates whether we’re going to sprint out or pocket pass and the routes we’re going to run...Really we don’t have less on than usual.”

Davis felt his sophomore QB was efficient in the win over Pebble Hills, but he had minor timing issues with his receivers.

“We had a couple of drops,” Davis said “He was on the money most of the night. He had a couple of deep balls that were off fingertips. They were a little long, you know, but I think the timing will get better the more he plays with those guys. I thought it was a big bright spot [against Pebble Hills].”

Central and Weatherford are slated for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff on Friday, Sept. 28.