SAN ANGELO— The first half of the High School Football season is nearly over, and teams in the Concho Valley will be looking to dominate district play to hit the playoffs running. This small 2A district is as wide open as it has ever been.
2A-2 District 5 sits in the Concho Valley, Permian Basin, and Trans-Pecos regions all in West Texas. It features six schools, and the four playoff spots are in play for pretty much every one of them.
OVERALL
- Wink Wildcats: 4-1
- Sterling City Eagles: 3-1
- Eldorado Eagles: 3-1
- Iraan Braves: 3-2
- Water Valley Wildcats: 1-3
- McCamey Badgers: 1-3
Wink had to rebound after graduating a very good combo at quarterback and wide receiver in Kanon Gibson and Jordan Tally. Those two combined for 2,608 yards and 278 points last season. Every head coach would find themselves in the same situation, trying to find replacements for Gibson and Tally. What Wink did was find three players, a senior, junior, and a freshman, who can run the ball. Senior Jeremiah Gallardo and freshman Kemyd Faciane have 418 and 626, respectively, and 17 scores between the two. The junior, Hudson Morgan, adds 373 yards and three touchdowns. The Wildcats have beat Reagan County in overtime and beat Ozona by 12. Then, Wink lost by one to Alpine, then beat Sundown and Lamesa.
Gallardo stepped in at quarterback and has completed nearly 50% of his throws for 344 yards, four touchdowns to only one interception. His go-to guy, senior Zachary Yactayo, is pretty explosive, with 22.3 yards per reception, 201 receiving yards, and two scores.
On the defense, senior Creed Frerich, junior Dylan Soltero, and Morgan are tackling machines, with Frerich taking down the quarterback four times. Gallardo, Morgan, and Ethan Cahill each have one interception.
About 40 minutes north on US 87, the Sterling City Eagles are silently sitting at 3-1. The only game they’ve dropped is to the Roscoe Plowboys. They also countered a revenge game against the Miles Bulldogs, slowing the Dog’s offense and winning 36-32. The Eagles’ stats are incomplete in Maxpreps.
Regardless of stats, the Eagles have a good run game with electric playmaker Johnny Monreal and Canyon McCabe. Sterling City returned their quarterback from last season, Ty Turner. In the two games of stats available, junior Seth Turner has 207 yards and two touchdowns.
For the defense, River Kinsey, Cameron Alexander, Slate Clark, and Daniel Velez have seven sacks between them, and McCabe has the only interceptions. Remember, these stats are only from two games.
The Eldorado Eagles are also 3-1 in head coach Chad Tutle’s second year. After making the playoffs in Tutle’s first year, the Eagles are looking to win a playoff game, which with the district being as wide open as it is, the chances of that happening are extremely good. Of course, the Eagles are playing good football, especially on the defensive side.
The Eagles’ defense is led by senior linebacker Tony Kmeic, who has nine more tackles, 40, than the next closest defender, and seven tackles for loss, three more than the next closest. Kmeic also has three sacks, a fumble recovery, and a forced fumble. Senior Marcos Morin is the guy on the backend with three interceptions and comes up to make plays as he also has 31 tackles, good for second on the team. Other than those two, Zane White, Aizik Soto, Omar Barajas, Michael Adame, and Eleazar Hernandez are other defenders to keep an eye on.
Barajas is also the quarterback for the Eagles, throwing for 464 yards, six touchdowns, and four interceptions. Senior Ethan Elias makes a big play every time he touches the ball, as he has 16 receptions for 328 yards, 20.5 yards per catch, and four touchdowns. Hernandez and Jason Covarrubias are the main backs and have 362 yards and six touchdowns combined.
Eldorado keeps it close as they’ve scored 24.8 points a game and given up 19.3 points a game.
Iraan is a much-improved team from last season, and being way out in the middle of nowhere like they are, the Braves do not get much attention. With that being said, the Iraan Braves are a much-improved team from last season. It deserves to be said twice, and do not underestimate them.
Quarterback Cole Bowman is completing 71% of his passes for 837 yards, 13 touchdowns, and two interceptions. Junior running back Tristan Griffin has 71 rushes for 635 yards and four touchdowns, and Bowman has added 127 yards to the Braves’ total of 1,032 yards. Bowman has three good receivers to throw to in senior Angel Zapata and juniors Cooper Bowman and Christopher Quintero. Those three have 576 yards combined and nine scores.
On defense, the Braves make plays in the backfield and get after the quarterback. In total, Iraan has 35 tackles for loss and 14 sacks, thanks in large part to Cade Cravens and freshman Daniel Reyes, who have half of those 14. Not only can they get after the signal caller, but they can make him make mistakes as the Braves have snagged 11 interceptions. Their number one receiver, Zapata, has five of those. Iraan also has nine forced fumbles and eight fumble recoveries.
After looking at the stats for Iraan, it’s easy to see why they have scored 151 points and given up 54 on the season. Let’s say it again, the Iraan Braves are much improved from last season, and do not underestimate them.
The Water Valley Wildcats have had a rough time over the last two seasons. Their head coach from last year was diagnosed with cancer and missed the season. Coach Boles is, thankfully, doing better now. Then, this season, a student was killed while he was riding a motorized bike and struck by a vehicle.
The Wildcats have handled things well, and while they do not have stats in Maxpreps, they have scored about 30 points a game and given up just over 20 points a game. The Wildcats have dropped two games this season against 4-1 teams, the Hamlin Pied Pipers and the Miles Bulldogs.
The McCamey Badgers also look like a different team from last season. At this point last year, the Badgers were 3-1 and are 1-3 this season. The year started off rough with losses to Crane and Reagan County, where they gave up 107 points. Both the Golden Cranes and Owls are much better this season.
The McCamey quarterback, Grant Glidewell, has completed 61% of his passes for 760 yards, eight touchdowns to only one interception. The running game has had trouble as Glidewell leads the team in rushing yards with 277. The aerial attack has been there, and junior Edgar Quinonez is the guy with 490 yards and five scores.
Quinonez is also the tackle leader for the Badgers with 32. Desamus Villanueva and Noe Hernandez had 22 and 19 tackles, respectively, and they each had five tackles for loss. They also have three sacks combined, and youngsters Donovin Young, a sophomore, and freshman Landon Smith both have one each. Greggory Hodges has snagged the only interception for the Badgers.
District Leaders
Passing Yards
- Cole Bowman- Iraan Braves- 837
- Grant Glidewell- McCamey Badgers- 760
- Omar Barajas- Eldorado Eagles- 465
- Jeremiah Gallardo- Wink Wildcats- 344
- Ty Turner- Sterling City Eagles- 179
Rushing Yards
- Tristan Griffin- Iraan Braves- 635
- Keymd Faciane- Wink Wildcats- 626
- Jeremiah Gallardo- Wink Wildcats- 418
- Hudson Morgan- Wink Wildcats- 373
- Grant Glidewell- McCamey Badgers- 277
Receiving Yards
- Edgar Quinonez- McCamey Badgers- 490
- Ethan Elias- Eldorado Eagles- 328
- Angel Zapata- Iraan Braves- 220
- Cooper Bowman- Iraan Braves- 202
- Zachary Yactayo- Wink Wildcats- 201
Total Yards
- Grant Glidewell- McCamey Badgers- 1037
- Cole Bowman- Iraan Braves- 964
- Jeremiah Gallardo- Wink Wildcats- 762
- Tristan Griffin- Iraan Braves- 658
- Keymd Faciane- Wink Wildcats- 626
Scoring
- Jeremiah Gallardo- Wink Wildcats- 68 points
- Keymd Faciane- Wink Wildcats- 38 points
- Eleazar Hernandez- Eldorado Eagles- 36 points
- Angel Zapata- Iraan Braves- 36 points
- Hudson Morgan- Wink Wildcats- 34 points
Tackles
- Matthew Willock- Iraan Braves- 65
- Hudson Morgan- Wink Wildcats- 59
- Creed Frerich- Wink Wildcats- 55
- Dylan Soltero- Wink Wildcats- 47
- Tony Kmeic- Eldorado Eagles- 40
Sacks
- Seth Turner- Sterling City Eagles- 4
- Cade Cravens- Iraan Braves- 4
- Creed Frerich- Wink Wildcats- 4
- Tony Kmeic- Eldorado Eagles- 3
- Daniel Reyes- Iraan Braves- 3
Interceptions
- Angel Zapata- Iraan Braves- 5
- Marcos Morin- Eldorado Eagles- 3
- Cristian Buitron- Iraan Braves- 2
- Canyon McCabe- Sterling City Eagles-1
- Greggory Hodges- McCamey Badgers- 1
- Kaden Smith, Alex Reyes, Daniel Reyes, Matthew Willock- Iraan Braves- 1
- Ethan Cahill, Jeremiah Gallardo, Hudson Morgan- Wink Wildcats- 1
Next Game
- Wink Wildcats @ Eldorado Eagles- 9/29
- Water Valley Wildcats @ Sterling City Eagles -9/29
- Lamesa Tornados @ McCamey Badgers- 9/29
- Iraan Braves @ Wink Wildcats- 10/6
Subscribe to the LIVE! Daily
Required
Post a comment to this article here: