DISTRICT PREVIEW: Great Quarterback Play Makes the Little Southwest Conference Extremely Competitive

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. The Little Southwest Conference has some explosive playmakers which could make a lot of the district matchups incredibly fun to watch.

6A-1 District 2, or the Little Southwest Conference, has some very good players like Midland Legacy’s Marcos Davila, Frenship’s Hudson Hutcheson, Odessa’s Ivan Carreon, Permian’s Juzstyce Lara, Midland’s Elijah McCoy, and San Angelo Central’s Christian English. The LSC also had a bunch of really good players return from last season which could make November and December interesting.

OVERALL

1. Midland Bulldogs: 5-0
2. Wolfforth Frenship Tigers: 5-0
3. Midland Legacy Rebels: 4-1
4. Odess Permian Panthers: 3-2
5. Odessa Bronchos: 3-2
6. San Angelo Central Bobcats: 1-4

A perfect start for the Midland Bulldogs may be surprising considering the playmakers are underclassmen, but for fans, this team has been running wild, rushing for 1742 yards and 23 touchdowns at the halfway point. Sophomore quarterback Tristan Love has rushed for 446 yards on 44 carries for five touchdowns and junior Elijah McCoy has 97 attempts for 714 yards and 13 scores. Out wide, senior Alex Gonzalez has caught nine passes for 133 yards and one touchdown.

The offense has been rolling and the defense has been stellar. Athen Dominguez has been a tackling machine with 61 so far. Turner Squire and Julian Williams have 36 and 38 respectively. The Bulldog defense has 35 tackles for loss overall. Midland has gotten after the quarterback as well with 10 sacks and 15 quarterback pressures. Darrion Mitchell has three sacks, six other players have one each, and two have half a sack so far.

This is a well put together team that is taking advantage of this moment. They’ll control the clock and smother the life out of the opposing offense. This could be a dark horse team this season. One reason is the point differential. Midland has scored 217 points in five games and only given up 76.

A not-so under the radar team is the Frenship Tigers with All-Star quarterback Hudson Hutcheson. He has been on fire since last season, connecting on 68% of his passes for 1685 yards, 16 touchdowns, and two interceptions. Hutcheson can move around pretty well too with 240 rushing yards. Senior running back Jaden Tackett complements his quarterback well with 214 yards and four scores.

The receivers for the Tigers are dangerous with two players that have over 500 yard in five games. The really scary thing? Those players are underclassmen. Leyton Stone, a junior, has 543 yards and six touchdowns and sophomore Chase Campbell has an explosive 29 catches for 501 yards, a 17.3 yards per catch rate, and seven touchdowns. Senior Landon Hutcheson has caught 27 passes for 319 yards and one score.

Santiago Sanchez has 51 tackles, five tackles for loss, and two forced fumbles. Caydin Blakely follows Sanchez with 49 tackles, three for loss, two sacks, and one forced fumble. In all, Frenship has 19 tackles for loss, three sacks, three interceptions, five forced fumble, and one fumble recovery. Turnovers matter and the Tigers could stand to nab a few more.

This Frenship Tigers team is dangerous, explosive and could take the district crown.

A possible threat to Frenship is the Midland Legacy Rebels who have Purdue University commit, quarterback Marcos Davlia. Davila has started since his sophomore year and this year, has put up 1369 yards, 10 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. The Rebels have a running back by committee as four players have over 20 attempts. Damien Johnson is the front runner with 460 yards and seven scores followed by Tommy Johnson III with 319 yard and three touchdowns.

Brex Stevens and Aiden Serrano are Davila’s go-to target with 36 receptions and 775 yards and seven scores. Young sophomore Caden Ellis has 274 yards and three scores as well.

Esus Robledo and Cole Neatherlin lead the defense with 97 tackles and the Rebels only have four sacks overall. They make up for the small sack total with seven interceptions, 10 forced fumbles, and six fumble recoveries. Robledo has two of those interceptions as does senior Max Vera.

The Rebels have scored 216 points, a 43.2 point per game average and have given up an average of 30.2 points, a total of 151, to opponents. It should be noted that the Rebels have a pretty tough schedule as they’ve played Amarillo Tascosa, Abilene High, Cibolo Steele, and Converse Judson. They will open district with a great matchup against the high-octane offense of the Frenship Tigers.

The Odessa Permian Panthers have such a history they made a feature film out of it in “Friday Night Lights”. While that was a high bar to set, this Permian team is still dangerous. They dropped their first game out of the gate to Abilene High then won two straight against Wace Midway and Amarillo Tascosa. Over the next two weeks they’d go one-for-one, losing to Harker Heights and beating Abilene Cooper. Now, they’ll face intown rival, the Odessa Bronchos in their district opener.

Permian gets their work in on the ground, Juzstyce Lara leads the backs with 530 yards and seven scores. Issac Herrera is the complement back with 303 yards and six touchdowns. Sophomore quarterback Jakob Garcia has thrown for about 54% for 298 yards, four scores and four interceptions. Senior Gage Murphy is his guy with 130 yards and one touchdown.

Parker Haynes and Kheeandre Abdul-Aziz are the leading tacklers with 43 and 37 respectively. Mojo has gotten after the quarterback as well with eight sacks, three from senior Kevion Wilson and senior Riley Sumerford, and one apiece from Bryan Pry, Victor Ramirez, and Preston Grizzell. Haynes, Abdul-Aziz, and Summerford each have one interception and the team has one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.

Mojo has given up 123 points to opponents over five games, 24.6-point average and have scored 150 points per game, a 30-point average.

The Odessa Bronchos are 3-2 and two their two games to Lubbock Monterey to start the year and in Week 3 to Keller. Like Permian, the games they’ve won have been tight. The games agginst El Paso Americas, Amarillo, and Clemens been razor thin victories by an average of two points per game. The Bronchos have a winning record but have given up more points, 157, than they’ve scores, 152. Odessa’s offense has some talent and a serious number one receiver in Ivan Carreon.

Junior quarterback Mikey Cota has gone 88/163 for 1295 yards, 12 touchdowns and six interceptions. Carreon has caught 23 passes out of that 88 for 463 yards and seven scores. The Bronchos follow that up with sophomore Andrew Rodriguez’s 343 yards and three touchdowns and Jalen Warren’s 287 yards and two scores. Odessa can run the ball as well with senior Dejuan Green’s 82 rushing attempts for 644 yards and four touchdowns. Cota and Sebastian Castaneda each have run for 72 yards with Cota finding the endzone three times to Castaneda’s one.

Sacks and turnovers have been lacking but Daniel Garcia, Jacob Pornan, and Jesus Dominguez each sacking the opposing signal caller once. Zayne Minijarez has one of the three interceptions Odessa has and is also their leading tackler with 51. Jayven Gonzales and sophomore Yobany Baeza snagged themselves the other two picks. Junior Landon Wikerson is second in tackles with 34 followed by junior Dominick Taylor with 30.

With a 1-4 record, the San Angelo Central Bobcats need to turn it on if they want to get into the playoffs. It’s been a rough season so far but after graduating nearly the entire offense and the best defensive player, Central has gone through some growing pains. While the record is what it is, the Bobcats have been in every game they’ve played this far. A seven-point loss to open the season against Killeen, an eight-point loss to Abilene Cooper, a three-point loss to Belton, and a 10-point loss to Abilene Wylie. Head Coach Kevin Crane deserves some credit to putting together a young team that has competed well this season.

Of those youngsters, the younger brothers of former Bobcats’ Tyler Hill and Jacob English are picking up right were their older brothers let off although in different positions. Christian English has taken the quarterback job and at this point, he should be in no danger to lose the position. English has played extremely well for his first year on varsity, throwing for 1244 yard, 10 touchdowns and two interceptions. He has completed about 60% of his passes and has run the ball very well rushing 45 times for 632 yards and six scores. The two-headed monster in the backfield with English are senior running backs Jayvion Robinson and Tyree Brawley who have 312 yard and five touchdowns combined.

Tyler Hill’s younger brother, Colton Hill, has been English’s go-to target with 29 receptions for 455 yards and three touchdowns. Alex Lindsay is second with 347 yards for three scores and the combo of Malik Kates and Carmelo Amigleo have 263 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

The Central defense has a new face at the helm in former colligate coach Jacob Martin. The defense also has a bunch of underclassmen starting. That being said, the Bobcats’ defense has some good young players. Sophomore Mason Van Sickle leads the team in tackles with 54 and is tied for the lead in tackles for loss with three and interceptions with two. Also, he has two forced fumbles. Following Van Sickle is senior Seth Mariano with 44 tackles then junior Coeyn Warkala with 38. Central needs to get after the quarterback as they only have one sack on the season so far from senior Luke Stealey. Into picks, of course, Van Sickle has two as does Colter Farmer, a junior defensive back and junior Cameron Mayfield has one. The team has four forced fumbled and two fumble recoveries.

It might be an uphill battle for Central but if this year has been one thing it’s encouraging. To have basically a team of underclassmen and lose four games by an average of one score while disappointing, is impressive that these young guys have picked things up quickly. One thing inside their control is the penalties that have cost them over the last couple games. It may sound like beating a dead horse by now but the one thing this team lacked is game experience at this level. That being said, the future is bright to the Bobcats.

District Leaders

Passing Yards

1. Hudson Hutcheson- Frenship Tigers- 1628
2. Marcos Davila- Midland Legacy Rebels- 1369
3. Mikey Cota- Odessa Bronchos- 1295
4. Christian English- San Angelo Central Bobcats- 1244
5. Jakob Garcia- Odessa Permian Panthers- 298

Rushing Yards

1. Elijah McCoy- Midland Bulldogs- 714
2. DeJuan Green- Odessa Bronchos- 644
3. Christian English- San Angelo Central Bobcats- 623
4. Juzstyce Lara- Odessa Permian Panthers- 530
5. Damien Johnson- Midland Legacy Rebels- 460

Receving Yards

1. Leyton Stone- Frenship Tigers- 543
2. Chase Campbell- Frenship Tigers- 501
3. Ivan Carreon- Odessa Bronchos- 463
4. Colton Hill- San Angelo Central Bobcats- 455
5. Brex Stevens- Midland Legacy Rebels- 415

Total Yards

1. Christian English- San Angelo Central Bobcats- 1876
2. Hudson Hutcheson- Frenship Tigers- 1868
3. Marcos Davila- Midland Legacy Rebels- 1490
4. Mikey Cota- Odessa Bronchos- 1367
5. Elijah McCoy- Midland Bulldogs- 729

Scoring

1. Elijah McCoy- Midland Bulldogs- 78 points
2. Damien Johnson- Midland Legacy Rebels- 54 points
3. Ivan Carreon- Odessa Bronchos- 44 points
4. Juzstyce Lara- Odessa Permian Panthers- 44 points
5. Chase Campbell- Frenship Tigers- 42 points

Tackles

1. Athen Dominguez- Midland Bulldogs- 61
2. Mason Van Sickle- San Angelo Central Bobcats- 54
3. Santiago Sanchez- Frenship Tigers- 51
4. Zayne Minjarez- Odessa Bronchos- 51
5. Caydin Blakely- Frenship Tigers- 49

Sacks

1. Kevion Wilson- Odessa Permian Panthers- 3
2. Darrion Mitchell- Midland Bulldogs- 3
3. Riley Summerford- Odessa Permian Panthers- 3
4. Caydin Blakely- Frenship Tigers- 2
5. Jeremiah Loudd- Midland Bulldogs- 1.5
6. Felix Campos- Midland Bulldogs- 1.5

Interceptions

1. Chris Moreno- Midland Legacy Rebels- 3
2. Athen Dominguez- Midland Bulldgos- 2
3. Max Vera- Midland Legacy Rebels- 2
4. Cooper Archer- Frenship Tigers- 2
5. Mason Van Sickle, Colter Farmer- San Angelo Central Bobcats- 2
6. Esus Robledo- Midland Legacy Rebels- 2
7. Barrett McDaniel, Jacoby Dutchover, Ryder Miller, Blade Brandon, Darrion Mitchell, Julian Williams- Midland Bulldogs- 1
8. Cameron Mayfield- San Angelo Central Bobcats- 1
9. Yobany Baeza, Jayven Gonzalez, Zayne Minjarez- Odessa Bronchos- 1
10. Parker Haynes, Riley Summerford, Kheeandre Abdul-Aziz- Odessa Permian Panthers- 1
11. Damien Johnson- Midland Legacy Rebels- 1
12. Holden Phillips- Frenship Tigers- 1

Next Game

• Midland Bulldogs @ San Angelo Central Bobcats- 10/5

• Frenship Tigers @ Midland Legacy Rebels- 10/6
• Odessa Bronchos @ Odessa Permian Panthers- 10/6