Lubbock area 2022 high school football preview
LUBBOCK, Texas — It’s never too early to start thinking about football, especially when we find ourselves here in the heart of June. Summer camps and the seven-on-seven action is about to begin on the local fields all around town. Here’s what’s going on with your favorite local teams.
FRENSHIP TIGERS
There’s always a positive and busy atmosphere at the Frenship Fieldhouse, and we caught Coach Jay Northcutt in good spirits. Though last season didn’t turn out as well as the team had hoped, at 6-4, Coach Northcutt saw some great positives from it, “I was really proud of the way that team prepared for the season, we had a great start at 3-0, and finished 2-0 with a big win over Odessa.” Post-season signings for Coach Northcutt’s squad were strong, however, highlighted by senior star Karson Jones (Tackle), who played both sides of the ball for the Tigers, and was recruited to go and play for coach Dana Holgorsen’s exciting UH Cougars in Houston.
Kaden Meier (Cornerback) is headed to the University of Nevada, QB Chad Pharies is excited to be Angelo State-bound and Kolani Sapa (Guard) is headed to the beautiful town of Alpine, TX to play for Sul Ross. The coach’s summer plans for the 2022 squad centers around strength and conditioning (Tiger Camp – June 6th). “We’ll have about 600 kids a day working from 7 am-12 pm on lifting, agility, and football every day, with seven-on-sevens throughout the summer.” As far as returning team members coming back for this season, the coach feels good, “we have our big guy coming back (Center Isaiah Kema) and he’s just a special kid who has all the physical tools, he’s big (6-4 290), moves well and is a great leader–he already has 16 offers.” Additionally, “our big receiver, 6’6” Tate Beels only played 5 games last year averaged 100 yards and 3 TD’s per game.”
With so many seniors on their way to the next level, the coach has some big shoes to fill, but he seems confident in those younger players who can now step up for him this season. “Hudson Hutcheson (QB) is coming off JV–and the most likely starter: he’s just a natural at the QB position–he’s got a really good arm and a knack for making big plays; Middle Linebacker Kobe Ayers is a kid that really had a great year as a junior–he’s physical with a high motor and has a nose for the football, and overall he’s a good leader.” The 2022 season is packed with stiff competition for Frenship from the very start, “we open up against Coronado away and that’ll be a big game, then Cooper at their place and then we have Monterrey here at home. We have some big shoes to fill in O-line but have lots of returners on defense, so we’re looking for big gain there, most of our receivers are returning–so we’ll throw it a bunch this year–our goal is to make a serious run at the district championship. District 26A is becoming a very tough one, so your focus has to be really sharp when it comes to discipline, culture, and chemistry–especially culture and chemistry.”
COOPER PIRATES
I talked to coach Chip Darden on the phone as he was heading to a school track meet. He and his quad are cautious about measuring success by wins, “but all in all we had an unbelievable season,” said Coach Darden, “…going 13-2, we tied the school record for wins and made the state semi-finals–which is the furthest we’ve ever been.” He had an impressive class of seniors last year too. “Last year we had a group of seniors whose overall record combined was 50-7 and that was one of the keys to us being so successful.” Recruiting was a success as well. Superstar inside linebacker Kobie McKinzie signed with OU and is playing with them In spring ball already. Defensive end Kyler Jordan is headed to Baylor. Offensive lineman Tanyon Zachary is Tulsa bound and tight end Brady Barnett is off to Midwestern.
As far as summer plans, “we approach summer a little bit different than some. We like for our kids to get the time to be kids–go swimming, have some time to their selves, and get their heads together.” They have some non-mandatory workouts scheduled, “we’re doing spring football now, and get will back to work Aug 8th—that’s our first official practice of the fall.” The team has some quality starters returning, “we have some kids coming back who have played a lot of football for us and will be big leaders for this team.” Ty Politte (DL) was a big contributor last year, he broke his foot, came back, and helped them with a playoff run. Colter Lynch was new to the team last year and came from a smaller school, “he fit in right off the bat–an athletic lineman with lots of offers and he has leadership skills—he’s set for a big season. Cutter Douglas (LB), “just fill in the blank–he can play anything, both sides of the ball, he is just a FOOTBALL PLAYER, that’s the best way I can describe it–he’s always around the ball making plays and has a nose for the ball.”
There are some younger guys who will have to step up for the Pirates. “we need to have big years from Sam Marcinkowski (TE) who played quite a bit last year splitting time with a senior–it’s gonna be a big role this year and we really need him to step up; Cal Ritz (Athlete–special teams and does everything) played as a sophomore and had a nice role with us, he had a season ending injury but we expect for him to come back and play a big role for us.” The competition will be tough. “We’re bumping up in classification from 5A Div 2 to 5A division 1–with larger schools on the schedule we will be stepping up in size and competition as far as opponents go. No disrespect to our former district, but 5A Div 1 is listed as one of the toughest divisions in Texas, however, our expectations don’t change–we’ve always had high expectations and that will continue–it’s never easy, and the guys expect that–we’re going to do everything we can to be in the mix.”
CORONADO MUSTANGS
It’s always fun to catch up with coach DJ Mann at Coronado. By any measure, most folks would say that the Mustangs had a great season. But coach Mann and his crew are very goal-oriented, and he recalled last season by stating, “We started out slow & tough but finished as the #1 seed in our district, the Tascosa game at the end of the season was BIG—we beat them by multiple TD’s to seal that district honor. In the playoffs, we won our first-round game which made us area finalists, and then lost in the second round to Midlothian. Our team overachieved all year—but as a program, we didn’t meet our standard and meet our goals…we could have done a lot better.” Coach Mann’s group did very well with recruiting. The exceptional tight end Trevor Stephens is off to New Mexico St., “his size and versatility separated him from a lot of other people,” stated the coach.
Running back Antonio Malone was scooped up by the University of Texas Permian Basin, safety Ryan Edwards is headed to Oklahoma Baptist and speedy cornerback Kaleb Pillow is Ft. Hayes St. bound. Summer work for the Mustangs starts in mid-June, ”we call our summer Program EDGE: we want to get the edge on our competition, get bigger, stronger, and faster while increasing our football knowledge all at the same time–we start the second week in June and will go MON-THU from 8 am to 11:15 with a little seven on seven this summer.”
Returning this season is linebacker John Curry who has already committed to Tech this year. “He brings a lot of in-game experience and his size makes him a prototypical college-style linebacker, he runs well and his experience can’t be replaced; quarterback Jett Carroll threw for 3,200 yards last year—his experience is big and his confidence is way up from last year; cornerback Cam Manahan had four pick-sixes last year—if he gets his hands on the ball he’s probably gonna score, he’s dynamic and is our returner too.” Those needing to step up for the Mustangs will be cornerback David Busby, “people aren’t gonna throw at Cam a lot so they’re going to be coming at him a lot—he’s gonna have to make big plays at that cornerback spot,” and safety JJ Willis who, “also brings a lot of size and versatility, is replacing a two-year starter and has the kind of ability to do that, and possibly be even better.”
Coach Mann and his squad have the exact same goal every year, and this season is no different. “Our vision never changes. We call it DPS which stands for District champs, Practicing on Thanksgiving, and State champs–that’s how we break it down. We are looking forward to the challenges ahead. We’re playing a lot of good teams and just want to come out and represent.”
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