GRIDIRON GLANCE: Blanket Tigers

August 17, 2020 at 8:01 am Derrick Stuckly

BLANKET – Since Tyler Tabor returned to the Blanket sideline after a brief one-year retirement, the Tigers have hoisted district championships at the end of each regular season. In the third year of Tabor’s second go-round with the Tigers, Blanket is projected to three-peat this season in District 15-A Division II.

“Our expectations are to win the district championship, get to the playoffs and go from there,” said Tabor, who owns a 71-51 career as a coach, including a 54-36 mark at Blanket. “We’ve done that two years in a row. The district has changed a little bit but not much. We have some quality teams in there. Brookesmith is going to be very good again, Sidney has more numbers than anybody and is on the rise, and nothing is going to be easy against Rising Star and Panther Creek as well. But we are the two-time defending champs and until somebody beats us we wear that hat.”

Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine concurs as the Tigers are picked to finish first ahead of Brookesmith, Sidney, Rising Star and Panther Creek. Blanket welcomes back four seniors who played key roles on last year’s 9-3 squad – including DCTF District 15-A Division II preseason offensive player of the year Hector Castaneda.

“We have four seniors this year that are good kids and good leaders,” Tabor said. “Hector Castaneda is coming back and he’ll be our featured back this year. He’s a tough kid and starts on defense as well, but he should have a great season running the football. Tyler Simpson is a 6-5 kid, a tight end and a dynamic player on both sides of the ball for us at tight end and defensive end. Mario Morales is a lineman coming back with some experience and our kicker as well, and Brady Furry is a two-year starter on defense and plays some wide receiver for us.

“Those four kids are solid, they’re good leaders. It’s going to be an enjoyable no matter what happens in terms of wins or losses because those kids work hard and they’re going to be competitors and do everything you ask them to do.”

Other players expected to step in and fill bigger shoes this season include Braden Day, Carlos Morales and Damon Carrillo.

“We have a sophomore, Braden Day, who played a little bit as a freshman and had some highlights last year,” Tabor said. “Carlos Morales is a junior that has done a good job and then a transfer kid from Santa Anna, Damon Carrillo, he’ll play somewhere on the field for us.”

The greatest concern for Blanket entering the season is the quarterback position, where the Tigers have little to no experience.

“We graduated two senior quarterbacks and then a junior transferred to Comanche so we’re starting over at that position,” Tabor said. “We don’t have any experience coming in but we have a couple guys trying to step up and do the right thing. We may be simple on offense for a while.”

Prior to kicking off league play Oct. 9 at Rising Star, the Tigers will clash with Gorman, Gustine, Lingleville, Zephyr, Gholson and Evant in pre-district action.

“It’s got to be continued improvement this year,” Tabor said of the early season goals. “We’re not going to be great at the beginning just because we’ve got some holes to fill and we lost one of the fastest kids in the state that could score from anywhere. We also lost our throwers, so we have to improve every week. Then we have to have some of those players that will gain experience to get better every week and get mentally tough and be prepared to play every week.”

BLANKET TIGERS

VARSITY FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Aug. 28 at Gorman

Sept. 4 Gustine

Sept. 11 at Lingleville

Sept. 18 Zephyr

Sept. 25 Gholson

Oct. 2 at Evant

Oct. 9 at Rising Star*

Oct. 16 OPEN

Oct. 23 Sidney*

Oct. 30 at Brookesmith*