GRIDIRON GLANCE ’21: Comanche Indians

August 11, 2021 at 7:00 am Updated: August 11th, 2021 at 7:51 am Derrick Stuckly

COMANCHE – A new day is dawning for the Comanche Indians as alum Joaquin “Jake” Escobar is taking over the reins of the program from Stephen Hermesmeyer, who departed after nine seasons for the same position in Troy.

Escobar, a 1991 graduate of Comanche High School, previously served as head coach at Carrizo Springs as well as Edinburg.

As for becoming head coach at Comanche, Escobar said, “It means a lot to me. I’ve been really fortunate growing up here in a great community like this. The first day I got chills about five times, it was still kind of surreal to me. I was telling the kids that I practiced on the same field, I played on the same field, so it’s still kind of surreal. It’s nervous and exciting at the same time.”

The Indians are seeking a ninth straight playoff appearance in 2021 and again will take part in the ultra competitive District 5-3A Division II. Comanche is tabbed to finish fourth and claim the league’s final playoff spot, according to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, with Eastland, Jacksboro and Millsap favored in front of the Indians. Dublin and Merkel round out the district foes.

“Everybody’s tough in our district,” Escobar said. “I coached with James Morton from Eastland for about five years at Midland Lee. My program, if it mirrors anyone it mirrors them. What we did at Midland Lee is what he does at Eastland. They’re always going to be tough to beat just because they do a great job, he does a great job of setting the culture. Jacksboro, I’ve watched them on film and I’ve heard great things about what they do. Millsap is another team that’s really good and has gotten better over the last couple of years. Dublin is going to competitive, they’re always competitive with us, there could be a little rivalry there. Merkel has a new coach and I’ve heard he’s doing some good stuff over there. Every week’s going to be a battle. They’re all going to be well coached and their kids are going to play hard.”

Comanche is coming off an 8-3 campaign, but returns just nine of 30 lettermen, including three offensive and two defensive starters.

“Our biggest strength is we’re athletic,” Escobar said. “We have some young kids that can run and I think that’s going to be an advantage for us. I know our O-line is going to be young, we’re going to have one senior and a couple of sophomores. Our quarterback and our running back, those two guys have varsity experience but there’s only three guys that have varsity experience on the offense. That’s going to be a big key for us, them managing the game.”

Among the players to keep an eye on are QB/DB Hudson Welch, RB Luke Wilson, OL/DL Dominic Rios, OL/DL Ezray Rios, DB Miguel Martinez, OL/DL Ethan Morin, RB/LB Alan Garza, TE/LB Israel Medrano, WR/DB Kyler Beaty, and RB/LB Ayden Fishback.

“Luke Wilson is our running back, I think he’s going to be a good player for us and he’s a great leader,” Escobar said. “Our quarterback Hudson Welch is another young man who has really stepped up. He was up here in the summer working his tail off. He looks calm, cool and collected. He’s grasping what we’re trying to get done in our philosophy. We have a couple of young receivers, Tyler Beaty is a sophomore that’s going to be a good hand for us. Our tight end is going to be a sophomore, a big kid that can run. We have a couple of receivers where this offense is going to benefit them. Our slot guy, Miguel Martinez, played quarterback on JV last year. He’s a basketball kid, he’s shifty and can move, so this fits perfect for him. We’ve got some good linemen that are young an have been working really hard this summer. Our right tackle is going to a big surprise for some people.”

With a new head coach often comes a change in philosophy, and such is the case at Comanche as the Indians will go from a ground-based attack to a spread offense.

“The time of possession is going to be a big difference,” Escobar said. “When you’re a Wing-T offense you can control the clock. You can get long drives and use a whole quarter. We’re going to try and control the clock, that’s going to be up to us to be able to do that. I think we’re going to be a little more up tempo. It’s going to be tough at first cause our kids are used to the Wing-T, the tempo is going to be a little different. I expect them to get their hand in the ground in a hurry. I watched film from last year and they tried to take their time and use all the play clock, but we’re going to be a little different in that aspect. To me football is football, it’s blocking and it’s tackling. Kids that play hard and have paid the price during the summer and the offseason are going to usually come out on top. As long as we sell it that way I think the kids are going to do a great job.”

Prior to district play, the Indians will attempt to hone their skills against the likes of Mason, Brady, Early, Tolar and Cisco.

“I just want them to play hard and don’t give up,” Escobar said in regard to early season goals. “If you make mistakes, you makes mistakes and I’m OK with that. I just want to make sure we play with a lot of effort, we have great attitude and we’re tough. If we’re physical, eventually our offense is going to click and our defense is going to click and we’re going to win ball games. We just have to trust the process. We talk about EAT in our program – effort, attitude, toughness. That’s the biggest key. There’s a chance we might get our teeth kicked in Week 1, but that Week 1 game is not going to make our season. It’s the process through that where we learn.”

As for what it will take for the Indians to be able to compete in the district race, Escobar said, “Being able to overcome adversity early on, the mistakes, learning from them and slowly maturing into being the team we want to be in Week 6. That’s going to be the key. I’ve seen our kids struggle a little bit with a little adversity because they’ve been successful here. And that’s different for me, too, because I’ve never gone to a program where they’ve won. I’ve always gone places where they haven’t won. So I can see it, sometimes they get frustrated easily, so we have to do a great job as coaches to make sure we maintain our energy and our positive reinforcement and make sure we are able to overcome those mistakes early on.”

***

COMANCHE INDIANS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Aug. 27 Mason

Sept. 3 at Brady

Sept. 10 at Early

Sept. 17 Tolar

Sept. 24 at Cisco

Oct. 1 OPEN

Oct. 8 Dublin* (homecoming)

Oct. 15 at Eastland*

Oct. 22 Millsap*

Oct. 29 Jacksboro*