GRIDIRON GLANCE ’24: Coleman Bluecats

August 21, 2024 at 8:30 am Derrick Stuckly

COLEMAN – After looking up at the now Class 3A Division II Tolar Rattlers in the final district standings the past two years, the Coleman Bluecats return to the role of league favorites in the revamped District 5-2A Division I.

The Bluecats, ranked No. 18 in the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Class 2A Division I preseason poll, are coming off a 9-3 campaign a year ago and return five starters on both sides of the ball.

“We lost some great kids, but have some good ones coming back that have varsity experience,” said Bluecats head coach John Elder, who is 76-40 at Coleman heading into his 11^th season. “The expectations are always high. The kids have really matured and are really putting a lot on themselves. Our numbers are up coming in, and our kids always compete and work hard.”

Those returning for Coleman include quarterback Brayden Torres (1,560 passing yards, 17 TDs, 14 INTs / 425 rushing yards, 9 TDs), linebackers Skyler Clark (44 tackles, 3 sacks) and Kutter Cody (95 tackles, 1 INT), skill players Anthony Espitia, Braylon Stewart, Blaine Bouldin, and Kelan Sikes, along with Darren Hurtado and Paul Salas in the trenches, while Brooks Clippinger joins the squad after playing in Early previously.

“Senior middle linebacker and offensive lineman Cutter Cody brings a lot of physicality,” Elder said. “Brayden Torres is our quarterback who jumped in last year about Week 3 and kept the job throughout the season. We expect to see more maturity and leadership from him this year.”

Prior to the start of league play, the Bluecats will challenge Eastland, Clifton, Mason, Cisco, and Collinsville at Graham. With a new defensive scheme being putting in place, mastery on that side of the ball is among the early season objectives for Coleman.

“We’re installing a 4-3, and we ran some of that before, but the terminology is different and we have some new kids coming up at the same time, so we’re working on getting that rolling,” Elder said. “That’s going to take some time to get together, and we have a tough pre-district schedule, then we start off with De Leon and Hamilton in district. Aside from that, we need to see that they’re gelling and have their own identity as a team and play for each other, and make plays for each other. But they need to learn that new system and make that a norm as fast as a possible.”

Though the district, on paper, seems to be less difficult than what Coleman faced the past two seasons, the Bluecats are overlooking no one.

“It’s still a tough district and no off weeks,” Elder said. “Some new faces are coming in like Hico, which had a great record last year. De Leon and Hamilton are going to be at the top and Bangs has a new face over there. It’s going to be anybody’s district, it’s anybody’s game. We’ll have to see how it surfaces out.”

Regarding how good the Bluecats could be in 2024, Elder said, “The potential is always there, the sky’s the limit. We’ve set expectations on smaller goals to reach bigger goals, and we have to start achieving those small goals today.”

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COLEMAN BLUECATS 2024 SCHEDULE

Aug. 30	at Eastland	7 p.m.
Sept. 6	Clifton	7 p.m.
Sept. 13	at Mason	7 p.m.
Sept. 20	Cisco#	7 p.m.
Sept. 27	Collinsville (at Graham)	7 p.m.
Oct. 4	OPEN
Oct. 11	at Hamilton*	7 p.m.
Oct. 18	De Leon*	7 p.m.
Oct. 25	at Hico*	7 p.m.
Nov. 1	at Ballinger*	7 p.m.
Nov. 8	Bangs*	7 p.m.