GRIDIRON GLANCE ’21: Bangs Dragons

August 21, 2021 at 7:00 am Derrick Stuckly

BANGS – The Bangs Dragons continued their ascension under head coach Kyle Maxfield in 2020, but as the head coach begins his fourth season a revamped lineup will be called upon to extend the program’s string of playoff berths to three straight seasons.

The Dragons, coming off a 9-2 playoff campaign, return just 11 of 25 lettermen – including four offensive and three defensive starters – from last year’s squad.

“We think we’re on schedule, but it’s one of the most inexperienced teams I’ve coached in a while,” said Maxfield, who is 18-14 at Bangs and 153-92 in his coaching career. “They come to work everyday and they’re getting better, but the biggest thing is they need snaps. Once we get some snaps under our belts hopefully we’ll continue to improve. The effort’s there, the kids are being coachable, all the elements are there to have a successful season, it’s just a matter of getting reps.”

Bangs finished as the runner-up in District 2-3A Division II last year as the Dragons produced 41 points and 447 yards – 285 rushing and 162 passing – per game, while yielding 17 points and 261 yards – 141 on the ground and 120 through the air.

Maxfield feels all four of the league’s playoff berths – including the 2-3A Division II championship – are up for grabs in 2021.

“It’ll be interesting,” Maxfield said. “It’s going to be more challenging top to bottom than it was last year. Brady and Sonora have the most kids coming back. Coach (Tanner) Thiel has been at Grape Creek a long time so they’ve built some consistency and they’re going to be improved. Ballinger lost as many or more seniors as we did but they seem to reload every year, and Ingram Moore has a new coach. We’re going to have to play every week. It’s going to be a week to week deal and come down to who can stay healthy and take care of business.”

The Dragons begin the season with pre-district contests against Early, Florence, Winters, Hamilton and Hawley. Among the early goals, Maxfield reiterated, will be getting the younger players on the roster much-needed game experience.

“It’s going to be a daily process of improvement and hopefully by district we can get to where we’re more versatile, and get to where we’re doing more things on both sides of the ball,” Maxfield said. “We’re going to start with a smaller script and continue to expand as we improve. We’d like to win them all and we have a chance to get some W’s, but we have some tough challenges ahead before district. The main this is we want to stay healthy.”

Among the players the Dragons will be counting on most this season are OL/DL Warren Theriaque, RB/LB Damien Santillanes (15-142, TD receiving; 208 rushing yards, 1 TD; 80.5 tackles, 5 for loss, 1 INT, 1 FR), RB/LB Guy Powell (15-295, 4 TDs; 170 rushing yards, 1 TD; 16 tackles, 1 INT), RB/LB Keygan Pitts, OL/DL Donovan Ruiz, RB/LB Ian Cortez, OL/DL Azreal Escobedo, OL/DL Hunter Bernal, TE/DL Braxton Melling, WR/DB Guy Funk, OL/DL Luke Duncan, QB Kade Minshew, QB Zack Ferguson, OL/DL David Herrera, and OL/DL Noah Pin.

“Warren is one of our best lineman and he’s going to be able to play on both sides of the ball when we need him to,” Maxfield said. “Guy Powell has been in the shadows the last two years but he’s really matured and he’s going to be exciting to watch on both sides of the ball. Damien Santillanes has as much experience as anyone coming back and he’ll make an impact on both sides of the ball.

“Our senior class isn’t very big but they have a lot of experience. They’re doing a good job bringing the youngest kids along. I think our biggest strength is going to be speed on both sides of the ball for us.”

Regarding the potential of this year’s squad, Maxfield feels the Dragons are very much capable of achieving a postseason berth and more.

“We’re further along than we thought we’d be at this point in the season,” Maxfield said. “If they keep progressing like they have we have a chance as long as we play within ourselves. We’re going to need some snaps and then there’s outside influences that could affect teams like COVID.

“This group has been fun to coach, the older guys haven’t been in the leadership role much because of the big senior class we had that graduated, but they’ve stepped up and done a good job as far as setting a good example for the young kids. The younger kids are like sponges and want to keep the success that we’ve established here going. Everybody understands their role and what we expect out of them and now it’s just time to get it done.”

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BANGS DRAGONS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Aug. 27 at Early

Sept. 3 Florence

Sept. 10 Winters

Sept. 17 at Hamilton

Sept. 24 at Hawley

Oct. 1 OPEN

Oct. 8 Grape Creek* (homecoming)

Oct. 15 at Ingram Tom Moore*

Oct. 22 Sonora*

Oct. 29 Ballinger*