GRIDIRON GLANCE ’21: May Tigers

August 18, 2021 at 7:00 am Derrick Stuckly

MAY – For the third time since 2013, the May Tigers found themselves in a six-man state championship game to close out the 2020 season. However, the Tigers’ pursuit of their first state title since 1977 continues as the 2021 campaign begins with May ranked No. 3 in the state in Class A Division I by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football.

“I think our expectations are pretty similar every year, it’s just different kids wearing the jerseys now,” said May 18th-year head coach Craig Steele, who owns a 144-56 record with the Tigers. “We did lose a lot of seniors off last year’s team, but we have a lot of kids back. We play a full JV season every year just for this sort of thing and I’m excited about those kids stepping into new roles. We’re going to compete hard and we still feel like a district championship and playing after Thanksgiving is our goal every year.”

The Tigers welcome back two offensive and two defensive starters – and five of 14 lettermen – from last year’s 13-2 squad which only lost to state champion Sterling City twice.

“The biggest drawback for us right now is varsity experience,” Steele said. “We’ve got four kids in there that have played varsity and only two starters back from last year’s team. So the non-varsity game experience is going to be important for us. An advantage for us would be numbers, we have the kids, but we’re really going to have to gain some experience and make sure we have kids in the right spots. Last year we pretty much knew going in who was playing where, there wasn’t any questions, but this year’s different. There’s going to be onus on the coaching staff, to make sure we evaluate correctly and have kids in the right spots.”

Among the players to watch are district offensive preseason player of the year Kaden Halk (1,224 rushing yards, 26 TDs; 18-430, 8 TDs receiving; 62 tackles, 5 INTs), RB/DL Blake Harrell (693 yards, 12 TDs passing), E/DL Brian Kunkel, RB/DB Damian Salinas, QB/DB Luke McKenzie, E/DL Alexis Mejia , RB/DB Cade Lindley, E/DL Kaysen King, QB/DB Bryson Guerrero, and C/DL Landon Beal.

“The two starters coming back, Kaden Halk and Blake Harrell, they’re going to be big in whatever we do this year. Those kids are going to be right in the middle of it,” Steele said. “The other two kids coming back that played on the varsity last year are Brian Kunkel and Damian Salinas, and they’re going to do a lot for us. That’s really our experience, that’s our upperclassmen, but we’re excited about the JV kids coming up. We’re not as big as we were last year but we still have good size so I think we’ll be able to do some things.”

May faces another brutal pre-district schedule including starting the season against No. 2 Borden County and No. 1 Sterling City. Games follow against Knox City, Evant, No. 7 Blum – in a rematch of last year’s state semifinal overtime classic – and Newcastle for homecoming.

“We start the season out with No. 2 and then No. 1, so we’re going to find out real quick what we’re made of,” Steele said. “Those two games specifically we just need to compete. If we win them, great, but if we don’t we just need to compete with them, be on the field with them. I want to make sure our kids are peaking at the right time. We have to make sure we have kids in the right spots. We don’t want to be playing our best football in scrimmages. I just want to make sure we’re doing everything right and getting better each week and if we’re doing that, then we’re going to be OK.”

Standing between May and a potential sixth straight district championship are 13-A Division I rivals Baird, Gorman, Santa Anna and Lingleville.

“Baird has a lot back, Gorman has a lot back, Santa Anna has a lot back, pretty much everybody in our district has the majority of their team back except us,” Steele said. “We’re definitely going to have our work cut our for us. I expect all four of those teams to be better this year than they were last year. On paper, people are going to say we’re not going to be as good, but we don’t play games on paper.”

With several new faces in new places, there are questions to be answered for May during the regular season. But Steele believes the talent is in place for the Tigers to put themselves in position to compete for another trip to AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

“I think this team can be very good, but we may have to do it in different ways than we did last year,” Steele said. “We’re going to have to throw the ball more, we’re going to have to spread it out a little bit more than we did last year, but I think this team can be very good. We’re going to have limit injuries cause our depth’s not what it was last year, but I think this team has a chance to be really good.”

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MAY TIGERS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Aug. 27 Borden County (at Jayton), 6 p.m.

Sept. 3 at Sterling City

Sept. 10 Knox City

Sept. 17 at Evant

Sept. 24 Blum

Oct. 1 Newcastle (homecoming)

Oct. 8 Gorman*

Oct. 15 at Santa Anna*

Oct. 22 Baird*

Oct. 29 OPEN