GRIDIRON GLANCE ’21: Zephyr Bulldogs

August 19, 2021 at 7:00 am Derrick Stuckly

ZEPHYR – With just two starters back on each side of the ball – and two of 12 lettermen overall – from a 1-8 squad in 2020, Zephyr head coach Jeremy Phillips proclaimed 2021 to be another rebuilding year for the Bulldogs.

“This is continuing our rebuild,” Phillips said. “We lost a whole bunch of seniors. Last year we only had 10 kids out and most of them were seniors, so I’m returning two underclassmen on the team. More than half our team is freshmen.”

The experienced Bulldogs on the roster are RB/LB Jayden Millican and RB/DB Eathan Gowin.

“We’re trying to build around Jayden Millican and Eathan Gowin,” Phillips said. “Jayden will be starting for me for the third year in a row and Eathan, it will be his second year to start. They’re the leaders on the team. Those two are both pretty good athletes, that’s what we’ll build around, their athleticism and their speed. We’ll try and fill in the pieces the senior class left behind.”

The lack of varsity experience for much of the roster is what Zephyr will attempt to gradually overcome throughout the campaign.

“We have no seniors, so there’s going to be a big learning curve,” Phillips said. “They’re here working hard and we’re looking forward to gaining experience every week and getting better.”

Prior to the start of district the Bulldogs will square off with Sidney, Veribest, Stephenville Faith, Blanket, Paint Rock, Cherokee and Ranger.

Asked of the early season goals in Zephyr, Phillips said, “What every coach wants to see, hard work and improvement from day to day and week to week. We need to continue to get better, develop a passing game, and defensively just hustle to the football.”

The District 15-A Division I race features No. 6 Jonesboro, Lometa and Evant along with Zephyr.

“Any time you’re in a district with Jonesboro it’s going to be tough,” Phillips said. “They lost a lot of seniors but they always have successful junior high and JV teams. They don’t rebuild they just reload. Then Lometa is always scrappy and a tough opponent. Evant is coming off a surprise season, they did really well, and I see them building on that. It’s a very tough district for us, but we’ll see where we are by the time that we get there.”

Regarding what it will take for the Bulldogs to make a push for a playoff spot this season, Phillips said, “We have to find some guys step up and fill some holes that the senior class left, especially Kannon Eoff who was our all-round guy last year who gave us everything. We’re hoping those guys that I mentioned fill that hole and then we’ll build the team around that.”

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ZEPHYR BULLDOGS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Aug. 26 at Sidney

Sept. 3 Veribest

Sept. 10 at Stephenville Faith

Sept. 17 Blanket

Sept. 24 at Paint Rock

Oct. 1 Cherokee

Oct. 8 Ranger (homecoming)

Oct. 15 at Lometa*

Oct. 22 at Jonesboro*

Oct. 29 Evant*