GRIDIRON GLANCE ’22: Bangs Dragons

August 19, 2022 at 6:27 am Updated: August 19th, 2022 at 2:11 pm Derrick Stuckly

BANGS – Following a one-victory campaign in 2021, the Bangs Dragons are hoping a fresh start in Class 2A Division I translates to greater success and a return to the postseason.

Head coach Kyle Maxfield is entering his fifth year at Bangs, and he has added new offensive and defensive coordinators this season. The Dragons return 17 of 24 lettermen, including five offensive and six defensive starters, from a 1-8 squad a year ago that posted a 1-4 district mark.

Maxfield said the Dragons are looking to put the past behind them, though the results from last year are still serving as a motivational factor heading into the 2022 campaign.

“We never talk about the negatives of the past that much other than the bad taste that we have from last season,” Maxfield said. “These kids were around two years ago when we were 10-2 and got beat by the state champions in the second round, so they’ve seen what it takes from those senior leaders, who are the best senior group I’ve coached. There’s some residue left from that even two years later. They do want to set a different tone to this season, and it’s been showing in practice.”

While dropping from Class 3A Division II to Class 2A Division I might come as a relief to some teams, the Dragons find themselves in another stellar league – District 5. Along with Bangs, District 5-2A Division II features No. 9 Coleman, No. 12 Tolar, Hamilton, Goldthwaite, San Saba and De Leon.

“I’m not sure if this district isn’t just as tough, or if not tougher, than the district we’ve been in the last few years, from top to bottom,” Maxfield said. “We’re familiar with some of those schools. We played Coleman in the past, we’ve scrimmaged Goldthwaite and San Saba in the past. Some of the faces are familiar, but then you have teams like Tolar, who I think is a big kid on the block, and De Leon is another team we haven’t had experience playing. It’s exciting to face new teams, but also a new challenge ahead of us.”

With seven teams in the league, the Dragons’ path to the postseason will be considerably more difficult than some districts across the state that feature a fewer number of teams. According to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine, the Dragons are expected to place sixth in the league behind Coleman, Tolar, Hamilton, Goldthwaite and San Saba, and ahead of De Leon. Four teams advance to the postseason.

“Coleman and Tolar are the unanimous big dogs on the block, they have so much coming back from some really good teams,” Maxfield said. “Hamilton has a lot coming back but they have a new coach. Coach (Andy) Howard is new at Goldthwaite and he’s bringing some new juice over there. Coach (Andreas) Aguirre has had some nice seasons at San Saba, the Marwitz brothers are at Hamilton and De Leon, so everybody’s going to be well-coached. You’re not going to be able to out-coach anybody on Friday nights, we just have to outplay them. But after Coleman and Tolar, it may be even between five teams fighting for two spots.”

Jason Cole and J.J. Barry have been brought in as the new offensive and defensive coordinators, respectively, at Bangs.

“Both coordinators are kid magnets and have really come in and won the kids over, and that’s important,” Maxfield said. “They came in the spring, so we got a lot of installation done in late spring and in the summer.”

Regarding Cole, Maxfield said, “He’s coming from Quanah and has some west Texas ties. If you looked at our offense in the past you’d call it more of a power spread offense, and he brings a little more spread to that. He’s taken the offense and he’s running with it. He was an assistant coach on Muleshoe’s championship team in 2008, so he’s been in a few battles.”

As for Barry, Maxfield said, “He has been a 6A coordinator at McKinney North and Tyler Lee. He’s played some of the best players in the state. He has a wealth of knowledge, and we couldn’t be more excited to have him and his family.”

Leading into the season, Maxfield has been most impressed by the senior leadership he’s seen from the Dragons.

“We work on fundamentals up until the first scrimmage, but you really don’t know where you’re at until you go up against somebody else,” Maxfield said. “We did some great things in the scrimmages, but the thing that has been different for us this year has been the senior leadership, and them keeping everybody going and having great attitudes, and coming to work every day to get better. That’s been an everyday occurrence and a great thing to see from our seniors and the younger kids following them.”

The greatest strength for Bangs as this point is the advanced experience level compared to this time a year ago.

“We’re still young at some places, but at nearly every position on offense, defense and special teams, we have some experience,” Maxfield said. “We have a lot more experience than we did this time last year. Depth is still a concern like it is for every coach, especially now that we’re at the 2A level. “

Regarding areas where Maxfield would like to see improvement, he said, “Our guys up front are getting better, and if we’re to get to the next level and get to the postseason, that’s where it starts for us. As for quarterback play, the scrimmages are good to see where we’re at as far as them reading coverages and taking care of the ball, and that’s going to be huge for us. Those are things we’re building on, but we feel like we’re in a good place right now.”

Guy Powell returns as the Dragons’ leading rusher, top game-breaking threat and leading tackler on the defensive side of the ball.

“Everything runs through Guy on both sides of the ball,” Maxfield said. “Defensively he’s the quarterback of the defense along with the inside linebackers. I think our scheme fits our personnel on both sides of the ball very well this year. I told the coaches at the Brady scrimmage that I don’t get on the bus until Guy gets on the bus, that’s how important he is. I heard Tim Brown’s coach at Dallas Roosevelt say that back in the day and I stole that line from him. Guy’s very level-headed, he knows how important he is to the team and he’s been leading by example. He’s hungrier than he’s ever been, in better shape, stronger and faster. I couldn’t be happier with the progress he’s made.”

Ethan Ethridge and Keygan Pitts will join Powell (1,403 rushing yards, 10 TDs) in the backfield during two-back sets, while Kenny Cole has seen the most time at quarterback thus far. Lining up at outside receiver have been Nate Stoffer (10 catches for 76 yards) and Zack Ferguson (9-218, 3 TDs) on one side, and Guy Funk (4-40, TD) and Weston Fundt (1-18, TD) on the other. Inside receivers include Hunter Newton, Skyler Minshew, and Brayden Fields. Up front, the line features David Herrera at center, Isaiah Serrato and Brody Newton at the guards, and Noah Pin and a rotation of Donovan Ruiz, Chris Valdez, and Ryan Duncan at the tackles.

Maxfield also pointed to Caedmon Tidwell at kicker, as well as potentially Fields or Cole, as additional weapons this season Bangs may not have enjoyed in previous years.

“Offensively, our guys up front have to keep growing every day,” Maxfield said. “We’d love to be able to give the ball to Guy 30 or 40 times a game, but for us to be successful, we have to be able to spread the ball around and develop more play makers and relieve some of the pressure on Guy so we can take advantage when they load the box.”

Defensively, the Dragons are featuring Powell (56 tackles, 1 sack) at safety; a combination of Newton, Fields and Stoffer (63.5 tackles, 1 sack) at the two rover positions; a cornerback rotation of Ferguson (12.5 tackles, 1 interception), Funk (16 tackles, 1 interception) and Jundt (7 tackles); either Pitts (39 tackles, 2 sacks), Ethridge (32 tackles, 1 sack, 1 interception) or Minshew(4 tackles, 1 interception) at inside linebackers; a combination of Hererra (12.5 tackles, 1 for loss), Noah Castillo and Sergio Lopez at the ends; and a rotation of Serrato (5 tackles), Newton, Ruiz ( 7 tackles) and Pin (13 tackles, 3 for loss) at the tackles.

“On defense, we gave up more than 40 points a game and we need to cut that in half,” Maxfield said. “In these days and times, it’s hard to gauge but Coach Barry thinks we can get that cut in half or a little more.”

Prior to the start of district action, the Dragons will attempt to hone their skills against the likes of Early, Comanche, Grape Creek and Merkel.

“Early is going to have one of the best teams they’ve had in years,” Maxfield said. “It’s a rivalry where our kids know their kids, their kids know our kids, and it’s been a good rivalry. With Comanche, Coach (Jake) Escobar is in his second year, and they’ll be much improved from last year. Grape Creek had a tremendous season last year and won district for the first time in 50 years or something like that. And Merkel’s coach is in his second year, so there’s plenty of challenges and hopefully we can stay healthy through that stretch.”

Regarding what it will take for the Dragons to make a playoff push once district rolls around, Maxfield said, “We’ve got to take care of the home games we have and obviously win a few on the road. If we can stay healthy and have some success along the way that will help a lot. But these kids will fight to the end and that’s what it’s going to take.”

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BANGS DRAGONS 2022 VARSITY FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Aug. 26	Early	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 2	Comanche	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 9	at Grape Creek	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 16	at Merkel	7:30 p.m.
Sept, 23	at De Leon*	7 p.m.
Sept. 30	OPEN
Oct. 7	Goldthwaite*#	7 p.m.
Oct. 14	at San Saba*	7 p.m.
Oct. 21	Tolar*	7 p.m.
Oct. 28	at Hamilton*	7 p.m.
Nov, 4	Coleman*	7 p.m.