GRIDIRON GLANCE ‘23: Bangs Dragons

August 18, 2023 at 7:06 am Derrick Stuckly

BANGS – Under new leadership in 2023, the Bangs Dragons look to earn a second straight playoff berth as Jason Cole takes over as head coach following a 7-5, bi-district championship campaign a year ago.

Cole, who served as offensive coordinator for the Dragons in 2022, is replacing Kyle Maxfield, who left for Austin’s Brentwood Christian after five seasons in which he guided Bangs to a 25-22 overall record with three playoff trips and a bi-district title.

Cole has spent eight years as a head football coach and athletic director at Thrall and Quanah. He posted a 35-21 record in six seasons at Thrall with five playoff berths and a pair of bi-district championships. Cole then went 8-14 in two seasons at Quanah, winning district and bi-district titles in his first year at the school.

“I’ve coached everywhere from the Panhandle to South Texas to North Texas, Cole said. “I really enjoy this area and my family and I are really proud to be in Bangs.”

Having served as an assistant at Bangs last season, Cole considers his familiarity with the players to be a huge advantage heading into the campaign.

“Kyle and I put the offense in together last year so we’re not making any big changes, we’re just adjusting to our personnel this year,” Cole said. “A lot of the offense is the same, so we were able to learn it last year and really work on it again in May and June so that gave us a leg up when practices started.”

The Dragons averaged 30 points and 322 yards – 240 rushing and 82 passing – a year ago, while yielding 28 points and 392 yards – 277 on the ground and 115 through the air.

Regarding the offensive and defensive philosophies this season, Cole said, “We lost a great running back and you can’t replace a Guy Powell and we’re not going to try to. We’re going to distribute the ball more. We’re going to distribute the carries a little bit and our quarterback is going to run the ball a little bit more this year and we’re going to throw the ball a little bit more and try and spread it out to our receivers. We’re going to try and be a little more balanced, more 50-50 on the run-pass where last year we were closer to 70-30. This year it should balance out more.”

Referring to the strengths and weaknesses of this season’s squad, Cole said, “Our strengths are we’re pretty smart and we have great attitudes. Our box on defense is pretty salty. We’ve got four starting senior defensive linemen and a couple of senior linebackers who are good football players and really tough.

“On offense we’re getting better, but our biggest weakness right now is our run blocking and we’re working hard to get better at that. My one area of concern is we’re not real deep. We don’t have a bunch of extra linemen, we don’t a bunch of extra skill guys, so we’re really hoping we stay healthy and we think we have a chance to be pretty good.”

Offensively, the Dragons welcome back a pair of starting offensive linemen in Brody Newton and Noah Pin, while Damon Kelley, Riley Garcia, and Damian Hudspeth join the unit.

Kenny Cole (979 yards, 12 TDs, 8 INTs passing; 471 yards, 6 TDs rushing) returns at quarterback while Ethan Ethridge and Skylar Minshew will receive the bulk of the carries out of the backfield.

Top receiving threats include Kade Minshew, Brayden Gatlin, Hunter Newton (12-193, 2 TDs), and Aden Jones.

On the defensive side of the ball, Newton (9 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 sack) and Pin (15 tackles, 1 fumble recovery) are also back at the tackle positions, while Sergio Lopez and Quade Angel will man the ends.

Linebackers include Ethridge (81 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 interception), Hunter Crowell, Cody Brooks, and Skylar Minshew (28 tackles).

The secondary will feature Hunter Withers and Kade Minshew at the corners, and Hunter Newton (18 tackles, 2 fumble recoveries) and Jones at the safety positions.

The Dragons kick off their season at archrival Early on Aug. 25, followed by pre-district encounters against Comanche, Grape Creek and Merkel.

“We just want to continue to improve,” Cole said of the pre-district goals. “Last year when we started the year we didn’t know if we could win, we weren’t sure. As the year went on we built our self-confidence up and this year our self-confidence is a little higher so we’re hoping to improve each week, get some wins and build to try and make the playoffs.”

The District 5-2A Division I slate features games against De Leon, Goldthwaite, San Saba, Tolar, Hamilton and Coleman. With the three other teams from the district that made the playoffs at the end of the schedule, starting fast in league play could be the key to returning to the postseason.

“You’ve got Tolar and Coleman at the top of it and Hamilton, too, they’re all ranked, but it’s not just those three,” Cole said. “Our district is pretty good from top to bottom. It was real competitive last year and we finished third but we still had some tight games that we won. We think it’s going to be really tight again this year.”

As for what it will take for the Dragons to find themselves back in the playoffs come mid-November, Cole said, “Steady improvement every week. We’re really looking to be balanced so we have to get more kids involved on defense and offense both. We’re really going to work hard on developing all the kids.”

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BANGS DRAGONS 2023 VARSITY FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Aug. 25 – at Early, 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 1 – at Comanche, 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 8 – Grape Creek# , 7 p.m.

Sept. 15 – Merkel, 7 p.m.

Sept. 22 – De Leon*, 7 p.m.

Sept. 29 – OPEN

Oct. 6 – at Goldthwaite*, 7 p.m.

Oct. 13 – San Saba*, 7 p.m.

Oct. 20 – at Tolar*, 7 p.m.

Oct. 27 – Hamilton*, 7 p.m.