GRIDIRON GLANCE: Brookesmith Mustangs

August 18, 2020 at 7:51 am Derrick Stuckly

BROOKESMITH – The Brookesmith Mustangs are in the midst of their most successful football run in program history, still a district championship continues to elude them. Their bid for their first district crown since 1985 continues, but a familiar foe – the Blanket Tigers – again stand in the way.

Brookesmith is coming off a 9-2 campaign, its best since 1996, but is still seeking its first postseason victory since 1955. The Mustangs have advanced to the postseason just nine times, including the last four seasons.

Fourth-year head coach Scott Edmondson, who was guided the Mustangs to a 19-13 record during his tenure, returns six of 13 lettermen from last year’s squad. Among them is linebacker Avery Williford is the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine preseason defensive player of the year for District 15-A Division II.

“Avery Williford, Johnathan Willoughby and Randall Williams are our three returning starters on both sides of the ball and they should be big contributors,” Edmondson said. “We’ve got the three seniors and three juniors coming back, so we have a lot of experience. We’re expecting to make the playoffs again, that’s our goal, and we expect to compete with Blanket again for the district championship.”

The Mustangs’ numbers are lower this year than they have been in several seasons, while Edmondson hoping to reach double figures on the roster before the season opener.

“Other than numbers, there’s not going to be a lot of difference from last year,” Edmondson said. “We lost our quarterback and our center, so that dynamic is something we’ll have to work on and that will get better with time.”

Among the greatest strengths for the Mustangs this season is the overall team speed.

“We’ve got enough speed that we can stay with most people,” Edmondson said. “We’re hoping to utilize that as best we can in whatever sets we put in. We have to take advantage of that because that’s our big strength.”

The Mustangs should be battle-tested by the time District 15-A Division II action arrives as Brookesmith opens the season on a Thursday night at Veribest, then tangles with Strawn, Evant, Santa Anna, Blackwell and Bluff Dale.

“I would say it’s a fairly difficult schedule with Strawn, Evant and Blackwell, that’s about as tough as you can get at our level right now,” Edmondson said. “Plus there’s Santa Anna, Veribest, and Bluff Dale so I think it’s going to be a pretty challenging preseason considering our low numbers. We have to make sure we stay healthy.”

The showdown with Blanket takes place on the Mustangs’ home turf Oct. 30, but Brookesmith must first handle Panther Creek and Rising Star to set the stage. Then, a trip to Sidney awaits in the regular season finale.

“We traded Mullin for Panther Creek, and Panther Creek should be better this year, but I expect Blanket will be the top dog again to try and beat,” Edmondson said. “The biggest key for us is with this (COVID) stuff that’s going on right now, missing one scrimmage, everybody is going to be in the same boat. We’re going to wind up being a week behind so we’re going to have to pick that pace up a little faster than normal. Our learning curve is going to have to speed up more than normal.”

As for how good the Mustangs could be this season, Edmondson said, “I think we can be pretty good honestly. We lost a couple of key spots, other than that we have the same group for the most part. We have the potential to go two or three rounds deep if we realize about halfway through the season that we’re just as good as we were last year. Coming off the loss of our spread back last year, everybody knew he was our go-to guy and I think we have some kids that are just as good, but didn’t have the opportunities.”

BROOKESMITH MUSTANGS

VARSITY FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Aug. 27 at Veribest

Sept. 4 Strawn

Sept. 11 at Evant

Sept. 18 at Santa Anna

Sept. 25 Blackwell

Oct. 2 Bluff Dale

Oct. 9 OPEN

Oct. 16 Panther Creek*

Oct. 23 at Rising Star*

Oct. 30 Blanket*