GRIDIRON GLANCE: Comanche Indians

August 12, 2020 at 8:15 am Derrick Stuckly

COMANCHE – The Comanche Indians were denied a fourth consecutive district championship in 2019, but with a solid nucleus returning in 2020 head coach Stephen Hermesmeyer’s squad could be in line to hoist another gold ball at the end of the regular season.

The Indians bring back 20 of 28 lettermen, including seven offensive and eight defensive starters, from a 5-6 playoff team a year ago – the seventh straight Comanche squad to reach the postseason.

But the battle for the District 5-3A Division II championship won’t be easy with Eastland, Jacksboro, Dublin, Millsap and Merkel all in the fray.

“It’s probably going to be as tough of a district that we’ve been in since I’ve been here,” said Hermesmeyer, who owns a 78-60 career record and a 53-39 mark entering his ninth years with the Indians. “You have a Division I quarterback in (Behren) Morton at Eastland, and they have other pieces to go along with him, plus they’re coming down from big school 3A. Jacksboro returns a whole bunch and they were our district champion last year. Dublin will be rebuilding but (Coach Bob) Cervetto always finds a way to get some people out and play good ball. Merkel hired a guy whose been in the semifinals the last three or four years as a coach, Britt Hart, and he’ll have the Badgers ready to roll. Then you have Millsap, and their JV kicked our lungs in. Everybody is going to be good, it’s going to be a dogfight.”

With the bulk of last year’s team returning, senior leadership is among Comanche’s greatest strengths.

“We’ve got some kids that came back on both sides of the ball that have played a lot,” Hermesmeyer said. “We’re hoping that can carry us over and leads to us being a little more relaxed on Friday nights early in the season, and being able to execute offensively and defensively. That leadership in the senior class is really big.”

Among the key returnees are linemen Brandon Kennedy and Christian Holmes, tight ends Matthew Gonzales and Cash Cook, and skill players Bryce Hermesmeyer, Logan Wilkerson, Luke Wilson, and Oscar Rios.

“It’s hard to pinpoint one or two guys, but I feel like our offensive line should be much improved from last year,” Hermesmeyer said. “We’ve Brandon Kennedy back who started last year. We’ve got a kid named Christian Holmes that started on the defensive side of the ball that’ll start up front for us this year. We’ve got good skill guys that we moved to tight end, Matthew Gonzales and Cash Cook, and we feel like that will be a big advantage for us. Our leading returning guys as far as stats go are Bryce Hermesmeyer, Logan Wilkerson, Luke Wilson, and Oscar Rios had some yards. We return all of of our offensive production from last year so that’s a big positive.”

Comanche kicks off its slate with pre-district encounters at Mason, at home against Brady and Early, on the road at Tolar, then Cisco visits.

As for what Hermesmeyer hopes to see from the Indians in the first five games, he said, “Just improvement each day and playing hard. A few years ago we got to a point where we were known for playing extremely hard on Friday night. Not that we didn’t play extremely hard last year, I just felt at times we didn’t play four quarters real hard. We have to get back to playing 48 minutes as hard as we can play, be able to execute on offense and keep the ball away from people.”

The district opener is Oct. 9 at Dublin followed by a home game with Eastland, road trips to Millsap and Jacksboro and the home and regular season finale against Merkel.

Regarding the keys for Comanche in its bid to reclaim a district championship, Hermesmeyer said, “This is going to be different than any other year. Just keep the attitude right and understand it’s a marathon and not a sprint this year. To get to district, it’s a ways away so we have time to get things worked out and all we can do is improve each day.”

COMANCHE INDIANS

VARSITY FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Aug. 28 at Mason

Sept. 4 Brady

Sept. 11 Early

Sept. 18 at Tolar

Sept. 25 Cisco

Oct. 2 OPEN

Oct. 9 at Dublin*

Oct. 16 Eastland*

Oct. 23 at Millsap*

Oct. 30 at Jacksboro*