GRIDIRON GLANCE: Goldthwaite Eagles

August 14, 2020 at 7:19 am Derrick Stuckly

GOLDTHWAITE – With four state championships and six title game appearances to their credit, the Goldthwaite Eagles are one of the most storied small school programs in Texas high school football history.

In recent years, however, the Eagles have gone through a rough patch, posting a combined 7-24 record over the past three seasons. Goldthwaite has also missed the playoffs each of the last two years.

Second-year head coach Keith Virdell looks to turn around the Eagles’ recent fortunes in 2020 as Goldthwaite is coming off a 2-8 campaign a year ago, which included a 1-4 league mark.

In a typical second season for a head coach, considerable strides are made in terms of preseason preparations as the coaching staff and players are more familiar with each other. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an effect on the aforementioned meshing.

“Because of COVID the planning has gone out the window,” Virdell said. “Instead of having a monthly plan it’s kind of week to week or day to day as far as planning goes. But when you get into the guys we have, the learning curve isn’t as steep as it was last year. We’re still running the same offense and the same defense so the kids aren’t completely having to learn a system. From that standpoint, we’re a lot further ahead than we were last year.”

Virdell welcomes back 11 of 20 lettermen, including seven offensive and five defensive starters, from last year’s squad.

Among the key returnees are quarterback/safety Jackson Patrick (428 rushing yards, 3 TDs; 308 passing yards; 75 tackles, 2 INTs), tight end/defensive lineman Cason Guthrie, offensive lineman/linebacker Kody Roberts (72 tackles), offensive line/defensive lineman Saul Vaquera, offensive lineman/linebacker Slade Sutherland, tight end/linebacker Mitchell Hopper, offensive lineman/linebacker Aaron Anzua, running back/linebacker Dusty Partin, and running back/defensive back Angel Morales.

“I feel like we have a better leadership corps this year,” Virdell said. “We have a good group of guys who are self-motivated enough through all the shutdowns. They kept working out, trying different ways to work out, and we had to be creative through all of that. They did a great job of keeping themselves in shape, and then when we were able to work out in the summer we had great attendance, a lot of kids showing up, a lot of participating for that so I think the guys are ready to get after it.”

Speaking of some of the returnees, Virdell said, “Jackson Patrick is our quarterback, he’s also in our secondary, so he’ll start on both sides of the ball. He’s also one of the biggest leaders on the team as well. He’ll be the main one to look at from that regard.

“Saul Vaquera is one of our returning linemen, Slade Sutherland is a returning lineman, Kody Roberts starts on offensive line and also starts at linebacker, he’s one of our two-way starters. Mitchell Hopper is one of linebackers and Cason Guthrie could possibly be a two-way starter as well.”

Goldthwaite will attempt to build momentum for the district slate as the Eagles clash with Crawford, Cross Plains, Olney, Florence and Christoval in pre-district competition.

“I expect us to have a better start than we did last year,” Virdell said. “That’s going back to the learning curve and not having to learn as much. My expectation is we get a little better each week, regardless of where we start, just as long as there’s improvement each week going into district.”

District 4-2A Division I action begins for Goldthwaite on Oct. 9, as Cisco, San Saba, Coleman, Winters, De Leon and the Eagles combine for one of the toughest Class 2A leagues in the state.

“It is a new district, but about half of it’s the same,” Virdell said. “Dave Campbell (Texas Football magazine) said we had the toughest 2A district, so we definitely have our work cut out for us.”

As for what it will take for Goldthwaite to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2017, Virdell said, “Building on last year, our keys are we have to eliminate turnovers on offense. I felt like just about everybody we played we were able to move the ball on offensively. We had a lot of self-inflicted wounds so we’re going to have to eliminate that stuff. Defensively, I felt like we’d play good defense at times and then we’d give up big plays, so we have to eliminate the big plays on defense.”

* The Goldthwaite Eagles opted not to take a team photo due to COVID-19 concerns

GOLDTHWAITE EAGLES

VARSITY FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Aug. 28 Crawford

Sept. 4 at Cross Plains

Sept. 11 Olney

Sept. 18 at Florence

Sept. 25 at Christoval

Oct. 2 OPEN

Oct. 9 San Saba*

Oct. 16 at Coleman*

Oct. 23 Winters*