Freestone County athletes begin two-a-day training…
ABOVE: Running the new Eagle team through their daily drills are the superlative coaching staff of Fairfield High School, as Two-a-Days gets started this week. (Photo by Karen E. Leidy)
The summertime breeze will bring about the sound of whistles and water cans as teams prepare for the 2016 football campaign. The local teams have new districts and high hopes for the season ahead.
EAGLES
The Fairfield Eagles advanced a couple of rounds in the 2015 edition. Head coach and athletic director John Bachtel will lead the Eagles to potentially another postseason bid and a deep run if the bracket works out for them.
The Eagles will miss Charles Oliver, heading onto the practice fields at Texas A & M, but bring a few starters at key positions. The 2016 version of the Fairfield Eagles will be young but that method has worked well for the maroon and gold with a continuous streak of playoff appearances.
Kameron Ransom and Tarrence Rischer will return to the Eagle lineup and play key roles on both sides of the ball. Zac Barlow and Akeem Jackson are multi-sport players and should factor in the skill positions. The Eagles have always had solid lines on both offensive and defensive fronts and should be able to perform well.
After two scrimmages, the Eagles head straight to the frying pan heat of Central Texas football. They will travel to Bellmead to take on the Division I champion LaVega Pirates on August 26. The home opener will be the following week against the Athens Hornets. They will be on the road the next two weeks to Palestine and Rusk before returning home to battle the China Spring Cougars to conclude the non-district schedule.
Fairfield will take the week of September 30 off and open the district schedule at home against Salado, a new opponent as a result of bi-ennienal realignment and the annual homecoming game. They will travel to Robinson and return home against Waco Connally over the next two weeks. The will renew the rivalry against the Mexia Blackcats on October 28 and finish the regular season on the road against the Lorena Leopards.
LIONS
Teague Head Coach and athletic director Donnie Osborn has stabilized a Teague Lion program that has expectations high each year. The last couple of years the Lions have had to answer questions about replacing big names with new personnel. The only question Teague needs to answer now is how far can the program continue to rise?
The Lions have been tripped up by the Cameron Yoemen the last two years while the Yoemen have advanced to the state final, one of those a Cameron win. The Lions look to Tayvis Coleman and Jaylen Davis to spark the Lion offense to those expected levels of production. Tyrese Heard and Antonio Heard will return to the Lions as key players on both sides of the ball. Cooper Jones returns as one of the leading tacklers on a team that has five starters coming back from 2015.
Teague will open the 2016 campaign with a tough road test against the Caldwell Hornets. Their home opener is September 2nd against the Mexia Blackcats. They will return to a playoff site from last season when they head to Crusader Stadium at the University of Mary Hardin Baylor to take on the Dublin Lions.
The Lions have an open week on September 16 and open district play the following week at West, a team Teague eliminated in the playoffs last season. They will have home games against Eustace and Elkhart and then travel to Whitney to take on the Wildcats on October 14. Teague will take on the Groesbeck Goats for the first time in a long while as district foes. They will take on the Malakoff Tigers on the road in the last week of October in what has been the district title game the last two seasons. The Lions finish the regular season with a home game against Palestine Westwood.
BULLDOGS
The Wortham Bulldogs have not been to the playoffs since 2011 but they have their sites set for the postseason in a new district and new direction for those district games.
The Bulldogs became road warriors when the alignment results put them in a district that extends almost to the Louisiana state border. The closest district opponent is Grapeland, a mere 92 mile drive.
Wortham returns eight starters on both sides of the ball and there were a number of underclassmen that were put into key roles due to injuries. Jayce Black and Cole Shivers are multi-sports stars that should extend defenses in the passing game. Ethan McCoslin and Zach Jones return to the Bulldog backfield as key players that played the majority of snaps last season.
Logan Salisbury, Ryan McDaniel, and Hunter Turner will anchor an offensive that has improved each of the last three seasons and Stephon Ester will return to the backfield following an injury last season.
The Bulldogs will face a district schedule that is new to everyone. Wortham has played five games previously against their district foes and all five games were playoff games and one of them a win against Mount Enterprise.
Wortham will open the season on the road at Itasca and host Cayuga the next week in their home opener behind the walls in Bulldog Stadium. They will take to the road the next two weeks in Rosebud-Lott and Dawson, a renewal of the longest rivalry and the blue and white Bulldogs have won five straight meetings. They return home to conclude the non-district schedule with a game against the Granger Lions, the first ever meeting between the two schools.
After the September 30 open date, the Bulldogs open the district season with a long road trip to take on the Timpson Bears, again a first meeting with them. They return home to take on the Tenaha Tigers. The Bulldogs are on the road for the next two weeks with a Saturday night game against the Mount Enterprise Wildcats on October 22. They take that aforementioned 92 mile trip to take on the Grapeland Sandies on October 28 and have homecoming on November 4th against the Overton Mustangs to conclude the regular season.
BLACKCATS
The Mexia Blackcats also went two rounds deep in the 2015 season and expect to battle for top honors this season. Head Coach Lamonte Chambers returns four starter on each side of the ball but have three year starter Jaylen Gipson back for his senior year in a potent Blackcat offense.
Mexia opens the season at home against the Athens Hornets and take to the road against familiar foes, Teague and Groesbeck, the battle of the river no longer a district game. They host the Division I champ Lavega on September 16 and travel to Caldwell to close out the non-district schedule.
They open district play at home against Lorena and then travel to Waco to take on the Conally Cadets. They host Salado for homecoming and then travel to Fairfield before returning home to battle the Robinson Rockets in the regular season finale.
PANTHERS
The Oakwood Panthers hope a return to the playoffs is in the cards for the 2016 version. They will return 13 lettermen to the sidelines and the Panther coaching staff are hoping that the experience will lead them to the postseason.
The open the season on the road against Zephyr and then will host the Covington Owls in the season home opener the following week. They will travel to Chester and Coolidge to battle a pair of Yellowjackets and then host the Waco Methodist Children’s Home. The Panthers will take on the Abbott Panthers at home on September 30 and travel to Jonesboro prior to the open week, which is October 14. The district season opens on October 21 on the road against the Mount Calm Panthers and home against Milford. The Panthers finish the regular season on the road in Trinidad to take on the Trojans.
The season heats up like the summer this week so go out and catch your favorite team on the practice field and catch every touchdown and turnover here in the pages of the Freestone County Times.
