 |
| District 5-4A Preview |
|
|
By Christopher Lyke
Texas HS Football Chief Editor
Coming back to Class 4A is a familiar power in Denton Ryan. Coming back to challenge Denton Ryan is a former Southlake Carroll assistant. A team looking to continue its winning ways and district dominance over that former Southlake Carroll assistant's school and the rest of the district is another Raider squad in Wichita Falls Rider. And if that storyline doesn't intrigue you enough about this district, how will Denison rebound after graduating their entire defense? And how will Denton Guyer do in its first season of varsity football?
After a two-year run in Class 5A, the Denton Ryan Raiders are back in Class 4A. As it has been in recent years, defense is a big factor in the success of the Ryan Raider program. Two of the Raiders best players will be defensive players. One is Ben Goldthorpe, who has already made a big splash with college recruiters, picked up 50 tackles and eight sacks last season. LB Nathan Uland racked in over 100 tackles and six sacks. Offensively, look for the running game to take primary focus with RB Major Herron. Herron will not be the only weapon that the Ryan Raiders have offensively. Wide receivers James Johnson and Joe Paramore will be looking to pick up the tab left by standout Justin Fenty, who is now at Baylor.
Wichita Falls has a new head coach in Travis Pride, who was an assistant at Southlake Carroll. With Pride taking over, the offense switches from a from a dominant rushing attack to a potent passing attack. The player that should benefit from the change of offense bigger than any other college prospect in the Wichita Falls metro area will be quarterback Taylor Huskisson. Huskisson, the district's offensive MVP last season, will be looking to bolster an offense that is in a much need of a facelift. But the offense is not the big strength of the Coyotes in 2006. That honor belongs to the defense. With solid size and speed up front, the Coyotes should see a big improvement in its rush defense. Key players on the line watch includes Brett Keith and James Johnson.
One team looking for revenge off last season's late regular season loss to the Coyotes is that of the Coyotes' biggest rival, Rider High. Rider in the 2006 season, comes in with a mission and a much more experienced team than last year's 8-3 squad. With WR Wesley Overstreet returning, the Raiders will still have a viable threat to continue it's air supremacy. But Overstreet will have help on the ground as well with rusher Damian Washington entering the picture. Defensively, the Raiders have DB Paul Montemayor and LB John Fisher looking to make a big impact.
There will be fierce competition fo the third and final playoff spot with Rider. Joining the frenzy will be Denison and Denton Guyer. The Denison Yellowjackets bring back star and pre-season district most valuable player Stanley Morrison at quarterback for his senior season. Morrison will have plenty of offensive experience surrounding him and solid weapons to to keep the Yellowjackets in the district playoff chase. Two key players on the offensive side to watch will be wide receivers Brian Lilly and Kevin Holzbog. On the defensive side, the Yellow jackets are extremely inexperienced and young as they graduated all eleven starters off last season's 8-5 squad. But the talent of the defense should mature rather quickly with Justin Bealle and Matt Glenn taking their respective spots at defensive end. If Denison can mature quickly on defense, there will be no reason they will not be in the middle of a decent playoff chase with the rest of the district front runners.
Denton Guyer may be in its first year as a varsity program, but don't expect these Wildcats to simply lay down and roll over to the competition. With plenty of talent already in place and very good size at various positions of the field, the Guyer Wildcats could become a very intriguing sleeper in not just the playoff race, but the district title chase as well. Two of the Wildcats top prospects includes senior tight end Mark Weber and junior quarterback Jake Witt. One of the advantages that Weber and Witt will have is a very talented, sizeable and quickly offensive line. A similar theme rests on the defensive side as the front lines, like that of the offensive line, has size, talent and quickness. In the defensive skill positions, look for Cody Marley and Spencer Wilson at linebacker to assume the leadership role. Although the WIldcats are extremely young, don't be surprised to see this group right in the middle of the district race.
The Sherman Bearcats and Denton Broncos also have their fair share of talent and will be looking to improve on last year's subpar records with the talent that is solid and hungry. The Bearcats will be turning to two-way star Taylor Dunlap to help get them back to playoff contention. The Broncos will have a huge focus on its defensive talent. Much of that talent includes LB Adam Wilde, DE Issac Cheatham and junior DB George Tovar. |
| Key Players & Team Information |
 |
1863 |
7-4 |
|
|
|
|
Pos |
Name |
Ht |
Wt |
40 |
Yr |
DE |
Ben Goldthorpe |
6'3 |
240 |
4.8 |
Sr |
RB |
Major Herron |
5'10 |
190 |
4.5 |
Jr |
LB |
Nathan Uland |
5'11 |
215 |
4.7 |
Sr |
LB |
Tony Adams |
5'11 |
210 |
4.6 |
Sr |
DB |
Eric Johnson |
5'9 |
170 |
4.5 |
Sr |
|
|
 |
1779 |
8-3 |
|
|
|
|
Pos |
Name |
Ht |
Wt |
40 |
Yr |
RB |
Damian Washington |
5'11 |
180 |
-- |
Jr |
WR |
Wesley Overstreet |
5'11 |
160 |
-- |
Sr |
OL |
Casey Bates |
6'5 |
245 |
-- |
Sr |
LB |
John Fisher |
6'0 |
190 |
-- |
Sr |
DB |
Paul Montemayor |
6'0 |
195 |
-- |
Sr |
|
|
 |
1739 |
3-8 |
|
|
|
|
Pos |
Name |
Ht |
Wt |
40 |
Yr |
QB/LB |
Taylor Dunlap |
5'9 |
170 |
4.8 |
Sr |
TE/DE |
Jeremy Gray |
6'5 |
225 |
4.9 |
Jr |
|
|
 |
1538 |
2-8 |
|
|
|
|
Pos |
Name |
Ht |
Wt |
40 |
Yr |
QB |
Reagan Wood |
6'1 |
195 |
-- |
Sr |
RB/DB |
George Tovar |
5'7 |
150 |
-- |
Jr |
WR |
Walter Coleman |
5'9 |
170 |
-- |
Sr |
DE |
Issac Cheatham |
6'1 |
210 |
-- |
Sr |
LB |
Adam Wilde |
6'1 |
205 |
-- |
Sr |
|
|
 |
1508.2 |
New |
|
|
|
|
Pos |
Name |
Ht |
Wt |
40 |
Yr |
QB |
Jake Witt |
6'1 |
172 |
4.5 |
Jr |
WR |
Matt Mese |
6'3 |
170 |
4.7 |
So |
TE |
Mark Weber |
6'5 |
215 |
4.8 |
Sr |
OL |
Kyle Clark |
6'4 |
240 |
5.0 |
So |
OL |
Andy Laney |
6'0 |
230 |
5.1 |
So |
OL |
Jess Coffey |
6'6 |
230 |
5.4 |
So |
DB |
Derek Brown |
6'1 |
180 |
4.6 |
Sr |
LB |
Cody Marley |
6'1 |
200 |
4.6 |
So |
LB |
Spencer Wilson |
6'2 |
195 |
4.6 |
So |
DL |
Cody Mansfield |
6'4 |
252 |
5.0 |
Sr |
DL |
Christian Bernard |
5'10 |
245 |
5.0 |
Jr |
|
|
 |
1493.5 |
6-4 |
|
|
|
|
Pos |
Name |
Ht |
Wt |
40 |
Yr |
QB |
Taylor Huskisson |
6'0 |
195 |
4.5 |
Sr |
RB |
Isiah Anderson |
5'11 |
165 |
4.5 |
Jr |
DL |
Brett Keith |
5'11 |
245 |
4.9 |
Sr |
DL |
Zach Cluely |
6'2 |
230 |
4.9 |
Sr |
DE |
James Johnson |
6'0 |
200 |
4.8 |
Sr |
DB |
Dillon Tucker |
6'1 |
175 |
4.7 |
Sr |
|
|
 |
1295.5 |
8-5 |
|
|
|
|
Pos |
Name |
Ht |
Wt |
40 |
Yr |
QB |
Stanley Morrison |
5'10 |
165 |
4.4 |
Sr |
WR/DB |
Kevin Holzbog |
5'11 |
175 |
4.5 |
Sr |
WR/LB |
Brian Lilly |
6'0 |
185 |
4.6 |
Jr |
OL/DE |
Matt Glenn |
6'2 |
240 |
5.0 |
Sr |
DE |
Justin Bealle |
6'0 |
210 |
4.9 |
Sr |
WR/QB |
Eric Chavez |
6'0 |
175 |
4.7 |
Jr |
WR/QB |
Austin Greenmeyer |
6'0 |
170 |
4.7 |
Jr |
DL/OL |
Carlos Torres |
6'0 |
220 |
5.1 |
Jr |
DE |
Taylor Barnett |
6'2 |
190 |
4.9 |
Jr |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Projected Finish |
1 |
Denton Ryan |
2 |
Wichita Falls |
3 |
WF Rider |
4 |
Denison |
5 |
Denton Guyer |
6 |
Sherman |
7 |
Denton |
|
| Pre-Season Awards |
District Darkhorse |
Denton Guyer |
District MVP |
Stanley Morrison
Denison |
Offensive MVP |
Taylor Huskisson
Wichita Falls |
Defensive MVP |
Ben Goldthorpe
Denton Ryan |
Diamond In The Rough |
Mark Weber
Denton Guyer |
|
| 2005 Records |
| Denton Ryan |
7-4 |
| WF Rider |
8-3 |
| Sherman |
3-8 |
| Denton |
2-8 |
| Denton Guyer |
New |
| Wichita Falls |
6-4 |
| Denison |
8-5 |
|
| Recruiting Key |
| THSF Top 200 Player |
| Top '07 Prospect |
| Top '08 Prospect |
| Top '09 Prospect |
|
|
