Hurt by graduation, Maud gets back up to speed
MAUD, Texas—After playing two rounds into the playoffs last year with a senior-laden team, Maud head coach and athletic director Allen Cross immediately started preparations to get this year’s group up to speed.
The Cardinals lost half of their roster, including eight starters on either side of ball.
“We did lose a huge senior class, with a lot of talent; they were a good group who’ve been successful in several sports,” Cross said. “We’ve got a good group of juniors and good group of seniors, but we’ve only got six seniors. When football was over last year, we really pushed to get as many kids ready in the weight room, with the running and with the speed that we would be well-rounded as a team, not just a group of individuals who had to make the plays.
“We’ve put the team concept really during track and field season, and we got everybody
to buy into it: everybody’s got to get faster, everybody’s got to get stronger, and this team will have more kids involved in that team effort.”
The players’ responses have been positive.
“The response has been unbelievable,” Cross said. “We took 11 kids to the regional track meet, six kids to regional powerlifting, and this is still with these kids being regional finalists in baseball. We did 7-on-7 in New Boston and had 15-20 kids show up every week and participate. And during summer workouts, for a small school, we had between 70-90 kids, combined boys and girls, everyday. It’s been a whole school buying into, ‘everybody’s gotta to be a player, everybody’s gotta contribute.’
“From Day 1 we’re going to talk about winning games, how to win games and our goal is to win and progress in the playoffs.”
Maud moves into 9-2A, Div. II against Clarksville, Dallas Gateway, Cumby and Detroit. The Cardinals have expectations to win against tough competition.
“We’re thinking district championship,” the coach said. “We went back to a more traditional district for Maud, with Maud and Cumby. Dallas Gateway is a new one, but Clarksville we play in every other sport, so we’re very familiar with them. Our goal is to survive the non-district; it’s tough to get people to play because of the location. You have to travel and have to play some bigger schools.
“We need to be healthy when we get to district, we want to win a district championship and take some momentum into the playoffs because in our region you’ve got Bremond and Tenaha, which will probably be top three in the state in the first rankings.”
Cross sees good leadership in the captains on the field for both sides of the ball.
Gage Jones (6-0, 190) was a starting linebacker and receiver for the Cardinals last season, moving to quarterback for Game 12 after an injury to Triston Carlow.
“Jones will step into the role of quarterback, and he has be the leader on offense,” Cross said. “He’s one of our hardest working kids. dedicated, smart and tough—everything you want in that quarterback position.
“Defensively, with the teams we play, you’ve got to have a guy at the middle linebacker position who can take charge, go downhill and make contact,” Cross added. “Chris Davis is a kid who has worked himself into that spot. He wanted to transition from defensive lineman to linebacker and has worked his tail off.”
Davis (5-11, 2-5) was a regional qualifier in the 200 meters in the spring, and lineman Alex Sultz (6-1, 280) goes both ways for the Cardinals.
“Alex is a junior and has started since he was a freshman,” Cross said. “He’s very talented and a very hard-working kid. He’s going to have to take that young offensive line and young defensive line and be the general for those guys.”
In the backfield, along side
Jones, will be seniors fullback Brennen Minter (5-8, 170) and running back Markese Conkleton (5-10, 190).
“Now that Markese is finally a senior, he’s got to be the man; he will be one of the best athletes on the field against anybody we play,” Cross said. “He should be able to use his strength and speed, and we should be able to hand him the ball 30 times a game. And he will line up at free safety and should be able to dominate the defensive side.”
Junior running back Cade Prince (5-8, 160) is recovering from offseason surgery and could be back midseason.
Davis is back on the offensive line, and James Berry (5-8, 220) and Zach Hilton (5-10, 240) are returning lettermen.
“Berry will go out and fill a role for us up front,” Cross said. “Hilton saw some playing time last year. After that it’s going to have to be sophomore or freshman that have to step in and be a lineman for us. Brock Foster is a sophomore who could help us on the offensive line, and we’ve got four good freshman who’ve known since their season ended last year that there was a chance they could be playing varsity football this season. And they’ve worked hard and put time in over the summer.”
R. J. Bailey (5-6, 165), Jordan Cruetz (5-10, 175) and Patrick Doyle (5-10, 170) were lettermen last season and will help fill the vacant receiving positions.
“We’ll mostly be out of run sets, so we won’t rely heavily on our receiving,” Cross said. “We’ve got four or five kids who rotate at receiver. R. J. Bailey is a kid who can cause some teams some problems. Cruets is more of a physical, blocking receiver and we’ll move him around in multiple roles.”
Austin Edge (5-11, 190) played at Maud his sophomore year, moved away and then came back, but he missed last season due to being ineligible from transferring. He is back for his senior year.
“Edge is a kid we can play at receiver, fullback and move around to multiple positions on defense, also,” the coach said. “We’re asking multiple kids to play a couple of positions and be ready to go wherever we may need them. We have some of the same kids playing both sides of the ball, and that’s one of the selling points to those younger kids of someone stepping up and filling those roles.”
Brandon Allison (5-10, 180) is a tight end and linebacker for the Cardinals.
Jones, Allison, Davis and Edge are the linebacking corps. for Maud.
“We’ll keep them rotated, and kids will learn multiple linebacking positions,” Cross said. “The D-line are a lot of the same kids from offense, but Cruetz is a receiver who plays defensive end. Minter is a fullback and defensive end. It’s not just lineman having to go the whole time.”
Bailey and Doyle will play the cornerback spots for the Cardinals.
“We’ve got some good freshman who’ve known they may get the chance they could play varsity this year,” the coach added. “Clarksville and Gateway will have tremendous speed and tremendous athletes. Two of our last three weeks are against those two schools.
“Detroit is very similar to us, and that’s going to be a physical, tough game. There isn’t anybody in district that you can take a week off; you’ve got to show up and play every game. You just hope your kids stay healthy and all the work you put in during the offseason pays off.”