Wildcat Football opens against Crowley Friday at home

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The Kennedale Wildcats kick off the 2015 season against the 5A Crowley Eagles this Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at home in Wildcat Stadium.{{more}}
 
Back story…
 
The Eagles are coming off a 5-5 (3-4 in District 8-5A) season. The Wildcats begin the year on the heels of a historical season in 2014, going undefeated for the first time in school history at 10-0 and finishing the year at 12-1.
 
Both teams have something to prove this year. For Crowley, it is moving out of the middle of the pack in a district that features the 2014 state champions Aledo and getting back into the playoffs. For Kennedale, it is continuing the program?s success and pushing deeper into the playoffs.
 
Crowley….
 
The Crowley Eagles are picked to finish 4th in a strong eight team district. Picked in first place is Aledo followed by Everman and then Burleson. The district also includes Cleburne, Granbury, Joshua and Burleson Centennial. The Eagles have 6 returning on defense and 6 on offense.
 
On offense the Eagles will miss their top passer and rusher QB Zach Copple, and top receiver Adam Aguirre. They should be strong on the line on both sides of the ball and they have several returners in the offensive backfield to key the running game. Key players: FS Kenneth Coleman (5-11, 175); WR Dashane Sanders (5-10, 170); DE De?monte Washington (6-4, 240); C Doug Lavender (6-0, 235); LB Zavayon Jackson (6-0, 205); DB Andre Mulinax (5-10, 170).
 
Crowley last year recorded 40 touchdowns on 3,179 yards with a balanced offense, averaging 176.3 passing and 141.6 rushing per game.
 
Kennedale…
 

Kennedale has started off the season playing Crowley the last three years, winning 2 of 3. These games have been high octane affairs with the Cats winning 42-38 in 2012, losing a heart stopper 42-41 in 2013 and winning big last year by a score of 56-20.

Kennedale is primarily a

running team, racking up 5,533 yards last year

Kennedale runs the ball and they don?t care who knows. If they can?t run through you, they will run around you, but 7 out of 8 times they are going to make yardage. Last year the Cats averaged 425.16 yards rushing (8.9 per carry) and just 31.9 yards passing per game. Two years ago it was 405.8 rushing per game (8.16 per carry) and 28.6 passing yards per game. Without D1 player Juwan Washington (San Diego State) this year the yards may be harder to get but Head Coach Richard Barrett is confident in his players.

But he is cautious about this first game. The backfield has not be together in any of the scrimmages due to various injuries and rehab. Friday night according to Barrett, ?Everyone is good to go.? This year the backfield includes Kaiser McGlothen (Sr) at quarterback, running backs Quardraiz Wadley (Sr) and Dailyn Wells (Sr) and Cody Gillespie (Jr) wingback.
 
A key to any offense is the line and Barrett has liked what he has seen. The line is anchored by Johnny Zielinski (Sr), Andrew Flanagan (So), Nic Stroud (Jr), Colton Hall (Jr) and Tyler Alphin (Jr).
 

Defensively according to Barrett ?We should be strong. We got some good looks during scrimmages to help us with Crowley. Crowley runs the spread and that is what we saw during our scrimmages. Plus, in the scrimmage with Crandall, we saw a lot of things that Crowley does offensively.?

Some players the Cats

are counting on this season (l-r) Cody Gillespie, Kasier McGlothen, Baron

Browning and Quardriaz Wadley (Action

Shots by Staci Otts)

 
Some of the key players on defense this year will be Safety Barron Browning (Jr), Defensive End Stephone Jackson (Jr) and Defensive lineman Gejamar Daniels (Jr).
 
Kennedale never talks about rebuilding. For Barrett it is just about reloading and going at it again. There are others who agree, in the pre-season AP statewide poll for Class 4A, Kennedale is ranked #10. The Texas High School Coaches poll places the Cats at #2 in Class 4A Region II.
 
?We are going to be in every game, I don?t care who it is,? states Barrett.
 
Friday night you can forget all the polls and the playoffs. The night is about two non-district teams trying to put it together for the first time after several weeks of practice and scrimmage.
 
The one who does it best and consistently, takes home the game ball.
 

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