Ozona Lions hope to create winning formula in 2022
OZONA – Going into their third vastly different district in three years of UIL biennial alignments and with more juniors on the roster than seniors, the Ozona High School football team is facing a lot of unknown in 2022.
One thing the Lions believe they can count on is each other.
“They begged all summer,” said third-year head coach Jarryd Taylor, who created a player poll after many requests for a midnight practice to open two-a-days this year. “It was unanimous. They weren’t messing around.”
The Lions, playing for a school a little more than an hour’s drive southwest of San Angelo, has been aligned in the recent past into districts with a mix of far-flung teams from Mason and Johnson City to Hawley and Stamford.
For the next two years anyway, the Lions will play a (true) West Texas mix of Sonora, Reagan County, Christoval and Forsan for District 3-2A Division I play. Anthony, in far West Texas, is a third 3A move-down in the new district.
“It’s kind of a hodge-podge,” said Taylor, an Ozona native himself. “It was pretty much what we were expecting once we knew we were going to be in 2A. I don’t know what it all looks like on paper. We don’t look great on paper right now, but we’re OK with that.”
Returning just three starters from last year’s team that notched a 5-6 record and fell in the first round of the playoffs, Ozona hasn’t turned any heads for preseason predictors. But the coaches and players alike view the vacuum as a place to build a true team.
“We want to focus on improving the team,” said junior linebacker Rigo Treto, who was an all-district selection last year and part of a regional champion relay team in the spring. “We want a district championship but (also) for our team, as a whole, to get better. We have a lot of chemistry.”
Treto and fellow juniors Dusty Smith and Robert Barrera lead the core class of the Ozona program, one that Taylor started coaching when they were freshmen in 2020.
“There’s a bit of a different atmosphere just this year, compared to the last two,” the coach said. “They’ve been very excited but really, good friends with each other. And that’s always a big benefit, when they just genuinely like each other. They seem to play harder for each other. I’ve seen it from the summer and to our practices right now: they’re here to play for each other.”
“This is the first year in a while where the juniors outnumbered the seniors, but it’s also the first year where we have a group of kids who all have the same mindset,” said Smith, who is expected to be a playmaker on both sides of the ball, after losing part of last season to injury.
Smith was also a part of the Lions' state-qualifying relay, along with Treto.
“We’re so young, but we’ve had a lot of opportunities to get to know each other and to get that chemistry there,” Treto added.
In addition to Treto and Smith, Ozona will lean on sophomore Michael Daniels, said Taylor, who called them Ozona’s “three-headed monster” at the skill positions.
Treto, a 5-foot-9, 170-pound linebacker who logged 110 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, three sacks and two forced fumbles last year, along with Smith and Daniels could be used in a variety of ways in the offensive backfield or perhaps as pass-catching options. All have good speed.
Along the line, Barrera was an all-district performer last year in addition to Michael Luna, a senior.
Other returners include sophomore quarterback Hudson Fowler (6-4, 190), seniors Logan Thompson and Max Everett, and juniors Matthew Daniels, Josh Camarillo and Bernie Blanco.
For the first time since Taylor stepped on campus, the football players (about 50) in the boys athletics program outnumber the group of athletes (about 30) who do not play football.
“Having the bodies out there has been great, honestly,” said the coach, who pointed out that of 80 male athletes at Ozona only 38 were in the football program when he arrived. "That just didn't sit well with me, not in small-town West Texas.
“I think the biggest thing is … finding out who our players are and getting them in the right positions,” Taylor said. “I think it will take a few games before it really gets worked out and we’ve got everybody exactly where we need them to bring success.”
The excitement of the juniors led to the first midnight practice since Taylor arrived, and there were fans and bells and whistles and booming stereos at Lion Stadium to open football season in the wee hours of Aug. 1. They're looking forward to playing Sonora and Reagan County in district games, not simply rivalry games among neighboring towns.
"We've seen them, we know what they're capable of," Treto said. "The hype's going to be real for those games."
Smith said his team is looking forward to the challenge.
“It’s more challenging, but at the same time, it’s kind of fun,” he said. “We’re kinda going in as underdogs and nobody is expecting much of us, but I think if we can get out there and prove everybody wrong, it would be pretty cool.”
Ozona Lions
District: 3-2A Division I
Head coach: Jarryd Taylor (12-10; all at Ozona)
Last year’s record: 5-6, 3-2 district
Last district title/playoff appearance: 2016/2021
Enrollment: 234
Stadium: Lion Stadium
Returning lettermen: 16
Returning off./def. starters: 3/3
Base offense: Spread
Base defense: 3-4
Team strength: Speed
Team weakness: Inexperience
Players to watch
QB/DB Dusty Smith, RB/LB Rigo Treto, OL/DL Robert Barrera, WR/DB Matthew Daniels, QB/DL Hudson Fowler, WR/DB Michael Daniels
2022 schedule
Date Opponent
Aug. 26 San Angelo TLCA
Sept. 2 at Wink
Sept. 9 at Mason
Sept. 16 Grape Creek
Sept. 23 at Miles
Oct. 7 Sonora*
Oct. 14 at Christoval*
Oct. 21 Reagan County*
Oct. 28 at Forsan*
Nov. 4 Anthony*
*District game
2021 results
Sonora L 20-32
Wink L 26-32
Reagan County L 12-14
Menard W 70-6
Brady W 28-14
Johnson City L 13-30
Center Point W 53-6
Brackettville W 28-14
Harper W 40-0
Mason L 22-53
Ganado L 18-68
This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: Ozona Lions hope to piece together chemistry in 2022 football season
