San Angelo Central football team faces season-opening test at Killeen Shoemaker

Facing a speedy Killeen Shoemaker team on the road in the season opener will provide a strong challenge for the San Angelo Central High School football team Friday night.

Central is coming off a 4-7 overall finish and a 2-4 showing in District 2-6A last year in Kevin Crane's first season as head coach. The Bobcats were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

Shoemaker went 3-6 overall and 2-5 in 12-6A (sixth place), but the Grey Wolves were a young team in 2021.

Kickoff for Friday's showdown is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Leo Buckley Stadium. It will be carried live on KIXY 94.7-FM.

"We're really excited," Crane said. "There's so much hard work that goes on to get to this point, whether it's offseason, summer and camp. You put in so much work to get to this point and now the fun gets to happen.

"It's a lot of fun to play on a Friday night, especially here in the state of Texas and here at San Angelo Central. Obviously, Shoemaker's a really good program and a really good football team, so we've got our work cut out for us there. But we're excited for the opportunity."

Central shook off Shoemaker 43-28 at home last year.

"They were a young team last year, so they had a bunch of younger guys up on their varsity and a bunch of younger guys playing and a lot of those guys are back," Crane said. "I think it's seven back on offense and eight back on defense.

"Overall, they've got really good team speed. They're fast on offense and fast on defense. It presents a big challenge when a team's really fast. We've got to execute our game plan to have a chance to win."

The last time they traveled to Killeen in 2020, the Bobcats were blown out 61-35.

Central tuned up for the season with a scrimmage at home against Lubbock Coronado last Thursday.

"We did some good things and we had a lot of bright spots," Crane said. "Offensively, I thought we moved the ball pretty consistently all game. In the control portion, obviously, we ran out of time a few times and didn't score as many times as we'd like to. But we moved the ball really well.

"When we went to the live quarters, we were able to score a few more points. Offensively, it's just continuing to work and continuing to improve. We've got to clean up some of the turnovers. Those things are always on your mind and those things are always troublesome."

On the other side of the ball, the Bobcats have things that need to be cleaned up as well.

"Defensively, we did some good things," Crane said. "The thing we've got to improve on is we can't give up the big plays. We gave up too many big plays against Coronado. Obviously, they had good team speed, but Shoemaker will, too.

"We've got to do a better job of keeping the ball in front of us and taking better pursuit angles and not allowing those big plays."

Central senior quarterback Tyler Hill is entering his second season as the starter in the Bobcats' spread offense.

"He's done well," Crane said of his trigger man. "He's working hard and being a good teammate and all those kinds of things. Obviously, in the scrimmage the other night he did some good things. He threw the ball pretty well and pretty accurately.

"We're always working to improve our accuracy and we're always working to get better. But we're excited to see him play and watch him lead us. Obviously, that's such an important position in the game of football at any level. You're not going to win games consistently if you don't have a really good quarterback."

The Bobcats have a lot of senior leadership at the receiver positions, including Jaedyn Gipson, Jacob English, Cedric Fuentes, Keevon Rice, Ben Imler (the backup QB) and Keegan McPherson.

Hill was Central's leading rusher last season. Juniors Tyree Brawley (a "bruiser-type guy") and Jayvion Robinson (a "faster-type kid") will take some of the pressure off their QB.

On the offensive line, the Bobcats will have as many as four seniors playing at once. A sophomore tackle and a junior center will also rotate in.

Defensively, senior middle linebacker Darius Floyd will be counted on heavily after spending a lot of time at fullback last year.

"Hopefully he's going to solidify the middle for us," Crane said. "He's such a big, strong kid. We've got high hopes for him this season. I think he'll do a great job in the middle for us.

"Up front on the defensive line, (senior) Cadin Pizzola really had a good scrimmage. He was a defensive end for us last year and we moved him inside to tackle, and he did some really good things, so we're excited about him. Evan Arnold is our will linebacker. He's got some length. He's rangy and really a smart kid. We're hoping to see him progress throughout the year and do some really good things."

Other players who will rotate in and out on the D-line will be junior Elijah Dunson, senior James Burney, junior Brayden Hymas and senior Ashton Williams.

Senior Jacoby Yates will lead the way for the cornerbacks, sharing time with fellow seniors Luke Gould and D'Andrae Young (who came over from the basketball team).

The safeties include seniors Jacob Saldivar, Austin Johnson and Connor Moriarty, and sophomore Colter Farmer.

Crane says the Bobcats have put in a lot of work with their special-teams units.

"We've got a couple of kickers," the Central coach said. "(Junior) Bryan Parra will be doing a lot of the kicking off. (Senior) Chase Miller will be doing a lot of the PAT, field-goal stuff. And Tyler Hill's our punter."

This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: San Angelo Central open 2022 football season at Killeen Shoemaker