BCS has Surprising Spring and All-Time Top 5
BCS Warriors working on drills during Spring Practice
Bracken Christian finished their Spring practice last week and it turned out to be a surprise party as several players jumped out of their box and seemed in step for what could be a decent season.
“If we can make stops then I think we will have a better season than last year,” Head Coach Lloyd Fields said.
BCS would have been in a much better position when they reached the playoffs last year if the defense could of been a little more stout.
“We could not make stops on defense last year,” Coach Fields continued. “We gave up too many fourth down plays in our game with Austin Hill Country and other games….those contests had a chance of changing the outcome with those stops.”
The defense will have Noah Boriack more often this season. Boriack primarily played offense. He still finished with 3 interceptions with very limited snaps.
Another interceptor will be Coy Zunker who suffered a season ending injury last year but still ended fourth in tackles last year with 60 and 3 interceptions.
“I will not let the injury I had last year hold me back for my senior year,” Zunker said with a stethoscope around his neck. “I am going to play the best that I can,”
Zunker is presently ranked 15th in tackles (103) and stands all alone in 6th place with 5 interceptions for his career on Bracken’s all-time list.
Coy Zunker was so fast he ran his number and colors off his shirt
With a decent year, Zunker could find himself in the top 10 for tackles and a decent chance of finishing second all time in interceptions. Sam Hilgendorf and Kevin Knapick both hold down that spot with 7 each.
“I think we have a good team and a lot of good athletes,” Zunker started. “We know we need to do something to carry on the legacy of BCS.”
On whether Zunker likes playing defense more than offense, “I am more excited to play defense…I would rather hit people than be hit.”
If Zunker challenges for 1st place for interceptions then BCS would certainly be hanging another State Champion Banner in their gym since that would take 24 interceptions for Zunker to pass Eli Achilles that stands alone with 28 thefts for Bracken.
Speaking of surprises, Zach Fasenmyer was also first off the lips of Coach Fields when he spoke about players that impressed last week.
“Faz, our x-backer was one of our top surprises of spring,” Coach gushed. “He came back to play with his overall work ethic…I think he missed football last year and he was starting to come on at the end of his sophomore season…He will be a surprise.”
At defensive end we will have (Gunnar) Stolhandske and (Jeff) Camp and those two will remind our fans of (Stephen) Burbank and Fish (Grant Granato), when we won state four years ago,” Coach Fields reminisced. “It will shock me if those two don’t have a good year.”
“Last year we knew what we were going to get into,” Camp camped out an answer for the difference between starting last season vs. this season. “This year we will be just as well or better than last year’s team.”
Camp was the Warriors best receiver last season on a team that just did not pass much, “I just want to contribute as much as I can and win State.”
There might be more players playing on both sides of the ball since depth is an issue this year.
Camp also talked about how a game can change on a dime when BCS lost their momentum in their last game to Sugar Land Logos, “We tell them (younger players) about that game and how the tempo of ball games changes and we have to keep pushing….pushing….pushing.”
One of the best smiles on Coach Fields face was that he did not lose anyone during spring practice and knowing players like Camp will be in his camp.
There were 13 players suited up for practice which does not give much room for injuries or other incidentals.
Do everything Jeff Camp is serious about this upcoming season
“We will have some good receivers this year,” Coach Fields threw a long one. “Jeff Camp proved his worth last season and then we had another surprise with Freshman Christian DeLeon, he has good hands.”
“It is exciting to be with a good group of guys,” Eighth Grader DeLeon said excitedly. “I just want to be a better ball player and get game time on the field.”
Based on a player that is at the end of his 8th grade year this might be a nice surprise if DeLeon can be in search of that fountain of youth and play with the knowledge of a senior.
“We are throwing the ball much better this year and that should help our offense next season,” Coach Fields said in reference to how well Sophomore QB Beene played last week.
“Brady (Beene) did not make mistakes and he executed very well,” Coach said surprisingly. “He always did the right thing and we will just have to give him more repetitions.”
“If Brady can’t play then we would give Jeff Camp the snaps,” Fields said referring to what type of back up plan would be employed if Beene was out for a play or game.
More players kept coming from Coach Fields mouth in response to surprises, “Seth Smith did a good job and we will
Christian DeLeon is one of many surprises for Coach Lloyd Fields this year
have a pretty good starting team, it will be our depth that will tell you what type of season we will have.”
Most 6-man teams are in that same predicament as depth will certainly give many of these ‘surprises’ a chance earlier than they might expect, but that will also be the fun part of Bracken Christian’s game when they suit up this coming August for another year of Friday night games.
BCS has a change on their schedule as CASA will be a road game instead of playing at home.
“We will not be home until our 4th game of the season this year,” Coach Fields calculated.
The ReSporter does not think that an away game is all that bad as BCS has a better road record than home games in their history. In fact, that first home game this year will be Bracken’s 100th game since their inaugural year in 2006.
W L Pct
Home Games 36 12 .750
Away Games 29 4 .879
Neutral Games 8 7 .571
73 23 .760
Away games will not derail a season that might have a lot of surprises.
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Bracken Warriors All-Time Top 5 for Defense & Offense Season Tackles No Yr Season Interceptions No Yr Eli Achilles 206 '10 Eli Achilles 12 '12 Eli Achilles 170 '11 Eli Achilles 9 '10 Joe Lonigro 159 '10 RJ Braune 6 '08 Grant Granato 154 '09 Eli Achilles 4 '11 Tye Sanders 153 '08 10 tied with 3 Yr Yr Career Tackles No Grad Career Interceptions No Grad Eli Achilles 620 '12 Eli Achilles 28 '12 Grant Granato 342 '10 Kevin Knapick 7 '11 Joe Lonigro 306 '10 Sam Hilgendorf 7 '13 Grady Achilles 222 '11 RJ Braune 6 '08 Sam Hilgendorf 215 '13 Grady Achilles 6 '11 Season Rushing No Yr Career Rushing No Grad Grady Achilles 2940 '10 Grady Achilles 7988 '11 Eli Achilles 2646 '12 Eli Achilles 3537 '12 Grady Achilles 2264 '09 Noah Boriack 1690 '14 Grady Achilles 1822 '11 Preston Koch 1517 '13 Noah Boriack 1690 '13 David Martinez 993 '09 Season Rush Att Yr Career Rush Attempts Att Grad Grady Achilles 211 '09 Grady Achilles 647 '11 Grady Achilles 200 '10 Eli Achilles 241 '12 Eli Achilles 177 '12 Preston Koch 171 '13 Noah Boriack 163 '13 Noah Boriack 163 '14 David Martinez 127 '09 David Martinez 136 '09 Season Rush TD No Yr Career Rush Touchdowns No Yr Grady Achilles 62 '10 Grady Achilles 164 '11 Eli Achilles 59 '12 Eli Achilles 69 '12 Grady Achilles 43 '09 Noah Boriack 30 '14 Grady Achilles 41 '11 Preston Koch 22 '13 Noah Boriack 30 '13 David Martinez 19 '09 Game Rush Yardage No Yr Game Rush Touchdowns No Yr Eli Achilles 452 '12 Eli Achilles 10 '12 Grady Achilles 389 '10 Eli Achilles 8 '12 Eli Achilles 355 '12 Grady Achilles 7 '09 Grady Achilles 340 '09 Eli Achilles 7 '12 Grady Achilles 335 '11 Grady Achilles 7 '10 Season Rec Yards No Yr Career Receiving Yards No Yr RJ Braune 1067 '08 Grant Granato 1276 '10 Grant Granato 704 '10 RJ Braune 1067 '08 Grant Granato 558 '09 Grady Achilles 673 '11 Tye Sanders 490 '08 Tye Sanders 490 '08 Davis Scott 474 '12 Davis Scott 490 '13 Career Receptions No Yr Passing Yards Career Comp Yards Grant Granato 87 '10 Eli Achilles 206 3252 RJ Braune 40 '08 Cody Blackmon 78 1600 Preston Koch 33 '13 Grady Achilles 74 1095 Tye Sanders 29 '08 Noah Boriack 40 437 Davis Scott 26 '13 Sam Hilgendorf 9 160
