Wildcats hoping for special 2021 season

After 2020 saw Archer City win its first playoff game in over a decade, the Wildcats and coach Shad Hanna hope big things are in store for this season.

“When I first got here, I was trying to figure out how to change the culture,” Hanna said. “The locker room is a lot better than it was last year. One thing we changed up is we moved our seniors’ lockers. We noticed in the past that the seniors typically gravitated toward each other. We saw that problem last year. This year we spread them out where it goes sophomore, junior, senior, sophomore, junior, senior or as close to that as we can get. It’s really helped the culture. There’s some better leadership going on in there. I’ve seen some good things. We need to get into school and get into a routine and everything will be good.”

Another benefit of last season’s success is more players wanting to play under Friday night lights. Last year, Archer City did not have enough players to field a varsity and a JV. This year, underclassmen will have the opportunity to get valuable playing time and reps with a JV squad.

“The tough part is having 21 on varsity and filling all those special team spots and those kinds of things to make sure you still have guys that are fresh,” Hanna added. “Everybody that we were expecting to show up showed up. Guys that we didn’t know were going to show up showed up. We’ve got good numbers. Everyone’s excited. We’ve had great practices.”

Offensively, the high-flying passing attack by the Wildcats should be more potent in 2021 with the return of the area’s leading passer in senior quarterback Ty Bates.

Bates accounted for 36 touchdowns and 2,824 yards of total offense as a junior. He completed 180 of 340 passes for 2,380 yards through the air with 22 touchdown passes while running for 444 yards and 14 scores on the ground.

The biggest question on offense is how to keep Bates upright in the pocket. Hanna said returning Hudson Williams, Chris Allen and Breden Hulse has helped while Gunner Smith and Lane Lewis are expected to fill the other two vacancies up front.

“I’m excited about my offensive line,” Hanna raved. “We’ve got some quickness. We’re strong; we’ve got some size. I’m excited to see where we’re at.”

Archer City has several options for Bates’ backfield mate. Sophomore Elijah Jackson is drawing a following of D-I coaches and recruiters after attending a number of camps this summer. As a freshman, Jackson rushed for 372 yards and five scores. Senior John Machtolff worked as an all-purpose back last season, occasionally lining up in the backfield while primarily playing receiver. Sophomore Jre Donnell picked up 100 yards over four games last season with Bowie before moving to Archer City.

“(Elijah’s) got a lot of hype around him. He’s going to do some good things for us. We’re using him more as a running back and an H-back receiver in space. We’re going to use him a lot of different places because he has more experience in the offense. We’re counting on him to use his strength and size and speed to make plays. With Elijah, Jre and John we have a nice stable of receiver/running back combos we can put back there in the backfield and get the ball to them in space. It’s going to be pretty nice on offense to have those guys.”

Machtolff, senior Gage Gillispie and sophomore Chance Warren share wide receiver duties. Gillispie is the top returner among the group, pulling down 30 catches for 421 yards and two touchdowns while Machtolff caught 17 balls for 226 yards and a score.

“Chance is going to do some good stuff for us,” Hanna said. “Gage has had a great summer of 7-on7 and getting bigger and stronger. The first weeks in practice he’s had better practices than he did at any point last year.”

Hanna said a point of emphasis for the offense this season is finishing drives with touchdowns. In several of last season’s losses, the Wildcats stalled after penetrating inside the 20.

“(Finishing drives) was something we struggled with early against Windthorst and Quanah, not being able to finish offensive drives,” Hanna said. “That’s going to be our biggest deal is getting the ball in the endzone. We’ve got to keep the ball moving and the chains moving and finish in the endzone when we have those opportunities. Another big goal is not jumping offsides. That killed us a lot of the time with the offensive line and receivers listening to the defense and not to the quarterback. We’ve got to do a better job of that so we’ve really been repping it.”

Defensively, the strength of the unit comes up front with the defensive line. Williams was an all-state performer last year with 117 tackles, including 12.0 tackles for loss. Jackson looks to have a breakout year after all the hype surrounding the sophomore this summer. Last year, Jackson made 58 tackles, including 7.0 for loss with one sack.

“We’re really excited about what we have defensively,” Hanna said. “The secondary will be better. All the way around, defensively, we have a chance to be better. Until you’re going against someone else, it’s really tough to see where you’re at and where your deficiencies are. Elijah’s going to be a force to be reckoned with. I’m very glad to have him.”

The linebacking corps of Bates, Donnell, Smith and sophomore Kline Mayo returns the majority of the unit’s production from last season, only losing Layne Briggs to graduation.

“We feel like our linebackers are in a good spot right now,” Hanna said. “I’d like to say better than we were last year. Gunner would’ve been a starter last year but he hurt his quad and that kept him out all year last year. That enabled Kline to get all the playing time which was good. We’re pretty excited about the linebacker crew.”

In the backend, senior Hayden Hillbers pairs off with Machtolff and Gillispie to form one of the more experienced units on the squad.

“Hayden was the guy that played the best in the secondary last season,” Hanna said. “He’s a consistent kid that does the right things. We’ve got him back so we’re excited about those three starters returning.”

As far as lofty expectations go, Hanna has just one message for his team: enjoy the ride.

If things turn out as well as some project for the Wildcats, it will be a very enjoyable ride in 2021.