VYPE Preview -- District 19-4A

Click to view image

District 19-4A

By Ahmard Vital

Summer Creek

Dayton

Barbers Hill

Kingwood Park

Crosby

C.E. King

Humble

New Caney

Porter

THE GAMERS

De'Quann Ruffin, Summer Creek, WR

De'Quann Ruffin is a legit 6-foot-1 pass-catcher with a college body. He can stretch the field for coach Brian Ford's offense and will be quarterback Aaron Sharp's main target. He's pretty dangerous after the catch.

Kaleb Denny, Barbers Hill, QB

Kaleb Denny has a lot going for him. The 6-foot-3 quarterback has a strong arm and is pretty mobile. His experience on the baseball field makes him a gamer and he is the son of a former professional athlete. Not a bad pedigree.

Juan Carranco, Dayton, K

A kicker can't be considered one of your best players, can they? Juan Carranco is an all-state kicker and is great when the game is on the line. Dayton is loaded with talent, but having a great kicking game can make all the difference.

THE INTEL

Lots of changes went on this past off-season and the new District 19-4A has been put together. And in looking over the teams from top to bottom, it seems that this district is quite top heavy.

All indications point to the new kids on the block from Summer Creek have a slight edge on the district after finishing 9-2 last season and making the playoffs. Eight starters return for 2012. It starts with a strong junior class led by quarterback Aaron Sharp, who threw for 2,300 yards and 22 touchdowns.

Sharp will not be the only player making plays. Wide receiver De'Quan Ruffin caught 35 passes a year ago and Jordan Braden will transfer to the running back position after a couple years at receiver. Linebacker Josh Williams was the team’s leading tackler and led the team in interceptions as well.

Taking a look at Dayton, there is plenty to be excited about as the Broncos played 13 games last season finishing 9-4. On top of that, 14 starting players are back to continue building on the success from last year.

Coach Jowell Hancock is going into his second year and has many of the key positions in good hands. Markain Chambers will be the quarterback this year and showed statistically that he has the versatility to play in multiple capacities. In the backfield with him is running back Ryan McBride, who had close to 900 yards of offense and nine touchdowns as a junior. Jamaud St. Andre leads the defense and in the special teams, all-state kicker Juan Carranco has been money since his freshman year.

Much like Dayton, Barbers Hill also finished at 9-2, has eight starters returning and has a second-year coach in Ronnie Gage. To build on the momentum for 2011, Gage has the returning offensive player of the year in the district with quarterback Kaleb Denny. He is the leading passer (900 yards) and rusher (520 yards) and scored a total of 20 touchdowns.

Linebacker Garrett Dolan led the team with 100 tackles and the Barbers Hill defense should also benefit with safety Dylan Dutton returning into the line-up after missing his junior season.

Kingwood Park was 8-3, but lost a number of players to graduation. Of course, that is the way it is all programs go through this. The strength of this team is with the junior class as coach Jim Holley stated. Linebackers Bryce Plant and Michael Andrews return after successful junior and sophomore seasons. Andrews was last year’s newcomer of the year and both will play on offense and defense.

A new start is happening at Crosby as coach Jeff Riordan has taken over the Cougar team. This team finished with a 6-5 record and has 11 players back in the starting lineup. So how far can Crosby go? Probably as far as the Walters, all three of them will take them.

At quarterback, Aston Walter had 2,300 yards of offense and was the offensive newcomer of the year. Running back Austin Walter, whom coach says is versatile back, had over 1,300 yards and 16 touchdowns.  On defense, Chase Nix and Valdemar Hernandez, both linebackers should be solid in 2012.

The programs for New Caney ISD with New Caney and Porter, both whom have fairly new coaches at the helm should be better than last season, but making the postseason is a stretch. For New Caney, running back Hunter Bowen is the top player and for Porter, Colton Clark makes plenty of plays for the Spartans.

Don Price takes over at King and inherits a team that had a sub-.500 finish (4-6). Athlete Carlos Smith and tight end/defensive end Everett Anderson, are the Panthers’ top players and college prospects. Humble is in complete rebuilding mode as the Wildcats return a total of seven players. On the positive, five of those are starters.