2021 Season Preview: Cibola Cougars

<strong>Cibola 2021 Preview</strong> <strong>Head Coach</strong>: Rod Williams <strong>Mascot</strong>: Cougars <strong>Twitter</strong>: @cibolafootball; @CoachRodWill <strong>Colors</strong>: Brown, Gold &amp; White <strong>Enrollment</strong>: 1,847 <strong>Spring Record</strong>: 2-0 <strong>Star Players</strong>: QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137861" first="Aden" last="Chavez"]</strong>, RB <strong>Anthony Garcia</strong>, DE <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137935" first="Brayden" last="Mummert"]</strong>, LB/DE <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="134986" first="Maverick" last="Gracio"]</strong>, LB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137940" first="Caden" last="Lowry"]</strong>. <strong>Breakout Star</strong>: DE [player_tooltip player_id="137935" first="Brayden" last="Mummert"]. <strong>Overview</strong>: Chavez, our No. 1 prospect in the state’s 2023 class, is the shining star. He’s in the final stages of recovering from a broken collarbone suffered in Cibola’s second and final spring game. He should be 100 percent healthy by the time fall camp opens in early August. Cibola’s best wide receiver, Elijah Spaulding, has graduated, so the Cougars must find somebody new to catch Chavez’s laser beams. Replacing Spaulding will be tricky since he was so good at catching 50/50 balls. It could be up to Chavez to spread the ball around to different receivers, sort of a receiver by committee approach. Three starters return on the offensive line. Productive running back [player_tooltip player_id="26221" first="Slayd" last="Campos"] has graduated as well. Senior Anthony Garcia rises to the No. 1 spot after playing behind Campos for a couple of years.  Defensively, Cibola should be outstanding in the defensive front seven, a unit led by 2023 DE [player_tooltip player_id="137935" first="Brayden" last="Mummert"], DT <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="134996" first="Justin" last="Gonzales"]</strong>, LB/DE [player_tooltip player_id="134986" first="Maverick" last="Gracio"] and LB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137940" first="Caden" last="Lowry"]</strong>. <strong>Schedule</strong>: Cibola has one of the most challenging schedules in the state. It begins with a battle against La Cueva and features games against Las Cruces, Rio Rancho and Cleveland. 8/21 at La Cueva 8/27 Las Cruces 9/3 Bye 9/10 at Eldorado 9/17 at Los Lunas 9/24 Highland 10/1 at Rio Rancho 10/8 Cleveland 10/15 West Mesa 10/22 at Atrisco Heritage 10/29 Volcano Vista <strong>Top Storyline</strong>: After years of struggle, is Cibola finally really to break through and join the elite of Class 6A? <strong>Final Thoughts</strong>: Cibola hasn’t won more than seven games in a single season since 2007 when they went 10-2. But with Chavez – a generational talent – at the controls, the Cibola offense should be fun to watch. If the offense gets rolling, and the defense plays as well as the coaches expect, the Cougars should be a legitimate contender for a high seed and a threat to make a deep run in the Class 6A playoffs. But to get there, they’ll have to maneuver through a challenging regular season schedule featuring games against La Cueva, Las Cruces, Los Lunas, Rio Rancho, Cleveland, West Mesa and Volcano Vista. <strong>Coach’s Comments</strong>: “We got on the right track last year, so it’s going to be a matter of whether we can keep it rolling. We bring back a lot of guys that took leadership roles last year. We’ve had some good teams and some high expectations in previous years, but this is the highest expectations we’ve had in a while. . .Aden is a great talent and a great student. He’s a very good leader. He does all the work. For him, it’s just about continuing  to develop how he works. He has the work ethic. He just has to work on his technique and doing the same drills over and over to perfect that. I want him to be the best at every drill. He can’t get complacent. He has to outwork everybody on our team. The sky is the limit for him. He has to have a big junior season.  . .For our defense, the key word is potential. If we’re going to be a good team, they have to be solid. The offense gets the limelight but last season our defense played lights out. The key will be how quickly they pick up the scheme and then executing it. We definitely have some talent on that side of the ball. I expect big things from those guys.” – Rod Williams. https://twitter.com/AdenChavez08/status/1404480627085393925 https://twitter.com/BraydenMummert/status/1404572307746607108 https://twitter.com/AdenChavez08/status/1402244878864556032 https://twitter.com/cibolafootball/status/1385070721240428546 https://twitter.com/AdenChavez08/status/1384587393299218432