Sights and Sounds: Midland Bulldogs Spring Game

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>MIDLAND, TX</strong> -- The Midland Bulldogs turned the lights out – literally – on spring practice Friday night with a highly competitive, weather-delayed scrimmage in front of several hundred supporters at Memorial Stadium.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With about 20 minutes left, the entire bank of lights on one side of the stadium went kaput, leaving the stadium in partial darkness. The Bulldogs forged on, though, and wrapped up the night's festivities with a spirited red zone battle between the No. 1 offense and No. 1 defense.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It was a fitting climax to a solid and productive spring for Midland, which finished 5-5 overall, 1-4 in the district last season and failed to qualify for the Class 6A playoffs from a very demanding district that also includes Midland Legacy, Odessa Permian, Odessa, Frenship and San Angelo Central. &nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“Overall, I'm very pleased with how spring went,” Midland coach Thad Fortune told reporters after Friday's scrimmage. “We had 17 opportunities (1 practice was cancelled due to inclement weather) to get on the field. So, it was fitting we had a little delay at the start. We got better, especially a lot of our young guys. We had so much growth at all levels. But every coach in the office knows we have a long way to go.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Summer workouts begin in early June. Midland hosts El Paso (TX) Montwood in the Aug. 25 season opener.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Midland ran the ball 87.5 percent of the time last season (491 rushing attempts out of 561 total plays), and a punishing ground attack is the Bulldogs' identity. But Fortune said Midland devoted considerable time this spring to improving the passing game with rising junior quarterback <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='445877' first='Stroman' last='Bridges']</strong>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“He did a lot,” Fortune said. “You would never question Stroman's athletic ability. His natural God-given gifts speak for themselves. Combining that with a great work ethic and you get good results. For Stroman, it was just a constant focus on fundamentals – footwork, his reads. He is a joy to coach because he doesn't get bored with the stuff we work on every day. He knows it has a purpose. He has had tremendous growth.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A key question for the spring was who would emerge as the No. 2 running back behind rising senior <strong>Brylee Perez</strong> (722 rushing yards and 8 TD on 87 carries in 2022). Right now, rising junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1421038' first='Elijah' last='McCoy']</strong> appears to have won the job.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rising senior RB <strong>Tim Babino</strong>, who had just 4 carries last season, broke loose for a long TD run in the final segment pf practice when the No. 1 offense dueled with the No. 1 defense.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“He can really run,” Fortune said of Babino. “He won the district 200 meters. We have some running backs who can really run. Those guys are going to just keep getting better and better. We had sone tough runs all night long, which was good to see.” &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Midland defense showed it has enormous defense with a stellar performance over the first half of Friday's spring game. Many of the top tacklers from last season return, including leading tackler <strong>Athen Dominguez</strong>, a talented free safety who registered 108 tackles, 5 TFL, 2 INT and 6 passes defended in 2022.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“The defense got after the offense early tonight,” Fortune said. “Athen showed up all night long. He has the right amount of edge we want in that dog safety position. He made some plays tonight. Our defensive line made some awesome plays. Eventually, it was a good back and forth. That's what I wanted to see.” </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Video 1: Runout and Warmups</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/0ycDoOcNQFM","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/0ycDoOcNQFM </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Video 2: Spring Game (Part 1)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/QH4u5nGS9Gk","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/QH4u5nGS9Gk </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Video 3: Spring Game (Part 2)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/unTkIGvo3yA","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/unTkIGvo3yA </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Video 4: Spring Game (Part 3)</strong>  </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/J1yy5UH1AxY","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/J1yy5UH1AxY </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->