Spartans growing up fast in spring drills
Early practices give chance for young Seven Lakes hopefuls to impress
The Seven Lakes Spartans are developing a host of young players this spring.
They started nine sophomores last season, contributing to close losses in District 19-6A play to Tompkins (21-20), Strake Jesuit (4039) and Morton Ranch (3124), which won on the last play of their matchup, and they’re short on seniors in the class of 2017 because of the opening of Tompkins.
“We’re going to be pretty young,” coach Lydell Wilson said.
“Right now, we have maybe 25 (players who will be) seniors, (and) since I’ve been here, most of the time we’ve had 70, 65 and 58 seniors on each team, so you can actually feel the hit of Tompkins finally taking its toll on us.”
Wilson expects their senior numbers to return to normal for 2017.
In the meantime, they’re focusing on developing the young talent they hope will help them improve on last year’s 4-6 showing.
The 2018 class includes running back Brock Sturges, the leading rusher last season, quarterback Dalton Wood, defensive end Cameron Valentine, offensive lineman Brian Orlando and defensive back Caleb Cole.
But Sturges is expected to head to Allen with his family.
Brother Bryan Sturges signed with the TCU baseball team and their father landed a job in the Dallas area.
Seven Lakes also lost sophomores kicker Seth Smalls and OL Trace Oldner to Katy.
The candidates to replace Brock Sturges are juniors Christian Hart, the leading JV rusher, and Isaac Hill, a varsity reserve at receiver, sophomore Chris Williams and freshman Kendrick Leggins.
“It won’t be settled until we get back in the fall,” Wilson said.
Leggins was the leading rusher on the freshman team last year until injuring his ankle.
“He’s put together real well,” Wilson said.
“He’s a smart kid, he understands what he’s supposed to do, runs downhill and catches the ball well out of the backfield.”
Orlando’s been working at center with Cooper Campbell making the state track meet, but he’s sliding back to guard this week.
Wood is making his spring debut after the baseball team’s exit from the playoffs.
Freshmen John Harrington and Michael Batton, who are vying for the backup QB job, ran the huddle in Wood’s absence.
“John’s a real good athlete, he has a strong arm, and he gets out of the pocket and makes some nice throws,” Wilson said. “Michael Batton makes quick decisions and gets the ball out of his hands, and he’s pretty accurate in what he does.”
The new receiving corps includes 6-6 sophomore Garrett Scott, 6-4 freshman David Ugwoegbu, the younger brother of Bright Ugwoegbu, who is playing at Oregon State, and 6-2 sophomore Kelian Johnson.
“We’re going to be pretty tall in the receiving corps and they’re all pretty good,” Wilson said.
Scott is an athletic converted quarterback.
“Once he catches the ball he does some good things with it, and he’s picking up the receiver position pretty well,” Wilson said. “(He) catches the ball nicely with his hands, so he’s going to be a real good addition for us on that side.”
The Spartans are replacing several players up front on defense, but the biggest holes are in the secondary, where sophomore twins Derrick and Trey Jones are impressing coaches with their aggressive approach.
“They’re very active and very football smart,” Wilson said.
“They can get involved in the running game and in the passing game, so we’re confident that they’ll be able to get the job done.”
Miles Onobon, Michael Davis and Tyler Capel also are competing for DB spots.
Brendan Dibbs, Caleb Birchum and sophomore Chris Bartuska are running with the first unit on the defensive line.
The Spartans’ spring game is at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 24, at Seven Lakes.
“We’re trying to be more aggressive,” Wilson said. “We may throw the ball a little more just because of the fact that we have those guys out wide there who are capable of getting the job done. And then losing Sturges would be huge in there, so we’d have to pick up some of the slack somewhere.” Playoff run ends
Seven Lakes did everything it could to stay alive in the playoffs last week, including pulling out a 7-6 walk-off win in a 13-inning, lightning-delayed and relocated Game 2 that took 10 hours to complete.
It just came up a little short against the reigning Class 6A state champions.
Cypress Ranch rolled 9-0 in Game 3 – which began at 11:26 p.m. Saturday and finished at 1:55 a.m. Sunday – to clinch their Region III-6A area-round playoffs series in three games at Angleton.
“We knew in a threegame set the best team is going to come out, and they played the best (last) weekend, so they deserved it,” said coach J.R. Voyles, who was relieved to see them finish Game 2, which started at Seven Lakes and resumed at Angleton after a 5½-hour delay in the ninth inning.
If they hadn’t completed, the series would have reverted to one game, with Cy Ranch advancing on their 10-5 Game 1win.
“It was just their time,” Voyles said. “They were hot and they kept getting the key hits and we didn’t.”