2021 Season Preview: Lovington Wildcats

<strong>Lovington 2021 Preview</strong> <strong>Head Coach</strong>: Anthony Gonzales <strong>Mascot</strong>: Wildcats <strong>Twitter</strong>: @lvtwildcatsfb; @CoachGonzo96 <strong>Colors</strong>: Royal Blue and White <strong>Enrollment</strong>: 647 <strong>Spring Record</strong>: 4-1 <strong>Star Players</strong>:  WR/DB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26233" first="Isaac" last="Hinson"]</strong>, WR/DB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="134985" first="Tayten" last="Hilliard"]</strong>, WR/KR <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26256" first="Adam" last="Aguilera"]</strong>, WR <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="134977" first="Javier" last="Corrales"]</strong>; LB/RB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135336" first="Joseph" last="Perez"]</strong>; LB/RB <strong>Anthony Gomez.</strong> <strong>Breakout Star</strong>: WR/DB [player_tooltip player_id="26233" first="Isaac" last="Hinson"]. <strong>Overview</strong>: You already know about Lovington’s impressive wide receiver corps that we’ve dubbed ‘The Fantastic Four’ (read our story <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/06/player-profile-lovingtons-fantastic-four/">HERE</a>), but even the best pass catchers are only as productive as the quarterback throwing them the ball. Two QBs are battling through the summer for the right to succeed the underrated Jared Jeffrey (recently signed with NMMI) behind center – Senior <strong>Ashton Aranda</strong> (also a very good golfer on Lovington’s Class 4A runner-up team) and sophomore <strong>Wyatt Gomez</strong>. Aranda was Jeffrey’s backup in the spring, while Gomez quarterbacked the JV team. The payoff for the winner?  An opportunity to throw passes to the Fantastic Four – Hinson, Hilliard, Aguilera and Corrales. They excel in all three phases of the game, and are usually on the field for the entire game playing on both sides of the ball. Senior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135336" first="Joseph" last="Perez"] </strong>and junior <strong>Anthony Gomez</strong> will share carries at the running back. Perez is also an all-state linebacker. Perez goes into preseason camp as the No. 1 back, but Gomez should get his opportunities too. Lovington also wants the quarterback to be a running threat as well, meaning the QB must be athletic and able to stretch defenses with his feet. Three offensive linemen return, but Alex Trammell, who will play at Hardin-Simmons this fall, is gone. Center <strong>Bryan Gutierre</strong>z earned All-State honors in the spring. Junior <strong>Brennen Garcia</strong> will start at left tackle. Hinson and Hilliard are two of the top two-way players in the state, but Perez might be just as good this season. Besides being Lovington’s No. 1 RB, he’s also the leader of Lovington’s defense. He has plenty of help in Hinson, Corrales, Aguilera and Hilliard. The back seven on defense for Lovington should be very good. <strong>Schedule</strong>: As the only Class 4A school in the southeast region, Lovington has a funky schedule featuring non-district matchups with Class 6A and 5A schools, including Roswell, Alamogordo, Hobbs and Artesia. Those battles should prepare the Wildcats for district play in mid-to-late October. 8/20 - at Santa Teresa 8/27 - ROSWELL 9/3 - at Alamogordo 9/10 - at Hobbs 9/17 - at Denver City (Tex.) 9/24 - at Artesia 10/1 - GADSDEN 10/8 - Bye 10/15 - at Silver 10/22 - RUIDOSO 10/29 - PORTALES <strong>Top Storyline</strong>: Will the best wide receiver corps in the state help lift the Wildcats to the Class 4A title? <strong>Final Thoughts</strong>: Lovington plays in arguably the toughest 4A district in the state, they have a bunch of non-district games against Class 5A and 6A foes and they play just one of their first six games at home, but the Wildcats are going to win a lot of football games this season. Finding a reliable quarterback is the key, although Lovington seems confident that whoever wins the job will  perform at a high level. The Wildcats defense tends to get overlooked because the offense is so dynamic, but that unit looks to be championship caliber as well. This could be a special season in Lovington, which has a proud tradition dating back to the days when NFL Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher was there. Culture can win you a lot of games. <strong>Coach’s Comments</strong>: “The QB job is a competition every single day. Those guys are taking advantage of their opportunity. Ashton and Wyatt are two very talented, hard working young men. Both of them have a chance to be very special. They have had very good off-seasons. . .Those four wide receivers are phenomenal football players. What makes them special is what kind of football players they are when the ball is not in their hands. . .[player_tooltip player_id="135336" first="Joseph" last="Perez"] is a dynamic back with really good vision and great feet. He will be our featured back. But we run a lot of 20 personnel, so we often utilize two backs. We take great pride in running the football. As good as our receivers are, we want to establish the run and be great at it. We have two guys back there who will do a good job with that. . .Whoever we put back there to catch the snap, he has to be athletic and be able to stretch plays with his feet. We definitely utilize the quarterback run game and option stuff. We want our quarterback to be able to run, That means he has to be dynamic. Those two guys battling for the job right now can both run. . .We have some young kids battling for job on the offensive line. . .The leader of our defense is [player_tooltip player_id="135336" first="Joseph" last="Perez"]. We’re moving him to inside linebacker in our 3-4 scheme. Joseph is an outstanding defensive football player. . .With Isaac, he’s a safety that can roll down into the box and play the run. He allows us to get another guy into the box. When we play a spread team, he can give us a 2-deep look. When they put two running backs in the backfield with a tight end, which we see on our schedule a lot, he does a great job as a linebacker.” – Anthony Gonzales. https://twitter.com/PrepRedzoneNM/status/1409406118577668101 https://twitter.com/_NMAA/status/1408552518393552898 https://twitter.com/lvtwildcatsfb/status/1408803394274435079