GODLEY WILDCATS
Ground and pound
Godley Head Coach Danny Dudgeon said the Wildcats can’ t measure year one under the new staff because it’ s mainly about learning what to fix or change. Yet, in his first season at the helm, Godley went 6-5 against some of the toughest competition in Texas.
In the non-district schedule alone, specifically the first three games, the Wildcats faced Alvarado, Paradise and Stephenville. All three teams made regional final appearances in 2024. In Dudgeon’ s eyes, the biggest takeaways from those matchups were the physical maturity and mental ability to withstand turmoil.
Feeling battle-tested after a promising 2024, Godley spent the entire offseason focusing on weightlifting and playing other sports.
“ Now their bodies can withstand some of the collisions better and have more success,” said Dudgeon.
From the player’ s perspective, middle linebacker Alberto Diaz felt a complete turnover in the team’ s attitude and team chemistry from 2023 to 2024.
Ecstatic about the program’ s first year under a new system, Diaz believes the wins and quality losses carry weight into 2025.“ That’ s how we learned how to keep each other’ s composure,” said Diaz.
High expectations were set on Godley once Dudgeon and his staff took over. A Wildcat that took those expectations to heart was defensive and offensive linemen Keegan Bohannon.
Becoming one of the leaders of the team in his junior year, Bohannon learned in the back half of the season how to be a better teammate. He expressed his gratitude for the experience the 6-5 group brought, but wanted more wins for them.
“ I wasn’ t super pleased,” Bohannon admitted. I’ m always looking for improvement.”
Many of the qualities that represent Godley, however, didn’ t begin in 2024, Dudgeon noted. The head coach gave his thanks to former Wildcat leader Curtis Lowery for leaving good habits behind.
Another major contributor to the program’ s foundation before Dudgeon is those who support the Wildcats every Friday night.
“ I would love to take credit and don’ t mind saying our coaches do a phenomenal job in developing those skills, but some of that comes naturally to this community and these kids,” Dudgeon said.
What the new staff needed to make sure of was the belief from the kids in the process. Now, in year two, safety Caden Lewis praises the work put in so far.
“ With the way the offseason has gone, we’ ve had so much growth,” said Lewis.
Offense
Furthering Dudgeon’ s belief in measuring his first season, he said that some things couldn’ t be fixed during the season.
Needing the offseason window“ badly,” the team has a higher level of understanding on both sides of the ball.
Offensively, the emphasis coming into 2025 is the running game. A facet of the unit that lacked at the end of the year due to a strength deficiency will be a strong suit for the Wildcats, Dudgeon noted.
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