Players to watch
RB / CB Demarcus Belton LB DJ Clampitt QB Kam Jenkins RB / SS Schyler Dethorne
Matchup to watch
TBD vs. Celina
“ Big thing for this quarterback now is you’ re not Cardea. Don’ t try to be Cardea, try to be yourself,” said Walraven.“ We feel like we’ ve got a pretty dynamic passing game put together.”
Defense
Calling themselves“ The Gauntlet,” Alvarado’ s defense offers veteran status with nearly everybody coming back, specifically at the linebacker position.
Ranked as the second-best linebacker corps in 4A by Dave Campbell’ s Texas Football, the Indians emphasize their two playstyles: fast and violent.
“ It’ s hard not to look at it and go,‘ that is a tough group to beat right there,’” said Walraven about his linebackers.“ When you have the kind of kids we got coming back defensively, you take it to another level with the expectations.”
Logan and Jorden Wright make up a part of the group that come off impressive 2024 seasons. Both linebackers surpassed 100 + tackles, combining for 37 tackles for loss, eight sacks and six forced fumbles.
“ Our group is the greatest in
the state,” said Wright.
The leading man for the Gauntlet is DJ Clampitt. At 138 tackles, 25 for loss, 14 sacks and four forced fumbles in 2024, Clampitt represents a defensive front that will rely on its quickness.
Gaining some help on the line, Layne sees the aggression from the first and second levels will force opposing quarterbacks to throw quickly and challenge the secondary.
“ This year, we’ re going to rely on our defense a lot more, so the roles are reversed,” said Layne.
Coming off a season where the offense was top five in the country and the defense played better than before, Walraven admitted the defensive guys weren’ t satisfied with their results. In order to achieve those high expectations of shutting teams down, the fourth-year head coach said the consistency in intensity needs to remain high.
For the past two seasons, Alvarado’ s ultimate goal of winning state has been derailed by 4A powerhouse, Celina.
Being outscored by the Bobcats 110-35 in the past two postseason meetings, Walraven explained that the way to overcome Celina the third time around is by looking at what Alvarado did wrong and what its opponent does well.
The Bobcats may not always be the most athletic team, but they’ re always the best football team, Walraven noted.
“ There’ s times when we get in our own way,” furthered Walraven.“ You can’ t beat a team like Celina and expect to have success if you’ re getting in your own way.”
According to Belton, anyone who says Alvarado isn’ t a powerhouse is just spreading propaganda.
“ If they say we’ re not a powerhouse, we’ ll just go out there and prove it and come down with a gold ball,” Belton said.
On a potential third matchup with Celina, where the Indians hope to be fully healthy, Belton wasn’ t afraid to speak the truth of his animosity toward the defending champions.
“ All I can say is we think about hate, we hate them. When we play them, we want to demolish them. That’ s the mindset we have to go into every game thinking this game’ s gonna get us there and one by one, kill each opponent until we get to them.” johnson county gridiron 2025 7