NEW WAVERLY BULLDOGS
Staying in the fast lane
Bulldog football builds off 2021 season
Colton Foster Sports Editor
Dylan Schaub
Evan Erwin
Layne Sherwin
Coming back from what was the team ’ s most successful season , New Waverly football is looking to continue what they started in 2021 boasting an 8-2 regular season record and a bi-district playoff win .
With the Bulldogs returning 16 of their 22 starters , New Waverly will not have to do much teaching , but rather build on their knowledge from last season .
“ I ’ m looking forward to picking up where we left off ,” New Waverly head coach Dean Schaub said . “ We are not reteaching everything . We did some on day one but we have progressed . It ’ s been nice to see depth . That ’ s something we haven ’ t had in New Waverly since I got here . That ’ s going to take some heat off our starters and maybe extend our games longer .”
Offensively , New Waverly brings back eight of the 11 starters . The only seniors t were their quarterback and two offensive linemen . While losing your quarterback is sometimes trouble , the Bulldogs already have their answer .
This season , Evan Erwin will be the signal caller for New Waverly . While he is a senior , he and his receivers have already built chemistry for this squad . Over the offseason , New Waverly ’ s offense qualified for the state 7-on-7 tournament where they cake walked a majority of their games .
New Waverly will have Dave Campbell ’ s preseason offensive MVP for district 12-3A , DII . Will Larrison will enter his senior year coming off a season that saw 1,032 yards on the ground and 385 yards through the air . Larrison will play another big part in this offense . Now all of the chemistry will have to translate to the Friday night lights . “ Chemistry is pretty important ,” Schaub said . “ Leadership is something that our seniors are taking great ownership of . I see them mentoring the younger kids . They show up on time for weights . They go outside on their own and do what they need to . They go above and beyond . It ’ s nice to see an entire senior group do that . I think it will pay dividends this season .”
New Waverly will also have to bolster up their offensive line after losing three members to graduation . While they have plenty of depth , having the right guys to fill the position is key .
“ We lost three really good members of the offensive line but we gained three that we didn ’ t expect ,” Schaub said . “ I like that we have good numbers and we have a lot of freshmen and sophomores on the offensive line . Looking forward to that is going to be huge .”
Defensively , New Waverly is in the same boat . They lost three members including Ja ’ Carius Smithers . The Bulldogs will need to replace a player that wreaked havoc in the backfield for opposing teams .
While the Dogs have guys like senior Dylan Schaub to do that , he does everything else too . Dylan will be the team ’ s tight end , long snapper and defensive end . New Waverly will also look to guys like Jude Shields to step up .
One thing that will be different for New Waverly this season is having depth at most positions .
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