Keavy Bruins, Jesse Ellington, Maleek Johnson and Diego Fajardo are the leaders for the 2025 Grapeland Sandies. They hope in Arlington this season in Class 2A play.
Grapeland looks for trip back to regional final
A regional final appearance in 2024 has the Grapeland Sandies wanting more this year.
With 18 lettermen returning off a 10-4 team, coach Jordan Wood has weapons at every spot on the field.
“ We are going to very similar,” Wood said of how the team compares to last year.“ We have some guys who can play football and are talented on offense. Defensively, we are replacing a lot of starters. We have some young guys who are going to have to grow up pretty fast. We are excited and they have worked hard all offseason.”
Offensively, Grapeland returns senior Maleek Johnson, quarterback Sean Walker and wideout Keavy Bruins.
“ Maleek is special and we have to keep him healthy. You are not going to catch him when he gets out in the open,” Wood said.“ You better bring the whole team when tackling because he is strong. We are really excited about him and the other skill guys and our line.
“ Offensively, we have a chance to be really good and we have to take care of the football. Our line is big and strong and they have all started at least 12 games for us. We have Keavy back with two straight 1,000-yard season and Sean back at quarterback.”
Leading the line is none other than 6-3, 285 pound lineman Jessie Ellington, who is a force to be reckoned with this year.
A silent leader this year is junior linebacker and all around athlete Diego Fajardo. Wood said Fajardo definitely plays much bigger than his size.
“ Diego is a guy who started as a freshman and is only a junior,” Wood said.“ He is someone who can run and will go sideline to sideline and you better be looking for him. He is a leader and someone you want at all times on the field.”
Wood also mentioned Gabe DeLeon, two new receivers and some talent coming up to varsity that will have Sandies fans excited for the season.
“ We have been working on getting the young guys ready,” Wood said.“ We have to be us and not try to do anything crazy. We have to keep getting better each week and that gives us a chance to win each week.”
District 11-2A, Division II has the Grapeland Sandies returning to the playoffs with a second-place prediction behind the Lovelady Lions.
“ We play some really good teams all year,” We open up with a really good Cayuga team and then we have the No. 3 team in the state in Bremond, who returned all of the starters on defense. We then have a good Frankston team and then our district with Lovelady, Overton, Mt. Enterprise, Alto and Tenaha and they are all good football teams. I wish they would put us last every single year. I have never seen them be right but it is fun to look at. That doesn’ t matter what they put on paper and we have to play the game just like Lovelady.”
GRAPELAND SANDIES
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