Mid-Del football teams hold spring drills

By Jeff Harrison
Midwest City Beacon

High school football is back.

All three Mid-Del high schools returned to the field for spring practices. And all three did so with new coaches. Carl Albert and Del City have new head coaches while Midwest City replaces both of its coordinators from a year ago.

Mike Dunn moved from Del City to his alma mater Carl Albert. Robert Jones, who served as defensive coordinator with Dunn, took the helm at Del City. And at Midwest City, head coach Darrell Hall has a new defensive coordinator in Tyler Caid and offensive coordinator with Corey Russell.

Midwest City

The Bombers conducted spring drills the final two weeks of school. After a few days off during Memorial Day weekend, the Bombers headed to Bixby for team camp.

Hall has high expectations for the 2021 season despite losing several key senior starters from last year’s state semifinalist team.

“We have about 65 kids out this year and we’re doing a lot of learning,” said Hall.

Midwest City will soon begin their summer pride weightlifting program.

Carl Albert

Carl Albert also got back to work with spring practices and one day of team camp at Noble last Friday.

The Titans, who are coming off their fifth straight Class 5A state championship, will look for several players to step up after losing 23 seniors from last year.

“We’re a young team but we have a solid senior class leading us,” Dunn said. “We have some holes to fill with 23 seniors graduating this year. In spring, the main thing you want to see is kids going out and competing. And we had kids stepping up and showing out.”

Dunn said he was especially pleased with what he saw from his receivers, defensive backs, offensive line and quarterbacks.

Tashawn James, Damorrion Brown, Raylyn Sherman and Aidan White all stepped up at receiver and in the defensive secondary.

The Titans have a three-man battle for the starting quarterback spot. Senior Braydon Armstrong, Ryan Ray and Reed Dequasie, a move-in from Choctaw, each took reps during spring practices.

“All of those guys had a good spring and it’s an interesting race to watch,” Dunn said. “All of them have different skill sets.”

The Titans replace most of their offensive line from a year ago.

“I asked them to be the most physical group out there and they did that at practice and in team camp,” he said.

This summer, Carl Albert will complete their annual performance course workouts as well as seven-on-seven with Edmond Memorial and Jones.

Del City

The Eagles held practices, went to Mustang’s Metro Team Camp on Wednesday, and wrapped up the spring schedule with a red and white inter-squad scrimmage on Friday afternoon.

Jones said his main goals for the spring were to improve the offensive line and passing game. The Eagles achieved both of those with solid performances at Mustang. Gabe Rios, Rayvon Swindle, Kyron Lindsay, Jaelen Owens and David Stone all saw time at offensive line. Virgil Yates and George Gouldsby are competing at quarterback.

“I thought we were the best offensive line at Mustang,” Jones said. “We protected the quarterback all day and ran the ball consistently. Improvement on the offensive line will pay off big for us.”

The Eagles have been solid defensively the past few seasons. And Jones says they are continuing that tradition with talented players at all three levels. David Stone, Jaedon Foreman and Darius Hampton will anchor the offensive line. Jayson Smith and Brian Stocker lead the way at linebacker and Kanijal Thomas does the same in the secondary.

“They were really impressive at pad camp,” Jones said of the defense. “We’re really strong all the way around.”

The defense is led by new coordinator Nino Williams who comes to the Eagles from Westmoore. Jones had previously served as defensive coordinator before being promoted to head coach this year.

The team will continue with their summer pride weightlifting program and seven-on-seven competitions.