REFUGIO, Texas — Refugio football is once again ranked to start the season, No. 12 in UIL 2A-DI. At the local Dairy Queen the history is written on the walls from championship memorabilia to newspapers. The new head coach and varsity starters know the standard and are working to meet the expectations.
"Here's the deal. In Refugio the standard doesn't ever change," said new Refugio football head coach and former defensive coordinator Eli Boxell. "The bar has already been set, so that's the standard for Refugio."'
The Bobcats have five seniors on the roster, but they only return one varsity starter on offense and two on defense.
"It's a lot of young kids who are competing for those starting positions and because of that they're a very competitive group," Boxell said. "It's a great group to coach."
While the Refugio offense is young with five new linemen, junior receiver Nehimiah Cavazos returns. He gained some valuable playing experience last season.
"We're going to go out there and we're going to play," Cavazos said. "Lot of passing. We've got great receivers and we've got a new line, but they're just as strong."
Refugio will see two quarterbacks on the field, junior Timothy Rosas and senior Matthew Perez. Both guys will look to pass a little more, and Perez says his role on defense last fall helps him make the right call.
"When I'm in the quarterback perspective I visualize how I call defenses out and see what they try to shift to do anything," Perez said. "It helped me."
One of the Bobcats returners on defense is senior middle linebacker Weston Myers. He led Refugio with 148 tackles through 14 games. His knowledge and leadership is helping the younger guys up to speed.
"He got a lot of playing time last year as our inside linebacker," Boxell said. "He's kind of the quarterback of our defense. He makes the calls. Makes the adjustments by formation."
Refugio is projected to win UIL 2A-DI District 16, which is made up of eight total teams. They've got to prepare fast and it starts with their non-district matchups against George West, Schulenburg and Goliad.
"As young as we are and as difficult of a preseason schedules as we have I'm expecting our guys to grow up pretty quick," Boxell said.
Refugio kicks off their season with a road trip to George West on Friday, August 28 at 7:30 p.m.
