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COAHULLA CREEK COLTS
Head coach: Danny Wilson (6-14 here; 94-63 overall)
Returning starters: 6 offensive; 8 defensive
Last year's record: 4-6 overall, did not qualify for GHSA Class AAA playoffs
Key players: Kace Kinnamon (5-10, 170) Sr. QB, Robbie Wiggins (6-1, 275) Sr. DL, Payton Gordon (5-9, 170) Sr. RB, Manny Dominguez (6-3, 180) Sr. WR, Elon Keener (5-11, 190) Sr. LB, Will Douglas (5-11, 200) Sr. LB, Hudson Mardis (5-8, 200) Sr. OL
Season outlook: Four wins may not seem like a lot to some football teams, but for the Colts it was historic as they doubled the previous best single-season total at a program that began varsity play a decade earlier. Their head coach said the momentum gained has been noticeable in the offseason and at training camp.
"Our kids are excited, no doubt," Wilson said, adding that recently hired assistant coach Chad Brewer "said it best" when he pointed out, "Man, your kids have a lot of energy.'"
"To me, when you have that energy," Wilson continued, "it means good things are going to happen."
If those good things happen, it likely means the team's two senior leaders have had big seasons. Kinnamon is a third-year starter and will direct an offense that Wilson said will lean more heavily on the passing game to take advantage of talented receivers Dominguez, Tyson King and Hayden Patterson.
Defensively it all starts with noseguard Wiggins, an immovable object who consistently draws double-teams.
"We can design some things you normally can't play with him," Wilson said. "He's a two-gap nose guy, and those guys are rare. People tried to double-team him last year and they couldn't. He allows us to do things to put pressure on people up the middle. Robbie is probably the best I've had at that position."