Booker Adjusting After Record Breaking Success
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Updated: January 28, 2016
photo: Coach Steve Taylor
Kiowas Look to Warm Up in 2016
Booker is a small town just a few hours northeast of Amarillo and just several miles from the Texas-Oklahoma border. The Booker school district was officially adopted by the Kiowa Indian tribe during a ceremony in 1991.
In recent years, the Booker Kiowas football team has fielded some red hot squads. The Kiowas knew that things would be different in 2015. They were starting the season with a new head coach and just lost 2 record-breaking players to graduation.
James Henton resigned from the head coaching position at the end of the 2014 season with a record of 40-18-0 during his 5 seasons at the helm. Graduation also took a huge toll as both quarterback Hunter Lile and wide receiver Jared Reagan both graduated. The duo ended their high school playing careers at the top of almost every passing and receiving category... a cooling off was to be expected.
The head coaching position was taken over by Steve Taylor who was previously the quarterbacks coach at Snyder. The 2015 team was led by QB/DB Tristian Guzman and WR/LB Jose Guzman. Although there were plenty of things that looked promising, 2015 did not turn out the way they wanted.
Taylor and his Kiowas ended the campaign with a record of 1-8. Even that isn't as bad as it looks on paper - they only lost three of those games by a total of 21 points. With the season behind them, Mother Nature put the finishing touch on the cooling of the Kiowas as Coach Taylor (@steve_taylor18) tweeted the photo above in mid December with the caption "Our field in Booker this morning after 6" yesterday."
The future however, looks much brighter for the Kiowas. They only graduated 7 seniors and bring back 13 freshmen and sophomores from the team. Linebacker Ismael Guerrero led the way on defense last year and will be the lone returning all-district player.
I am not saying this will be a state championship team next year but they should compete for a playoff spot.
By Michael Wright
Lone Star Gridiron
www.lonestargridiron.com
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