Last season was a good one for the Orangefield Bobcats in their first season under Coach Jake McDonald. The coach reminded that last season the Bobcats won 18 games the last one was a thrilling play-in game against the Bridge City Cardinals before being eliminated by the Shepherd Pirates in the playoffs. “It was definitely something to build on moving forward,” McDonald replied.
Graduation hit Orangefield hard after last season. McDonald does have a trio of Bobcats returning to the varsity for this season. Tyrone Waggoner and Kaiden Dubose saw a lot of time on the court with the Bobcats last season. Cade Prejean was up and down between the junior varsity and varsity, but will see more playing time this year.
There are some holes for Coach McDonald to fill on the varsity, and he has some quality newcomers including a move-in Valentin Catt who will get plenty of playing time. Valentin came to the United States and was adopted by the Catt family. At 6-foot-10 Catt gives Orangefield some size inside. “He is a good kid and and a good player,” said McDonald.
Another move-in is Coy Bryant for the Bobcats. He is a very good shooter. Bryant can provide some leadership because he played on the varsity at his previous school.
There is a whole crew of Bobcats moving up from the junior varsity. Heston Puckett, Chase Broussard, Colby Gonzales, and Logan Risinger are all good and will vie for starting positions as well as court-time for Orangefield.
It is still very early in the season, but McDonald reported Orangefield has got off to a good start. Most importantly the success last season has helped the Bobcats buy into the coach’s system. Coach McDonald pointed out the players worked really hard during the summer to be ready for the season and many of them got better.
In the early going Orangefield won two of its first three games. McDonald analyzed, “We’ve got Lumberton coming to us Tuesday. That’ll be a real good test for us, but so far, so good.”
Since last season the Bobcats changed classifications which means all new district opponents this season. The new district is extremely tough with East Chambers ranked second in the state. Buna and Kountze are always really good. Coach McDonald provided his expectations for his Bobcats. “Our expectations are definitely to get in the playoffs and play for as long as we can. I think we’ve got a shot to do that as long as we continue to improve day-to-day, week-to-week so that’s the goal,” McDonald concluded.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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