EMPIRE BULLDOGS
Coach: BRANT HAYES
5-5
OFFENSE
Following its first year of playing 11-man football, Empire looks to improve from a .500 season with a young team. Head coach Brant Hayes’ offense returns four starters and looks to be more “explosive” this year by getting the ball to playmakers in space. That effort starts with Damion Goldsberry (5-6, 160, Sr.), the Bulldogs’ bellcow back who rushed for 565 yards as a junior. Hayes described Goldsberry as “very athletic and hard-nosed.” He will share the backfield with Kamdyn Whetstone (6-2, 175, Jr.), a playmaker with a big frame to throw at defenses. Cale Porter (5-9, 155, So.), a “football savvy” and athletic sophomore, will get the start at quarterback after starting solely on defense and punter as a freshman. He’ll have a big target to hit in Luke Burton (6-0, 165, Sr.) at tight end.
DEFENSE
Empire’s more experienced unit brings back five starters and will base out of a 4-2-5, ambitious to attack the football and send all 11 hats at ball-carriers while staying sound on the back end. Chase Kaspereit (6-2, 180, Jr.) had a strong sophomore campaign and will get the start in the interior. At linebacker, a pair of athletic two-way players in Whetstone and Burton, who notched 86 and 108 tackles last fall, respectively. On the back end, Porter returns to the secondary after he made 43 tackles and caught a pair of interceptions in an impressive freshman year.
SCHEDULE
8-25 – vs. Rush Springs
8-31 – at Pauls Valley JV
9-15 – at Healdton
9-22 – at Cordell
10-6 – at Walters
10-12 – vs. Mangum
10-19 – vs. Carnegie
10-27 – at Boone-Apache
11-3 – vs. Hobart
