Caney Creek head coach Kendall Hineman lives and breathes positivity and that rubs off on his players.
The fourth year leader of the Panthers knew his team was going to experience some growing pains moving up to Class 6A last year with a young roster.
Caney Creek went 1-9 in 2022, but lost just three key senior contributors.
“We’re excited to get back out there,” Hineman said. “Going to 6A last year, we knew there were going to be some growing pains. Just to try to see the growth in year two in 6A and now year four for me, (we) just want to see these seniors out who have dedicated their high school career for me. We want them to get a positive taste in their mouth before they leave.”
Hineman has been tasked to grow the program and that has happened. The school had a new turf field installed a couple years back. A new weight room was completed this summer and there’s more and more interest in football at the campus in Grangerland.
“We’re running out of helmets, which is a good thing,” Hineman said. “Our numbers are the biggest they’ve been in the four years I’ve been here. We’re seeing some growth in every program, not just football.”
The new weight room is a point of pride.
“It’s big and it’s nice,” Caney Creek senior defensive lineman Hector Rodriguez said. “There’s fans in there and there’s A/C. A lot of racks of weights…it’s just really nice.”
Caney Creek returns 16 starters (seven on offense, nine on defense) and the offseason has really done this team well.
“A lot of those defensive guys have been playing in this system for three years,” Hineman said. “It’s pretty second nature to them now. Offensively, we are kind of switching up things we have done in the past. There’s some growing pains on the offensive side of the ball.”
Rodriguez is the confident leader for the Panthers and he has quality expectations.
“I’m looking forward for us to win some games,” Rodriguez said. “I believe we can win and go to the playoffs for sure. We just have to be mentally ready and physically, also. But mostly mentally.”
The defensive front is where it all begins for Caney Creek on that side of the ball.
“They’re not the biggest, but they’re the hardest workers on the team,” Hineman said.
Returning linebackers include Dane Cook and Andre Mendez.
A familiar name lurks in the secondary as Travarius Jackson returns and will play more of a ‘rover’ position split between the defensive backfield and linebacker. Jackson missed significant time last season with an ankle injury, but Hineman still lauded him for a productive year and solid summer put in.
Isaiah Sanchez also returns in the secondary after picking off a couple passes last year.
“Defensively, we have improved everywhere on the field,” Rodriguez said.
The offense is led by quarterback Christian Aguilar, a four-year letterman.
He will hand the ball off to Jaiden Graves, who put together 1,000 all-purpose yards as a junior and scored seven total touchdowns.
“We’re going to use him more as pass catcher this year and not just handing him the ball,” Hineman said. “He’s a nightmare matchup and we’re going to try to utilize him as much as we can.”
Brandon Ramshur will also be looked upon to contribute out the backfield.
Senior Timothy Palmer leads the receivers and Jahamante Kuhn will be looked to contribute mainly in the slot.
Caney Creek returns experience at offensive line, led by Tony Crouch, Ernesto Carreon and Moises Vega.
“Offensively, we have improved,” Rodriguez said. “All our players’ mentality is better than last year. They’ve been in the weight room. We work our butts off in the weight room.”
Hineman is a step-at-a-time kind of guy and hasn’t really looked further than the Week 1 game at Sam Rayburn.
“I think we’ve got to go one week at a time,” Hineman said. “And that’s hard when district looms Week 3. We start out with Sam Rayburn and we played a pretty poor game last year and came out on top. We’ve got to really make sure we’re ready for Week 1. That’s been the message. August 26. Any countdown we’ve had, it’s August 26.”
