Starting Fresh in Flatonia
Flatonia football has been on a run most programs would envy.
For the past eight seasons the Bulldogs have made it to at least the second round of the postseason, and last year they went 11-2. But there’s a lot of new faces this year for the Bulldogs, both on the field and on the sidelines. Flatonia graduated a huge senior class, filled with playmakers. After 13 years head coach Chris Freytag also left.
New head coach Brent Mascheck now takes the helm of a Bulldog team that will have to re-invent itself.
Some of the biggest shoes to fill for Flatonia are at quarterback, where graduate Fidel Venegas threw for 2,648 yards and ran for 1,034 last year for the Bulldogs.
Two different players will see time at quarterback for Flatona in the early going this season, senior Cale Janecka and junior Beck Zimmerman.
“It’s a big role. You have to be a leader,” Janecka said. “It’s a role we are looking forward to. Beck and I have been friends for a long time.”
Zimmerman was a wide receiver last season.
“It’s a big transition, but we can handle it. I feel like we have a good team going into the season.”
Despite all the graduates, Flatonia is still picked to win their district by Texas Football Magazine and they do have five offensive and six defensive starters back from last season. Key among those returnees is Kobe Burton, a powerhouse, who stands at 6-1, 285-pounds, and was the state runner-up last year in state in the shot put.
He’s also already picked up two scholarship offers to play college football (SAGU and UT-Permian Basin) and more could be headed his way with a strong senior season.
But just like everything in the Flatonia program, things are new for Burton too.
He’s going to be starting at two new positions – fullback on offense and end on defense.
“Whatever’s best for the team, I’ll play my role,” Burton said. “At fullback I do hope to see the ball in my hands, but blocking is what I’m used to.”
“We had a lot of starting seniors that graduated, but we have a lot of new people, freshmen and sophomores, that are getting better day by day.”