Published: November 16, 2008 09:18 am      

Bray-Doyle makes strides in first year at 11-man level

BRAY — When the 2008 Bray-Doyle football team is remembered, its win-loss record won’t be the shining star of the 10-week constellation.

What the ’08 campaign should be remembered for, is that it was the first season the Donkeys competed in the 11-man league, proving it is more than capable of hanging with the big boys in southwest Oklahoma. Bray-Doyle finished 2-8, but head coach Warren Butler said his team has much to look forward to in the coming years.

“You know the year really wasn’t bad,” Butler said. “The kids played hard and considering the changes they had to deal with. They did okay.”

Butler said there were a lot of mistakes on the field the team had to sort out and it experienced growing pains throughout the season. For the most part, the Donkeys set a solid foundation for the program to expand upon.

“After moving to 11-man we had some kids who didn’t want to come out and play the Ringling’s and Velma’s,” he said. “But we’ve got about 90% of our players coming back so we’re excited about that.”

He also said he is looking forward to getting his players tronger and faster in the off-season.

“We’ve got a full-fledged program all sorted out,” he said. “We have weight and strength training and then we’ll get them running and conditioning, too.”

The Donkeys will have to find a way to replace running back Jordan Mayes who finished the season with over 1,000 all-purpose yards, doubling as the primary offensive weapon and return specialist. Butler said there’s no way to replace the kind of player that Mayes was, but hope to have kids playing at the sort of level he did.

“You don’t replace a Jordan Mayes,” Butler said. “I’ll take him one on two anywhere in the open field with anyone. We’ll miss him.”

Butler said he also has had several kids who weren’t out this season express interest in playing next year, and already has them signed up for the workout programs after school.

“We’ve got a few kids who wanted to come out the second or third week of the season and I told them they’d have to wait and do it right. That means doing it all the way through, starting with working out now.”

Butler said there are several kids who are playing basketball for the Donkeys and he encourages the kids to get away from football for a little while if they’d like. The off-season program for those who don’t, starts Monday.

“We feel really good about what we’ve got coming back and we are certainly looking to improve.”