CUBIT COLUMN: Montes, Wilson contribute to Sudan’s tradition of success

When he came to Sudan, John Cornelius knew there were elements he wanted to change, starting with the offense. Even still, there was never a doubt in his mind that switching from a slot-T to a spread wouldn’t work, especially with the kind of quarterback he had in place.

It didn’t take Christian Montes too long to catch on and help the Hornets to their first perfect regular-season record since 1994. He was in the area’s top 10 passing and rushing statistics for much of the season with 1,586 passing yards and 1,183 rushing yards for a combined total of 49 touchdowns by the end of the regular season.

“What’s impressed me the most about him is the mental side of it, how fast he’s picked it up, mentally,” Cornelius said of the senior signal caller. “He knows where to have his eyes and what to read, how to read the defense. We have him call lots of things at the line of scrimmage, and he’s done a real good job of making good decisions and getting us in the right looks.”

What Montes is to the offense, Brett Wilson is to the defense. The senior averaged 13.8 tackles in the regular season with two quarterback sacks as the group gave up only 10.7 points per game.

“Brett’s just one of those guys, he’s got one speed and that’s 100 miles an hour,” Cornelius said. “Every game, you know you’re going to get solid effort and his motor’s going to be going constantly. He’s everything you want one of your players to be as far as how he approaches the game and how respectful he is and how coachable he is every day.”

Montes, Wilson and the Hornets got close to perfection last year but fell short when they lost to Farwell in the final regular-season game, then had a first-round playoff exit. What a difference a year makes, though.

The Hornets beat Farwell this season 55-12 in what Cornelius felt was one of Montes’ best games of the year.

“Really had to rely on his arm where he had kind of a breakout game throwing for 270 yards and also rushing for right at 100 in a high-pressure situation,” Cornelius said. “I think that was his best overall game.”

Sudan followed it up with a 59-20 victory over Iraan for the program’s first bi-district victory since 2013. The Hornets have had only 10 losing seasons in the past 30 years, but four in the past 10 seasons, according to the website Lone Star Football Network.

The program had a strong stretch in the 1990s in which it won the Class 1A state title in 1993, was the runner-up in 1992, made the semifinals in 1994 and had no fewer than six wins between 1990 and 2000.

Getting back to that stage now as a Class 2A Division I program starts this week against a Vega team that returns nine starters on both sides of the ball. The Longhorns will come into the area-round clash Friday after shutting out Smyer, 56-0, in bi-district.

At the same time, the way Cornelius and the Hornets’ coaching staff has been able to get their players to buy in and rally together gives them the confidence needed to execute and play well.

“It’s going to be a tall task for us to slow their offense down,” Cornelius said, “and at the same time, our offense can’t waste possessions and can’t afford to have any turnovers if we’re going to have a chance to beat these guys.

“I just think that we’ve got a unique situation with how well things have clicked and things have come together in such a short amount of time. I think the community’s on fire and these guys aren’t done yet.”

Destination Abilene

Abilene will see an influx of new faces this weekend and many will be from Lubbock. All three of the Lubbock ISD schools that made the playoffs also won their bi-district games and will play their area-round contests at Abilene Christian University.

Each school’s path to get there has been a little different. For Estacado, it’s been a year of success with no losses and both sides of the ball being able to perform on a high level. Even when the squad has gotten off to a slow start, whatever the Matadors say or do at halftime is just effective enough to get them going. Sweetwater presented an early challenge last week, but Jermiah Dobbins scored five touchdowns to help Estacado win 53-20.

Coronado has had its share of ups and downs with players finding their roles and a young defense coming along. The offense has put up big numbers all throughout the season, and now the defense is finding its identity and on a roll. The group forced at least one turnover in every District 2-5A Division II game and came up with enough stops to help the Mustangs beat El Paso Eastwood 54-41 for the bi-district title.

Monterey’s journey seemed to be the biggest question mark for a while as the Plainsmen lost five straight games from Sept. 13 through Oct. 18, falling to 2-5 at that point. Monterey won its last three regular-season games to avoid missing the playoffs for a second straight year.

The team that upset No. 1 seed El Paso Eastlake 66-42 last Saturday was much different than the team that struggled a month prior, determined to keep its season alive. Mission accomplished as the Plainsmen will be playing for another week.

Pirates ready for another run

There’s much to be said for an internal hire, especially after a team had a deep postseason run the year before. Once Max Kattwinkel transitioned from head coach to solely becoming Lubbock-Cooper’s athletic director, former offensive coordinator Chip Darden was elevated to be the head coach.

Even with key pieces gone, Darden had a strong returning core, players with whom he was already familiar, in his head-coaching debut. As a result, there wasn’t much newness to the system he was implementing and the Pirates repeated as District 3-5A Division II champions, which included a seven-game winning streak to end the regular season.

The talent-laden Lubbock-Cooper team showed off its balance to start the playoffs with a 66-0 rout of Fort Worth Wyatt.

If you ask them, many of the players still have the Region I-5A Division II quarterfinal loss to Wichita Falls Rider in their minds and want to right the perceived wrong. The next obstacle to getting back to the quarterfinals is El Paso Burges in the area round.

Alexis Cubit covers high school sports for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Her weekly high school column is set to run Tuesday’s throughout the football season. You can reach her at (806) 766-2166 or by email at acubit@lubbockonline.com.