For Brock Bouldin, his first three seasons at Coleman didn't go as he planned.
“From my freshman year to my junior year, we didn’t really win that much. So, you know, I think the drop to [Class] 2A was really good for us. We started picking up some wins, picking up some momentum for the program. Obviously we were going to return to the playoffs, so that was huge for us.”
As a senior in 2020, Brock helped lead his team to a much more successful campaign in which they had clinched a playoff spot before the last week of the regular season.
For Brock's younger brother Brent who was a freshman on the team, those veterans never made things easy in practice.
“It was really hard for me," said Brent. "They were really tough to go against in practice. We were JV. Everyday it was just knocking the crap out of people. It sucked playing against him. He was pretty good. Just brotherly love.”
With the Bluecats on their way to postseason, they received some bad news the week before the playoffs.
Due to a Covid-19 outbreak within the team, Coleman had to shut their season down.
“Oh, it was devastating to all of us," said Coleman Head Coach John Elder. "It’s like when you first hear it, you couldn’t really believe it. You’re like well, you know it’ll just last a little bit and come back. To find out later that it’s going to completely end the season. You know we had to sit and watch last year in the playoffs.”
Moving ahead to this fall, Brock is no longer on the sidelines, but pretty close to it. He's been announcing the team's game on radio.
“It’s really cool he gets to announce our games and go on with, kinda like his past," said Brent. "I think he really does a good job.”
This season, the Bluecats wanted to focus on remembering that senior class in 2020 that didn't know when they were playing their last game. And Coleman had an incredible season, going unbeaten through the regular season.
“We want to do everything in our power in our program to honor everybody," said Elder. "We want to make our fans proud and also honor them seniors that had to watch last year that they can have some joy coming watch us be successful.”
“Oh, it’s great," said Brock. "It’s a little bittersweet knowing what could have been. You know but obviously it’s a fantastic feeling. You go out and you watch your football team. Just a year ago you kinda helped the program get there and now you see all the success going on and everything happening. It’s pretty awesome to watch.”