The San Angelo Standard-Times will be previewing local high school football teams throughout August ahead of the 2025 season.
Christoval Cougars
District: 3-2A DI
2024 record: 4-7, 3-2
Head coach: Tanner McLean
Most recent district championship: 2021
State titles: N/A
What to know
McLean inherits a Cougar team that has not had a winning season since 2021, when they were in Class 2A Division II. They return 15 lettermen, including seven starters on offense and six on defense, and a strong core of defenders. McLean said he is excited about the pairing of defensive end Colt Floyd and defensive back Isreal Bogs to lead the defense this year.
Christoval will rely heavily on its veteran leadership as the team transitions to new schemes offensively and defensively. On defense, McLean said he wants to merge what he did as defensive coordinator at Comanche with what Christoval did last season: pairing odd fronts and even fronts to show multiple looks.
The offense is switching to a power-spread scheme, which McLean said will load the box and focus on running the ball. Leading the new offense is sophomore quarterback Ty DeBusk, who will have a plethora of veteran offensive weapons to rely on in the passing game, including Bogs, Kelton Gibbs and Kanin Green.
It was only a short while ago Christoval put up two seasons with double-digit wins and won two conference championships. However, the Cougars return a strong defensive core, which gave opposing teams plenty of fits in district play. If the Cougars can start the season faster, another 10-win season is not a far-fetched idea.
Coach Tanner McLean on the 2025 season
“We had a really good summer turnout,” McLean said. “So, we’re a little further ahead of where I thought we would be this early, especially with us installing a new offense and new defense. The majority of our varsity guys were here almost every day this summer and all of our slated starters were here. So, it’s kind of given us a leg up going into camp, so we got to go a little faster through install than we thought we would. We’ve had a couple of guys step up in some leadership roles, a couple of them we expected to as returning lettermen and we knew were our guys. But we’ve also had a couple of new faces, so to speak, that have done a really good job leading by example and also being vocal leaders, and that’s kind of what you look for.”
2025 schedule
Week 1 – Christoval at Eldorado, 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29
Week 2 – Ballinger at Christoval, 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5
Week 3 – McCamey at Christoval, 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12
Week 4 – Sterling City at Christoval, 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19
Week 5 – Christoval at Mason, 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26
Week 6 – OPEN
Week 7 – Christoval at Colorado City, 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10
Week 8 – Reagan County at Christoval, 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17
Week 9 – Christoval at Forsan, 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24
Week 10 – Sonora at Christoval, 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 31
Week 11 – Christoval at Ozona, 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7
Paul Witwer covers high school sports and Angelo State University sports for The San Angelo Standard-Times. Reach him at sports@gosanangelo.com. Follow him on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @Paul_Witwer.
This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: Will Christoval high school football’s veteran defense fuel a return to glory in 2025?
Reporting by Paul Witwer, San Angelo Standard-Times / San Angelo Standard-Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
