WICHITA FALLS ( KFDX/KJTL ) — Tradition is being built at Memorial High School, laying the foundation for a new football team practice by practice.

Players and coaches from three different high schools came together under the same roof, creating the Memorial Mavericks program from scratch.

“That’s going to come with time,” head coach Marc Bindel said. “You know, we started that really in January where we were going to Old High and having Hirschi guys come to Rider, all different sorts of things just to get them around each other as much as possible.”

The Mavs are counting on their offensive stars to light up scoreboards on Friday nights. It starts at quarterback with junior Joe Castles. The future DI product is running the Bindel offense for the second consecutive season.

Castles threw for nearly 1700 yards with 24 touchdowns as a sophomore at Rider.

“First off, he’s physically grown. He’s about 6’7″ now,” Bindel said. “I said last year he was a big football head. I mean, he knows the game inside and out. He really studies it. Obviously, being a coach’s kid, just watching him mature and really take on the burden of not only leading the offense but leading the team emotionally, spiritually, things like that is huge for him.”

Castles has weapons from across Wichita Falls. Pass catchers from Rider, Old High, and Hirschi form a potent group of receivers.

“Jamari Dean, Roman Peel, Justyn Judie and Preston Pitts. Those are the top four main guys, and expect to see a lot from them this year,” Castles said.

“We want to try to find different ways to get those guys the ball because they’re going to try to stop our running game, but we feel like we have the receivers that can punish teams for loading the box,” Bindel said.

Teams might load the box because Memorial has a 1-2 punch at running back. Kenji Johnson and Eric Powell are two of the best in our area, and now they share the backfield.

Johnson ran for nearly 1700 yards with 18 touchdowns for the black and gold last year, while Powell tore it up as the leading rusher for the Coyotes. Both guys have years of varsity experience under their belt, so expect the coaching staff to find ways to get them on the field together.

“You’ll see them two in the game just about the whole game,” Castles said. “They are some dogs. You’ll be seeing their names a lot this year.”

The Mavericks defensive unit is led by former Hirschi Huskie, Isaiah Flores.

He racked up 117 tackles last year, now stepping into a starting linebacker spot at the 5A level.

“Getting to know him this spring, he’s a stud,” Bindel said. “And Coach Johnson at Legacy raved about him as well.”

The red and blue kick off their inaugural season on Friday. Dave Campbell’s Texas Football picked the Mavs to finish fourth in District 2-5A Division II.

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