Antelope football preview: Rams retooling

The Antelope football team rarely has any pressure on it to win each year. And every season the Rams end up exceeding expectations.

Antelope is aiming for its ninth consecutive 2A state playoff berth this season, but it is attempting to do so during a rebuilding year.
The Rams graduated 22 seniors last season, which, at a small, rural school can leave the cupboard bare.

Antelope coach John Blabe said he just expects his team to practice and play hard and have a lot of fun doing it.

"I'm not looking at anymore than three wins, and if we do better that's great," said Blabe, now in his 26th year as Antelope's athletic director and multi-sport coach. "It's just a very young, inexperienced squad. We're going to do the best we can and teach a lot of kids how to play football."

Blabe took a similar approach at the start of last season, when the Rams went up against perhaps the stiffest competition the school had seen in decades.

And Antelope ended up defeating the No. 1 team in the state, played for a region title on the last day of the regular season, pulled off an upset on the road in the playoffs and was one of the final eight teams remaining at the 2A level.

"It's definitely time for kids to step up and prove themselves," senior quarterback Chance Mixon said. "Last year was a good team, we had a lot of chemistry. We have a few guys back and it's our job to lead the youngins and give them some confidence so they can go out there and give us a chance to win."

Blabe makes no secret about it - as Mixon goes, so does the Antelope offense. The four-year letterman piloted Antelope to three late come-from-behind wins last year and had one of his best performances in a 43-26 loss to Yuma Catholic, with 223 passing yards and two touchdowns.

"Chance is the spoon that stirs the drink," Blabe said. "The last four games he took over, and we expect him to pick it up from there.
"He's been overshadowed by (YC quarterback) Matt Inman - and rightly so - for four years and in three sports. He just goes about his business and does his thing and that's what we need."

"Once I got to really trust my teammates it was easy," Mixon added. "It's something I have to carry on to this year and I'm looking forward to leading our team."

And though Antelope hasn't missed the state playoffs since the turn of the century, Blabe insists there's no pressure on his young team to keep the streak going.

"At this school, I don't think there's pressure on anybody," Blabe said. "If you want the slogan, 'Laid Back High,' this is it. We're not 'California Cool.' We're just laid back and we try to do the best we can."