Jason Brittain’s spent a lot of time lately cleaning up after Hurricane Beryl. Trees are down everywhere across Angleton, some nearly 200 years old, knocked down in the wake of the big storm.

And also, if you see anything having to do with Wildcat football, give him a shout.

“Our practice field, I’ve got four field goal posts, every one of them snapped,” Brittain said. “The stadium is fine, but the top of the video board, where it says ‘Wildcat Stadium,’ that metal stuff got ripped off. So, you know, just some work to do.”

Work isn’t anything Brittain is afraid of, entering his seventh season as the head coach at Angleton. His Wildcats had to work hard to get to a 7-5 mark and a playoff victory, considering the tumult that rocked the roster throughout the year — a sudden unexpected quarterback change; a slew of injuries, including ACL tears to the starting running back and left tackle; a mid-season transfer of the team’s top offensive lineman.

“That’s why you saw the ups and downs,” Brittain said. “Somebody got thrown into the fire, and it might take them a week or two to figure it out. But with the schedule we’re playing, in the district we’re playing, you can’t really catch your breath.”

You’d think, then, that UIL Realignment would provide a reprieve for the Wildcats. But when February rolled around, the Wildcats were dropped into District 9-5A Division I, sending them to far-flung parts of southeast Texas like Beaumont and Port Arthur. Angleton quickly appealed the alignment and won, instead joining District 11-5A DI with more local foes like La Porte, Kingwood Park, Friendswood and Crosby.

But don’t mistake, Brittain warns, a reduction in travel for a reduction in competition.

“We think it’s a really solid district, with some teams in there with great tradition,” Brittain said of his new league. “It may not be as top-heavy as we’ve seen these last two realignments, but it’s a really deep, really dangerous group.”

The Wildcats, though, will be ready. Angleton returns 15 starters from last year’s ballclub, but the depth of the program runs even deeper — the Wildcats’ JV, freshman, eighth-grade and seventh-grade teams lost a combined two games in 2023.

The excitement for the 2024 Wildcats starts on the defensive side, where seven starters are back from a unit that flashed brilliance at times, including holding seven opponents to 14 or fewer points. With a front seven featuring bruising linebacker Raydin Garcia and strong defensive tackle Cam Brown, Brittain — who calls the plays on defense — is comfortable making some bold declarations.

“We’ve played some really good defense these last few years,” Brittain said. “And I’ve been here since 2011, and we’ve had some great players. But I think there’s a good chance that next year, our front six — our four linemen and two inside linebackers — might be the best front six we’ve had since I’ve been at Angleton.”

The offense has a few more questions — the quarterback spot is an unknown, running back Jamarcus Shockley is returning from injury, and the offensive line should be bigger but is unproven. But the upside here is outrageous, especially out wide: players like Bryce Duron, Nick Jackson and Kaleb Jammer (the son of former NFL star and Angleton alum Quentin Jammer) could all emerge as household names by season’s end.

“We’re really excited about where we’re at offensively,” Brittain said. “We’re really, really loaded up at receiver. You’ve got guys who would be our No. 1 receiver most years who might be our fourth-best guy. So we’re excited about the ability to run the ball and then hit play-action.”

It all adds up to an Angleton squad that looks ready to compete immediately — and long into the future.

 “My message to the kids is, the time is now,” Brittain said. “We’ve got a really good roster, and we’ve got consecutive classes, back-to-back-to-back-to-back, they’re really good. We’ve got good depth, where you’re going to see a more consistent product week in and week out.”

They’ve just got to find those broken field goal posts.