Home Care In Richland Springs, TX

Richland Springs hadn’t lost a district contest in 81 games. Until last season. Cherokee pulled the upset to nick the top spot in District 16-1A Division II.

Beneath the top two, Lohn and Rochelle welcome in new head coaches, while Brookesmith is looking to continue its rebuilding process.

Here is what to watch for in District 16-1A Division I this season.

Brookesmith Mustangs

Head Coach: Jack Graves (2nd Season)

Last Season: 1-9; 1-3 in district

Brookesmith Key Players and Storylines

Brookesmith will be looking to get back on track this season. The Mustangs made the playoffs five-straight years from 2016-2020 but have only managed one win in each of the last two seasons.

Last year, the Mustangs were forced to forfeit two district games due to a lack of numbers.

Expect senior center/defensive tackle Brenden Been to be one of Brookesmith’s leaders this year.

Improved numbers will go a long way for the Mustangs. They’ll aim to be able to play all ten games this fall as head coach Jack Graves looks to right the ship and return Brookesmith to its winning ways.

Cherokee Indians

Head Coach: Zack White (6^th season)

Last Season: 11-1; 4-0 in district (Lost to Loraine in area round)

Cherokee Key Players and Storylines

. It set them on their way to securing a district title. From there, they went on to defeat Blackwell in the bi-district round, the third-straight year in which they won a playoff game.

Cherokee may only return three starters on each side of the ball, but among those returners are junior quarterback/running back Joel Valdez (680 rushing yards and 20 TDs; 1,131 passing yards and 19 TDs) and running back Gunner Baugh (1,144 rushing yards and 24 touchdown). Together, head coach Zack White believes together they create one of the best backfields in the state.

The Indians also have depth as both quarterback Brady Johnson and running back Trent Conners can spell either back when necessary.

On the other side of the ball, Cherokee held opponents to under 20 points per game a year ago. Baugh, a cornerback, Valdez, a linebacker, and Conners, a defensive lineman, will also play key roles on that side of the ball.

As White enters his sixth season as Cherokee head coach, he said that continuity is paying off as his players feel very familiar with his system. He believes that although the Indians may be undersized in some places, their overall team speed will be improved from last season.

With that continuity and Baugh and Valdez both returning after big 2022 seasons, expect Cherokee to be playing into November this year as it looks to break through after three-straight area round exits.

Lohn Eagles

Head Coach: Walter Brock (1st Season)

Last Season: 0-9; 0-4 in district

Lohn Key Players and Storylines

Lohn has struggled on the field the past decade. The Eagles haven’t won multiple games in a single season since 2011.

Walter Brock takes over the program following a three-year stint at Schulenburg. He brings six years of 11-man coaching experience with him and an impressive 35-28 record in those six years.

He has some offensive talent to work with as the Eagles try to improve on the 89 points they scored last season.

Sophomore quarterback Conner Nuncio is back as is all-district honorees running back/receiver Fermin De La Rosa and tight end Kadin Reeves.

Defensively, the Eagles can build around the strength they have in the trenches in defensive linemen De La Rosa and JC Martinez. Both were all-district honorees a year ago.

Lohn will be young this season. Out of those players listed above, only Martinez is a senior.

That means Brock has a prime opportunity to build a foundation this fall for future seasons as many of this year’s players still have at least another year in his system.

Richland Springs Coyotes

Head Coach: Shawn Rogers (1st Season)

Last Season: 8-2; 3-1 in district (Lost to Loraine in area round)

Richland Springs Key Players and Storylines

*Note: Richland Springs’ individual stats do not include its season opener against High Island

Cherokee snapped Richland Springs’ 81-game district win streak last season, but the Coyotes still rebounded to secure a playoff berth in a tight 44-40 victory over Rochelle.

However, in Coyote Country, the expectations are much higher than playoff appearances. Richland Springs sets the bar at state titles having earned nine since 2004.

The last one came in 2019. And in Richland Springs in the 21^st century, three seasons without a state title is considered a drought. Head coach Shawn Rogers, who takes over for the suspended Jerry Burkhart, said they’ll be aiming for the school’s 10^th state title this fall.

Four starters returning on each side of the ball will help them towards that goal.

Two of their top backs from last year are gone meaning there will be plenty of room for younger players to step up. Junior quarterback Hutton Rogers (83 passing yards and two touchdowns), sophomore running back Billy Perry (321 rushing yards and eight touchdowns), and fullback Gage Behrens should all take on bigger roles in the backfield this season.

Freshmen Sirr Beam and running back Cohen Ethridge could also follow in the footsteps of Perry and see playing time in the backfield as freshmen this season.

The veteran presence in the backfield will be Troy Shelton. A transfer from Mullin, the UIL ruled him ineligible for varsity competition last year after they deemed he transferred for athletic purposes.

In the passing game, look for Jayden Sutherland (224 receiving yards and five touchdowns) to be a reliable receiver for the Coyotes.

On the other side of the ball, Perry, last year’s District Newcomer of the Year, should anchor the unit up front along with junior Jim Eckermann, while Sutherland and Rogers both earned all-district honors from their defensive back positions last season.

Don’t expect much to change under the leadership of Rogers.

The Coyotes have young talent in plenty of places. And with their program’s pedigree, expect them to be a force again in the postseason when November rolls around.

Rochelle Hornets

Head Coach: Matt Maciel (1st Season)

Last Season: 7-3; 2-2 in district

Rochelle Key Players and Storylines

For the third-straight season, Richland Springs and Cherokee stood in the way of the Hornets as they looked to get back to the playoffs since 2019.

Rochelle gave Richland Springs everything it could handle as the Hornets roared back from a 44-14 deficit with 26 unanswered points in the second half. However, they were unable to find the last touchdown they needed in a 44-40 defeat.

This season, Rochelle will ride on a talented junior class that brings “lots of experience, athleticism, and leadership,” according to head coach Matt Maciel. Three starters are back on offense and four return on defense. Most of those key players will be juniors.

Look for quarterback Merek Howell and spreadback Kelton Williams to be the catalysts for a Hornet offense that averaged over 53 points per game a year ago.

Fellow juniors Bobby Cole Estes and Justin Lopez will be Rochelle’s anchors in the trenches on both sides of the ball. In addition to earning second team all-district honors on offense a year ago, both were first team all-district selections from their defensive line positions.

Behind them, Williams, a linebacker, and Howell, a safety, will hold key roles in the back half of a defense that held opponents to just under 28 points per game a year ago.

All of these juniors gained valuable experience a year ago. And although Rochelle may be lacking some in the size department, the hope for the Hornets is their athleticism, hard work, and lessons learned from last year will carry them to a playoff run this fall.

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A newcomer to the football experience at Richland Springs High, located in San Saba County about 35 miles south of Brownwood, should immediately master two facts. First, the school’s nickname is pronounced with two syllables. Don’t pronounce the e in Coyotes. As in the singsong chant: “Co-yotes fight! . . . Ne-ver die!” Second, Richland Springs High has won nine state football championships, one shy of the record for any school at any level during 102 years of state championship play.

All nine have been won playing in the University Interscholastic League’s (the state body responsible for overseeing public high school athletics) six-man classification, for schools so small they’d struggle to field eleven-man squads. With so few players, the field is smaller, some of the rules are different, and scoring is plentiful—some teams routinely hit triple digits. The unincorporated town of Richland Springs boasts a population of about 250 and its high school lists an enrollment of 48 total students. The Coyotes compete in Class 1A’s Division II, the smallest of the small.

All nine of those state titles have been won under current head coach Jerry Burkhart, who first arrived at Richland Springs in 2003. Burkhart is tied with the legendary Gordon Wood for the most state championships won by a Texas high school football coach; Wood won his at two schools.

Linda Bailey—whose grandson, Jayden Sutherland, is a junior on this year’s team—stated the obvious before one game this season: “It’s an awesome, awesome program.”

The chances of Richland Springs adding to its record haul this year appeared strong, with Dave Campbell’s Texas Football ranking the Coyotes fourth in the state’s six-man Division II in the preseason.

Then, in a matter of weeks, so much changed.

In late August, the executive committee of Richland Springs’s UIL district found Burkhart guilty of recruiting, a serious violation in the eyes of state athletic administrators. They said he had participated in the transfer of a student from nearby Mullin High. The committee referred the case to the UIL’s state executive committee to review its decision and determine a punishment for the coach.

A few weeks later, the state committee met in a Pflugerville hotel conference room to hear the case. By then, football season had started and Burkhart’s Coyotes were already 3–0 in non-district play, and the team had risen to number two in the state rankings. The committee unanimously upheld the district committee’s finding and suspended Burkhart for three years from coaching at any UIL school. Only one other coach in UIL history had ever received a suspension of that length.

Burkhart, whose contract runs through the 2023–24 academic year, is still at Richland Springs, where he works as the school’s athletic director. Assistant coaches Shawn Rogers and Harley Ethridge assumed control of the football team.

On the second Friday in October, the Coyotes played their first home game without Burkhart. They ran onto the field carrying their 7TH FLAG OVER TEXAS banner in front of the packed home stands to face district rival Cherokee High School. The visitors were also undefeated and ranked third in the state. Richland Springs lost, 78–47. It was the Coyotes’ second home defeat since Burkhart took over in 2003.

The week before that game, Burkhart had filed a motion in state district court asking for a ruling that would allow him to continue coaching Richland Springs. The case was moved to federal court by the state attorney general’s office, where it awaits resolution. The suit states that as a result of the UIL suspension, the coach won’t be able to fulfill all of the duties in his contract and that “it is in fact very likely that it will result in Burkhart losing his job.” Burkhart and his attorney declined interview requests for this story.

The transfer student from Mullin, another six-man school, had been a starter last season as a sophomore. Dave Lewis, superintendent of Rochelle ISD and chairman of the UIL district executive committee, described the student to the state committee as a “potential superstar athlete.”

During the September hearing, the committee focused on a fourteen-minute phone call the student made to Burkhart in early August, one day before Richland Springs’ school year began. While no one disputed that the student placed the call, the state committee and UIL staff in attendance apparently didn’t accept explanations from both Burkhart and the student that they never discussed the possibility of playing football for the Coyotes.

Burkhart called the recruiting accusation “ridiculous” and told the committee he regretted not ending the call soon after it began. He said he remained on the phone that long because he thought he was being set up. Four days before the call, Burkhart said, Mullin High School coach Brent Williamson had texted Burkhart and accused Richland Springs of recruiting.

The student was found guilty of changing schools for athletic purposes. The smoking gun: when he left Mullin, he told Williamson he wanted to play somewhere he could win. His penance is one year of ineligibility from competition in varsity sports.

This isn’t the first time Richland Springs has played football without its coach since 2003. Burkhart left the school twice. The first time, he resigned to take over the six-man program at Gordon High School after steering the Coyotes to his sixth championship with the team in 2012. But the move didn’t last long; Burkhart was back at Richland Springs in time to begin the 2013 season. He told the Brownwood Bulletin that his family was struggling with the adjustment to his new position.

Burkhart was on the move again following the 2017 season, one year after winning title number eight. That move was a foray into coaching eleven-man football at Stanton High School, about twenty miles northeast of Midland. His time there was disappointing on and off the field. With his Buffaloes at 1–6, Burkhart resigned in late October of 2018. A Midland television station soon after reported that he’d filed a complaint that a student at the school threatened to stab Burkhart’s son, who was a quarterback for the football team.

Back at Richland Springs for the 2019 season, Burkhart immediately delivered a ninth state championship. The Coyotes dominated Motley County in the title game, which ended in the third quarter with a score of 62–16 thanks to Texas’s six-man mercy rule, which states that a game will be declared over once a team’s lead reaches 45 points in the second half.

Barbara Young could be considered a typical Richland Springs football fan; the seventy-year-old has missed only one game in recent years, and that was because of a broken femur. Yet she’s anything but typical, roaming the Coyotes sideline in a cheerleader outfit, wearing a Mohawk wig in the team’s blue-and-white colors, and belting out encouragement through a huge megaphone that her daughter snagged at a garage sale. At the home loss to Cherokee last month, Young said she stands with Burkhart.

“I don’t feel like they had any proof,” Young said of the UIL’s ruling and subsequent suspension. “I think a lot of these coaches are jealous of him.”

Mike and Christy Usery were seated ninety minutes before the kickoff against Cherokee. Their son Joshua is a junior on the team, and another son, Jeremiah, played on the 2019 championship squad. Mike Usery said of Burkhart: “When he’s not on the field, we can feel it. It makes a big difference.”

The observation was prescient, as Cherokee pulled away in the fourth quarter. As the home fans watched the closing minutes in disbelief, the school’s six indefatigable student cheerleaders continued their “Coyote power!” chant as if their town’s pride and joy were not suffering its first home defeat in almost a decade.

The win over Richland Springs allowed Cherokee to claim the district title, snapping a Coyotes streak that stretched almost all the way back to the previous century. Even without Burkhart on the sideline, though, Richland Springs qualified for the playoffs as the district runner-up, with a 7–1 overall record. The team will face Zephyr (9–1) in a first-round game Friday night. If the Coyotes win this weekend and then survive their next postseason test, they could earn a rematch with undefeated Cherokee.

A UIL representative told Texas Monthly that if Richland Springs manages to go all the way and claim another state championship this season, the title will be credited to whoever coaches the team on the field that day.

Unless the legal system grants him temporary relief from the suspension or the case is resolved in his favor, that coach won’t be Burkhart, whose next crack at a record-tying tenth football state title might not come until 2025.

“I am only 50 years old and my plan is to keep coaching for years to come and finish my career as a head football coach,” Burkhart stated in his October affidavit. “The decision suspending me gave no rationale or basis and does not even take up all of one page. I have no right to appeal this decision within the UIL.

“The impact that this suspension has had on me, my family, Richland Springs High School and all the coaches, staff, family and players and the whole community has been enormous,” Burkhart continued. “The Richland Spring[s] football program is now in disarray because they have no head coach.”

The UIL State Executive Committee found that a recruiting violation occurred and issued a public reprimand and a three-year coaching suspension for Richland Springs High School's Jerry Burkhart, a nine-time state championship football coach.

Richland Springs High School was also found to have violated Section 409 of the UIL Constitution & Contest Rules and the SEC issued a public reprimand and a three-year probation, stopping short of a playoff ban for the Class 1A Division II football program.

There was no finding of guilt for Richland Springs assistant coach Shawn Rogers, who was also before the committee meeting in Pflugerville in an appeal of the Aug. 23 16-1A Division II District Executive Committee (DEC) finding.

The SEC also denied the appeal of a Richland Springs student-athlete, who was found by the DEC to have violated Section 443 of the C&CR — moving for athletic purposes. The SEC, however, did not extend the ineligibility period for the student-athlete beyond one school year. The athlete may participate in junior varsity competition only until the 2023-2024 school year.

According to the UIL website, the SEC is made up of school administrators from across the state. Smaller panels are formed in order to hear appeals of DEC decisions. On Monday, committee members present included Mike Motheral, the chairman, along with vice chair Johanna Denson, and Paul Galvan.

Also present were UIL staff members Dr. Charles Breithaupt, the executive director of the UIL, along with Jamey Harrison, UIL deputy director, although only the committee members are allowed to vote on the appeal.

The main focus of the discussion leading up to the unanimous (4-0) vote by the SEC that upheld the DEC decision was the 14-minute long phone conversation between Burkhart and the student-athlete prior to his enrollment at Richland Springs High School.

“Great programs recruit themselves. People go there because of the success,” Breithaupt said in addressing Burkhart. “You don’t have to do that (recruiting). You stayed on a phone conversation that length of time, that just doesn’t smell right.”

“I think the DEC did a thorough job. The information was compelling enough to accuse you of recruiting,” the UIL’s top official continued. “Those 14 minutes, I just can’t help but to believe that you didn’t know better than to stay on a call with an athlete from another school, and then to not reach out to Mullin and let them know that conversation took place, and let your superintendent know. That’s problematic.

“I don’t know about all this other documentation, but that alone puts you in a bad light,” Breithaupt said.

Motheral, the superintendent of schools at Sundown ISD, said: “Big mistake here, big mistake. ... I can’t begin to get past the 14 minutes. It creates in me no doubt about what was going on. That’s my opinion. That young man reached out to you, that ought to be a 30-second call. You were on for 14 minutes.”

“So for me, this is a recruiting issue, that’s my personal opinion, based on facts in evidence,” the committee chairman said.

A text-message conversation between the coach at Mullin — where the student-athlete had been in attendance through his sophomore year and earned all-state honors in football — and Burkhart on Aug. 4 was mentioned multiple times in the sworn testimony on Monday.

Galvan, the superintendent at Fort Worth ISD, wanted to know why Burkhart didn’t immediately reach out to Mullin football coach Brent Williamson when he received the phone call from the student-athlete on Aug. 8, four days after the text message from Williamson to Burkhart alerting him to a potential violation, and four days prior to when the student-athlete enrolled at Richland Springs.

“I go back to the previous conversation with the Mullin coach and Coach Burkhart, four days before the telephone call, which came out about the recruiting situation,” Galvan said. “You should have been better prepared, to say you’re not talking about this and for them to contact the administration. Period. That ends the conversation. ... When that did happen, the coach from Mullin was never contacted that you had gotten the call. To me, it’s a recruiting issue and this should have never happened.”

The appeal for the recruiting violation was the second item on the meeting agenda and the first opportunity for the Richland Springs representatives to speak. Burkhart presented evidence that showed the same 14-minute-long conversation by phone with the student-athlete.

“You’re going to have to try to explain that,” Motheral said.

Burkhart replied, “Yes.”

“On Aug. 4, I received a text message from (Mullin) coach (Brent) Williamson,” Burkhart began. “That Coach Rogers and I had been talking to some kids of his. I replied, ‘Coach, I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ As I was down in Utopia, Texas, working on real estate, I received a phone call from Goldthwaite. I didn’t know the number. I answered, he said, ‘Coach Burkhart….I want to talk to you about moving to Richland Springs.’ My first thought was, is I know his dad’s on the board at Mullin ISD. I thought I was being set up.

“My question, just like you, I was asking why do you want to move to Richland Springs,” Burkhart stated.

Motheral interrupted and said, “No, it’s not what my first question would be. My first question would be, it wouldn’t be a question. It would be, ‘I can’t talk to you about it, if you want to go to school here, you need to go talk to somebody else.’”

“Yes sir, my thought running through my mind was I wanted to be as professional as I could and say, ‘You can’t move for athletic purposes. I listened to (the student-athlete) who said all those things like he said here today, about 11 or 12 minutes, at the end of the conversation, I said, ‘Son, you can’t move for athletic purposes.’ I said, ‘Your parents do not live in the district, your dad is on the school board, your parents need to come to the school,’ and I ended the conversation. But the majority of the story was him telling me about is girlfriend (at Richland Springs), and how his mom didn’t want him to come, how his dad kinda did. The young man talked to me during that time and I felt like if I didn’t say what I needed to, that it was a he-said, she-said conversation. And you’re right.”

“What difference does it make that his dad was on the school board?” Motheral stated. “You keep bringing that up.”

“I would never recruit a kid anyway but much less a kid whose father is on the school board,” Burkhart replied.

Motheral asked: “So, there is a difference for you?”

“I’m saying I wouldn’t do it, it’s a ridiculous accusation,” Burkhart replied.

Motheral asked, “You make the determination whether somebody is notable in the district as to whether or not you’re going to recruit them?”

“No sir, I’m not a recruiter,” Burkhart said. “I felt like I was being set up, sir.”

Richland Springs, ranked No. 2 in the state, has a 3-0 record in 2022 and has an open date this Friday. The Coyotes return to action on Sept. 23. The Standard-Times was unable to determine at press time who will coach Richland Springs for the remainder of the season.

Cherokee High School ran away from Richland Springs 78-47 in a District 16-1A Division II football game Friday night in Richland Springs.

It was a battle between the home team Coyotes, who were ranked No. 2 in the state by Texas Football magazine, and the visiting Indians, who were ranked No. 3. The two teams are 30 miles apart, both located inside San Saba county.

It is believed to be Cherokee’s first win over Richland Springs since 2000. Richland Springs has won nine state championships in six-man football since 2004, more than any other six-man football program in Texas.

The Coyotes were without the services of long-time head coach Jerry Burkhart, who was suspended for three seasons from coaching for violation of the UIL rules against recruiting. Burkhart has long been touted by colleagues and opponents as being a defensive genius.

It is the first district-game loss for Richland Springs since 2001, when the Coyotes lost to Panther Creek. The Cherokee win ended an 81-game district-game winning streak by the Coyotes.

Cherokee, winners of three state titles in the 1970s, fell to Richland Springs last year 84-81, and 92-70 in 2020. The Indians returned four starters from a 7-4 team last year. Cherokee came into the season ranked No. 10 by Texas Football. Rochelle was ranked No. 15 preseason by Texas Football.

Joel Valdez completed 8-of-9 passes for 177 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Indians to the win. He also rushed for 79 yards and two TDs. On defense, he led the Cherokee effort with 10 tackles, including one for a loss of yards.

Gunner Baugh rushed 11 times for 150 yards and two TDs for Cherokee. He also had an interception on defense.

Rode Ligon and Joey Bond each caught two TDs passes for Cherokee. Ligon kicked six PATs worth two points apiece. He also had six solo tackles. Bond had seven solos and 2.5 tackles for loss.

Braxton Ethridge led Richland Springs with 178 yards on 21 carries. He scored five rushing TDs. He completed 14-of-24 passes for 152 yards.

Richland Springs (4-1 overall, 0-1) travels to Rochelle next Friday for another district game. Rochelle is ranked No. 13 according to sixmanfootball.com, which reports exclusively on six-man football. Richland Springs was ranked No. 4 on the sixmanfootball.com rankings while Cherokee was No. 5.

Cherokee (5-0, 1-0) is open next Friday and hosts Rochelle on Oct. 21.

It was another entertaining offseason for the Richland Springs Coyotes, who have seen a couple of the state's best six-man coaches -- and some top-flight players -- join or leave their program in recent weeks.

Already ranked No. 4 in the state in Class 1A Division II by Texas Football magazine, the Coyotes made a big splash when they hired two-time state champion coach Nathan Hayes as an assistant, bringing his first-team all-state sophomore son, Tallon, with him.

Days before the start of football practices, however, Hayes agreed to become the head coach at No. 1 Benjamin, while Jaime Rigdon agreed to step down and serve as the Mustangs' assistant coach -- a stunning move similar to the situation at Richland Springs in 2019 when Rigdon stepped aside for Jerry Burkhart to return.

However, an even bigger surprise than Hayes' departure might be the return of Harley Ethridge to Richland Springs.

Ethridge, the father of six-man legend Tyler Ethridge, was the Coyotes' offensive coordinator during their first three state titles in 2004, '06 and '07. He also led Follett to a state final.

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Ethridge also brings along his senior son, Braxton, who won the gold medal in the 300-meter hurdles at the Class 1A state track meet last spring.

All roads could ultimately lead to a showdown between Richland Springs and Benjamin for the state title, but the Coyotes have to first get through their district, which appears much more difficult than in recent years with No. 10-ranked Cherokee and No. 15 Rochelle.

Richland Springs hasn't lost a district game since 2001 -- and even that was against defending state champ Panther Creek. The Coyotes have only beaten Cherokee by a combined 25 points the last two years, so it's by no means a given that Richland Springs will roll to another district title.

But the Coyotes remain the favorite for a reason. They've won 20 district titles in a row, with nine state titles during that span, and they have Burkhart at the helm. He has been the team's head coach for every season but one since 2003, leading them to all of their state titles while compiling a jaw-dropping record of 228-13 at the school.

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Richland Springs returns three starters from last year's team that compiled a 10-2 record and reached the state semifinals before falling to eventual state champion Strawn 100-54. Rigdon was an assistant on that Strawn team, which featured his son Grayson, who had 426 total yards and nine touchdowns as a freshman in last year's state final.

Richland Springs lost standouts such as Jadeyn Bryant and Zane Capps from that team, but they return key contributors like Kelton Lusty, Cohen Tharp and Brandon Stewart.

Lusty was the leading tackler on last year's defense, and he was the third option on offense as a fullback behind Bryant and Capps. Ethridge would make sense as a feature running back in the backfield with him.

Stewart is projected to take over at quarterback. He'll be protected by Tharp, an offensive lineman who is also a legitimate receiving threat.

Richland Springs will open its season 350 miles from home on the coast against High Island. The Coyotes will open district play by hosting Cherokee on Oct. 7, followed by a game at Rochelle on Oct. 14.

Richland Springs Coyotes

District: 16-1A Division II

Head coach: Jerry Burkhart (233-25; 223-12 at Richland Springs)

Last year’s record: 10-2, 4-0 district

Last district title/playoff appearance: 2021/2021

Enrollment: 44

Stadium: Coyote Field

Returning lettermen: 10

Returning off./def. starters: 3/3

Base offense: Multiple

Base defense: 5-1

Team strength: Tradition, athleticism

Team weakness: Replacing key starters

Players to watch

FB/LB Keston Lusty (6-0, 195), OL Cohen Tharp (5-10, 190), QB Brandon Stewart (5-7, 145), WR Jayden Sutherland (6-1, 175), WR Jim Eckermann (6-0, 155), QB Hutton Rogers (6-0, 155), C Jeremiah Beam (6-2, 225), WR Connor Womack (6-0, 195)

2022 schedule

Date Opponent

Aug. 26 at High Island

Sept. 2 at Austin Royals

Sept. 9 at Lometa

Sept. 23 Coolidge (at TBD)

Oct. 7 Cherokee*

Oct. 14 at Rochelle*

Oct. 21 Brookesmith*

Oct. 28 at Lohn*

*District game

2021 results

Marble Falls Faith Academy L 34-62

Coolidge W 66-32

Nueces Canyon W 70-22

Fort Worth Covenant Classical W 119-112

Rochelle W 79-30

Cherokee W 92-70

Mullin W 48-0

Lohn W 54-0

Sidney W 58-8

Oglesby W 53-0

Oakwood W 86-41

Strawn L 54-100