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Snyder’s J.J. Burns (31) runs through Stephenville’s defense during a game last season. Burns,who will be the senior, led the team in rushing last season.
The wait is over for Scurry County’s three high school football teams.
Hermleigh will be the first team on the field at 7 a.m. Monday. Ira is scheduled to start practice at 7:30 a.m. while Snyder will begin preseason work at 7 p.m.
All three teams will be competing in new districts this season. Snyder dropped to Class 4A Division II and will play in District 1 with Monahans, Sweetwater, Midland Greenwood, Fort Stockton and Pecos. Ira and Hermleigh will play in District 4-1A Division I with Spur, Aspermont and Rotan.
“It’s an exciting time of the year,” Snyder head coach Cory Mandrell said. “Dropping to Division II and a new district adds to the excitement. The players have had a great spring and summer and are ready to get started.”
Snyder will return seven players, including quarterback Logan Greene, running back J.J. Burns and receivers Nathan Kendrick and Jake Chavez.
Greene, who missed the last two games with a knee injury, completed 105-of-211 passes for 1,060 yards. Burns rushed for a team-leading 691 yards while Chavez was the team’s leading receiver with 34 catches for 306 yards. Kendrick caught 19 passes for 234 yards.
“The players who showed up for strength and conditioning will be a little ahead of the others,” Mandrell said. “I prefer to do conditioning at practices with drills and when we work on special teams. I rather do that than line up and run sprints.”
Three starters return on defense, but Mandrell believes the unit will build on last season’s improvement.
“We will focus on putting players in the right positions,” he said. “A player may start at one spot and later be moved to another spot.”
Mandrell said keeping the staff intact from last season will be an advantage.
“We wanted stability when coming here two years ago and we are doing that,” he said. “That gives players confidence that the coaches stay because they care for them.”
Mandrell is expecting a successful season.
“We must improve on defense, even though we were better last year,” he said. “On offense, we need big improvement and more production. We need to produce and put points on the board. We also need to reduce our turnovers.”
Ira returns five offensive and six defensive players from a team that went 6-4 last season.
“Most of the players who were here last year gained a lot of game experience,” Ira head coach Toby Goodwin said. “I’m hoping the maturity of the returning players leads to improvement. We also have a good freshman class coming in.”
Ira returns one of the area’s most explosive players in Karson Valentine. In 2017, Valentine completed 69-of-123 passes for 1,116 yards while rushing for 933 yards. Anthony Coy excelled in the running game with 856 yards. Matthew Brazil caught 22 passes for 492 yards.
Goodwin said the emphasis will be on conditioning the four days.
“Our big focus will be conditioning in game-like situations,” he said. “Half of our team will be freshmen. I’m hoping for 25 players. We have the good core group of players and the large freshmen class will make for a solid JV team. Practice will be more intense. The younger players can make a big difference on the practice field.”
sGoodwin said protecting the ball and playing with discipline will be part of preseason practice.
“Turnovers got us last year,” he said. “We must play with discipline and have better execution. The big focus will be taking good care of the football.”
Hermleigh returns three starters each on offense and defense.
“One of the biggest obstacles last year was inexperience,” Hermleigh head coach Sam Winters said. “We can’t use that as an excuse any more. We need to play like a veteran ball club. They have to go out and prove it to everybody.”
Hermleigh will have plenty of firepower in the backfield with Devin Hildebrand and Payton Rivera returning for their sophomore seasons. Hildebrand rushed for 1,277 yards and completed 45-of-82 passes for 695 yards. Rivera ran for 695 yards, connected on 13-of-19 passes for 100 yards and caught six passes for 49 yards.
“I expect Devin and Payton to have good seasons again,” Winters said. “Both players are good backs. We will go with the hot back. I’m looking forward to the team not making freshman mistakes like last year. They need to take more responsibility, so we can expand our playbook.”
Tucker Barton is a player that Winters expects to make an impact. Barton caught 13 passes for 113 yards and was one of the leading tacklers on defense.
“He is one of the players who doesn’t talk much, but leads by example,” Winters said. “It’s good to have players like Tucker. We need him and other seniors to become the team leaders.”
Luis Gonzalez is known for his defense and was selected by Dave Campbell Texas Football as the preseason district’s defensive player of the year. He was the team’s leading tackler last season, but also helped on offense. Gonzalez rushed 25 times for 187 yards and completed 10-of-12 passes for 84 yards.
“Luis is a hard-nosed player,” Winters said. “We will go to him in tough situations, like on the fourth down play late in last year’s Ira game. Luis asked for the ball and scored a touchdown to put the game away.”
Football Schedules
SNYDER
Aug. 17 Idalou (scrimmage) 5 p.m. Home
Aug. 18 Slaton (scrimmage) 6:30 p.m. Home
Aug. 31 Littlefield 7:30 p.m. Away
Sept. 7 Brownwood 7 p.m. Home
Sept. 14 San Angelo Lake View 7 p.m. Home
Sept. 21 Andrews 7 p.m. Away
Oct. 5 Fort Stockton-x 7 p.m. Home
Oct. 12 Monahans-x 7 p.m. Away
Oct. 19 Midland Greenwood-x 7 p.m. Home
Oct. 26 Sweetwater-x 7 p.m. Away
Nov. 2 Lamesa-x 7 p.m. Home
Nov. 9 Pecos-x 7 p.m. Away
x — District 1-4A Division II game
IRA
Aug. 17 Garden City (scrimmage) 6 p.m. Away
Aug. 24 Jayton (scrimmage) 5 p.m. Home
Sept. 1 Happy 3 p.m. Jayton
Sept. 7 Ackerly Sands 7:30 p.m. Home
Sept. 14 Lueders-Avoca 7:30 p.m. Away
Sept. 21 Water Valley 7:30 p.m. Home
Sept. 29 Abilene Christian HS 7:30 p.m. Away
Oct. 5 Ropes 7:30 p.m. Away
Oct. 12 Rotan-x 7:30 p.m. Home
Oct. 19 Spur-x 7:30 p.m. Away
Nov. 2 Aspermont-x 7:30 p.m. Home
Nov. 9 Hermleigh-x 7:30 p.m. Away
x — District 4-1A Division I game
HERMLEIGH
Aug. 17 Jayton (scrimmage) 6 p.m. Away
Aug. 24 Westbrook (scrimmage) 6 p.m. Home
Sept. 1 White Deer 5:30 p.m. Jayton
Sept. 7 Rule 7:30 p.m. Home
Sept. 14 Sterling City 7:30 p.m. Away
Sept. 21 Ropes 7:30 p.m. Home
Sept. 28 Blackwell 7:30 p.m. Home
Oct. 5 Bronte 7:30 p.m. Away
Oct. 12 Aspermont-x 7:30 p.m. Away
Oct. 26 Rotan-x 7:30 p.m. Home
Nov. 2 Spur-x 7:30 p.m. Away
Nov. 9 Ira-x 7:30 p.m. Home
x — District 4-1A Division I game