“ Rest his soul, we lost him recently,” Rogers said.“ What a great coach and leader of men.” Rogers recalled following the Trinidad Trojans to the state title game in Glen Rose as one of the most memorable stories he covered at the Review. The 62-16 win over Borden County was Henderson County’ s first state champion in football.
“ They were behind early in the game and ended up winning by the 45-point rule,” Rogers said.“ It was an amazing finish.”
Rogers also flashed back to 2006, when John Settle led Brownsboro to a playoff game against powerful Celina. It was the first time a Henderson County team appeared in a playoff game at Texas Stadium. Brownsboro got off to a good start, but ultimately was Celina’ s 30th straight victim.
“ What a great gig it was to be around big events like that for all those years,” Rogers said.
Then came 2023, when Rogers’ alma mater, Malakoff, clicked off 16 straight wins and won the 3A Division I championship at AT & T Stadium in Arlington. The Tigers added 15 wins to start the 2024 season and took a 31 game winning streak into the final against Columbus.
Rogers said another amazing thing he’ s seen is the evolution of the facilities at Henderson
County high schools since he came to the Review. The pristine new high school in Malakoff and the recent additions at Athens are outstanding.
“ There was a day when we could never imagine Athens being one of the top 4A programs in the state as far as programs go and facilities go,” Rogers said.“ And now they’ re hosting regional basketball games there because of the facility work.”
The same is true at Bruce Field and the softball and baseball stadiums.
In 2009, Rogers packed his desk at The Athens Review and moved down the street to Trinity Valley.
Rogers had already covered some of the Cardinals’ greatest achievements while he was at his desk at the Review. That includes the 1994 and 1997, NJCAA Football Championships and multiple trips to watch the Cards and Lady Cards in national basketball tournaments.
At TVCC, instead of covering a stable of schools, he’ s been focused on the exploits of one. Fortunately, during those years, he’ s been watching one of the most successful NJCAA sports departments.
The job is similar to his newspaper years, but it took some adjustments.
“ It’ s been different. I had to change the presentational style,” Rogers said.“ I’ ll give this as an example. In one of our early games, the Cardinals turned the ball over six times. If I’ d still been at the Review, I’ d have led with that. But when I wrote it for the website, you’ d have never known the six turnovers were a
16 | Greater Athens Magazine | July 2026