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By David Claybourn Herald-Banner Sports Editor
That’ ll be the goal of every high school football team in Texas, including the local teams Greenville, Greenville Christian, Royse City, Caddo Mills, Quinlan Ford, Commerce, Lone Oak, Boles, Celeste, Wolfe City, Cumby, Campbell and Fannindel.
Back in 1980 the Greenville Lions beat Plano 10-7 in an undefeated showdown in district play.
Scores like 10-7 are rare these days with a heavy emphasis on throwing and catch the football.
Austin Vandegrift won the Class 6A-II title over Southlake Carroll this past season, 24-17. North Crowley outscored Austin Westlake in the 6A-I finals, 50-21. Richmond Randle won the 5A-II title, 38-35 over Dallas South Oak Cliff. Smithson Valley captured the 5A-I title, 32-20 over Highland Park. Perennial powers Carthage and Celina won the two 4A titles, 28-14 and 55-21 over Waco La Vega and Kilgore. Columbus beat Malakoff 48-14 in the 3A-I championship game. Gunter took the 3A-II title 28-0 over Woodville. Muenster beat Shiner 36-29 in the 2A-II title game. Ganado needed three overtimes to outlast Stamford 30-28 in 2A-I finals. The Class A six-man finals were high-scoring as usual as Jayton beat Oakwood 54-8 in Division II and Gordon outscored Whiteface 70-24 in
Division I.
Fannindel’ s new head coach Jamie Rigdon played a part in Columbus’ state championship. He was an assistant coach on the Cardinals’ team that beat Malakoff in the finals and his son Grayson Rigdon ran for four touchdowns in that victory. The Rigdons also played a big part in state championships at Benjamin and Strawn. Grayson is now a freshman running back at Arizona State.
Jamie Rigdon has coached with five state championship teams and has high hopes for the Falcons, who were a 4-7 playoff team in six-man football last season. The Falcons return running back Kalob Runnels, who was a Class A state champion in the long jump.
Wolfe City earned a preseason state ranking in Class 2A-I. Dave Campbell’ s Texas Football Magazine ranked the Wolves No. 15. The Wolves, who are gunning for their 14th straight trip to the playoffs and beyond, return running back H. D. Davis, who rushed for 2,789 yards and 33 touchdowns on 267 carries in 2024 to rank second in the state and 13th in the nation.
Texas Football picked Quinlan Ford, Commerce, Lone Oak and Cumby to make it back to the playoffs.
David Collins and Brandon Fauley return for their second seasons leading the Greenville Lions and Greenville Christian Eagles, who hope to improve on last year’ s finishes.
Drew Colvin is back for his second season at Royse City. Ronnie Green returns for his second season at Cumby.
So the goals are for the local teams to win games this season, make the playoffs and extend their runs in the playoffs. But to accomplish those goals every team will have to reach the end zone often.
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