10 | HUNTSVILLE LIVING - FOOTBALL REVIEW | JANUARY 2025
Huntsville
Run Hornet ’ s Run :
Hornets
Hornets
Heading into the year Huntsville knew exactly what team they would be for the 2024 season .
Junior Trae ’ Shawn Brown , newcomer Zay Adolphe , junior David Brown and sophomore Ja ’ Khavien Birks were all expected to have significant roles in the run game and that prevailed .
The Hornets compiled over 3,049 yards on the ground this year as they ran through teams to an 8-4 record and a second-place finish in District 8-5A DII . But while the Hornets put up 439 points on offense , the defense locked down when they needed to as well .
While things ended in the second round of the Class 5A-DII playoffs , the Hornets made noise in a year that saw them nearly miss the postseason .
“ I think overall it was a success . I think anytime you lose , and you lose a playoff game to a tough opponent there is a bitter taste . I felt like I had a bitter taste and I hope some of the kids did too ,” Huntsville head coach Rodney Southern said . “ We saw a lot of our young kids grow up , but I think our 36 seniors performed at a high level . I thought we played some really good football this year . Overall , I was proud of our kids for another good year .”
The Hornets lost to the state runner-up in South Oak Cliff but for the first half , the Hornets made it a game , which didn ’ t happen a lot for the Golden Bears .
But , going back to the end of the 2023 season , the Hornets had a lot of hopes . Huntsville made an unprecedented run to the fourth round of the playoffs that sparked things for a group of juniors and seniors that hadn ’ t seen much success before that year .
After a spring session and a motto WNU188 , which stood for Why Not Us , and the 188 being the miles to AT & T Stadium , the Hornets entered the year primed and ready to go .
With an opening game against Brenham , the Hornets got down early to the Cubs before starting to chip away at their early deficit . Senior quarterback Austin Taylor moved the ball down the field and got into the endzone to get the Hornets a score .
From there the Hornets surged . They quickly swung the game back in their favor with a 10-point lead and looked to be the team they were going to be . But Brenham ’ s JaKoby Dixon bounced off the edge and got his team in the endzone to stun the Hornets on opening night .
With an 0-1 record , the Hornets started non-district play with a bad taste and needed to go back to
10 | HUNTSVILLE LIVING - FOOTBALL REVIEW | JANUARY 2025