2aTexasFootball.com

Just thought some of you might want to pass 10 minutes of your day and get you fired up for football season. If you like football and small towns, I feel like this fits the bill. Joaquin returns a lot and there is a nervous anticipation for 2026!!

https://listerpublishing.pixieset.com/2 ... dX6QQkqkXw

The dangerous Joaquin rb will be a lot to handle. Hopefully we meet up in the semis.

My goal would be play:

Round 3 Refugio
Quarters Shiner
Semis Joaquin
Finals Mason

Glad that ginormous TE is a senior. NFL size.

We certainly hope to be back there in that situation. I think everybody believes it can happen again but we realize how quickly injuries can affect a team in 2A football. This group of kids that will be Seniors have played a lot of football games together (Semi's in 2024, State Title in 2025) and I am sure expect to be back there. But injuries can be killer. Like last year a lot of people don't realize we lost 2 lineman early in the season that were Day 1 starters. We luckily had some depth there, and our QB was dealing with a shoulder injury and could barely throw at the State Championship game. No excuses, just the reality of the game.

- The #0 from last year that ended up catching some passes in the State Championship game I would guess will fill that TE role and he is not small either. Also a more physical blocker.

- You won't just have the one RB to worry with. The Kelly kid (#7 on last years team) can absolutely fly and is a bigger more physical version. I am not sure if him or Bragg (the one you were talking about) are faster. Bragg didn't run for Joaquin in district track due to an injury. Kelly did and ended up winning district and area in the 100.

- This will be by far the fastest defense Joaquin has put on the field.

What's interesting is Joaquin's slow start the last 2 years but you mentioned injuries in 2025. Y'all are like an 18 wheeler slow to start but hard to stop.

We have 9/9 returning with an Edna senior move in who came in September. He couldn't play varsity in anything. He will be eligible week 4. That really makes it 10/10 because he was a 2 way starter at Edna in 2024.

We had 2 seniors and 3/2 back in 2025. I think we overachieved at 11-2 last year. Barring injuries we'll be in the thick of things for a title.

Shiner will have plenty to say about all of this too. Back to back finals losses and lots returning too. They’ll want it just as bad.

Thorndale has 10/10 back. Don't sleep on them. Muenster or Mason.

Comanchealumni06 wrote: ↑Wed May 06, 2026 5:22 pm Shiner will have plenty to say about all of this too. Back to back finals losses and lots returning too. They’ll want it just as bad.

100%. That is why I said that we understand that isn't a given. Too much has to go right. But the program seems to be building towards something. We have fielded some solid teams for many years, but the last few years after the coaching change seem to just have a different feel to it. Buy-in by the kids has definitely increased, and lots of buzz around town. Anyways, I have no idea what is going to happen, I was just showing a cool video

ganadofan1 wrote: ↑Wed May 06, 2026 6:51 am What's interesting is Joaquin's slow start the last 2 years but you mentioned injuries in 2025. Y'all are like an 18 wheeler slow to start but hard to stop.

We have 9/9 returning with an Edna senior move in who came in September. He couldn't play varsity in anything. He will be eligible week 4. That really makes it 10/10 because he was a 2 way starter at Edna in 2024.

We had 2 seniors and 3/2 back in 2025. I think we overachieved at 11-2 last year. Barring injuries we'll be in the thick of things for a title.

I will have to find back and see if I can find the podcast from our coach that took over in 2024 (Coach Jones). He is a Joaquin graduate, and inherited a team that went 2-8 in 2023. All the coaches pretty much had bailed but he stuck around. 2024 was more of a true rebuild it type year so the 4th place wasn't surprising. In 2025, injuries definitely didn't help but it is also honestly partly that this district is pretty loaded (like chasing Terry Bussey around in 2023) and also Coach Jones philosophy. He is very big on just making the playoffs and allowing everyone to go into the playoffs as healthy as possible. (like Bragg sitting out against Garrison when he very well could have played). He will intentionally move pieces around to find the best fit throughout the season, he leaves the playbook very vanilla, etc.. The Slot-T is such a timing based offense that it usually takes a while to start getting in-sync.

It could also be a tough non-district. I'm not really sure who y'all have played but that and injuries can make a team not look as good as they really are. It's happened to Shiner several times and they go to state, etc.