KICKOFF
CONTENTS
6 10 14 18 22
FEATURE
LEANDER HIGH SCHOOL MARCHING BAND TEAM PREVIEW
CEDAR RIDGE RAIDERS TEAM PREVIEW
LEANDER LIONS
TEAM PREVIEW
McNEIL MAVERICKS
TEAM PREVIEW
ROUND ROCK DRAGONS
u AREA STADIUMS pg. 8
u DISTRICT 13-6A pg. 9
26 30 34 38 44
TEAM PREVIEW
STONY POINT TIGERS
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TEAM PREVIEW
VANDEGRIFT VIPERS
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TEAM PREVIEW
VISTA RIDGE RANGERS
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TEAM PREVIEW
WESTWOOD WARRIORS
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TEAM PREVIEW
ROUSE RAIDERS FEATURE
GLENN GRIZZLIES: LAYING THE FOUNDATION TEAM PREVIEW
GLENN GRIZZLIES
TEAM PREVIEW
LAGO VISTA VIKINGS
TEAM PREVIEW
CEDAR PARK TIMBERWOLVES
u DISTRICT 11-5A DI pg. 42
p PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAUL KNIGHT/
SPECIAL TO THE HILL COUNTRY NEWS
u DISTRICT 13-5A DII pg. 53
u CENTRAL TEXAS MAP pg. 62
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STADIUMS IN THE AREA JOHN GUPTON STADIUM Vista Ridge, Cedar Park
ADDRESS 200 Gupton Way Drive, Cedar Park CAPACITY 10,200 OPENED 2010 PLAYING SURFACE Artificial
A.C. BIBLE STADIUM Leander, Rouse, Glenn
ADDRESS 3301 S Bagdad Road, Leander CAPACITY 10,200 OPENED 2009 PLAYING SURFACE Artificial
ED W. MONROE STADIUM Vandegrift
ADDRESS 9500 McNeil Drive, Austin CAPACITY 8,000 OPENED 2010 PLAYING SURFACE Artificial
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SEE PAGE 43 FOR CLEAR BAG POLICIES DRAGON FIELD
Round Rock, Stony Point, Cedar Ridge, Westwood, McNeil
ADDRESS 300 North Lake Creek Drive, Round Rock CAPACITY 8,800 OPENED 1974 PLAYING SURFACE Artificial
KELLY REEVES ATHLETIC COMPLEX Round Rock, Stony Point, Cedar Ridge, Westwood, McNeil
ADDRESS 10211 West Parmer Lane, Austin CAPACITY 11,000 OPENED 2003 PLAYING SURFACE Artificial
LAGO VISTA HIGH SCHOOL STADIUM Lago Vista
ADDRESS 5040 Lohmans Ford Road, Lago Vista CAPACITY 2,500 OPENED 2014 PLAYING SURFACE Artificial
DISTRICT 13-6A
FIRST LOOK
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CEDAR RIDGE
2018 Record: 7-1 district, 9-3 overall Head Coach: Sam Robinson Cedar Ridge continues to just have consistent season after consistent season. nce again, the Raiders had a great season, finishing second in the district and advancing to the second round o the layo s, losing to he Woodlands in a shootout here are a ew ig holes to fill, most nota ly aylen llis at wide receiver, ut Cedar Ridge has lenty o talent to do ust that he Raiders have a rutal gauntlet to start the year ollowing a reseason scrimmage with Lake ravis, o ening with em le and Cedar Park e ore taking on de ending cham ion Vandegrfit in the first round o district lay
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HENDRICKSON
2018 Record: 6-2 district, 7-3 overall Head Coach: Chip Killan Last year, the endrickson de ense was no oke ut this time around, with the losses o a ew key layers, it might e hard or the awks to stay in the layo race With Weiss o ening u , the num ers at endrickson have been dropping. And the leading passer, rusher and receiver are all gone via graduation he awks finished with the second est de ense in the district ehind cham ion Vandegri t endrickson will have a cou le early tests, hosting e arkana e as and traveling to Smithson Valley to start the season.
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LEANDER
2018 Record: 0-8 district, 1-9 overall ead Coach ris Price Last year was a year o transition or the Lions A ter another year without a tri to the ostseason the last time they ve een there was in 0 3 head coach im Smith resigned in Novem er Not long a ter, ris Price was named his replacement after building a solid defense at Keller High School. With Leander eing one o the smaller enrollment schools in Class A, the first year head coach has his work cut out or him he Lions once again o en the year with new school Weiss, their only win o the year last season, e ore acing layo teams in three o the ne t our games, including two o three to begin the District 13-6A schedule.
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MCNEIL
2018 Record: 3-5 district, 4-6 overall ead Coach oward McMahan his has ecome the norm at McNeil the last ew years he Mavericks have some ieces, ut struggle to ut everything together right away hey had a ew good er ormances including a rain shortened game against Glenn and a shootout win over Westwood ut McNeil also had star receiver eremy erley now at Ari ona State and three year starting uarter ack ane am er now at e as Lutheran With all the holes to fill, it will e interesting to see ust how the Mavericks res ond in a wide o en district
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ROUND ROCK
2018 Record: 5-3 district, 7-5 overall ead Coach e Cheatham Round Rock had and has had one o the most e citing o enses in the area, i not the state, over the last two seasons he Dragons ut u the oints in droves and got into an incredi le 59 shootout with lein ak in their two overtime layo loss in the second round o the layo s last season
ut many o the catalysts that mad that o ense so e citing are gone Ryan ee e is at South Florida and Garrett Miller is at Purdue, while oth running acks graduated When they still have is uarter ack Seth Ford and receiver Collin Sullivan, which igures to e one o the est duos in the area Any im rovement the Dragons can make on the de ensive side o the all will e crucial to getting ack into the layo s
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STONY POINT
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VANDEGRFIT
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VISTA RIDGE
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WESTWOOD
2018 Record: 4-4 district, 6-4 overall Head Coach: Craig Chessher Last year was o the same rom Stony Point and Craig Chessher he igers were right with the average teams in the district hey were third overall in de ense and si th in total o ense last year hey missed the layo s or the second season in a row and were wildly inconsistent on the o ensive side o the all ut this year, Chessher thinks his team is going to e way more consistent, in art ecause o t he tremendous de th they have at ust a out every osition he secondary might e the iggest uestion mark or the igers, ut Chessher said he was im ressed with them in s ring, and he s een doing this or ar too long to not trust about matters such as this. 2018 Record: 8-0 district, 12-1 overall ead Coach Drew Sanders What a season it was or the Vi ers last year hey went unde eated or the first time in school history and won their first ever outright district title Plus, they roke through the second round o the layo s or the first time as a Class A school he Vi ers ound a way to win in every ossi le scenario, an overtime field goal against Cedar Ridge, a ourth uarter drive against Round Rock, a de ensive sto against endrickson, and a dou le overtime win in the layo s against lein Collins he de ense doesn t figure to e as dominant, ut the o ense should ick u right where last season le t o 2018 Record: 1-7 district, 1-9 overall Head Coach: Rodney Vincent Last season was not what Vista Ridge ans and layers were used to heir only win o the season came against Leander and the Rangers had trou le moving the all on o ense and sto ing teams on de ense hat all figures to change this season, es ecially o ensively Vista Ridge has a returning uarter ack as well as a ew layers that can lay at running ack Plus, their o ense got a oost rom a tri to the state tournament in on De ensively, the line acking core leads the charge and will look to take advantage o turnovers and orcing the o osing o enses into making oor decisions 2018 Record: 2-6 district, 4-6 overall ead Coach Anthony Wood Westwood was in one o the most uni ue situations o any team in the district last season hey were still fighting or a layo s ot as the seasons wound down des ite starting, at some times, as many as 0 so homores at a time he Warriors gave district cham ions Vandegrfit one o their closest scares o the season in a rainy game What that all means is that Westwood has a core of players that are still just juniors that have so much valuable varsity e erience Don t e sur rised i the Warriors sneak into a layo s ot in the rough-and-rouble nine-team district.
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DISTRICT 11-5A DI FIRST LOOK u
CEDAR PARK
2018 Record: 5-1 district, 8-4 overall Head Coach: Carl Abseck It took until after the midpoint of the season, but Cedar Park finally hit its stride. Sure, the Timberwolves didn’t win the district title like they’re so used to doing, and they lost their first district game in more than two seasons. But when things counted, they showed up. First, they downed Austin LBJ in the first round of the playoffs in a close 10-7 game. Then they played very tough Shadow Creek team to the wire, falling 21-14. This year, Cedar Park hopes to reclaim its spot atop the district standings and continue the run of playing for state titles.
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CONNALLY
2018 Record: 0-6 district, 1-9 overall Head Coach: Jason Cecil Things weren’t fun for the Cougars on the football field last year with their lone win coming in week three against Bastrop. Connally ranked worst in the district in points allowed and second worst in points scored. The best thing about the upcoming season, though, is that they have a successful quarterback coming back or his senior season and a dominant running back that is only going to be a junior this time around. Other than their win, the Cougars’ best performance of last year was a 48-34 loss to Pflugerville, which tied for the most points they scored all season.
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GEORGETOWN
2018 Record: 4-2 district, 9-4 overall Head Coach: Chuck Griffin The Chuck Griffin era begins at Georgetown as the Eagles are figuring to transition from a dominant team used to competing for district titles, at least for now. Georgetown loses its starting quarterback, as well as its top two rushers and receivers. Defensively, two of the top three tacklers return from a defense that ranked as the second best in the district last season, allowing just over 20 points a game in conference play. The Eagles still advanced to the third round of the playoffs last year, tied for the longest run of anyone from District 11-5A, DI.
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HUTTO
2018 Record: 6-0 district, 11-0 overall Head Coach: Brad LaPlante If you ask anyone in the Hutto locker room, I think you’d hear that last season was an overall disappointment. It was state title or bust for the dominant Hippos. They waltz through the district, including a lopsided 65-21 win against Cedar Park on a rainy night in Hutto, but stumbled in the playoffs, squeaking by Angleton and
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HILL COUNTRY NEWS KICKOFF | FALL 2019
falling to Richmond Foster in the third round. Chase Griffin is off at UCLA and most of his speedy weapons on offense are gone, too. Two tough ones to start the year for Hutto: against West Mesquite and at Liberty Hill.
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MANOR
2018 Record: 3-3 district, 5-7 overall Head Coach: Jimmie Mitchell The Mustangs were the team to win the battle for the last playoff spot a season ago and they made the most of it, upsetting Dripping Springs in the first round of the playoffs before falling to Richmond Foster in the second round. Early reports ahead of their second season since dropping down from Class 6A say that the Mustangs should be really, really good and challenge for a district title. The Manor offense tied for the second most potent in the district last season and brings back its starting quarterback and second leading rusher.
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PFLUGERVILLE
2018 Record: 2-4 district, 4-6 overall Head Coach: Charles Taylor Since dropping down to Class 5A, the Panthers have yet to get back to their dominant ways. This will be the second year since dropping down, and they are losing two top receivers and their starting quarterback. Luckily for the Panthers, now-sophomore running back Elijah Oakmon is back and set to have a breakout season. Last year, there were three teams at the top of the district and everyone else was forced to fight it out for the last playoff spot. The Panthers lost to Manor in the first game of the district season and dropped their final three games of the seasons to the top teams in the district to miss out on the playoffs. They’ll need to pull an upset to reverse that course.
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ROUSE
2018 Record: 1-5 district, 3-7 overall Head Coach: Josh Mann It’s hard to look at a harder hit school from the opening of Glenn than Rouse. The Raiders have seen their number dip with the new school opening in Leander, and while the wins haven’t been there the last couple seasons, it’s not for lack of talent. Rouse had successful games in their wins against Vista Ridge, Weiss and Connally last season. And even in the games they didn’t win, the Raiders still put up a fight. This year’s team will be built primarily on the defensive side of the ball and will get an early test and a rejuvenated Vista Ridge team in the regular-season opener.
DISTRICT 13-5A DII
FIRST LOOK
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BASTROP
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BRENHAM
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CEDAR CREEK
2018 Record: 4-3 district, 6-5 overall Head Coach: Todd Patmon It certainly wasn’t easy, but the Bears backed their way into the postseason and gave it a good run in the layo s astro lost two o its final three games o the regular season, ut handed Glenn ust its second loss o the district season in the regular season finale n the layo s, the ears took errville ivy to dou le overtime in the first round, ultimately losing 3 he uarter ack and to receivers return, ut they will have to re lace dominant rusher he uay Chretin hey start the year against Rudder, Reagan and Connally e ore um ing into district lay 2018 Record: 5-2 district, 8-5 overall Head Coach: Eliot Allen Brenham has been used to going to layo s and winning district titles Well then they got laced in this district he Cu s lost to Cedar Creek in the first game o district play then came to Leander and dropped 21-7 game to hand the district title to Glenn renham still made a dee layo run, eating Boerne Champion in round one and Mission Sharyland in double overtime in round two e ore alling to Cor us Christi Calallen in the third round he Cu s will want to get ack on to o the district this season 2018 Record: 3-4 district, 4-6 overall Head Coach: Jon Edwards It’s been a rollercoaster two years or on dwards and Cedar Creek ust two seasons ago, the agles won ust one game all season e ore turning around last year and nearly making the layo s, u setting erennial layo team and district newcomer renham in the rocess he starting uarterback is gone, but running back Dominic Mojica is just a sophomore and finished with 49 yards and si touchdowns a season ago he agles won three games in district and our overall des ite scoring the second ewest oints o any team in the con erence
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EAST VIEW
2018 Record: 5-2 district, 6-5 overall Head Coach: Jerod Fikac It’s a new era at East View as Jerod Fikac comes over to take over the Patriots Fikac comes to Georgetown rom San Sa a igh School where he led the oot all team to a 4 record and an a earance in the State Semi Finals, the first in the school s history, according to the ress release rom Geogetown SD e was recogni ed as the 0 Dave Cam ell e as Foot all Coach o the ear ast View won its final three games o the regular season e ore losing to Alamo eights in the first round o the layo s he to uarter ack and receiver are ack, ut ion ester graduated a ter leading the team on the ground
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ELGIN
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GLENN
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MARBLE FALLS
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WEISS
2018 Record: 3-4 district, 4-6 overall Head Coach: Jens Anderson he Wildcats were a hard team to in down last season hey would lost a lo sided game to eventual district champion Glenn and then turn around and beat Marble Falls, which eat Glenna and nearly made the layo s, in the very ne t week lgin loves to run the all and com ined or more than ,000 rushing yards last season hree layers that had more than 00 yards rushing are e ected to return, including the to two rushers he Wildcats travel to Austin L , travel to Rudder and host P ugerville to start the season e ore eginning district lay against Glenn 2018 Record: 5-2 district, 7-5 overall ead Coach Ro Schoen eld What a season last year was the Gri lies it was so incredi ly history n their first every L sanctioned season, Glenn won the district title and made it two rounds dee into the layo s here were a cou le stum les along the way, to Marble Falls and Bastrop, but it was an otherwise magical first ull season or Glenn Many o the key ieces on o ense return And while the de ense will lose a little more than head coach Ro Schoen eld would ro a ly like to admit, the oundation they uilt rom last season is something to e roud o
2018 Record: 3-4 district, 5-5 overall Head Coach: Brian Herman The Mustangs didn’t make the layo s last season, ut it wasn t or lack o trying Mar le Falls handed eventual district cham ion Glenn its first loss o the district season and went on to win its final three games o the regular season only to ust miss out on the layo s he starting uarter ack, two top rushers and top receivers are gone to graduation, so any momentum they had will have to e re uilt rom the ground u hey o en the season with Canyon Lake, urnet and Navarro e ore um ing into district lay against a re uvenated ast View team
2018 Record: 0-7, 0-10 Head Coach: Tommy Aultman There isn’t much more you could e ect rom Weiss in their first ull edged varsity season A small school going against ar more esta lished schools was ound to e di cult ut the Wolves made the est o the situation, and they ll e ar etter o or it this season hey ranked last in the district in oints scored only scoring in dou le digits once all season and were second worst in oints allowed ut they have some ieces and they showed ashes hey should e e ected to ut things together or a ull game on more than one occasion this season
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