Abilene High begins interviews
Abilene High, which has been going through spring football under interim head coach and former DC Mike Fullen, will start up interviews for its vacant HFC position this week. The smart money is on the internal candidate and current interim HC Mike Fullen, who led the Eagles through spring practice. We’ll see if the district throws us all a curveball and considers an outside candidate despite all signs pointing to an inside hire. Reports are several head coaches are interviewing including candidates from DFW, Houston, San Antonio, the Coastal Bend and the Panhandle.
Garland Naaman Forest looks way out west
After the departure of Marvin Sedberry, Jr. last month, Garland ISD went as far west as you could go and still remain in Texas to nab its next head coach as El Paso Del Valle HC Jesse Perales was named Tuesday night to lead the Rangers. Perales spent 15 outstanding seasons at Del Valle posting a 125-50 record for the Conquistadores, including a pair of third round playoff appearances. Perales has a tie to Garland ISD, as the GISD superintendent Ricardo Lopez hired Perales when he was the principal at Del Valle back in 2004. The challenge will be great for one of El Paso’s best coaches as he comes to DFW with little time to build a staff or get the Rangers ready for 2019 as Naaman Forest has already gone through spring practice.
Fort Bend Austin names a new coach
Fort Bend Austin didn’t need to look too far for its next HFC as it hired Fort Bend Travis OC Mike Arogbonlo last Thursday. Arogbonlo coordinated one of Houston’s top offensive units and when Travis HC Trey Sissom had to take time away from the team due to health issues, Arogbonlo got valuable experience leading a program.
Katy Cinco Ranch names Chris Dudley
Cinco Ranch on Monday night named Katy Taylor DC Chris Dudley as its second HFC in school history as Dudley replaces recently retired Don Clayton. He’ll take over one of the youngest teams in all of Class 6A, but being inside of Katy ISD he’ll be very familiar with the personnel on hand for the Cougars.
Seminole stays in-house
It didn’t take Seminole long to name its new HFC after the retirement of Kent Jackson last week as offensive coordinator Ty Palmer was named on Tuesday as the Indians new HFC. With the success of Seminole the past few seasons and the timing of Jackson’s late announcement it seemed like a no-brainer the district would promote an internal candidate.
Keith Virdell Heads to Goldthwaite
Sudan HC Keith Virdell impressed in his one season at the helm for the Hornets posting a 9-2 record and he’s capitalized on that strong season by heading back closer to home as Virdell was named the new HFC at Goldthwaite on Friday. Prior to taking the Sudan job last spring, Virdell was the offensive coordinator at Florence.
Somerville’s Saga
It appeared Somerville had named its new head coach a few weeks ago as former Texas A&M and NFL star Ty Warren was named by the school board to lead the program, pending Warren completing his Texas teachers certification. However, late last week Somerville ISD reposted the job triggering rumors on Warren’s status. Warren took to Twitter to clear the air stating he that was still completing his teaching certification and is hoping for a chance to get into coaching but he was not taking the Somerville job due to what he described as a lack of support from administration for his vision to turn the program around. Definitely not what you want to hear if you are a fan of the Yeguas, as a lack of continuity in the football program has been an issue.
Week 3 SQT Recap
State 7-on-7 Qualifying ramped up in a big way this past weekend and despite the rain across the state all the tournaments were completed. Check out the scores from all of the SQTs below:
Also you can get a look at all of the qualifiers as of May 19:
https://www.texasfootball.com/article/2019/05/19/2019-7-on-7-state-tournament-qualifiers?ref=article_preview_title
It’s another full week of SQT’s across the state as we’ll have Division I qualifiers in Hurst and Round Rock along with Division II SQTs in Hurst, Brock, Burnet and Rockport. Division III qualifying begins this week with tournaments in Wink, Buffalo and Hamilton. Ganado was scheduled to host a Division III SQT this week, but that tournament was postponed to June. I’ll be out at the Hurst SQT Saturday covering the action, but we’ll have scores from as many qualifiers as possible!
Click the link for the full schedule and information on 7-on-7 in Texas go to http://www.texas7on7.org
With Spring Break in the rearview mirror it’s time to start looking ahead to Spring Football across the state!! Class 5A and Class 6A schools have the option to participate in spring practice and if they elect to do so they start fall camp a week later than 4A and below programs and 5A/6A schools that elected to not have spring ball. Schools that also choose to have spring ball also only have one preseason scrimmage instead of two. Below is a list of dates for spring football games across the state, if we are missing one send to matt.stepp@texasfootball.com!
May 23: Mission Veterans Memorial, 6:00pm at Veterans Memorial HS
May 23: Haslet Eaton, 6:30pm at Eaton HS
May 23: San Angelo Central, 6:00pm at San Angelo Stadium
May 23: Colleyville Heritage, 6:00pm at CHHS
May 23: Haltom, 5:00pm at Birdville Stadium
May 23: Arlington, 6:00pm at Arlington HS
May 23: San Antonio O’Connor, 5:00pm at O’Connor HS
May 23: Waco Midway, 5:00pm at Panther Stadium
May 23: Justin Northwest, 6:00pm at Northwest ISD Stadium
May 23: McKinney North, 6:30pm at McKinney North HS
May 23: Frisco Memorial, 6:00pm at Memorial HS
May 23: Lancaster, 6:30pm at Humphrey Tiger Stadium
May 23: Midlothian, 6:30pm at MISD Stadium
May 23: North Forney, 6:00pm at City Bank Stadium
May 23: El Paso Eastlake, 6:00pm at Eastlake HS
May 23: Klein Cain, 7:00pm at Cain HS
May 23: Frisco, 3:00pm at Frisco HS
May 23: Arlington Martin, 6:00pm at Martin HS
May 24: Waco, 6:00pm at Waco HS
May 24: El Paso Del Valle, 5:00pm at Conquest Stadium
May 24: Cedar Park, 7:30pm at Cedar Park HS
May 24: South Oak Cliff, 6:00pm at Kincaide Stadium
May 24: El Paso Americas, 7:00pm at Americas HS
May 24: McAllen Memorial, 6:00pm at Boxer Hernandez Stadium
It’s officially clinic season in the state of Texas and if you have coaching clinic information that we are missing below by all means send it our way! You can e-mail it to me at matt.stepp@texasfootball.com or reach out to me on twitter @Matt_Stepp817
June 11-13: Angelo Football Clinic, San Angelo
June 13-14: Dos Amigos Clinic, Eagle Pass
July 21-23: 2017 THSCA Coaches Convention & Coaching School, Houston
Final Week of This Week in TXHSFB
With May winding down and graduations taking place the news on the TXHSFB scene will slow down considerably as most of the head coaching jobs will be filled. We’ll still have plenty of 7-on-7 news on the site to keep you entertained throughout the month of June!
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Matt Stepp is the Texas High School Football Inside for Dave Campbell’s Texas Football. Find him on Twitter: @Matt_Stepp817.
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