COUNTING DOWN THE TOP 10 CENTRAL TEXAS TEAMS
For many elite high school football teams, tradition doesn’t graduate.
Such is the case at Wimberley, which said farewell to several seniors who
helped the Texans reach the Class 4A Division II state semifinals last season. The list includes a pair of players who earned first-team All-State honors — quarterback Jojo Weeks and offensive tackle Ian Burnette.
So, what is coach Doug Warren, entering his sixth season at Wimberley, banking on? Pride. Belief. Expectations.
Those are three reasons the Texans rank No. 10 in Central Texas in the American-Statesman’s annual preseason high school football countdown poll. “I’m going to go out on a limb here
and say from the start of the season until the finish, the improvement on this team is going to be unbelievable,” said Warren, who is 40-24 in his first five years.
Warren admits that his 2017 team — stocked with talent and experience — is
more advanced than his current squad. Only seven starters — two on offense, five on defense — return from last year’s team that went 13-2.
Warren knows that players such as Weeks, now a UTSA freshman who threw 51 touchdown passes last year, don’t come around very often. Neither do linemen such as Burnette, who earned a scholarship to TCU.
For the players coming back, this is where the pride, belief and expectations kick in.
“We did lose a ton of guys, but we have a winning mindset and a winning culture,” senior offensive lineman Trey Manning said. “I’ve seen leaders come and leaders go. We (the seniors) will have to replicate what they did and do it in our own way.”
Among the newcomers playing major roles this fall will be new quarterback Cooper McCollum, who played sparingly behind Weeks last season.
“This young man can be as good as he wants to be,” Warren said. “He’s got all the intangibles — good size (6-3, 185 pounds), a good runner. He’s a better runner than Jojo was but not the arm that Jojo has.”
The strength of the team is an offensive line that includes Manning, Hayden Chavarria and Collin Kincaide. They will block for senior Guy Kypuros, a running back who figures to be a major part of the offense. Last year he had 204 yards and a pair of touchdowns for an offense that passed the football 53 percent of the time.
Wimberley has one of the area’s top kickers, senior Nicholas Kohls, who converted seven of his nine fieldgoal attempts last season and also plays running back.
“Our offense is going to do a lot of damage,” Kohls said. “I’m not saying it’s just me personally. I’ll do my best to run the ball the hardest for this team, but we have a lot of weapons.”
District 13-4A Division II figures to be a two-team race between Wimberley and Cuero, which joins Eastside Memorial as the newest teams in the league.
Last year Wimberley went five rounds deep into the playoffs before losing to 30-21 to West Orange-Stark. Cuero went 12-1 overall, 5-0 in District 15-4A Division II, and lost to Wimberley 44-36 in the third round.
Winning district is Wimberley’s first team goal. But the Texans know their season won’t be judged until November and December.
“Culture is hard to get and easy to lose,” Warren said. “That’s something we can’t let slip away. These kids expect to play in bigtime ball games.”