Dive into Huntsville's 2023-24 football schedule

Jul. 25—HUNTSVILLE — With Huntsville's football season only 38 days away and summer camps getting ready to turn into fall camps, let's take a dive into the upcoming Hornet football schedule.

The Hornets are set to start their season on August 25 with a home game against A&M Consolidated, a very familiar foe.

Week 1

Last season, the Hornets dropped the opening game to the Tigers on the road as A&M Consolidated grabbed the 38-13 win in Huntsville's first game with a brand new squad.

The Tigers are also under the new direction of head coach Brandon Schmidt after the departure of Lee Fedora after the 2022 season. The Tigers will bring back five players on both their offensive and defensive sides of the ball that keeps some of the same presence for a team that is a perennial playoff team.

To get past Consol, Huntsville will likely need to stop the run game with senior Keshun Thomas and Trey Taylor leading the way for the Tigers. The duo combined for 1,595 yards last season with 27 scores.

Week 2

Huntsville opened its home schedule last year with another Bryan/College Station school and this year they open their road slate.

The Hornets grabbed a 21-14 win over 6A Bryan High and will look to do that again on the road. The Vikings will be under Ricky Tullos for the second straight year and will return five offensive players and seven defensive players this season.

Luckily for the Hornets, they return the same core that was able to run past the Vikings to secure the win.

Week 3

Huntsville head coach Rodney Southern gets another shot at his former team when Belton heads down to Huntsville. Belton bested the Hornets 41-28 after Huntsville was never able to get things going on either side of the ball.

Belton, another 5A, DII team, is projected to win its district as they return a total of 15 players with seven being offensive and eight being defensive.

With a new quarterback, the Tigers may still face some growing pains despite being predicted to finish first atop the District 11-5A, DII standings.

Week 4

Huntsville brings up their second and final 6A opponent in Clear Springs. The Chargers never let off the gas and powered their way to a 46-18 win over the Hornets.

Huntsville was never able to get anything going against this squad and needed a trick play from Matthew Tatum to get on the board.

The Hornets, however, bring back a defense that now has reps under their belt and faces a team with eight offensive players returning.

Clear Springs will see junior quarterback Julian Salazar under center after getting eight games last year.

The Chargers also have senior running back Xai'Shaun Edwards who has offers from UH, Missouri, Oregon, Texas State and Texas Tech.

Week 5

The most important week of the year, maybe. The Hornets will open up its all-important district slate with a game against Montgomery.

The Bears picked sixth in Dave Campbell's poll and are coming off a season in which they missed the postseason and had a 3-8 record — one of the wins was against Huntsville.

Montgomery will be under Grant Cooper for another year but have 11 total starters returning.

The Hornets roster that nearly completely turns over should be able to get back the win they let slip away last season.

Week 6

The Hornets hit the road for the first time since Week 2 and the first time in the district.

Huntsville will also play on a Thursday night at Lamar Consolidated, where they will play on the Mustangs.

The game will be played on the field that is used for the junior varsity squads rather than at Traylor stadium and will be an interesting event for the teams and fans.

Despite the circumstances, the Hornets will try to keep their winning ways up against them.

The Mustangs will need senior quarterback Nathan Lowther to step things up through the air though as the Hornets D-Line will try and surge.

Week 7

The Hornets will then head back home for their matchup with Bryan Rudder. The Rangers last season had a down year as they finished 2-8 and went completely defeated in district play.

Rudder will have several returns, though, but still needs somebody to step up and throw the ball.

Rudder will have a strong defense though that will have to stop a team that put up 24 points against them last season but the Hornets will have some key experience at the skill positions.

Week 8

Bye

Week 9

Huntsville will be coming off a much-needed bye week with three games left and will face last year's top team and this year's predicted district winner.

The Hornets will travel for another game against Lake Creek, who is going to be a better squad than its 12-1 season last year as a regional semi-finalist.

Lake Creek will be under the direction of Pat Kennedy and despite having a high-scoring offense last year, might see an improvement in quarterback play this year.

Running back Tyvonn Bars went wild last season for a five-touchdown game and 210 yards against the Hornets. He now returns for his junior year looking for the same magic.

Week 10

Huntsville will finish off maybe in the middle of the toughest stretch of the season with the final home game of the year against Brenham.

The Hornets were bested by them 31-17 last season but saw promise against a team that was high flying and finished the season with an 8-5 record and a spot as a regional semi-finalist.

However, the Cubs have nine total returners and will have a youthful team with not a lot of experience.

Week 11

The final game of the regular season. Huntsville will travel back to Richmond for the final game of the season against Richmond Randle.

This game will be played at Traylor Stadium, though.

Last season, Randle and Huntsville squared off in a win-or-go-home game that saw the Hornets grabbing the fourth and final spot with a 28-17 win, now they square off again.

With Randle being a brand new school, the entire team they put on the field last season now returns as all 22 starters are coming back and 49 total players come back.

This was a tough game for Huntsville last year but they prevailed and they will have that target on its back as they are the reason the Lions missed the postseason last year.