Kickoff 2023: Big Country boasts some of state's top Class 2A football teams
The Big Country boasts some of the best Class 2A football teams in the state. Just ask anyone on Hawley’s schedule last year — or who played Albany.
Hawley went 16-0 in winning the Class 2A Division I title, capping the run with a 54-28 victory over Refugio in the championship game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
Less than 24 hours earlier, Albany beat Mart 41-21 for the Class 2A Division II title to finish the year 14-2. One of the Lions' losses was to Hawley.
It was the 12th and 13th state titles for the Big Country’s smallest 11-man UIL teams — Class 1A before the UIL started calling six-man Class 1A in 2014 — in 27 championship game appearances.
It wasn’t the first time Big Country teams won both division titles in the same season either. Stamford and Munday accomplished the feat in 2012 after both reached the title game the year before.
The UIL didn’t split the smallest 11-man class into two divisions until 2006.
The Big Country has won a state title in the UIL’s smallest 11-man class six times in 13 appearances since 2000.
X’s and Oh’s
“I think it’s just really good coaching and athletes,” said Albany coach Denney Faith, who won his first state title after four previous appearances with the Lions (2015, 2014, 2009, 1991).
It was the Lions’ third state title and seventh state championship game appearance overall. They won back-to-back titles in 1960 and 1961.
“It just seems like the smaller schools in the area have really good athletes and really good coaches coaching them. I think that’s a big thing,” Faith said.
Wayne Hutchinson, who led Stamford to three consecutive state title appearances (2011-13), winning the last two, believes some of the success can be attributed to keeping the coaching staffs together — something Albany, Hawley and Class 2A newcomer Cisco have done.
Stamford did it, too, when the Bulldogs made their historic run in Hutchinson’s first stint with the program. He returns this season after a year retirement following eight years at Lubbock Monterey.
“Once you get those programs established, it’s a lot easier year-in and year-out to be competitive and be successful,” Hutchinson said. “Then the years you have that class with all that talent you’ve groomed since sixth grade all the way through 12th grade, it comes together.”
Faith, Albany’s head coach since 1987, can vouch for Hutchinson’s statement.
“I think that’s true,” said Faith, one of the state’s winningest football coaches. “I can’t speak for anybody else but us, but I think the continuity within our staff makes a big difference as far as being able to have success in your program. All of these guys have been coaching here a long time.”
Ables, who begins his 10th season at Hawley, agrees with Hutchinson, too.
“I think that’s got a lot to do with it,” Ables said. “I’ve got a core group of guys, about three or four of us, who have been here from the beginning. That always helps. You know what they’re thinking. You don’t even have to talk about it. So, that’s one of the advantages of having guys stick around. The kids know what to expect, and the coaches know what to expect.”
Standout athletes
Not that having good players doesn’t help.
“There’s something about the Big Country,” Hutchison said. “There’s always hard-working kids. That goes back to their folks, who are hard-working people, and their expectations are really high for their kids. There always seems to be one team from the Big Country that goes to AT&T Stadium pretty regularly.”
Faith said it might come down to great DNA along with the right people drawing up the X’s and O’s.
“I think a lot of it is genetics, for sure,” Faith said. “I’d like to think we’ve developed some kids, too. There’s no doubt we’ve had really good athletes at Albany, and we’ve been fortunate to coach them.”
Of course, that lends itself to the whole genetics versus environment discussion, and what a place to start in Albany. Drive through the town during football season, and it’s clear they love their football — and athletics as a whole — in Albany.
“Tradition is big," Faith said. “I think kids grow up in Albany watching the older kids play and want to grow up and big like them and be an Albany Lion. I think that’s just part of the community, and it makes it fun to coach here.”
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The road back
Hawley, 64-7 overall and 23-0 in district since 2018, has set the bar high in Bearcat country. And the Bearcats play in one of the toughest Class 2A Division districts in the state since Cisco — a five-time state finalist which won it all in 2013 — dropped down in 2020. The Loboes begin their second year in the same league with Hawley and Stamford.
That’s 14 state finals appearances and eight state championships between Stamford, Cisco and Hawley in one district.
“Our district is going to be a blood bath this year,” Ables said. “We’ve got a couple of coaches who are in their second year, and everybody improves in their second year. Stamford has athletes and kind of a new coaching staff. I think they’re going to be good. You can’t take a day off or you’re going to be beat.”
Hawley and Albany also play each other Sept. 15 in Hawley. The Bearcats won last year’s meeting 26-14.
Four Big Country teams — Hawley (3), Cisco (14), Stamford (20) and Coleman (23) — begin the year ranked in Texas Football magazine’s preseason Class 2A DI top 25.
Albany is ranked No. 1 in 2A D-II by Texas Football.
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Small schools, big results
Big Country teams in Class 2A state finals
(Class 1A before 2014; UIL didn't break class into two divisions until 2006)
2022: Hawley 54, Refugio 28 (Class 2A DI); Albany 41, Mart 21 (Class 2A DII)
2021: Shiner 47, Hawley 12 (Class 2A DI)
2019: Mart 25, Hamlin 20 (Class 2A DII)
2015: Bremond 35, Albany 20 (Class 2A DII)
2014: Bremond 28, Albany 21 (Class 2A DII)
2013: Stamford 41, Shiner 28 (Class 1A DI)
2012: Stamford 35, Mart 28 (Class 1A DI); Munday 42, Tenaha 14 (Class 1A DII)
2011: Mason 62, Stamford 40 (Class 1A DI); Tenaha 52, Munday 28 (Class 1A DII)
2009: Cayuga 38, Albany 24 (Class 1A DII)
2007: Munday 26, Bremond 6 (Class 1A DI)
1999: Bartlett 35, Aspermont 6
1995: Thorndale 14, Roscoe 7
1990: Bartlett 36, Munday 28
1986: Burkeville 33, Throckmorton 7
1984: Munday 13, Union Hill 0
1983: Knox City 27, Bremond 20
1982: Union Hill 13, Roscoe 0
1976: Barbers Hill 17, De Leon 8
1975: De Leon 28, Schulenburg 15
1962: Rotan 39, Ingleside 6
1961: Albany 18, Hull-Daisetta 12
1960: Albany 20, Crosby 0
1954: Deer Park 26, Albany 6
1953: Ranger 34, Luling 21
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Big Country Class 2A football teams among best in Texas
