HAYS COUNTY FOOTBALL
The Wimberley Texans hit the gridiron this season in preparation for the 2024 season after a 14-1 season last year.
Entering his 12th season, Head Coach Doug Warren is happy to see where the team is at after a successful offseason.
“I’m very pleased with them right now,” Warren said. “We have seen them all summer long and they had good [Summer workouts]. This first week, I have liked their pace and how they retained a lot of the things we taught them in the Spring. Now it’s a matter of getting everyone on the right page and finding the pieces of the puzzle to make another long run.”
Wimberley returns five offensive starters that statistically produced the best offense in program history, averaging 50.1 points through 15 games. It was the first Texan offense to score over 700 points in a single season.
Leading the way for the Texans at quarterback is senior Cody Stoever, who was named Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine’s 4A Preseason Offensive Player of the Year.
“He is a great teammate,” Warren said. “Always encouraging and leading and his toughness bleeds into everything else. His growth, in terms of understanding our offense, and his grasp of strategy, is what we coaches want.”
Along with Stoever, the Texans also have a few offensive weapons at their disposal.
“We have other dynamic players,” Warren said. “Nolan Waida is a returning receiver for us, and he is a big target out there. He is going to command a lot of attention from many defenses. Ty Thames, our tight end, is coming back this year, so you will see good things from that guy as well.”
The team also has returners on the offensive line.
“We have a couple of guys on the offensive line that are returning in Cedar Bruner and Hudson Rivera who are poised to take a big step this year and lead us up front,” Warren said.
But as explosive as the offense was last year, the Texans’ highly vaunted ‘Code Red’ defense will be back to terrorize opposing offenses.
“The defense isn’t going to change,” Warren said. “We are going to stay aggressive, hard hitting and they are going to come after you. That is given no matter what [position] you are in.”
Wimberley returns four defensive starters from last year’s team that held opponents to just 13.2 points through 15 games.
“Ty Thames is an anchor down there in the linebacker spot, and Reid Leinneweber is one of our outside linebackers. I really like this linebacking crew [because] we have four returners that are going to be the rock of the defense till we get these younger kids to come along,” said Warren.
Wimberley will scrimmage San Antonio Davenport Friday Aug. 16 at Davenport High School.
cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc
