WAKE UP! | Get to know Stephenville, as Kilgore prepares for them in the state title game Friday (Note: West Orange-Stark tomorrow)

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If your knowledge of Stephenville High School football is that their mascot is the Yellowjacket, their foundation was established by Art Briles, and that Kilgore ran into them twice a little more than a decade ago… well, let’s learn a little more about ‘em, shall we?

Let’s get down to basics about the 2025 Yellowjackets, because after all, Kilgore isn’t facing the past: they’re meeting the now.

Stephenville is 15-0 this season, having gone 6-0 on its home field, 6-0 in true road games this year, and 3-0 in neutral-site games, most recently having upset Celina, 24-21 last week, kicking a field goal with two seconds left to beat the defending UIL Class 4A, Division I state champions, ensuring we’ll have a new champ this year.

The Yellowjackets have outscored their opponents 701-142 in the 15 games – averaging about 46 points a game and giving up on average about 9 ½. Their closest game by FAR was last week’s 24-21 win over Celina, that three-point margin. Only two other schools (West Plains, the week before, in a 41-21 game, and La Vega on Sept. 26, in a 64-28 Stephenville win on Sept. 26) had even scored more than 21 points on Stephenville. They held their opponents to seven points or less in nine games, and had two shut-outs.

The Yellowjackets have beaten some good football teams this year: Midlothian Heritage (a 9-4 record), La Vega (11-3), Ruston (La.; 11-3); Lampasas (9-3), Brownwood (7-5), Dumas (8-4), Randall (10-3), West Plains (12-2), and of course, Celina (14-1). Just those mentioned have a combined 91-28 record this season.

Through 15 games, the Yellowjackets have rolled up 2,994 rushing yards, averaging 7.3 yards a carry and right at 200 rushing yards a game, and 3,580 passing yards, about 238 a game and 16.3 a catch. Stephenville also averages a very impressive 436 total yards a game.

Take one look at Stephenville’s offense and two names jump out immediately: quarterback Trot Jordan, who has thrown for 3,163 yards, 44 touchdowns and just four interceptions all season, and running back Zyler McClendon: 1,617 yards, 28 touchdowns on 198 carries, averaging 107 yards a game and 8.2 a carry. He’s had seven games of at least 100 yards this season.

McClendon also has 15 catches on the season for 213 yards and a score.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t also mention Jordan’s partners in the passing game, a trio of receivers that are like Jordan’s tool belt: Adan Jergins, Brighton DeVivo, and freshman Caden Monk, who ironically is having the best year of the bunch. Monk has 912 yards and 14 touchdowns on 52 catches. Jergins has 53 catches for 883 yards and 14 scores, as well, and Devivo has 835 yards and 11 TDs on 43 catches.

Devivo doubles as the ‘Jackets’ punter, and in 14 games this year, he’s punted 17 times for an average of 40.3 a kick, landing seven inside the 20-yard-line, a long of 54.

Stephenville has 157 tackles for loss this season, a somewhat-staggering amount. They’re led in that category by Kolton Dearth, who has 26, and by CJ Spellmeier, who has 23. Hudson Butchee, a senior, leads in overall tackles, with 145 this year, and Caleb Taylor has 137. Spellmeier has 10 sacks and 15 hurries, and Butchee and Jackson Richmond each have seven. Taylor has 18 hurries.

Look out for defensive back Cash Kribbs: he has four interceptions, and two blocked punts. Briar Floyd has three interceptions. The Yellowjackets as a team have 14, and also have 11 fumble recoveries and have caused 14 fumbles this season.

In their playoff run, the ‘Jackets beat Pecos in round one, 56-7; Dumas in round two, 55-7; Randall in round three, 51-6; West Plains in round four, 41-21; and then kicked Celina out, 24-21, on Friday night, a result that stunned many, but not everyone.

The Stephenville program has six state football championships to its credit: four under Briles, the former Baylor head coach, between 1993-99, and then two more since his departure: one in 2012 (Joe Gillespie was the program’s coach) and then again in 2021, coached by Sterling Doty.

Kilgore fans, of course, remember playing Stephenville in back-to-back seasons in 2012 and 2013, a loss in Mansfield in 2012, then a rousing win the following year in 2013 in Corsicana, routing the Yellowjackets in a very stout, driving wind, punching the Bulldogs’ ticket to the state championship game at that point against longtime rival Carthage.

Now, Stephenville, the place: It’s also the home of Tarleton State University, and it’s a little more than 20,000 people.

It’s about a 219-mile, or three-hour, 219-minute drive from Kilgore.

Tomorrow: We feature Carthage’s opponent on Friday, and that’d be West Orange-Stark.