ETB previews White Oak football | Thiel returns, this time as head coach, and Roughnecks are fired up
WHITE OAK – There’s a new face as the head football coach of the White Oak High School Roughnecks. New, but NOT unrecognizable.
Tanner Thiel returns to where he was an assistant for three years (2014-2017). The difference between then and now is he’s the football boss as well the Athletic Director. Then, he was just an assistant, but remembers the experience as truly ‘invaluable’.
(Here’s our story about Thiel’s return earlier this year: White Oak fans, meet new coach Tanner Thiel)
The last eight seasons, Thiel was the head football coach at Grape Creek near San Angelo. He guided the Eagles to the school’s first district championship (2021) and its first playoff game in school history.
“I’m very excited to be back here at White Oak,” Thiel said. “We haven’t made the playoffs or won a playoff game in some time. I’d like to be a part of getting the football program back on track.”
Thiel comes aboard, replacing Michael Ludlow, whose teams went 5-5 in 2024 and 2025 in one of the toughest 3A districts in Northeast Texas, against the likes of Atlanta, Gladewater, Liberty-Eylau, Sabine and Tatum.
Thiel is bringing the single wing offense something you don’t see often, if at all, around here in East Texas, while his defense is a more recognizable 4-2-5 multiple.
Leaders on this year’s ’Necks include seniors Mason Wright, Cameron Vail and Connor Hodges.
“Mason (Wright) is a name to remember,” Thiel continued, when asked about who he sees as his quarterback. “He hasn’t been allowed to play much the last two years. He’s a hardnose, blue-collar, old school throwback of a quarterback.”
Joining Wright tentatively on the offense are Vail (5-8 feet,155 pounds), a running back, and Cal Jester (5-11, 160), a junior wide receiver, as well as senior slot receiver Tysen McLain (6-1, 170), senior athlete TJ Jackson, and senior running back Chase Carroll (a linebacker).
Offensive linemen returning are junior center Brody Greenwood (defensive line); Hodges (5-10. 210, also a defensive lineman as well), a guard; Hayden Lawson, junior guard ;Kyle Morris (6-4, 255), a junior tackle who doubles as a D-lineman, Grayson Dabney, junior tackle (also at D-line), and junior tight end Kinsey Najera.
There are also Caleb and Jacob Watson, senior inside linebackers on defense, as well as senior safety TJ Jackson, along with Jester, an outside linebacker, senior cornerback Branton Wood and Hodges, a defensive tackle, as well as Najera, a DE, and McClain, a cornerback. Others of note include Angel Mejia (5-8, 150, a wideout / defensive back who’s a junior), Elijah Pearson (OL / DL) and Cash Scalie (FB / LB).
The Roughnecks open the season on Friday, Aug. 28 against Spring Hill in Longview, followed a week later at Winnsboro. The first home game is against Arp on Sept. 11 with a kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. followed by consecutive non-district contests, also at home, against Scurry-Rosser (9/18) and West Rusk (9/25).
Following the open date on Oct. 2, White Oak opens the 8-3A district race at Texarkana against Liberty-Eylau (10/9), followed by a home game a week later against Atlanta (10/16), a road date against last year’s district champion Gladewater, a home contest against Tatum (10/30) and a road game to close the regular season against rival Sabine on Nov. 6.
All of White Oak’s games are scheduled to start at 7 p.m., with the exception being the Sept. 11 contest at White Oak against Arp, which is scheduled to begin at 7:30.
