WAKE UP! on ETBLITZ, SUNDAY EDITION | Who plays who, in week one of high school football (Yes, we’re already thinking and talking about it)

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Who’s first?

No, not who’s on first – who’s first? As in, who does your favorite high school team here in the ETBlitz.com coverage area play in the first week of the 2025 season?

It won’t be long until we’re doing stories on their schedules, but I thought it’d be fun today to look and see who kicks off where.

We have quite a few schools that we cover, and in fairness, we normally do things in alphabetical order around here. But that means White Oak is always last. So we’ll reverse it today – reverse alphabetical order it is – and start with the Roughnecks.

FYI: some programs have not released their schedules just yet, so we’re working on limited knowledge on some of these. But we’ll do it for real in our previews soon.

White Oak: OK – after hosting New Diana for a scrimmage on August 15, then visiting another ETBlitz-area program, West Rusk, on August 21, coach Michael Ludlow and the ‘Necks will officially open the season at Eustace on Friday, August 29. These two met in the opener in 2024, and Eustace was overmatched, to the tune of a 50-13 Roughnecks win. They’ll go to Eustace this year. White Oak finished 5-5 a season ago; Eustace was 1-9.

West Rusk: Coach Rafe Mata’s Raiders haven’t released their ’25 schedule publicly that I’ve been able to find, so we’ll have to come back to them, but there is something newsworthy going on in New London. And it’s the line.

West Rusk’s linemen recently qualified for the State Linemen Challenge, coming up in Abilene on June 20. The Raiders’ line won the Division 3 title in Lindale (and also put their tug-of-war abilities on display, winning that, too).

They’re needing some donations to help cover their trip to Abilene, and willing to do odd jobs, like yard work, to help them earn it.

Anyone who’d like to contribute can reach out to athletic director and head football coach Rafe Mata at matar@westruskisd.org, to Nick Ballard at ballardn@westruskisd.org, or to Ronnie Hendrix at hendrixr@westruskisd.org.

Here’s the guys in Lindale:

Troup: The Tigers play two scrimmages, both at home, this coming season, hosting Gladewater on Thursday, August 14, and then Alto the following Thursday, August 21.

Coach Sam Wells and the boys will open on the road at Shelbyville on Friday, August 29.

Troup went 8-4 a year ago and 5-1 in district play, second only to New Diana. They hosted Shelbyville, and it was a high-scoring game where Troup came up short (53-40). The Dragons went on to the third round of the playoffs, losing to Joaquin there, and finished 10-3.

Tatum: The Eagles jump into 2025 with a road scrimmage at Timpson on Friday, August 15, and then host the Henderson Lions the following Thursday for another scrimmage.

When it’s for real, Tatum visits Winnsboro to open the season on Thursday night, August 28. You might remember last year, that lengthy weather delay prior to the Thursday night kickoff at Eagle Stadium, and then when the game finally started about two hours late, it wasn’t ALL Tatum but it was heavily Eagles-slanted. They only played a half of football, but it was clear then the horn sounded that Tatum was better that night. It’s not recorded as a full game, of course.

Coach Whitney Keeling and the Eagles finished 5-5 in 2024, losing to Malakoff in the playoffs. Malakoff made the 3A-DI state championship with an unbeaten record (15-0), then got waxed by Columbus, 48-14, at AT&T Stadium.

Winnsboro finished up 2024 with an 8-3 record.

Sabine: We weren’t able to find a complete schedule for the Cardinals for the 2025 season, either, but everyone at ETBlitz.com is hoping for them to have a much better season than last year, when quarterback Colt Sparks was injured at New Diana in the third game – Sabine was 2-0 going into that contest, but didn’t win another game. Tough when your leader, and a Division I athlete, goes down.

Overton: Coach Scotty Laymance and the Mustangs have had things on their minds in recent weeks other than releasing the football schedule: they’re about to play in the UIL 2A-DII baseball state championship, this coming Thursday at Dell Diamond in Round Rock, against Collinsville.

We don’t know scrimmage dates, but we do know they’ll open at Alba Golden, and we believe it’ll be Friday night, August 29.

Obviously, all of these programs that haven’t publicly released their schedules actually do have the schedules set, and we’ll look at them more closely in a few weeks, as promised.

Leverett’s Chapel: No, this isn’t a scene from a hostage situation. That’s LC Superintendent Matt Everett, taped to the wall of the school after being on the losing end of a recent fundraiser. And yes, he’s not just a good sport – he’s a GREAT sport to allow that.

Everett was the man, back about 20 years ago, that brought football back to LC in the form of a six-man program, leading the Lions for the first several years after football returned to the school. Not long ago, when coach Andy Bates retired from coaching, it was Everett who once again took the reins, helped out by longtime Arp head coach Dale Irwin.

Keith Hughes is now leading Lions football, and they went 6-4 a year ago. Their schedule hasn’t been released for ’25, but we’ll cross that bridge when it is.

Kilgore: We all know how coach Clint Fuller and the Kilgore Bulldogs did last season: a 13-3 record, domination through the 4A-DI playoffs and then not as well in the state title game, a loss at AT&T Stadium to Celina.

Everything started, though, with what was viewed by many (not me) as an upset win on the road over No. 1-ranked Carthage, who went on to win the 4A-DII state title.

This year, it’ll start with Carthage again, but at Kilgore’s R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium on Friday, Aug. 29.

Henderson: The coach Ricky Meeks era at Henderson has already begun: Meeks, the son of legendary former coach Dickey Meeks, who led HHS to a state championship in 2010, took over the program a few months ago, coming over from Center.

But it will officially begin with the start of the season.

The Lions scrimmage at Hallsville on Friday, August 15, then at Tatum on Thursday, August 21. They’ll open the season on the road at Athens on August 29.

Gladewater: Another program where there will be a new head coach: Jermaine Lewis is the new head man to lead a pack of talented Bears. We’re bitten by the schedule bug here, too; couldn’t find a 2025 schedule. We do know that last year, Gladewater opened with a home game against Daingerfield on a Thursday night, and the Bears knocked off then-state-ranked Daingerfield, 21-13.

Gladewater went on to finish 4-6.

We’ll look forward to the release of the ’25 schedule and talk more about it then.

Gilmer: The Buckeyes are now two seasons removed from a state title, and after going 8-4 in 2024, they’re aiming to get back to a double-digit win total, and more, this coming season.

The official schedule doesn’t appear to be released, but several outlets have Gilmer opening its season at Pine Tree on Friday, August 29. We’ll check into that, and have a look at their entire schedule soon.

Arp: Coach Wes Schminkey and the guys will have a pair of scrimmages – at Beckville on August 14, then home against San Augustine on August 21 – and then they’ll open the season at Harleton on Friday, August 29.

The Tigers went 7-4 a year ago, finished third in their district (behind New Diana and Troup), but ran into a tough Woodville team in the first round of the playoffs.

In the mood for football after that

There’s only one fitting way we can close this edition of Wake Up! after talking on the first day of June about high school football.

Here it is. Close us out, Kenny. Y’all have a great Sunday.