BURLESON, Texas — Editor's note: The video published above is a WFAA report about the first day of high school football practice and how the teams are battling the Texas heat.
High school football season in Texas is upon us!
Texas high school football teams were allowed to begin practice in shells (helmet, shorts, shoulder pads, padded girdle) on Wednesday, Aug. 3, and Saturday, Aug. 6 marks the first day of allowed full contact.
The first games will begin Thursday, Aug. 25 and Friday, Aug. 26. With the 2022 season just around the corner, Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine released a list of 13 teams destined to rebound this season.
Dave Campbell's managing editor Greg Tepper looked at 825 Texas high school football teams that finished with a .500 record or worse in 2021, and picked out one in each classification and division to turn things around in 2022.
In Tepper's list, there was one school from the DFW area.
Tepper selected the Burleson Centennial Spartans out of 5A Division I to get fight back into the top teams of 2022. Burleson Centennial is coming off a 5-7 overall record and 3-4 record in district play.
It’s hard to know what to make of the Spartans’ 2021 season. Certainly when they were 1-5 and 0-3 in district play, it was pretty easy to diagnose them as an also-ran; but three wins in the final four games, plus a heart-stopping playoff win over Justin Northwest told a different story," Tepper wrote. "Whatever the case may be, Centennial’s 11th season of varsity play should result in a 9th consecutive playoff berth and potentially much more, especially if part-time-turned-full-time starting quarterback Phillip Hamilton can emerge as a star. The defense should be one of the best in 5A Division I led by safety Chapman Lewis. And while Denton Ryan and Aledo will garner much of the headlines in District 3-5A DI, you overlook coach Kyle Geller’s bunch at your own peril."
Burleson Centennial moves from competing against the likes of Mansfield Heritage, Colleyville Heritage and Midlothian in 5A Division I District 4 to the aforementioned powerhouses in newly-formed 5A Division I District 3 in Aledo and Denton Ryan.
If you want to see the other 12 Texas high school football teams Tepper thinks will rise from the depths of below .500 ball, visit the article on Dave Campbell's here.
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