Back at home, up on the hill, and under the lights, the season came to an end for the 2026 Longhorn football team.
“”It’s always bittersweet when the season ends,” says Assistant Coach Andy Starnes. “The players put so much into a season, and it’s sad when it ends, but as a coach, I’m appreciative of all their hard work and dedication. We played a lot of young guys, started several freshmen and sophomores. I think that experience is even more valuable for them because they still have a lot of ball left to play, and they are just going to get better.”
You’ll hear a lot about how this was a rebuilding year, how the guys weren’t as experienced or as tested, and how that will change. But in this, the 100th year of football in Johnson County, it was still their year.
It may not have turned out exactly as they wanted, but for the players on the field, who kept grinding even when the score turned against them, who gave everything they had right up to the final whistle, this was their year.
In the game against Hampton earlier this season, someone asked senior Jamie Jones how it was going.
“We got to play a football game!” he yelled back.
There is something in that, isn’t there?
And in high school football, there always comes a moment, after the final whistle, when the seniors face the reality that this was the last game they would ever play on this field.
It hits hard. No way around it.
“I want to thank the seniors for all their hard work,” says Starnes. “This was my first group to have all four years so it’s even more bittersweet because I’ve been with them since the beginning.”
So way to go, #1, 3, 11, 17, 25, 30, 54, 58, 76, 88, and 92.
Well played, men!
