Forget talk about tradition or knowing your place in the Texas high school football hierarchy. The West Plains Wolves know what it’s like to get it done in December.
Friday night at 7 p.m. at Lubbock’s Lowrey Field, they’ll go up against someone who’s known about that a whole lot longer.
The David vs. Goliath, upstart vs. blue bloods storylines don’t seem that relevant now. When West Plains faces Stephenville in the Class 4A Division I region final, there will be some very recent history behind it.
In this same round last year in Midland, West Plains beat tradition-laden Stephenville 42-35, rallying in the fourth quarter then mounting a goal-line stand on defense to preserve the win. This year, both teams are back and blocking each other’s paths toward a state championship, and neither of them are particularly surprised by the development.
In only four seasons, West Plains has played in December in three of them, advancing at least one round further than the previous year. That’s what West Plains coach Adam Cummings envisioned when he started the program.
“That’s the expectation with the success the kids have had over the past couple of years in December,” Cummings said. “I think it kind of sets the standard and the expectation that this is where we’re supposed to be.”
The Wolves haven’t caught anybody by surprise this season. At 12-1, they’ve set a single season school record for wins and have had few close calls.
This isn’t a huge surprise considering the amount of talent they had returning, including several four-year letterwinners who were there from the start.
“There’s definitely been improvement from start to finish from where we began,” Cummings said. “To compare it to last year is hard to say. I do see that we’re a better team and we’re playing Stephenville again. I think it’s a great measuring stick to compare yourself to those guys.”
At 13-0, Stephenville might be better than last year as well. What the two teams share in common this year is the ease with which they’ve dispatched their postseason foes. When West Plains routed Canyon ISD rival Canyon 35-3 in last week’s region semifinal, it was the closest game the Wolves or Stephenville had played in the postseason thus far.
A rout in this rematch doesn’t look too likely, at least on paper. Could be a thriller like last year, or is that too much to expect?
Regardless, Cummings knows what to expect from the Yellowjackets.
“They’re better than last year,” Cummings said. “I think defensively they’ve improved. They bring back nine of 11 and one of those they moved to the offensive side. They’re more mature and more comfortable as a unit.
“Offensively I think they’re more dynamic than they were last year. They’ve got weapons across the board and their offensive line is always going to be good.”
A lot of those same things could be said about West Plains as well. The Wolves have nowhere near the tradition of the Yellowjackets, but they’ve still got high expectations to be playing in December.
“It’s the standard,” said West Plains senior quarterback Reid Macon, a four-year starter. “We always talk about the standard is the standard and there’s no below it. This year we’ve got to get to the state championship game and that’s everybody’s goal.”
West Plains came close to that last season with a 43-36 loss to eventual state champion Celina in the state semifinal. All that did was raise the stakes for this season.
Keegan Collins, the West Plains offensive lineman who signed to play at Kansas State on Wednesday, thinks that such high expectations should be the norm for the team.
“We look forward to this every single year because we’ve proved we can do this the last three years,” Collins said. “I feel like this is the expectation and we’re building on our program every year. The expectation for every kid coming in here is to play December football.”
As such, what’s happening now is the culmination of over three months of work, and probably even more. It’s no different from what most other teams need to do to get this far, only this time, it’s expected from the Wolves.
Getting here also means getting better all the time, or else watching your season end.
“We just stack every good day on top of each other,” said West Plains wide receiver and defensive back Kane White-Tinsley, who signed with University of Texas-El Paso on Wednesday. “In two-a-days we kind of started off a little slow, but now it’s time to just play ball and that’s what we’ve done. It’s time to prove how much work we’ve put in during the summer. Going 12-1 proves a lot.”
As does going 13-0, which Stephenville has done. There’s rarely any question over whether or not the Yellowjackets expect to still be playing December football.
Stephenville coach Sterling Doty doesn’t underestimate the role tradition plays in the success of this year’s team.
“I just think it’s a tribute to our kids and the program that we have,” Doty said. “The success we’ve had in the past kind of sets the standard for how we attack the day. We’ve had a good season so far and we look forward to a great matchup.”
Strong quarterback play has long been a tradition at Stephenville, and this year is no different, as Trot Jordan has thrown for 2,772 yards and 41 touchdowns with only one interception. Those numbers dwarf even those of Macon, who’s thrown for 2,515 yards and 30 TDs with only four interceptions.
Zyler McClendon is a tough back to bring down as well, with 1,439 yards rushing and 25 touchdowns this season. Defensively, the Yellowjackets have a strong front seven featuring lineman Kolton Dearth and linebackers Hudson Butchee and CJ Spellmeier.
The Yellowjackets have beaten a pair of West Plains District 2-4A Division I rivals in the last two rounds to make it here, Dumas and Randall, by a combined 106-13 margin. Stephenville is giving up fewer then eight points a game.
That follows the same pattern of last season, when the Yellowjackets beat two 2-4A DI schools before facing West Plains. Doty doesn’t think that will impact this week’s matchup.
“Every year and every situation is different,” Doty said. “You had two really good football teams and you saw that with how West Plains took Celina down to the wire. You’re talking about some of the best in Class 4A. We’re just trying to focus on what we’ve got to do to make ourselves successful. You put out the best version of yourself.”
That’s pretty much what’s happened for both teams over the past two seasons, and this year’s matchup might be the teams at their best yet. A good team is going to be sent packing and there won’t be a consolation prize handed out for that.
Reputations don’t matter this time of year nearly as much as results, and that’s what West Plains proved last year, never more so than by beating Stephenville.
“It said we’re here and we should be put on the map,” Macon said. “There’s good football around here and that gets overlooked. Compared to those Metroplex teams we’re not seen as good enough but last year we definitely were.”
This year they look like they are too. So does Stephenville, and therein lies the challenge for the Wolves.
“You see articles being written that this is kind of a revenge thing for (the Yellowjackets) as well it should be,” Cummings said. “We were the up and comer and they were the storied traditional program that’s been around and done that. I think maybe we snuck up on them, but we didn’t surprise ourselves. We’re capable of doing great things this year too.
“In the fourth round of the playoffs everyone is good. There’s only eight teams left and the reason they’re here is because they’re all good football teams. Just like we’re having to prepare for the best team we’ve faced this year, they’re having to prepare for the best team they’ve faced.”
