It’s easy to see why. The soft-spoken gunslinger with a charismatic smile carries a rifle arm and is in the midst of chasing down history. Lujan, who enters his fourth year as Sunray’s starting QB, has touted an impressive 11,137 passing yards throughout his career.
Coming into this senior year, Lujan needs 3,272 yards to catch former Booker standout Hunter Lile (14,408) for the Texas UIL passing record and 4,971 yards to break the state’s all-time record set by Grant Gunnell (16,108) from St. Pius X, which is a private school.
Sunray head coach Wes Boatmun says coaching a player the caliber of Lujan has been a top moment of his career.
“Coaching a player like Armando is something that doesn’t come around very often,” said Boatmun, who is 31-19 entering his fourth year as the Bobcat football coach. “We are enjoying it and savoring the moment. He sure makes my job a lot easier because it’s a situation where I don’t have to rely entirely on myself or the coaches. Armando brings a lot of experience and has a different perspective. He’s a special player and we’ve been lucky to have him.”
Wide receivers and fellow seniors Dawson Bennett, Kagan Davis, and Ty McDowell along with Lujan made Sunray one of the most prolific offenses in 2023. On top of Lujan and his video game like yards, Bennett, Davis and McDowell accounted for 2,406 receiving yards with 33 touchdowns.
Sunray finished the year racking up 479 yards per game averaging 47 points a contest and scored 99 total TDs.
“Armando understands the players that are around him,” Sunray head coach Wes Boatmun said. “It’s a situation where we have four guys we have a ton of confidence in. It makes it hard for defenses to take away from us. There is so much for them to focus on, and the guys complement each other so well.”
However, the foursome of Lujan, Bennett, Davis and McDowell is a bond that hasn’t been separated from an early age. That’s where the chemistry comes from growing up together and the brotherhood.
Lujan is the star, Bennett is the character of the group with Davis and McDowell as the workhorses.
“We’ve been playing together since third grade,” said Davis, who had 885 yards receiving last season. “We’re all best friends, we’re all inseparable and that helps us on the field.”
Bennett says what makes the Bobcats even more dangerous is how each receiver plays in his own dynamic way.
“What makes us unique is we all play our own style,” said Bennett, who had 996 receiving yards last year. “We’ve learned to adapt to each other and do what’s best for the offense. I consider myself the quick receiver that can turn short gains into big plays. Kagan is the solid all-around receiver that can do anything asked of him, and Ty is the extremely reliable one that is sure-handed and by far the best blocker. That makes us all complement each other well.”
With Lujan expected to get major media attention and the veteran receivers all wanting the ball, Boatmun is wanting his team to put winning on top of everything else that will come.
“We know we have a big year coming and we’re excited,” Boatmun said. “But, we know this is a hard thing because all these receivers are competitive and want the ball. They want to score and have 1,000-yards. Trying to get them to understand about team and individual stats is hard to do most of that is on coaches. We have to distribute the ball and benefit the team.”
Lujan, Bennett, Davis and McDowell were all named as team captains heading into the 2024 season.