2026 football preview

Week One (Alvarado)

Friday, August 28th

Away game (to be played at Charles Head Stadium in Alvarado)

Mascot: Indians

Colors: Purple, gold, and white

District: 4-4A DI

Head coach

Aubrey Sims (1st year at Alvarado)

2025 record

12-1 overall, 5-0 in 6-4A DI (1st place)

2025 postseason

Bi-district round win vs. Sulphur Springs (51-43)

Area round win vs. Springtown (64-13)

Regional Quarter-final round loss vs. Celina (52-27)

2025 common opponent with JHS

Springtown (Joshua lost 30-9; Alvarado won 64-13)

The Joshua Owls and Alvarado Indians, Johnson County brethren separated by multiple railroad crossings, S-curves, and Dollar Generals on FM 917, kickoff the 2026 season on August 28th in Alvarado.

The last meeting between the programs was in 2009, when Joshua notched a 27-21 home win in a non-district battle; JHS also won the 2008 matchup by a score of 20-10. Alvarado’s last win versus Joshua came in 2007, when the Indians won a 21-18 District 8-4A tilt at Owl Stadium. Joshua and Alvarado have played 44 times previously, the first such meeting taking place in 1949. The Owls are 15-29 all-time against AHS, and Joshua’s biggest margin of victory came in a 50-0 rout in 1977. If JHS can top Alvarado in the ‘26 opener, it will mark Joshua’s first ever three-game winning streak against the Indians. Alvarado dominated the series around the turn of the century, winning 10 of the 11 games played between 1991 and 2007 by an average margin of 31 points. The schools have been district mates several times, most recently in the 2006-2007 realignment cycle.

Alvarado High School’s first recorded football game was played against Venus in 1911; Venus won 14-0. The Indians and Bulldogs didn’t meet again until 1924, because of course no one wants to go to Venus on purpose unless it’s critically necessary, no matter how short the drive. The best season in AHS history was 2011, when the Indians went 14-1 and lost by a point to Tyler Chapel Hill in the Class 3A DI State Championship (20-19 final score). Alvarado had the ball inside the Chapel Hill 25-yard line with 2:30 left in the game and a chance to take the lead, but an Indian fumble was recovered by Chapel Hill, who was then able to run out the clock.

Fun Fact

Joshua head football coach Danny DeArman and quarterback/B-back coach Jim Woolard are Alvarado High School alums. DeArman is a member of the Class of 1993, and was a three-year starter at linebacker and running back. He was a three-time all-district selection, and was named all-state linebacker as a senior. Woolard graduated from AHS in 1999, and was a four-year starter at linebacker. His senior season he was named Defensive Player of the Year for District 11-3A, as well as an all-state linebacker. Additionally, DeArman and Alvarado head coach Aubrey Sims are cousins, and played multiple years of varsity football together for the Indians.

Week Two (Sherman)

Friday, September 4th

Home game (to be played at Owl Stadium)

Mascot: Bearcats

Colors: Maroon and white

District: 3-5A DI

Head coach: Efrain Ramos (1st year at Sherman)

2025 record

2-8 overall, 2-6 in District 5-5A DI (7th place)

Last postseason appearance

2020; lost to College Station 38-26 in the bi-district round of the Class 5A D1 bracket

Joshua and Sherman, according to my online sleuthing, have never played each other. That doesn’t mean it’s never happened, it just means I haven’t been able to find any digital evidence of it happening. And here’s the thing…I looked. LIKE, A LOT; for several hours over several days. It got to the point where my wife had to stage an intervention, which unfortunately is not without precedent in our relationship.

The Sherman High School Bearcats, according to Internet, first played a game of organized football in 1906, against the Denison Yellow Jackets. Denison won that game 5-0, which is just about the most early-20th century, rural, Texoma-area score possible. I’m guessing they played this one in a muddy bean patch adjacent to a goat pen, and a kid with a name like Jimmy Ogden notched the game-winning safety before immediately reporting to the foundry to begin an 18-hour shift.

The best season in ‘Cats history occurred in 1994, when they went 12-2 and advanced to the state quarter-finals (fourth round) of the Class 4A DII playoffs, where they lost 24-17 to eventual state champion Stephenville. Sherman also advanced to the state quarter-finals of the 2011 Class 4A DI bracket, losing 45-21 to Tyler.

Fun Fact

Sherman and Denison, longtime rival schools separated by about a dozen miles, have met well over 100 times on the gridiron (with most of those meetings coming as district opponents). The exact number of times they’ve played seems to be in question, but these dudes have squared off against each other a lot. And when they play, it’s for something called the Battle of the Ax. Which is something I’d really like to shit on, just because of my general distaste for anything that occurs within 25 miles of the Red River...but is actually a pretty awesome name/trophy for a rivalry game.

Week Three (Eagle Mountain)

Friday, September 11th

Home game (to be played at Owl Stadium)

Mascot: Knights

Colors: Black and old gold

District: 3-5A DII

Head coach: Jeremy Mullins (3rd year at Eagle Mountain; 10-13 overall record)

2025 record

8-4 overall, 3-2 in District 3-5A DII (3rd place)

2025 postseason

Bi-district round win vs. Benbrook (28-12)

Area round loss vs. Midland Greenwood (58-13)

Eagle Mountain High School is part of the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw Independent School District, along with Boswell, Saginaw High, and Chisholm Trail. The school opened in 2024 with students in grades 9-11, competed at the Class 4A DII level, and added a senior class for the 2025-2026 school year. This is the first meeting between the Owls and Knights.

EMHS played its first varsity football game on August 30th, 2024, losing to Jacksboro 47-13. The program’s first win came later that season in a 35-13 triumph over the Ferris Yellow Jackets and, even though the Knights finished district play that year just 1-4, so did its first postseason appearance. Eagle Mountain lost 48-6 to Glen Rose in the bi-district round of the Class 4A DII bracket that year, but hey…the only way to get beat by 42 in the playoffs is to be in the playoffs, so silver linings and such. The Knights notched their first ever postseason win a year later versus the Benbrook Bobcats.

Fun Fact

The Eagle Mountain Knights logo, while objectively awesome, is almost a direct copy of the University of Central Florida’s logo. Somebody with EMSISD did a Google image search of “knight logos,” UCF’s was the first one, they clicked on it, said ‘Maybe add some flourishes and accents, but yeah...I think that’s the one’, and ran with it. Which, y’know, respect. Good logos are hard to make from scratch.

Week Four (Midlothian Heritage)

Friday, September 18th

Home game (to be played at Owl Stadium)

Mascot: Jaguars

Colors: Red and blue

District: 7-5A DII

Head coach: Eric Edwards (5th year at Heritage; 40-11 record)

2025 record

9-4 overall, 6-1 in District 6-5A DII (2nd place)

2025 postseason

Bi-district round win vs. Dallas Hillcrest (45-7)

Area round win vs. Texarkana Texas High (42-38)

Regional final round loss vs. Port-Neches Grove (17-14)

2025 common opponent with JHS

Greenville (Joshua won 35-8; Heritage won 41-0)

Joshua and Heritage have met twice previously, as District 5-5A DII foes in the 2022-2023 realignment cycle. The Jags easily dispatched Joshua in both contests, winning 41-0 in ‘22 and 56-10 in ‘23 (link to archived OOTA stream). Even though the Owls took one on the chin against a really good team that night in ‘23, the game is memorable for me because at halftime I broke down the auditory splendor that is the soundtrack of “The Karate Kid,” inarguably my finest work in three years of doing this.

Midlothian Heritage has had nothing but success under 5th year head coach Eric Edwards, particularly in the first three seasons of his tenure (2022-2024). The Jaguars went a combined 31-7 those years, including a cumulative 21-0 league record that resulted in three straight district championships. The best of those seasons was in ‘23, when Heritage finished 12-1, its only loss coming in the regional final (third round) versus eventual Class 5A DII State runner-up South Oak Cliff. The deepest postseason run in Jags’ history came in 2019, when they advanced to the state quarter-final (fourth round) in the Class 4A DI bracket; they lost 24-7 to eventual state champion Carthage.

Fun Fact

Heritage has made the playoffs in all 10 seasons it played a varsity schedule; those 10 seasons have also resulted in a total of eight district championships and a cumulative league record of 54-3. So when I use the word “fun” to describe this fact, please understand that it's more of a rhetorical device than a literal description. Although, I must point out: Joshua and Heritage play in the first district game of the 2026 season, a situation in which Joshua very recently sprung a huge upset on a Midlothian ISD team.

Week Five (Arlington Seguin)

Friday, September 25th

Away game (to be played at Arlington ISD's Glaspie Stadium)

Mascot: Cougars

Colors: Black, white, Carolina blue

District: 7-5A DII

Head coach: Joe Gordon (10th year at Seguin; 37-54-1 record)

2025 record

7-4 overall, 5-3 in District 3-5A DII (4th place)

2025 postseason

Bi-district round loss vs. Prosper Walnut Grove (35-21)

2025 common opponent with JHS

Red Oak (Joshua lost 10-7; Seguin won 41-34)

Joshua and Seguin have met on 12 occasions previously, each time as district opponents. The inaugural game of the series occurred in 2008, a game the Cougars won 38-15; it was the first of five straight wins for Seguin against JHS. The Owls finally triumphed over the ‘Cougs in 2017, a 21-18 victory in Joshua that was the first of three close wins in a row for JHS. The Owls won 22-20 in 2018 in Joshua, then picked up the most dramatic win of the series in 2019, a 21-18 overtime triumph at Wilemon Field in Arlington that ended on a walk-off field goal. Seguin has dominated the series since, winning the past four games by an average margin of 30+ points.

Arlington Seguin has advanced past the bi-district round of the playoffs twice, in 2004 and 2005. In ‘04 the Cougars started 0-5 before reeling off six straight wins, including a 26-21 triumph over Fort Southwest in the Class 4A DII bracket. The ‘05 season was the best in school history, one that saw Seguin finish 9-3, win the program’s only district championship thus far, and boat race Fort Worth Southwest 26-0 in the bi-district round of the Class 4A DII bracket before losing to Aledo in the area round.

Fun Facts

The above record for Seguin head coach Joe Gordon is not a typo; he has one tie to his name in an era of Texas high school football where that almost never happens. Seguin had a game cancelled against the Cleburne Yellow Jackets in 2020, and the reason was COVID. If I recall correctly, both teams had young men test positive that week, so neither side was forced to forfeit, hence the tie. Speaking of forfeits, Seguin also technically lost its bi-district game that year to South Oak Cliff 2-0, but in reality that game was a forfeit loss for the ‘Cougs because several Seguin players had COVID…or because a 2-0 loss looks better in the record books than a 78-0 loss, plus you don’t have to load up your whole program to drive 45 minutes to get your ass kicked. The forfeiture definitely occurred because of one of those reasons. Either way, that 2020 season was a mess, folks, but it did provide us with this bit of trivia: the Joshua/Seguin regular season finale that year is the only time in program history the Owls played a football game in December.

Week Seven (Ennis)

Thursday, October 8th

vs. Ennis High School (game to be played at Owl Stadium)

Mascot: Lions

Colors: Maroon and white

District: 7-5A DII

Head coach: Don Drake (2nd year at Ennis; 7-5 record)

2025 record

7-5 overall, 5-2 in District 6-5A DII (3rd place)

2025 postseason

Bi-district round win vs. Dallas Woodrow Wilson (70-35)

Area round loss to Port-Neches Grove (63-21)

2025 common opponents with JHS

Midlothian (Joshua won 23-21; Ennis lost 59-41)

Greenville (Joshua won 35-8; Ennis won 24-8)

Joshua and Ennis have met three times. Two of those were as district mates in the 2022-2023 realignment cycle; the Lions handled the Owls with ease in those two, winning 49-26 and 61-0, respectively. The other game in the series took place in 1996, and might be the biggest win in Owls’ football history: Joshua 30, Ennis 19 in the bi-district round of the Class 4A DII playoffs.

Ennis isn’t a DFW High School Football Blue Blood like Celina, Southlake Carroll, Duncanville or Aledo, but they’re definitely in the tier right below programs like that. Ennis High first played an organized game of football in 1909 against Corsicana and lost 11-5, but won plenty after that, including state championships in 1974 (3A), 2000 (4A DII), 2001 (4A DII), 2004 (4A DI), and 2014 (5A DII). Three of those titles came under the stewardship of Sam Harrell, a Texas football coaching legend who recently had to retire due to complications from multiple sclerosis. In the 21st century the Lions have only missed the playoff four times (2009-2011, 2024), and have tallied 14 district championships.

Fun Fact

The Joshua/Ennis playoff game took place 30 years ago, when I was a 9th grader at JHS. This year, my son will be a 6th grader at Nichols Middle School in Joshua ISD. I’m old AF, is the point I’m trying to drive home here.

Week Eight (Mansfield Timberview)

Friday, October 16th

Home game (to be played at Owl Stadium)

Mascot: Wolves

Colors: Maroon, white, and black

District: 7-5A DII

Head coach: Jacody Coleman (2nd year at Timberview; 7-4 record)

2025 record

7-4 overall, 6-2 in District 6-5A DII (2nd place)

2025 postseason

Bi-district round loss vs. Anna (35-25)

Joshua and Timberview have met six times since THS opened in 2004 as the third high school in Mansfield ISD. The first meeting took place in the Wolves’ inaugural ‘04 season, where Joshua picked up a 27-0 win; Joshua also won a district matchup in 2008, 31-27. Timberview has claimed the other four matchups by an average margin of five touchdowns.

Timberview was winless in that first season in ‘04, but quickly rebounded, making the playoffs in 2006 and advancing to the regional finals (third round) of the 2007 Class 5A DII bracket. The best season in program history was the 2011 campaign, one that saw the Wolves advance to the Class 5A DII State Semifinal, where they lost to eventual champion Spring Dekaney. The school record for wins was set in 2022, when THS notched 13 dubs en route to an appearance in the state quarter-final (fourth round) where they lost to Longview, 37-21.

Fun Fact

I coached high school football for a goodly while, primarily here in the Metroplex. When you coach for programs in this part of the world, you get used to seeing REALLY good teams and REALLY good players. I coached against Aledo during several of their state championship seasons, as well as schools that would routinely play into December like Stephenville, Everman, and Abilene High. I’ve coached against super athletic dudes, Division I dudes, big dudes, fast dudes, scary dudes…a lot of different types of dudes. But the 2020 Mansfield Timberview Wolves, when they came to Joshua on Halloween Eve for a district ballgame, was the first time I walked onto a field as a coach and felt intimidated. I’m abnormally tall, and Timberview’s offensive line that year had at least three guys that were close to looking me in the eye. They were also all around, and in some cases well over, 300 pounds, but not a fat 300 pounds; it was a fit, jacked, scary, nerve wracking, evolutionarily superior type of 300 pounds. If you’ve ever been up close to NFL players, it was like that, in the sense that you have a hard time understanding how those guys and yourself could be considered members of the same species. It was mesmerizing, and I did not envy the front-seven defenders from JHS that had to combat these cats that late October evening.

Week Nine (Everman)

Friday, October 23rd

Away Game (to be played at J.E. Marr Stadium)

Mascot: Bulldogs

Colors: Purple, black, and gold

District: 7-5A DII

Head coach: Michael Boone, Sr. (5th year at Everman; 17-26 record)

2025 record

1-9 overall, 1-7 in District 6-5A DII (7th place)

Last postseason appearance

2023; lost to South Oak Cliff 42-19 in the bi-district round of the Class 5A DII bracket

Joshua and Everman initially hooked up in 1959, a 44-14 Bulldog win. That meeting was the first of seven straight seasons the teams would play, and the Owls acquitted themselves well during that stretch, winning three of that initial septet of matchups with the ‘Dogs. Since then, however, it’s…um…not been great for the boys in blue.

Since 1982 the programs have met 30 times, and Joshua’s record in those contests is 1-29; the lone win came in 1996, the last season JHS made the postseason. Joshua’s all-time record versus Everman is 4-33, good for a winning percentage of .108. Among schools JHS has played at least 10 times, that’s the fourth-lowest winning percentage, behind only Brownwood (1-17/.056), Burleson Centennial (0-10), and, in the one of the more surprising things I discovered on my multi-day JHS football rabbit hole deep dive this week, the Clifton Cubs (0-13). Joshua has a better all-time winning percentage against Aledo (6-18/.250), Crowley (5-32/.156), and Stephenville (3-24/.111) than they do against Everman.

One of the main reasons for that is Everman has been one of the best programs in the Metroplex this century. To wit: state championships in 2001 and 2002; state semifinal appearances in 2008 and 2009 (in which they lost each year to the eventual state champions), and state quarter-final appearances in 2014 and 2015. Plus a whole host of two- and three-round trips to the playoffs, as well as several district championships. Yes, they’ve been down the last couple of years, but since Dale Keeling arrived as head coach at EHS in the late ‘90s, they’ve been one of the winningest programs in the area.

Fun Fact

I worked at Everman for four years, coaching both football and baseball, and I loved it. Great kids, great coaches, a ton of football wins, and boatloads of memories (including becoming a father for the first time). It’s really hard for me to hide my pro-Bulldog bias, and most of the time I really don’t try to. I want EHS to win every game it plays against everyone that’s not Joshua, and that likely won’t ever change. Also, I feel it’s important to note here that Everman head coach Michael Boone, Sr., may very well be the smartest person I know. Dude has a legit genius-level IQ, and excels at teaching advanced math, coaching football, coaching soccer, and raising sons. I’m really excited about getting to see him and the other EHS coaches again come Week 8.

Week Ten (Corsicana)

Friday, October 30th

Home game (to be played at Owl Stadium)

Mascot: Tigers

Colors: Blue and gold

District: 7-5A DII

Head coach: Eugene Rogers (3rd year at Corsicana; 6-14 record)

2025 record

5-5 overall, 3-4 in District 6-5A DII (5th place)

Last postseason appearance

2019; lost to Denton Braswell 49-28 in the bi-district round of the Class 5A DII bracket

2025 common opponents with JHS

Greenville (Joshua won 35-8; Corsicana won 38-14)

Cleburne (Joshua won 48-12; Corsicana lost 24-3)

Joshua and Corsicana have played exactly twice, as District 5-5A DII mates in the 2022-2023 realignment cycle. Joshua won the ‘22 game at home 35-28, and then the return game in Navarro County the next year, 33-26. OOTA was in the press box that night, and partook in many, many chicken tenders and canned Gatorades.

Corsicana started playing football in either 1908 or 1909, depending on where you're looking. What's not in dispute are the two state championships the Tigers have won, in 1932 and 1963. Both of those teams finished their seasons undefeated, but the '32 squad did have two ties to its name, making the 14-0 mark of the '63 unit the only unblemished season in CHS history. In the modern era, Corsicana's best season occurred in 2011, when the Tigers went 13-2, losing in the state semifinal to eventual champion Aledo in the Class 4A DII bracket.

Super Unfun Fact

The drive from Joshua High to Corsicana High for a game SUCKS. It just totally sucks. To be fair, driving from Joshua to anywhere towards the southeast sucks, because your only two options for getting to the interstate from JHS are the game of Russian roulette that is traversing the left turn onto 917 by the railroad crossing, or the soul destroying experience that is negotiating the U.S. 67/I 35-W intersection at rush hour. Once that portion of the drive's complete it’s half an hour to Hillsboro, then roughly 207 small towns and their 25 MPH speed limits between Hill County and Corsicana. What I’m saying here is that, in order to make all the above at least tolerable, the Owls REALLY need to get another win at CHS when we head that way in ‘27.

Week Eleven (Burleson)

Friday, November 6th

Away game (to be played at Burleson ISD Stadium)

Mascot: Elks

Colors: Red, black, and white

District: 7-5A DII

Head coach: Phillip Tanner (3rd year at Burleson; 8-12 record)

2025 record

4-6 overall, 3-5 in District 3-5A DII (6th place)

Last postseason appearance

2021/Class 5A DII bracket

Beat Mesquite Poteet 70-48 in the bi-district round

Lost to Lucas Lovejoy 28-23 in the area round

2025 common opponents with JHS

Burleson Centennial (Joshua lost 10-7; Burleson won 45-21)

Cleburne (Joshua won 48-12; Burleson won 57-14)

Separated by just a seven-mile drive on State Highway 174 that routinely takes 30+ minutes to complete, the Joshua Owls and Burleson Elks have played 33 times since 1952. Joshua controlled the series through 1996, winning 10 of the first 15 matchups, but since then it’s been all Elks. Burleson has won 17 of the last 18 battles (including the last 11 in a row), with an average margin of victory just south of 30 points.

Burleson’s best season came in 2001, when the Elks finished 11-3 and advanced to the Class 4A DI State Semifinals (fourth round) before losing to eventual champion Denton Ryan. That was the only double-digit victory campaign in program history, although the 2000 and 2017 squads both finished 9-2.

Fun Fact

I worked at Burleson High for two years; I did play-by-play for BHS baseball and head coach Caden Crawford in 2023; Elk head football coach Phillip Tanner is a former Dallas Cowboy, and a great dude; and BHS secondary coach, AP U.S. History teacher, and creative bookkeeper extraordinaire Wayne Wayson is one of my favorite co-workers ever. Add it all up, and Burleson High is one of those places that, as a former Owl player and current JISD employee, I love to beat, but in truth find hard to hate. Or, at least, it was much easier to hate them when I was a teenager. Now, though? I try to hate BHS, but usually can't get there. Burleson Centennial? SUPER easy to hate. Cleburne? Hating them is literally my favorite thing to do in the whole world. And though they rarely meet, even a place like Godley is easy to hate (BTW, what do we gotta do to get that game on the schedule each year?). Burleson High School, though? Hatred certainly isn’t impossible, but typically I want good things for those guys, unless they’re facing Jaw-shoo-ay.

And......scene. Good work, everyone. Hit the showers, grab a bite, get some electrolytes in you, and meet back here next week for Part II.

OwlsOnTheAir.com

2026 Football preview part i

OwlsOnTheAir.com

2026 Football preview part i

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