2026 Football preview part iII

Alright, where’d we leave off last time? Let’s see…oh yeah, the mid-’60s. LBJ was President, the Vietnam War was ramping up, folks in the U.S. were being super chill about the Civil Rights movement, and the Joshua Football Owls were back in Class 1A, never to return to the land of Class B football. Onward, Owl fans!!!

1968

This was kind of a weird season for the Owls, in that the overall record was just 5-4, but they still earned a district championship (just the second one in school history). Or, more accurately, the Owls were District 14-A co-champions with Crowley, as both teams finished 3-1 in league games, but once again got left out of the playoffs on account of the "only one team from each district advances to the postseason" policy of the UIL at the time. 

It was a bit of an odd district for JHS in ‘68, at least geography wise, as they were slotted with Crowley, Kennedale, Ferris, and Cedar Hill; one of the reasons was some of the Owls’ normal district mates in those days, like Midlothian, Mansfield, and Alvarado, had been moved up to Class 2A. In league games Joshua beat Ferris (19-12) and Cedar Hill (13-7) in close contests, and routed Kennedale (40-6), but lost to Crowley 41-20, giving Crowley the head-to-head tie breaker and subsequent playoff spot. 

One of the more interesting notes about 1968: it marked the last season JHS played its home games at the original Owl Stadium, located where Staples Elementary now sits. I’m fairly certain the playing field was located less than 50 yards from the southbound lanes of State Highway 174, and was situated on a patch of land that is now part of the Staples playground. Stuff like that is catnip for sports history nerds like me, and if you know of anyone that has pictures of the old place, please let me know.

1970

A big year for Joshua football, 1970 was. Like, five paragraphs big. The Owls finished 9-2-1 overall, including an undefeated 4-0-1 mark in District 15-A, and claimed the third district championship in school history. Joshua also advanced to the Class 1A state playoffs, where the program earned the program's second postseason win, a 3-0 bi-district round victory over the Valley Mills Eagles. Which we’ll get to in a bit.

The nine total wins in ‘70 are tied for the second-most in Owls’ history, behind only the 11-win campaign of 1952. Joshua started the non-district portion of the schedule 4-0, beating Alvarado, Aledo, Whitney, and Glen Rose. JHS then dropped its final non-district game to Clifton, 43-26, and I still find it fascinating that Joshua has never beat Clifton (or, more accurately, if Joshua HAS beat Clifton I’ve yet to find digital evidence of it). The schools haven’t played since the late ‘70s, but in 13 meetings Clifton is 13-0 with an average margin victory of 22.5 points. It’s just one of those quirky statistical things you run across when you start digging into games and seasons that occurred 50+ years ago, but it’s still intriguing.

Joshua started district play in '70 with three close games, including wins versus Crowley (21-0) and Ferris (13-12) and a scoreless tie versus the Forney Jackrabbits (an opponent JHS has played just three times through the years). The Owls finished league play with a couple of huge blowout wins to claim the district crown, though, beating Cedar Hill by five touchdowns (42-7) and Kennedale by seven (52-6).

Joshua and the District 16-A champion Valley Mills Eagles met in the the bi-district round at Yellow Jacket Stadium in Cleburne, a/k/a “The Rock, a/k/a “The Most Overrated Facility In Sports History,” and the Owls’ bend-but-don’t-break defense was able to keep the Eagles off the board despite allowing 219 yards rushing and another 68 passing. The play of the night was a 22-yard field goal by Joshua's Ronnie Collins with less than 30 seconds left in the game, but the stat of the game was the turnover ratio: 4-to-1, in favor of JHS. Each team threw an interception, but Valley Mills lost three fumbles on the night (a couple of them deep into JHS territory) to Joshua’s zero, which was no doubt a huge factor in a game where three points were scored. The interception by the Joshua defense was recorded on Valley Mills’ final offensive possession after the Owls took the 3-0 lead, and was logged by sophomore cornerback David Lee, father of current Joshua ISD Board of Trustees member Kevin Lee. David’s also the owner of Lee's Western Store, which sits about half a mile south of JHS, so go buy some boots from him and ask about what’s probably the biggest interception in program history.

Joshua lost in the area round the next week 21-7 to Honey Grove High School (located a few miles west of Paris in the northeast part of the state), but that certainly doesn’t diminish the glow of the 1970 season, one of the best in Owls’ history.

1972

The UIL expands the Class B playoffs, allowing for a state wide champion to be crowned at the lowest level of 11-Man football (the inaugural champion was Chilton). Joshua is moved up to Class 2A, and placed in District 12-2A. A byproduct of the Owls’ move to 2A is that the epicenter of district opponents starts to shift to the west. A good example is Granbury; JHS and GHS had been in the same league just once previous to 1972, but the Owls and Pirates would share a district for 24 of the next 30 seasons. Joshua goes 2-8 in its first year in 2A.

1976

The first four seasons of 2A football weren’t terribly kind to the Owls, as they posted an overall record of 8-32 from 1972-1975 (a winning percentage of .200). Joshua did fare a little better in district games in that span, finishing 6-20 (.231). Joshua found initial success at the 2A level the same year America celebrated its Bicentennial, though, finishing 4-6 overall and 3-4 in District 12-2A, with wins over Alvarado, Kennedale, and Lake Worth. All of the Owls’ district losses that year were close ballgames, including a 20-6 final to eventual district champion Granbury.

1979

1979 was the start of the second-winningest three-year stretch in JHS history. From 1950-1952 Joshua won 24 games; from 1979-1981 Joshua won 20 times. The ‘79 squad finished 7-3 overall, and 5-2 in District 11-2A game, and the two league losses came in extremely close games to Aledo (16-14) and the eventual district champion Cedar Hill Longhorns (21-18). This is still the era where only one team from each district made the postseason, and I think ‘79 is a year JHS could have made some noise in the playoffs. Then again, Cedar Hill got beat by 55 in the bi-district round, so maybe not. Woulda been cool for the guys on that team to find out, though.

1980

Big year for both the UIL and JHS. Class 5A is created, as Texas high school football continued to evolve and inched closer towards becoming the financial juggernaut we’re familiar with in 2026. After spending less than a decade as a 2A program, Joshua moved up to Class 3A and finished 4-5-1 overall. Included in that was a 3-3 mark in District 12-3A games, by far Joshua’s best league record in its first year of a new classification.

1981

There were two major things that happened in the fall of 1981 as it relates to this website. The first was a 24-year-old woman with the patience of a saint giving birth to a portly baby boy in a Fort Worth hospital in late September, and the second was the Joshua High School football team having one of the most successful, most memorable, most frustrating, most “What if?” seasons in the history of the program. Again, let me remind you: We’re still doing the one-team-per-district-makes-the-playoffs thing in 1981. That’s a very important plot point to remember here.

The Owls were a perfect 4-0 in non-district games in ‘81, with wins versus Aledo, Diamond Hill, Castleberry, and Justin Northwest; the Aledo contest was the only one-score affair of the quartet (27-20 final). In District 12-3A games JHS had to squeak out a 9-0 win versus Red Oak on its way to a 4-0  start in league games, but mollywhopped Ferris (66-0), Alvarado (38-7), and, crucially, Midlothian (21-0).

So Joshua is 8-0, tied for first place in the district, and headed into a Week 9 showdown with Cedar Hill, who’s also 8-0. This game was a HUGE deal at the time, and is certainly on the extremely short list of most important regular season games in JHS history, and here’s what happened: Joshua lost 21-20. Heartbreaker; kick in the stomach; dick punch; whatever your preferred euphemism to describe a disappointing result is, it goes here. Just a brutal loss. Cedar Hill scored on the very first play of the game, an 85-yard touchdown on the opening kickoff. The ‘Horns also scored on the second-to-last play of the game, a touchdown run with 10 seconds left. In between those two plays Joshua dominated, scoring on running plays of 38 and 67 yards and a pass of 80 yards from Wes Underwood to Mark Farnsley. Joshua missed an extra point after one of the touchdowns, however, opening the door for Cedar Hill’s last-second win. Heavy, heavy sigh.

So back then, that was it, right? Hell of a season, great job, but only one team goes to the playoffs, and there’s no way Cedar Hill loses to Midlothian in Week 10, right? Of course that’s what happens: Midlothian beat the ‘Horns 26-17, Joshua embarrassed Kennedale 42-0 at Owl Stadium, and outta nowhere we’ve got ourselves a three-way tie atop the 12-3A standings. 

If this were 1996 or later, all three teams could take satisfaction in knowing they’d be playing in the bi-district round the next week. They'd have to go to tiebreakers to determine which team is which seed, but that's pretty straightforward. The first thing they’d look at would be head-to-head results. In 1981's scenario each team’s record was 1-1 against the other two, so the next criteria would be point differential in the games involving the three teams. Joshua’s point differential in the Midlothian/Cedar Hill games was +20, Cedar Hills’ was -8, and Midlothian’s was -11. Most districts cap each individual game at around 15 points for the purpose of tiebreakers, but even with that caveat JHS, at +14, finishes well ahead of MHS (-6) and CHHS (-8). Either way, Joshua would have been the #1 seed.

But folks in 1981 weren’t trying to do all that math, so can you guess how situations like this were resolved? HEADS OR TAILS!!! No bullshit, a coin flip was the process to resolve multiple-team ties like this, and if it isn’t obvious what happened based on this buildup, the Owls did not fare well. Midlothian won a series of coin flips, and went on to promptly get beat by Wylie 28-6 in the bi-district round while the two 9-1 teams stayed home. Joshua absolutely would have had a chance to win multiple games in the playoffs that year, and it remains by far the most frustratingly successful season in program history.

The postscript to this is that the UIL, the very next season, allowed the top two teams from each district to earn playoff spots. This wouldn’t have changed Joshua’s fate that year, but it is a nice cherry on top of the “What If” sundae that was the Joshua Owls’ 1981 football season. And yes, the coin flip is still alive and well in Texas high school football. 

Okay, we’re gonna hit pause for now, as the heartbreak of ‘81 and the Owls’ ascension to Class 4A in 1982 make this a natural stopping point. Plus, I have to go back to work today. Which would make this a good spot to mention that I would never, EVER, work on content for this site while on Joshua Independent School District’s clock, Mr. Hickerson. Any reports you hear to the contrary are pure folly.

1982-2025 is coming soon. Go Owls!!!

You want a taste of the history of Joshua High School football from before the start of World War II until JFK was President, as well as a snapshot of the evolution of the University Interscholastic League, all in a handy timeline? Then buckle up, homie…I gotcha.

1910

The Debating League of Texas was founded at the 1910 Texas State Teachers Association conference in Abilene. The league began with an initial lineup of 28 Texas high schools, and held its first state meet in May of 1911. A couple things here: 

1) The 2026-2027 school year will be the 117th year that the State of Texas has officially sanctioned competition between (mostly) public high schools, which is a bigger number than I would have guessed.  The UIL's decisions aren't always great, but they've been making them for a long time.

2) How the hell are you gonna hold a conference/convention in Abilene? DFW, Austin, San Marcos, San Antonio, and MAYBE Waco if you're in a pinch; those are your options. Straying outside of the I-35 corridor for one of those is asinine and borderline sociopathic decision-making.

1911

The Interscholastic Athletic Association was founded in 1911, and held its first state track meet in 1912. What kind of 4x100 relay times do you think early-20th century farm kids from places like Lexington and Flatonia were putting up?

1913

The Debating League of Texas merged with the Interscholastic Athletic Association to form the University Interscholastic League on May 3rd, 1913; folks all over the state started bitching about district realignment 12 seconds later.

1920

Football officially became a UIL-sanctioned sport, and the first ever Texas high school football champion was crowned…ish. In January of 1921, at Clark Field at the University of Texas, Houston Heights tied  Cleburne 0-0 in the first ever state championship game, and the schools were named co-champions. Here's a great article about the game and how the process of selecting which teams would appear in the game played out. Hint: it was a Dumpster fire.  It in no way resembled any sort of format we're accustomed to now, but the UIL would certainly streamline the process in short order.

And yeah,  it enrages me that Cleburne gets to claim a ‘state title, EVEN THOUGH THEY DIDN'T SCORE ONE SINGLE POINT IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME!!! 

1920

Also in 1920, the Prairie View Interscholastic League (PVIL) was established. If you’re not familiar, the PVIL organized academic and athletic competitions for schools whose populations were made up of Black students. I’d like to tell you that the PVIL only lasted a couple years but, in truth, it lasted until 1970. Yes, you read that right, 1970. That’s the same 1970 in which Richard Nixon was President of the United States, and the same 1970 that occurred just 11 years before I was born. Like, less than 60 years ago. Oh, and the original name for the organization was the Texas Interscholastic League of Colored Schools, because I guess 'The Jim Crow League' would have been too on the nose.

1926

This one’s important, especially as it pertains to Joshua football: the UIL created a separate classification for small schools, “Class B;" I'll inform you here that, technically, the UIL calls it a “Conference,” but that’s twice as many letters to type, so hard pass. The bigger classification was renamed “Class A” that year, and retroactively named “Class 1A” a few years later when even bigger classifications were added. I wasn’t able to find exactly the system utilized to separate the classes, but from what I can tell it looks to be a combination of enrollment as well as an urban/rural thing. The other major difference between Class A and Class B was that Class B schools could only compete up to the regional final round, whereas Class A schools could compete for a state-wide championship.

1937

Joshua High School fielded a football team that competed against other schools for the first time, and the first game in school history was likely played against either Granbury or Grandview. Joshua’s first district opponents--and this is mostly guesswork based on circumstantial evidence--included schools like Midlothian, Teague, Ferris, Alvarado, and Ennis, with Ennis claiming the ‘37 district championship and subsequent playoff spot. As you might imagine, records, scores, and standings from this era aren’t easy to find and verify.

1939

The UIL added Class 2A, creating three classifications. This is an oversimplification, but: the new Class 2A consisted of the biggest big city schools like Lubbock High, Dallas Woodrow Wilson, and Waco High; Class 1A was for the big schools not big enough for 2A, such as Decatur, Plano, and Mineola; and Class B was still the small and typically rural schools like Joshua, Kerens, and Malakoff. At this point, only Class 2A offered a true state championship. Class 1A schools could compete up to the regional final level and, for some reason, Class B schools only played to the bi-district level from 1939-1946.

Oh, and Germany invaded Poland that September, sparking a war that would kill millions. Stay hot, white supremacy.

1940

The Prairie View Interscholastic league starts awarding state championships in football. The first one is claimed by I.M. Terrell High School in Fort Worth, which was located near where the I-35W/I-30 intersection now sits, just east of downtown. I.M. Terrell is probably most famous for being the school where legendary basketball coach Robert Hughes got his start in the profession. Hughes later coached multiple state championship-winning teams at Fort Worth Dunbar and is, even two decades after the end of his career and two years after his death, still the winningest boys high school basketball coach of all time. None of this has anything to do with JHS, but I never turn down an opportunity to give the greatest high school coach of all-time his flowers.

1941

The UIL adds a classification for Six-Man football. These are the tiniest of the small schools, places like Diboll, New Waverly, and Pottsville. BTW, Six-Man football is objectively kickass, and I’d love to coach some before my career ends.

1942-1945

The United States is embroiled in WWII. Records from this time are spotty at best, even compared to the years before and after, but Joshua does not make the postseason during this time.

1948

The UIL wasn’t going to be left out of the post-war boom, adding two additional state championships for football in ‘48: Class 1A, won that year by Monahans, and also what was called the City Championship. Best I can tell, the City Championship was for districts in the biggest cities that had multiple high schools, which was becoming more common in the ‘40s. Fort Worth Arlington Heights won the first City Championship, but the concept was shuttered after just three seasons.

1951

1951 is considered by many* to be the start of the “modern era” of Texas high school football, as the UIL added a Class 3A and a Class 4A. It was based on enrollment, and Class 4A was the biggest of the big schools, such as El Paso Ysleta, Houston Lamar, and Baytown. The UIL awarded football state championships in Class 1A-4A, as well as two different PVIL state titles, but Class B and Six-Man schools, at this point, still only played up to the regional final level.

*Not by me, ‘cause racism. 1970, when the UIL absorbed most of the PVIL, is the true beginning of the modern era of Texas HS football.

And the Joshua Owls? 1951 was the best season in program history up to that point. JHS was good in 1950, finishing 6-3-1, but the ‘51 team went 7-2-1 and set a then-school record for wins. They won district games that year against Duncanville, Aledo, Godley, Gorman, and Grandview, but got blown out 39-7 by the eventual district champions, the Mighty Mites of Fort Worth Masonic Home. If you don’t know about the Masonic Home and School of Texas, it was located first in Arlington and then Fort Worth, and primarily housed and educated the area’s widows and orphans. Its football team was a state power for a long, long time, and a stellar book called "Twelve Mighty Orphans" was written on the topic in 2007. I can’t recommend it enough, if you love high school football, read that book. In 1951 Masonic Home was near the height of its run as a football power, and went 6-0 in league play en route to clinching the district’s lone playoff berth. In the bi-district round the Mites beat Corsicana State Home 6-0, and then absolutely curb stomped Royse City in the regional final, to the tune of 73-13. 

I think this is a good place to note that, for a LONG time, only one school from each district went to the playoffs. How would Joshua have fared in 1951 against Corsicana State Home or Royse City? No idea. They never got a chance to find out, though, a theme that will repeat itself a few times in the ensuing decades.

1952

A landmark year for the Jah-shoo-way Owls, as the 1952 squad accomplished a whole bunch of firsts in program history: first district championship, first playoff appearance, first playoff win, first regional championship, first double-digit win season, and first undefeated season. A lot of those “firsts” are also still “onlys” as, to date, no other JHS team has won a regional final, won at least 10 games, or gone undefeated. Also notice that I wrote “undefeated,” and not “perfect” when describing the ‘52 campaign, because Joshua finished the year either 11-0-1 or 12-0, depending on where you look. More on that in a bit.

The Owls that year beat Sanger, Granbury, Alvarado, and Glen Rose in non-district games, and only the Sanger game was particularly close (19-14 final). In district play the Owls absolutely boat raced Duncanville, Godley, Cedar Hill, and Burleson (especially Burleson, as Joshua’s 61-0 romp marks its biggest-ever margin of victory over the Elks). Games against Whitney (20-14) and Grandview (9-6) were one-score affairs, but Joshua came out on top and won their six district games that year by an average margin of 29.5 points. In the bi-district round, JHS played Corsicana State Home (an orphanage in the vein of Masonic Home) and picked up a 19-7 win, the first postseason triumph in school history. 

In the regional final Joshua tied Fort Worth Masonic Home 7-7, but achieved more first downs than the Mighty Mites, and thus were declared regional champions. Most resources I’ve found list Joshua’s final record that year as 11-0-1, but a couple give the team a 12th win over Masonic Home, which I totally understand. Although it seems that in those days, at least to the UIL, a tie was a tie, even in the postseason when a team advanced on first downs or penetrations, so the most factually accurate record for that season is probably 11-0-1. 

Regardless, that's a load of semantics and hair-splitting that's likely unneeded, and doesn't change the fact that the 1952 Joshua Owls football team is the winningest squad in program history.

1954

This is the first documented instance of the Owls finishing a season 0-10, something that’s happened eight times: in 1954, 1992, 1997, 1998, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2015. Winless seasons at JHS haven’t occurred as often as you might think, but they do seem to arrive in bulk.

1958

Joshua moves up from Class B to Class 1A, and promptly goes 1-9. The UIL creates a classification for Eight-Man football, a sport that these days is still played in several states, predominantly ones in the midwest. Oh, and I also learned this week that a few cold-weather states play Nine-Man football, which somehow seems gross and unseemly.

1959

Cleburne and Breckenridge played in the Class 3A State Championship game, and the final score was 20-20. If you’re thinking that the only reason I’m including this information is to point out that Cleburne has played in exactly two state championship games and has won exactly zero of them, then you’ve been paying attention. Well done. At least they found the end zone this time.

1960

Joshua was back down to Class B for the ‘60 season, the only time before the current realignment cycle (2026-2027) the Owls dropped down to a lower classification. In probably what’s not a coincidence, Joshua started that season 7-0 before dropping the final three games to DeSoto, Grandview, and Ferris, respectively. Whatever. None of that is why 1960 gets its own section. Put your game faces on, kids, and get ready to get learnt up on some history.

Joshua High School and Godley High School, for schools that are in the same county, have usually had fairly similar enrollment numbers, and are separated by a scant eight miles as the crow flies, haven’t played nearly as often as you might have guessed. I could only find evidence of 13 matchups, with none of them occurring after 1960, and I think I’ve figured out why: Joshua beat Godley 72-8 in that 1960 matchup, a contest that featured the ejection of several players and coaches, a huge bleachers-clearing brawl, and THE HEAD LINESMAN GETTING ASSAULTED AND NEEDING 16 STITCHES!!! I didn’t believe this story when I first encountered it, but found a couple of news articles reporting on it, including in the Sulphur Springs newspaper (pictured either above or to the right, depending on the device you're reading this on).

Yep, no joke, someone got fired up about a few of the on-field calls, took matters into their own hands, and meted out some Johnson County justice, with what I’m assuming was either a discarded lawn mower blade or broken Schaefer Light bottle. I’m also going to assume that a Godley Wildcat faithful was wielding the weapon, because, as a result, the GHS football team was SUSPENDED by the UIL for the 1961 season. This wasn’t an SMU-style Death Penalty situation, as Godley was allowed to field a team in ‘61, but they couldn’t compete against UIL members and played a bunch of private schools that season. They were also placed on probation for the 1962 season, making them ineligible for postseason play. Joshua was placed on probation for the 1961 season, and just…wow. 

A rivalry game ass-whippin’, a stadium-wide brawl, a game official gets stabbed, both teams get put on probation, and one of the teams gets its next season effectively cancelled. The only thing keeping this from being the most Johnson County story of all-time is a shirtless dude riding a tractor onto the field while twirling a lasso and burning a lung dart, and listen…I’ve researched this incident a lot the past few days, to the detriment of my own mental health and personal hygiene, and haven’t found a single shred of evidence that the tractor thing DIDN'T happen, so…yeah, I’m officially calling it: this story is the most JoCo shit of all-time. 

The postscript to the story, and what’s fascinating to me, is that the schools haven’t met on the gridiron since, or at least not in the regular season. There have been a couple scrimmages, (including ones on the schedule in 2026 and 2027), but no official games. The UIL moved Joshua up to Class 1A in the 1962-1963 realignment cycle, even though the enrollments of JHS and GHS were roughly the same, and the schools haven’t been in the same classification since. I’m also guessing there was an agreement between the schools, or possibly even a mandate from the UIL, to hit pause on the rivalry. But c’mon, Owl fans, Wildcat fans, Johnson County fans, football fans, Schaefer light fans, fans of disorderly conduct…let’s bury the proverbial hatchet and play this game again. Godley fans, just do me a favor…when you do finally bury the hatchet, keep it out of the referee’s abdomen.

1962

Fresh off of probation and a 3-7 record in 1961, Joshua is moved back up to Class A; the Owls never go back down to Class B.

1963

The President got shot about 40 miles from Joshua High School; he did not survive.

Whew....that's all I got for now, it's too hot to keep grinding this thing out. Next week I'll do 1968-2025, featuring more playoff appearances, the program's most recent district championship, a coin flip taking down maybe the best team in program history, BUBO, and the dark days of the 2010s. 

Today is the first portion of the OwlsOnTheAir.com 2026 Joshua High School football preview, and will cover the Owls' 10 scheduled regular season opponents. 

This is not what the 2026 on-field version of these teams will look like, but rather Joshua's history against each program and a snapshot of the its success through the years. It's just shy of 4,000 words, so get your mind right, try to stay hydrated, and play like a champion.

Let's dance...

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.