For the first time in several years, Lampasas football fans can open Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine without cringing.

After suffering through a near decade-long absence from the playoffs and two consecutive winless seasons, the Badgers had a bounce-back campaign in 2009 when they went 3-3 in district and reached the postseason.

The turnaround caught the eye of the celebrated magazine, and in the publication’s annual summer edition it is predicting the Badgers will make an extremely impressive showing in this year’s playoffs.

Should the prognostication come true, it would match the deepest run in school history.

To read more, please see today’s Sports, page 8.