Playing football as Thanksgiving approaches is the goal of every high school team in the state when the season starts. The Badgers are getting to experience that this week as they gear up for a trip to Snyder to take on Canyon West Plains in the second round of the playoffs.
This will be a rematch of last season’s third-round game where West Plains eliminated the Badgers in a 63-35 win. The game was tied 14-14 at halftime but ultimately got away from Lampasas in the second half.
This season, West Plains comes into the area round with a 10-1 record. Its only loss was a 41-35 defeat to Argyle Liberty Christian, a private school powerhouse that won state titles in 2023 and 2024 under head coach Jason Witten.
The Badgers boast a 9-2 record coming into the contest.
There is a lot of excitement within the Badger program about the opportunity to play another game this week, and they will look to lay it all on the line in this win-or-gohome scenario.
“We’ve already played a team like this, and it was Stephenville,” head coach Troy Rogers said. “This is very much Stephenvillelike in their size and their returning starters and their success and all of that.
“It’s a good football team, and I think our guys once they dealt with the disappointment or shock of Stephenville … hopefully this gives us an opportunity to see how we face talented teams that are coming in to hit you in the face, and how we respond to it, so I’m excited about it,” he said.
Rogers said at the time of the Stephenville defeat that the loss could serve as a great learning lesson for when the Badgers eventually meet another team at a similar level.
The motto of Lampasas football has always been “fast, physical and fearless.” Rogers constantly talks about wanting to be the most physical team on the field every time they play.
West Plains is going to be physical from the jump tonight, and Lampasas will have to either match or exceed their physicality to play their best in this game.
“We can’t sit here and say our philosophy is fast, physical and fearless, and then just talk it and not be about it. So we’re going to have to be about it,” the head coach said. “That’s part of the fun is you know you’re going to get hit in the face … Are you going to get up and respond? I think we have guys that will do that. We just have to be throwing our own punches, too.”
West Plains is very multiple on offense. The Wolves will take snaps from under center and out of the shotgun, and very rarely do they line up in the formation they are going to ultimately run the play out of because they do shifting and motion pre-snap trying to confuse the defense and create favorable looks for themselves.
Rogers complimented the Wolves and their coaching staff, saying he admires their shifts and motions and how efficiently they execute.
“They did that last year and from a football connoisseur, I was very impressed with what they do offensively,” the coach said. “They shift and then they motion, and they do a lot of stuff like that which is difficult to get taught, get coached up. They do it at a fast pace and a high level, so hats off to them on that.
“You can’t get too complicated defensively when you’re playing against these guys because you line up to their strength and if you’re not prepared to change strengths, they’re going to change strengths with a shift and then a motion, and if you don’t adjust to that you’re going to be outnumbered in a hurry,” Rogers said.
He said the Badgers must not get out of sync defensively and make sure they don’t end up out of position before the snap, giving West Plains an outnumbered look they are seeking.
Defensively, the Wolves don’t do a lot of fancy stuff. They line up with a three-man front but often bring a fourth player and drop seven. They will change their looks in the secondary, but they don’t bring many blitzes or give exotic looks in the front seven.
Rogers believes his team has some things they can take advantage of as an offense if they can execute at a high level.
“They give you some things that you can take advantage of, but you just have to execute, and that’s what it boils down to,” Rogers said. “We’ve got to protect [the quarterback]. We’ve got to catch the ball when it’s thrown. We’ve got to run good routes. We’ve got to be on the same page, and all those things are going to come into play.”
Often the prevailing team in any football game wins the turnover battle. It should be no different in this game. If the Badgers can force two or three turnovers and take care of the ball themselves, they will have an opportunity to avenge the loss from a season ago and give themselves the opportunity to practice on Thanksgiving for the second season in a row.
Tonight’s game is set to kick off at 7 p.m. in Snyder, about three and a half hours from Lampasas.
