Well, the 2022 football season is upon us. This weekend all the high school teams in this Central Texas area will be in action. Focusing on the Brownwood Lions – I like them – so far. In the scrimmages they looked very solid, very good, much improved, and I think they are going to do nothing but just get better throughout the season. Of course sometimes you have a team that just has bad luck. Aside from that, I think this is going to be a very successful Brownwood Lion football season; certainly the best that we’ve had in a while. Their offense is big and strong and I think they can be something really special. The defense? They have looked really, really good! Both quick and strong. I believe with their talent, Brownwood has a good shot at winning the Regional Championship or at least being right there competing for it.

I think the same thing can be said for the Early Longhorns. They had a terrific 9-3 season last year and they dropped down in classification. They are the district favorite, and I believe they legitimately can be a real threat for the Regional Championship. I think Early can be really good and if they are, they’re in the final four. You get there and you have a chance for anything!

Now, move over to May and that’s almost a guarantee. Fact is, it’s almost redundant talking about May and Richland Springs being real good. They are two of the best in the state and I’ll be shocked if May doesn’t make another deep run and even more shocked if Richland Springs doesn’t.

The college season here locally is about another week further down the line. The Howard Payne Yellow Jackets really feel like they can improve on last year. I think most fans would just say, “Hey, just do last year again” because Howard Payne went 7-3 last season and were very good. They lost to the two big boys, Hardin Simmons and Mary Hardin Baylor who won the National Championship, but they competed very well with everybody else. Fact is, they competed with the big boys better than just about anybody else did. They have a tougher schedule this year including George Fox University out of Oregon who will be at Gordon Wood Stadium their second game of the year. They have a lot of starters back and continue to recruit well and sell this Howard Payne program to athletes over the State of Texas. I think the Jackets are going to be very fun to watch again this year!

Oh, and should I mention the Dallas Cowboys? People talk about them all the time. “What do you think about the Cowboys?” “How do you think the Cowboys are going to do?” Well, Dallas has talent and Dallas has problems. If they stay healthy I think their offense can be good and solid. Defensively I like them. I thought they were terrific defensively last year and I think they could be again this year. The problem area – penalties! If you want to go deeper, it’s discipline – it’s just discipline. If you lead the league in penalties, that’s not just a penalty problem it’s a discipline problem. Now, how do you force multimillionaires into discipline? It must be self-discipline and I don’t know if the Cowboys have the character to accomplish that. They need another wide receiver. They probably could use some help in the secondary, but the main thing- discipline.

Until next time, so long everybody!

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‘Out of the Box’ with Dallas Huston is published each Monday morning at BrownwoodNews.com. Dallas was the radio voice of the Brownwood Lions and Howard Payne Yellow Jackets for more than 55 years. He currently is Pastor of Center City Baptist Church and hosts a Men’s Bible Study in Brownwood on Monday evenings. Your comments are welcome at [email protected].