GRIDIRON GLANCE ‘24: Rising Star Wildcats

August 17, 2024 at 9:18 am Derrick Stuckly

RISING STAR – Coming off back-to-back district championships, the Rising Star Wildcats find themselves in a new, tougher league in 2024, with a new head coach as well.

Brent Williamson takes over in Rising Star, where the Wildcats return three offensive and four defensive starters from last year’s 8-3 squad. Over the two past seasons, the Wildcats have posted a 17-5 mark, but returning to the playoffs this fall will be a much more difficult chore.

“It’s going to be a slobber knocker each week,” Williamson, who owns a 67-61 career record, said of the District 13-A Division II slate. “You’ve got Zephyr and Blanket and Sidney and they’re all bringing some key players back. Some people write off Gustine but they have kids that work hard and those guys can sneak up on you. Each week it’s going to be tough. I told the guys the district they played in last year is not as hard as the one they’re going to play in this year. But they played some of these guys that are in our district and those games were really tough. Every Friday night it’s going to be who has the ball at the end and who’s going to be able to score that last touchdown as the clock runs out.”

Among the key returnees for Rising Star are Anthony Pollard (208 rushing yards, 3 TDs / 6-34, TD / 56 tackles, 3 FR, 1 INT), Manning Miller (200 rushing yards, 3 TDs / 35 tackles, 1 FR, 1 INT), Emerson Helmuth (12-142, TD / 14 tackles), Pacey McGinn (355 rushing yards, 5 TDs; 4-28, TD / 40 tackles, 2 FR, 1 INT), Payton McGinn (189 rushing yards, 6 TDs; 2-37 TD / 31 tackles, 1 FR), Dustin McGinn, Logan Ratliff, and Kason McGinn.

“We only have two seniors this year so the future looks to be bright,” Williamson said. “We’ve got the twins back, Payton and Pacey McGinn. We’ve got Dustin McGinn, Logan Ratliff, Anthony Pollard, and Manning Miller. We lost our quarterback but these guys have the mentality this year that it’s next man up. They’ve been working hard and we have high expectations for these kids. They’ve put some work in and these guys are shooting for a district title and nothing less.”

Despite the change atop the program, much of what the Wildcats will do on the field will remain the same.

“A lot of the terminology is similar so the kids have picked up on a lot of the stuff,” Williamson said. “I believe why change something that’s not broke, so we’re just trying to build on some of the things they were successful with. I came in not really knowing what they knew, and they really surprised me and we were able to take a few steps forward with the progress of our offense. Defensively, we’re going to stay with a lot of the schemes, but simplify them so the guys don’t get confused in game time.”

Prior to the start of league action, Rising Star will challenge Leakey, Rochelle, Lingleville, Baird, Paint Rock, Gorman, and Priddy.

“I want to see them continue to work hard,” Williamson said of the pre-disrict goals. “You don’t want to tell the kids the early games don’t matter, but they’re stepping stones for our district games. During these non-district games we’re looking to continue to progress and get better at the things that we do.”

The Wildcats are picked to place third in District 13-A Division II behind Sidney and Zephyr and ahead of Blanket and Gustine, according to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football.

Rising Star hosts Zephyr in its district opener, travels to Blanket, welcomes Sidney and ventures to Gustine before a bye in the final week of the regular season.

As for what it will take for the Wildcats to continue their run of postseason appearances and district championships, Williamson said, “They have to believe in themselves, No. 1, and have confidence in themselves. We talked about how the last two years they’ve won district, but going into the first playoff game I watched film and saw a lack of confidence going up against those teams that are pretty good. They have to trust the process, believe in themselves and have confidence, then start believing in the coaches. Then you can win a lot of football games.”

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RISING STAR WILDCATS 2024 SCHEDULE

Aug. 29	Leakey (at Rochelle)	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 6	at Lingleville	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 13	Perrin-Whitt	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 20	at Paint Rock	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 27	at Gorman	7:30 p.m.
Oct. 5	Priddy#	7:30 p.m.
Oct. 11	Zephyr*	7:30 p.m.
Oct. 18	at Blanket*	7:30 p.m.
Oct. 25	Sidney*	7:30 p.m.
Nov. 1	at Gustine*	7:30 p.m.
Nov. 8	OPEN