GRIDIRON GLANCE ’22: Cross Plains Buffaloes

August 18, 2022 at 6:20 am Derrick Stuckly

Editor’s Note: This interview was conducted, photos were taken, and the story was written prior to the automobile accident involving Ryan Hopkins and Bentley Hall, and the passing of Ryan Hopkins, who does appear in the team photo. Any additional references to Hopkins have been removed.

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CROSS PLAINS – Entering head coach Daniel Purvis’ 12^th season at Cross Plains, the Buffaloes possess elite Class 2A speed – coming one point shy of winning the state track meet this past May. Now, Purvis welcomes the most mass he’s enjoyed during his tenure as Cross Plains attempts to make a run at the championship in the newly revamped District 6-2A Division II.

“It’s probably the biggest team I’ve ever had,” Purvis said. “I’ve got probably six kids over 230 pounds and I’ve never had that. We’ve also got lots of speed, we were one point away from winning the state track meet last year and all those kids are back but one.

“We didn’t lose much from last year. We’ve got all 11 starters back on offense and we’re excited about that. We had a small senior class last year and we have a group coming back that’s played a lot of football, especially our juniors and seniors. Many of them were pressed into action as sophomores and we even had to play three freshmen quite a bit last year. We feel like we have as much experience as I’ve had since I’ve been here.”

Sixteen of 19 lettermen, including all 11 offensive and nine defensive starters, are back from Cross Plains’ 5-5 team that posted a 1-3 mark in district last season to extend its string of postseason appearances.

“We’re excited about this group we have,” Purvis said. “They’ve had a lot of success, they’ve made the playoffs every year of high school, and we’ve made it seven or eight years in a row, so they don’t anything except that. That’s become the new standard here which is really neat after we struggled to make the playoffs for years and years. Now that the playoffs have become a staple for us, that’s really exciting.”

Among the Buffaloes to keep an eye on this season are Noah Moses, Ryan Reed, Riley Conlee, and Alex Parker, among others.

“Noah is our returning leading rusher and tackler,” Purvis said. “He was on all the relays at state last year and will play free safety and running back or receiver for us this year. Ryan Reed, he was on all those relays and he’s a big, intimidating receiver at 6-foot-3, 190 pounds, and he can fly. He’ll play corner and receiver. Riley, he’s our heart and emotional leader, a returning four-year starter. If has had a year like he had last year he’ll be Cross Plains’ all-time leading tackler. And Alex is 6 foot 5, 300 pounds. I’ve never had a kid that big. He’s a legitimate college prospect. We’re excited about him.”

With as much talent as the Buffaloes return, simply making the playoffs is an expectation Purvis wants the team to far exceed.

“We want to take that next step and win some playoff games, go deep, play on Thanksgiving weekend and do those types of things,” Purvis said. “We feel like this is the group that can break through that ceiling.”

Standing in the way of Cross Plains is a cast of District 6-2A Division II rivals that features No. 1 Albany, No. 24 Roscoe, Miles, Hamlin, and first-year 11-man program Abilene TLCA. The Buffaloes are slated to finish third according to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football.

“I’ve never been in an easy district and part of that is because we have some really good teams around us,” Purvis said. “This is the mecca of small school football right around here. There are some really good coaches, really good kids, really good teams all around us. That’s good and I want to be around that. You’re going to have to compete to get out of here. Our playoff teams are going to be good teams that will be able to compete well in the playoffs.”

Cross Plains opens league play Oct. 7 at Roscoe followed by an Oct. 14 trip to Albany, then the schedule becomes more favorable for the Buffaloes with the final three games at home against Hamlin, Abilene TLCA and Miles.

“Albany, everybody talks about them, but I’ve played them 12 years in a row, so our kids aren’t that intimidated by them,” Purvis said. “It’s a great measuring stick. Roscoe is going to be really good. They’re bringing a lot back from last year. That’s a really big game for us and we feel like we can compete with them and need to compete with them. We feel the same way about Albany. Miles is going to be good, they’re bringing a lot of kids back. Hamlin is going to be better. I don’t know anything about TLCA, they were six-man last year but I’m sure they’re going to be good, too. You have to be to compete in this area.”

Prior to the district slate, Cross Plains will hone its skills against Winters, De Leon, Hico, Junction, and Smyer.

“It’s an interesting schedule,” Purvis said. “We’re playing almost all bigger schools, but that’s not saying much because we may be the smallest 11-man in Texas. We open up with Winters and we scrimmaged them the last couple of years. They were really good scrimmages and Winters is always hard-nosed. Then we’ve got De Leon coming here and we played them in a really good game last year. They’ll be out to get us, and they’ll be improved. Hico, they beat us here on our field last year in a huge district game. I know our kids can’t wait to play them again. Junction, I have no idea about them and then we’re meeting Smyer in Snyder in the game before our bye and district, and I don’t know a lot about them, either. It’s good to play new people and it’s good to have some traditional folks that you always play.”

Regarding what it will take for Cross Plains to possibly secure its first district championship since 1994 and play into December, Purvis said, “We have to run the ball better this year. We feel like we’re a smarter football team just because we’ve aged and gotten more mature. I want to see us grow as a team. Last year we had to start a freshman at quarterback most of the year and I want to see that he’s grown and matured and is starting to handle that responsibility better. I also want to see these seniors step into our leadership roles the way we need them to.”

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CROSS PLAINS BUFFALOES 2022 VARSITY FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Aug. 26	at Winters	7 p.m.
Sept. 2	De Leon	7 p.m.
Sept. 9	at Hico	7 p.m.
Sept. 16	Junction	7 p.m.
Sept. 23	Smyer (at Snyder)	7 p.m.
Sept. 30	OPEN
Oct. 7	at Roscoe*	7 p.m.
Oct. 14	at Albany*	7 p.m.
Oct. 21	Hamlin*	7 p.m.
Oct. 28	Abilene TLCA*	7 p.m.
Nov. 4	Miles*	7 p.m.