GRIDIRON GLANCE ’22: San Saba Armadillos

August 12, 2022 at 6:22 am Derrick Stuckly

SAN SABA – Following four consecutive trips to the postseason, the task of keeping that playoff streak alive for the San Saba Armadillos is expected to be a tougher chore during the 2022 campaign.

San Saba, which reached the playoffs with a 2-3 district mark and finished with a 2-9 overall record in 2021, will find itself in a new, larger seven-team district this season – 5-2A Division I.

Many of the opponents are familiar to the Armadillos, but only the top four will advance to the postseason out of No. 9 Coleman, No. 12 Tolar, Hamilton, Goldthwaite, Bangs and De Leon.

“It’s one of the toughest districts in the state in my opinion in 2A,” said San Saba head coach Andreas Aguirre. “It’s going to be a battle, a dogfight every game. We’re putting a heavy emphasis on every game being a big game for us. If we continue to get better and focus on ourselves, I think we should be there in the end.”

According to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, San Saba is projected to finish fifth, which would keep the Armadillos at home at the end of the regular season for the first time since 2017 – a projection Aguirre’s squad is eager to prove false.

“We have high expectations for the group as always,” Aguirre said. “We have high expectations for our culture, our coaching staff and our kids and I have high expectations for myself. What we need to focus on is continuing to get better each and every day and focus on our culture and core values.”

The Armadillos return 15 of 22 lettermen from the 2021 team, including five starters on each side of the ball.

“Our kids are coming together really well,” Aguirre said. “Our kids are hard-working kids, they believe in one another, they believe in the coaching staff, the coaching staff believes in the kids, so there’s a lot of trust going on. Our culture is strong, and our kids are getting after it every day.”

Among the players to watch for San Saba this season include quarterback Lance Taylor, receiver Tyler Johnson and defensive end Dylan Ware.

“Tyler Johnson is going to be wide receiver for us, and Lance Taylor is going to be coming back and anchoring the quarterback position once again,” Andreas said. “We have Dylan Ware who had a tremendous offseason and should anchor a side at defensive end.”

The Armadillos’ non-district schedule consists of Florence, Junction, Johnson City and Eldorado, with the final three foes serving as the start of four straight games on the road. San Saba has just four home contests slated for this season.

Regarding the pre-district goals, Aguirre said, “I just want to see us execute and come out and compete and get better each and every day and each and every week. The main thing is we have to come out and be more physical and be a dominant team that gets back to running the ball and playing some defense.”

District play begins Sept. 23 at Hamilton followed by a home date with Coleman (Sept. 30), a trek to De Leon (Oct. 7), the homecoming tilt with Bangs (Oct. 14) and the ‘Battle of the River’ at Goldthwaite (Oct. 21), with the league bye falling Oct. 28. The Armadillos will wrap up the regular season at home against Tolar (Nov 4).

Regarding what it will take for San Saba to make a push for another postseason berth, Aguirre said, “We’ve got the run the ball, and we have to play better up front. We have to be able to run the ball and be able to get the defense off the field.”

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SAN SABA ARMADILLOS 2022 VARSITY FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Aug. 26	Florence	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 2	at Junction	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 9	at Johnson City	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 16	at Eldorado	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 23	at Hamilton*	7 p.m.
Sept. 30	Coleman*	7 p.m.
Oct. 7	at De Leon*	7 p.m.
Oct. 14	Bangs*#	OPEN
Oct. 21	at Goldthwaite*	7 p.m.
Oct. 28	OPEN	7 p.m.
Nov. 4	Tolar*	7 p.m.