GRIDIRON GLANCE ‘ 24: Cross Plains Buffaloes

August 20, 2024 at 7:44 am Derrick Stuckly

CROSS PLAINS – UIL realignment didn’t bring any significant changes to the Cross Plains Buffaloes’ path to the postseason, as District 7-2A Division II remained almost entirely intact with one exception.

Familiar faces No. 2 Albany, Roscoe, Miles, and Hamlin are all back on the league slate, while Winters replaces Abilene TLCA.

“I think it’s probably tougher with adding Winters after losing Abilene TLCA,” said Cross Plains head coach Daniel Purvis, who is 76-66 going into his 14^th season with the Buffaloes. “There’s three teams ranked in the Top 15 in our district so I don’t know if it’s the toughest district in the state but it’s one of them, but it’s always been tough. We’ve been in the middle fighting against these teams since I’ve been here. It’s part of it, our kids accept it and our community accepts that and we’ll get ready to go to war every Friday night.”

Cross Plains, according to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, is anticipated to finish fourth in the league behind Albany, Roscoe and Miles and reach the postseason for the 10^th consecutive season.

The Buffaloes return seven offensive and nine defensive starters from a 4-7 playoff team a year ago.

Key returnees include Kade Purvis (854 passing yards, 5 TDs, 6 INTs / 124 rushing yards, 3 TDs), Tyler Mackey (21-265, 3 TDs receiving / 40 tackles, 1 sacks, 1 INT), Gray Albrecht (18-185 receiving / 40 tackles, 3 sacks), Colt Sanderson (59 tackles, 14 for loss, 5 sacks), Ryder Reed (46 tackles, 1 FR), Bryson Barron (30 tackles), and Cullen Ellis (24 tackles).

“We have a really big group of freshmen, I have about 18 freshmen out,” Purvis said. “We’re young, but I’ve got some good senior leadership, too. We’ve got four or five seniors that have played several years for us. We’ve got some juniors that have been playing since they were freshmen and sophomores, so we feel like we have a good combination. We like where we’re at on the skill side. We’re pretty thin up front where the linemen are. That’s a concern and has always been a concern. It’s just part of being in a small school.

“We’ve got three coach’s kids on this team. It’s bittersweet because my son’s a senior this year and he’s going to start in our secondary and be our quarterback. Coach Barron’s boy is going to be a senior and he’s one our of starting lineman and inside backer. Coach Sanderson has a boy that’s a junior and he’s going to be our starting defensive end and offensive tackle. We’ve got other kids, Gray Albrecht, Ryder Reed, Tyler Mackey are three really big guns for us that are really going to help us. We hired a new superintendent, Jason Henry, and he’s a got a boy that’s going to be a sophomore, Luke Henry, and we think he’s going to be a big time player for us – strong, stout kid and we’re really excited about him. ”

Prior to the start of district competition, the Buffaloes will test their mettle against the likes of Haskell, Abilene TLCA, Hico, Tahoka, and Sterling City.

“We’ve got a pretty tough schedule,” Purvis said. “We’re playing Haskell, Hico, Tahoka, and Sterling City so we’ve got some really good teams on there, but we have to stay healthy obviously. We want to see that we’re improving. We’re going to start a bunch of young guys at different spots, so we have to get those kids seasoned and up to speed as fast as we can. That’s what the pre-district is about, you have to face really tough teams to be prepared and ready. You don’t want the first tough opponent you play to be in district.”

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CROSS PLAINS BUFFALOES 2024 SCHEDULE

Aug. 30	Haskell	7 p.m.
Sept. 6	at Abilene TLCA	7 p.m.
Sept. 13	at Hico	7 p.m.
Sept. 20	Tahoka (at Snyder)
Sept. 27	Sterling City	7 p.m.
Oct. 4	OPEN
Oct. 11	at Roscoe*	7 p.m.
Oct. 18	Miles*	7 p.m.
Oct. 25	at Albany*	7 p.m.
Nov. 1	at Hamlin*	7 p.m.
Nov. 8	Winters*	7 p.m.