Breckenridge Texan

Editor’s Note: This is an opinion piece by Brant Thurmond, who covers Buckaroo sports for the Breckenridge Texan.

By Brant Thurmond/Breckenridge Texan

“Rome wasn’t built in day, but they were laying bricks every hour.”— James Clear.

Buckaroo Nation, I’d like for you to sit back and think about this quote when you think about the 2023 Buckaroo football team.

Yes, the Bucks are off to an 0-2 start. Yes, they had one of the best season’s last year that anyone most of us (including myself) have seen in several years. Yes, there was a great deal of talent lost last year due to graduation.

However, that doesn’t have to define this year’s team. These players are out there putting in the work in 100-degree temperatures to give the fans a show on Friday nights and represent the town of Breckenridge with pride, respect and sportsmanship, among other things. The team has several players that had not played a varsity snap or were very limited on varsity. But with several varsity players this year who were a part of the JV team that finished with a perfect 10-0 in 2022, and a little bit of time to adjust to the speed of the varsity level, and the sky’s the limit for this team.

I started covering Breckenridge sports in 2013 when Steve Freeman was the coach in Breckenridge. I covered each team up until the middle of the fall of 2016 before I left the local newspaper and ventured off to other opportunities.

Since the creation of the Breckenridge Texan in 2017, I have covered multiple football games for publisher Tony Pilkington, including every game the Bucks had in 2022 from start of the season to the playoff game against Paradise in Ponder.

Since 2013, I have seen the ups and downs of a season and the emotion the players, coaches, cheerleaders and everyone that cheers them on show after hard-fought games that result in wins and those that the Bucks have been on the losing end of and had their season end in the playoffs.

I was there to witness it firsthand when the Bucks were 0-5 to start the 2017 season and then came back to win five games in a row and win the district championship game over Brock on a game-winning field-goal by Jose Escobedo.

But an 0-2 start or even an 0-5 start to the season did not make me want to cast doubt on the coaches or the players.

My first year at the newspaper, I learned several lessons from Coach Steve Freeman. He always tended to have the mindset of “it’s not how you start, but how you finish.” I can recall Freeman talking about all the things leading up to the district games or the “money games,” as he liked to call them.

Coach Casey Hubble tended to approach the season the same way, in my opinion. It was always about getting into the playoffs and making a run or playing their best football late in the season.

Anyone can start the year 5-0 and then have the “wheels fall off,” as KLXK radio announcer Lance Kitchens would say. It’s not how you start the year, but It’s about the way you finish the year.

Now, I am not a “Breckenridge born and raised” person. In fact, I grew up in Lamesa and played six-man football at a local school up the road called Dawson.

We had several years that we didn’t win but maybe three or four games all year. My senior year football season in 2005, we won ONE game and that was the last game of the year against Klondike. I was the only senior on that team that suited up eight players 90 percent of the season. We even had to forfeit a game that year because we didn’t have enough players.

However, even though, I am not from Breckenridge, I still feel like this is my “home away from home” and has been since I moved to town from Woodson in 2014.

I spend my hard-earned money here; I vote here; I volunteer here. This is my home.

So, after Friday’s game against Childress, I came across a few Facebook post from some locals reminding folks that these players on the team are 14–18-year-old kids. They are someone’s sons out there busting their tails every Friday night to put on a good show for the fans, among other things.

There are hours and hours of hard work that goes into the game on Friday night that several people may not realize.

I have not sat and watched an entire practice under Coach Casey Pearce, but from the stories I’ve heard about his dad coaching, I can imagine they are intense.

Some may see it as the coaches constantly yelling at the players and getting onto them, but I see it as the coaches seeing the potential in the players and pushing them to succeed at high levels. If you want to succeed, you must be coachable and be able to understand what the coaches are trying to instill in you.

I have 100 percent faith in Coach Pearce and see the frustration he has after a hard loss when I interview him after the game. Him and his coaching staff will get this team figured out and will turn the tables on how the season started. I can see the heart that Pearce has in him to be successful. The man flat out hates to lose.

So, before you go questioning play calls or being the one coaching from the stands, I encourage you to sit back and think real hard about whether or not you are hurting the team by what comes out of your mouth or are you encouraging them?

I think it’s crucial to have a fan base that will be in tune with the game and understand the situations of a third down defensive play or even a goal line chance to score on offense. I encourage you as the fan base to be loud and make noise on third down for the defense to get a stop. Even stand up in the bleachers and show the boys support. Make Buckaroo Stadium one that wreaks havoc on visiting players. Create a true “home field advantage.”

The support shouldn’t be just for home games, though. We have a rival game coming up this week with Cisco, and a strong showing from Buckaroo Nation could easily put this team over the top to where they know, no matter what, the fan base is going to support them.

See ya at the game.

Brant Thurmond is a local sports writer who covers Buckaroo football for the Breckenridge Texan. Click here to read his story on the Sept. 1 Buckaroo game against the Childress Bobcats.

Cutline, top photo: The Breckenridge varsity football teams enters Buckaroo Stadium on Friday, Sept. 1, to take on the Childress Bobcats in the Buckaroos’ home opener of the 2023 season. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Editor’s Note: This column was updated at 2 p.m. Sept. 7, 2023, to correct the year that the Buckaroos won the district championship game over Brock.