Breckenridge Texan

By Brant Thurmond/Breckenridge Texan

It’s time to throw out all the records and reset the stats for the Breckenridge Buckaroo football team as they are set to start the District 3-3A campaign and chase the district title.

The Buckaroos will officially open the district portion of the 2025 football season on Friday, Oct. 10, against the Clyde Bulldogs at 7 p.m. at Bulldog Stadium in Clyde.

Breckenridge enters the game with a 2-3 record, riding a two-game winning streak after starting the season with three losses.

The season opener saw the Buckaroos fall to a talented Holliday team 43-0, but the defense and offensive improvement was evident in the next four games.

The Bucks narrowly missed out on wins against Childress (21-14) on Sept. 5 and against Cisco (18-14) at home on Sept. 12 before closing out the non-district with wins over Eastland (35-6) on Sept 19 and at Tolar (19-12) on Sept. 26.

Buckaroo running back Jaime Cruz takes to the air to avoid the Rattlers defense during the Sept. 26 game in Tolar. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Statistically, the Buckaroos enter district play averaging 16.4 points per game, while allowing 20 points per game, however if you were to take out the season opening 43-0 loss against Holliday, the Buckaroo defense has allowed 14.25 points per game.

Buckaroo head coach Casey Pearce said since the start of the season, the Buckaroos have continued to improve week in and week out leading up to the start of district.

“That’s exciting to come back to every Monday to know that they are still hungry, they got a purpose about what they are trying to come to work to do,” Pearce said. “And I think it’s been reflected in how we have played. I think going to Castleberry and the Gainesville scrimmage, I think we saw some positives there. We cleaned some things up and went to Wall and competed hard against a really good Wall team. Then, (we) opened this five-week stretch with Holliday, who was a really good team, as well. Highly ranked, and that was two top-five teams in the state of Texas that we have seen in scrimmages and a ball game.

“Then we went into some rivalry type ball games with Childress, Cisco and Eastland, and to get that win on homecoming was a huge confidence booster,” Pearce continued. “Then to go on the road and finish this thing out with Tolar, it showed what this group is about and what we got to build from going into district play. That was a big win on the road against Tolar.”

Pearce said starting district play off with a win against Clyde would be a big step in the right direction as the Buckaroos hope to return to the playoffs.

“Now, we are in basically a five-week stretch to see if we can stack up and find a way to get into the playoffs,” Pearce said. “So, if we can do that, then do the work that we need to do, maybe we can find a way in, and getting a win against Clyde would be a big step forward in us getting into the playoffs. That needs to be important, but we can’t lose sight of us just getting better and just go out and perform.”

Clyde enters the district opener at 4-1 with wins over Cisco, Eastland, Snyder and Muleshoe. Their only loss came on Sept. 12 with a 35-14 loss to Shallowater.

“Clyde is a good football team, and their record and returning talent indicates that,” Pearce said. “They’re probably the sleeper as the district front runner at this point, if you handicap it by records. I would say right now Jim Ned and Clyde kind of have the upper hand on everybody else, and everybody else is fighting for those second, third and fourth place spots.

“There’s going to be some serious fighting going on here in the next five weeks,” he said. “It’s got to mean that much to our kids to try to go win a couple of those fights and see how it plays out.”

The Clyde Bulldogs’ offense centers significantly around quarterback Devan Wright.

Wright has passed for 674 yards and 11 touchdowns with one interception, while rushing for 654 yards and seven touchdowns.

“That’s a quarterback-driven offense. He’s their guy as well as the (Miles) Wilsher kid at tailback (384 yards rushing, four touchdowns), so we got our work cut out for us. But we are going to have to force their hand into doing some things they don’t want to do somehow,” Pearce said. “We got to take one of those guys away from one another. Take them out of the equation and force them to have to do something that they don’t really want to do.

“Clyde is a beatable football team, but it’s going to be a task that we’re going to have step up and man up and try to go do,” he continued.

Offensively for the Buckaroos, one of the keys will be running the ball straight at the Clyde defense.

“I think we’ve got to run it right into the teeth of their defense for us to be effective in doing some other things to counter what they are trying to do to us,” Pearce said. “At some point, we’re going to throw the ball down the field, but we got to establish some running game.”

The Buckaroos celebrate their Homecoming win against the Eastland Mavericks on Sept. 19. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

DISTRICT OUTLOOK

Five games into the season and Jim Ned and Clyde both sit at the top of the standings with 4-1 records, while Comanche enters district play with a 3-2 record. Sweetwater is 1-4 and San Angelo TLCA rounds out the district at 0-5.

Jim Ned – Oct. 17
(Buckaroo Stadium)

Jim Ned looks to be a favorite to win the district, but the Indians game against Comanche might shake the district, so to speak, as that game will play a critical role in the race for the district championship.

The Indians are averaging 27.2 points per game offensively and are allowing 20 points defensively through five games. The Indians rank third in district in points per game and tied for first with Breckenridge in points allowed.

Jim Ned has had wins over Lubbock Estacado, Cedar Hill TLC, Jacksboro and Holliday. Their only loss came to Wall in week three.

“Jim Ned is Jim Ned. I think they have had some things change within their staff here in the last month or so,” Pearce said. “We will see how that plays out. I think there were some play-calling duties that changed. Is their identity going to change? I don’t believe so.”

Comanche – Oct. 24
(At Indian Stadium in Comanche)

The Comanche High School Indians averaged 31.8 points per game offensively and allowed an average of 34 points per game defensively through five games. They are second in most points per game offensively and rank fourth among district opponents in points allowed per game.

Comanche started the season 0-2 with losses to Caddo Mills and Llano but finished non-district with three straight wins over Eastland, Tolar and Early.

“I think Comanche is a lot like us athletically and depth-wise,” Pearce said. “It’ll be interesting to see how they open it up this week (against Jim Ned).”

Sweetwater – Oct. 31
(At the Mustang Bowl in Sweetwater)

The Mustangs enter district play with an overall record of 1-4 through five games.

Sweetwater picked up their lone win over Idalou in the season opener but lost four straight to Midland Greenwood, Seminole, Lubbock Estacado and Wall.

The Mustangs averaged 16 points per game offensively while allowing 41 points per game defensively, which ranks them fifth in both categories among district opponents.

“Sweetwater is really injury-plagued right now,” Pearce said. “I would bet they’re fixing to get everybody back in full speed, which is scary because you really don’t know how good they are with a 1-4 record right now.

“But I know what kind of athleticism they have, just seeing them in track and knowing who they brought back into the program since coach Lucas retired,” he said. “So, that’s a factor that they have going for them because nobody really knows what they look like with everyone on the field.”

San Angelo TLCA – Nov. 7
(Buckaroo Stadium)

The Eagles are 0-5 overall through five games and average 7.2 points per game offensively and have allowed an average of 30.4 points per game defensively.

TLCA lost to Tahoka, Cisco, Ballinger, Merkel and San Angelo Grape Creek.

The Breckenridge Buckaroo varsity football team enter Buckaroo Stadium on Sept. 19 for the 2025 Homecoming game. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Cutline, top photo: Buckaroo Head Coach Casey Pearce talks to the football team after their win over Tolar in Rattler Stadium on Sept. 26. The Buckaroos will start district play on the road in Clyde on Friday, Oct. 10. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

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