In small-school high school football, rebuilding years are a fact of life. Coach anywhere long enough and you’ll eventually hit a period where your numbers and/or talent level put you at an unavoidable disadvantage compared to your peers.

But if navigated deftly, those lean years — while difficult on the players and tough on a coach’s win-loss record — can help yield a bumper crop of success in future seasons, which is exactly what  Forsan coach Jason Phillips is hoping for in 2020.

After watching young teams post a combined 4-16 record the past two years, Phillips believes his Buffaloes have the talent, depth and experience to take a big leap forward this fall. And if you ask him he’ll tell you it was the foundation laid in those two seasons, much of it by a strong class of current juniors, that has Forsan ready to begin its ascent back to prominence.