Sitting at 2-3 after a 14-7 loss to Comanche in Week 5, the Cisco football team was facing something of an identity crisis. 

Utilizing more spread looks than a typical CHS team through coach Kevin Stennett’s first five games as a head coach, the Loboes were averaging just 18.8 points per game and, as a team, just didn’t seem to be hitting on all cylinders.

To resolve this, Stennett — a former Cisco player under now-athletic director Brent West — took his Loboes back to their old-school, smashmouth roots. And with that return to the basics — and an increased reliance on Cisco’s familiar I-formation and split-back looks — came familiar success.

Since their bye week in Week 6, the Loboes have won eight straight games, averaging 46.1 points per game during that stretch. And while Stennett attributes that offensive turnaround to a number of factors, he said it began with a return to the physicality that made Cisco a state power under his former coach and predecessor.