Seymour coach Tarrington Rivers is a man with Big Country ties, having coached under Rocky Smart at Clyde.
And with Seymour often playing teams from the Big Country, he has kept tabs on the area for years.
Now that his Seymour Panthers are joining the Big Country Preps coverage area in 2026, coach Rivers speaks with us on joining BCP, his philosophies on football and Seymour community in this introductory Q&A with Evan Ren.
SEYMOUR — One of the new members of the Big Country Preps family, Seymour has reason for optimism heading into the 2026 campaign after battling through a 2-8 season with a young club last season.
The Panthers have seven starters back on both sides of the ball among 20 lettermen after losing only six players with experience from a year ago.
“We’ve been really young in fact we’ve got four or five players who will end up being four-year starters,” second-year coach Tarrington Rivers said. “We carried about 12 sophomores last year, one of whom played a lot of minutes and we’ve got all of those guys back.”
Rivers now has his system in place with capable skill personnel, more overall size up front and a defense he expects to improve a great deal. There are, however, a few objectives to achieve in order for the Panthers to make a significant splash this year.
Having had four coaches since 2020, the Munday Moguls have struggled to find consistency following a dominant run led by Patrick Corcoran that saw the Moguls claim two state championships.
Over the offseason, MHS turned to Mineral Wells offensive coordinator Jeff Ward to see if he could help return the program to the standard that was in place in most of the early 21st century.
Ward, who has 19 years of coaching experience, is excited about the opportunity that presents itself as he takes over a program for the first time in his career.
GAME PHOTOS PROVIDED BY KRISTI GIBSON
HASKELL — At 5-11 and 185 pounds, He’s not the biggest linebacker in the area, not by a long shot. Nor is he the fastest, with a solid-but-not-blazing 40 time of 4.7.
There is, however, one thing you can be certain of: If Haskell’s Beaux Shaginaw gets his hands on someone: they’re going down.
Now entering his senior season with the Indians, Shaginaw is coming off an eye-popping junior campaign that saw him chart 167 tackles, nine tackles for loss and three forced fumbles.
“He’s the anchor on our defense,” Haskell coach Creighton Henderson said. “He led the team and led the area in tackles. He’s a guy who’s always around the ball, he’s really hard to block and he’s always getting in there and hitting someone in the face.”
HASKELL — The numbers aren’t overwhelming, but there’s reason for optimism in the Haskell camp in 2026.
After losing 13 lettermen, the Indians still return seven offensive and six defensive starters from last year’s 6-5 playoff team, several of whom are showing some promise.
To begin with, the Indians return a solid, experienced group of skill personnel, spearheaded by senior quarterback Haegen Pinkerton (1,321 yards passing, 13 TDs, 1,767 rushing, 22 TDs).
But secondly and perhaps most importantly, Haskell’s offensive line is mammoth by 2A standards and may supply the push up front to give those skill people plenty of room to operate.
After graduating a 13-player senior class that was responsible for the bulk of his team’s production in 2025, Roscoe coach Dan Loyd entered his first full offseason as the Plowboys coach looking for a new crop of leaders to emerge.
With a young roster that will feature a number of juniors in key positions, he found what he was looking for in seniors Mason Alford and Alan Montoya.
While more on the quiet side vocally, Alford and Montoya have brought exactly the type of toughness, dependability and grit that Loyd wants to be a hallmark of his program. And the example those two have set has the coach eager to see where they can help take the Plowboys this fall.
Dan Loyd’s first year at Roscoe was something of a whirlwind. The longtime Seymour coach was hired in April, 2025 to replace Jake Freeman and led an experienced Plowboys squad through a tough nondistrict schedule to go 3-2 in district and reach the playoffs for the sixth straight year and 10th time since 2024.
The 3-8 overall record wasn’t quite what he and his squad were hoping for, but way the team fought through adversity to finish the year strong helped lay the foundation for the type of program he wants to build and, he hopes, will serve as a springboard into a more successful Year 2.
While the Plowboys graduated 13 seniors and return just 12 lettermen (four offensive and five offensive starters among them), Loyd is confident that RHS is starting from more sturdy footing in 2026. And he’s excited to see what his squad can do in a new district and region.
Gone from Class 1A Division I are names like Stryker Reed and Ry Reed, both of whom are now with different branches of the United States service academies, but a familiar name from Division II has replaced them at Gordon — Keegan Hayes.
The Longhorns, now led by the former Benjamin standout, are aiming to become just the 19th program to ever make it to four straight state championship games per the UIL archives.
Of those, only Fort Hancock (1988-91), Sealy, (1994-97), Celina (1998-2001), Southlake Carroll (2002-06) and Austin Lake Travis (2007-11) have ever won four titles in a row, with FHHS’ representing the only time it’s happened in the six-man ranks.
Here’s a preview of each of the Class 1A Division I districts in the Big Country Preps coverage area with our predictions for 2026.
With two-time defending state champion Jayton moving up to Division I this fall, the race for the Class 1A Division II crown is wide-open heading into the fall as the Big Country dominates the preseason state rankings.
In TAPPS, Abilene Christian saw a change atop the program as former Abilene High offensive coordinator Justin Gorman took over for Kirk Wade and the Panthers are primed to make a traditionally deep playoff run this fall.
Here’s a preview of each of the Class 1A Division II districts in the Big Country Preps coverage area, as well as TAPPS Division II District 1, with our predictions for 2025.
