Santo 28, Mart 7 — Colt Bridges ran for 80 yards and a touchdown, and Jaxon Rice ranf or 52 yards and two scores to lift the Wildcats to a three-touchdown win over the Panthers.

Santo (6-1, 3-0), which ran for 273 of its 312 total yards, also got 39 yards and a TD pass from Rylan Griffith to Dillan Branham in stretching a 21-0 halftime lead to 28-0 in the fourth quarter. 

Crawford 55, Hubbard 0 — The Pirates followed last week’s win over Mart with another key district victory, bringing Hubbard’s two-game district winning streak to an abrupt halt.

Crawford, which now has the inside track for the district No. 2 playoff seed, dominated the game from start to finish in improving to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in district play.

Santo 52, Frost 3 — Rylan Griffith went 8-of-9 passing for 223 yards and a touchdown, while Dillan Branham and Colt Bridges both ran for two touchdowns to lead the Wildcats to a blowout win over the Polar Bears.

Branham ran for 88 yards on three attempts and Bridges ran for 78 on seven carries to lead a Santo rushing attack that piled up 338 yards as the Wildcats outgained Frost by a 561-111 margin.

Santo 28, Crawford 10 — Trailing 10-0 after a quarter, the Wildcats closed the game with four unanswered touchdowns to kick off district play with a key win over the Pirates.

Led by Rylan Griffith (8-10-0—71, 1 TD passing; 13-47 rushing), Colt Howry (7-98, 1 TD rushing) and Wyatt Reed (3-46, 2 TDs receiving), Santo (4-1, 1-0) outgained Crawford 382-198, including a 293-161 advantage on the ground.

Santo Santo 48, Roscoe 0 — DIllan Branham ran for 122 yards and two touchdowns and Rylan Griffith passed for 121 yards and one TD and ran for another score to lead the Wildcats to a shutout win over the Plowboys.

Erik Montes, Colt Bridges and Jaxon Rice also had rushing scores for Santo, while River Lewis hauled in a 50-yard touchdown pass.

Even if you’re a fervent follower of Big Country football (the tipoff being that you consider Wednesday a holiday because that’s when you can peruse the stats for all the area leaders), you might not be aware of the following:

• The most important rushing feat of 2026 already took place.
• It happened during the first week of the season.
• It covered all of 17 yards.
• And, finally, Santo’s Dillan Branham was the ball carrier.

Don’t bother looking for his name in this week’s statistical roundup. It won’t be there. No matter; after reading this story, regardless of your conventional rooting tendencies, the Santo Wildcats will almost certainly join your roster of favorite teams.

And Branham will definitely become one of your favorite players.

Here’s why …

Crawford 39, Valley Mills 6 — The Pirates had no trouble with the Eagles, breezing to a comfortable win on homecoming.

The victory improved Crawford to 2-1 with a road game against winless Marlin slated for next week.

Santo 61, Dublin 0 — Jackson McKinnerney ran for 125 yards and two touchdowns and added a 22-yard scoring catch, while Rylan Griffith passed for 59 yards and two scores to help the Wildcats run away from the Lions.

Santo outgained Dublin 405-60, holding the Lions to minus-2 rushing yards on 18 attempts. The Wildcats picked off five passes and forced seven total turnovers in the win.

Santo 22, Chilton 13 — Jackson McKinnerney ran for 142 yards and a touchdown, while Rylan Griffith ran for 88 yards and passed for 50 to help the Wildcats kick off the 2026 season with an impressive win over the Pirates.

Santo, which saw a 14-0 lead after a quarter whittled to 14-13 in the third,  outgained Chilton 348-221 — including 298-171 on the ground — to overcome a 2-0 deficit in the turnover margin.

At 5-foot-9 and 155 pounds, Rylan Griffith isn’t the biggest quarterback around. Nor is the fastest or strongest.

But there’s no one Santo coach Devon Mann would rather go to battle with in his flexbone-based option offense.

An intense competitor who pulls out the best in those around him, Griffith helped the Wildcats snap a two-year playoff drought out of one of the state’s toughest district’s last year as a sophomore. And with a loaded roster around him in a new Waco-area league, the fearless junior is ready to lead SHS to one of its best seasons in years in 2026.

In 2025, a Santo team with just four seniors fought through one of the state’s toughest Class 2A districts to snap a two-year playoff drought.

With the bulk of that roster back and call-ups from a 10-0 junior varsity team ready to fill what few holes they have, the Wildcats have set their goals higher this year.

SHS, which brings back eight starters both ways among 21 returning lettermen, feels it has the talent, experience and depth to compete near the top of a new district that features Waco-area toughies Crawford and Mart. And coach Devon Mann has loaded up his nondistrict schedule in hopes that it will prepare his team for a deep playoff run when the time comes.