Sports

By Jaxon Hansard Another year, and to the delight of Texas high school football enthusiasts, another Dave Campbell Texas Football magazine (TFM) has hit the newsstands, answering the question for all inquiring minds about who is predicted to earn a state championship under the Friday night lights. There’s a little more anticipation around the magazine this year for supporters of the 2A-Division 1 State Champion Hamilton Bulldogs since they are slated to look a little different and will be in a new district.

Coming off a historic season that was 111 years in the making, the Bulldogs recorded a 14-2 record (5-0 in district play) to bring their first-ever state championship to Kooken Field.

Along the way, players earned many honors and recognition for their efforts, including Bret Bauman being named the 2025 TSWA Class 2A All-State Team Defensive Player of the Year and Defensive MVP in the state title game. Halston Haile stood opposite Bauman at the end of the season, being named the Offensive MVP after averaging 7.5 yards per carry for the season.

The 2A All-State team featured multiple Hamilton Bulldogs, with Devin Eanes and Haile earning first-team offense, Colter Johnson, Bret Bauman, and Colton DeLaGarza earning first-team defense, and freshman linebacker Easton Marwitz making second-team defense.

“Behind a dominant defensive effort and a resilient offensive performance, Hamilton defeated Joaquin 21-7 at AT&T Stadium to capture the Class 2A Division 1 State Championship — the program’s first in 111 years,” said TFM.

“For a town of roughly 3,000 that shut down to send its team off, the moment felt bigger than football. And once the game kicked off, the Bulldogs made sure it would be remembered.”

The reigning champions have been moved up to District 5 3A-Division 2 with the likes of Tolar, Millsap, Rio Vista, Clifton, Dublin, Comanche and Eastland. The newly aligned district has been tagged as a “district to watch” with the addition of the state champion Bulldogs being grouped with familiar foes to include Tolar, Clifton and Comanche.

“Coming off the first state championship in school history, the Bulldogs were greeted with a move up in classification and will have their hands full as they work to make the playoffs for a sixth straight year — which Hamilton has never done,” TFM said.

Dave Campbell’s prognosticators continued, “Graduation hit Hamilton hard, and [Head Coach Ryan] Marwitz will be replacing half of his roster but is counting on the defense, led by WR/DB DeLaGarza, RB/LB Easton Marwitz and TE/DE Kennon Lee, to hold down the fort.”

Hamilton is predicted to place first in their new district with LB Easton Marwitz pegged as the preseason defensive MVP and a preseason all-state defense selection. The Bulldogs are ranked 14th in the state rankings for 3A-Division 2, with their strength being their defense and their “name to know” being DeLaGarza.

TFM predicts 10th-ranked Edgewood to edge out Hamilton for Region 2 supremacy and the 2025 3A-D2 state runner-up Newton Eagles to finish the job in 2026. Newton fell in the title game to Wall last season by a slim 2524 margin.

Marwitz was selected as the 2025 2A Coach of the Year. He is returning for his fifth season as head coach and will return 16 lettermen, with four on offense and five on defense.

The top returning players are WR/DB DeLaGarza, who will be a three-year starter in the secondary; OL/ DL Vanden Phillips; RB/LB Easton Marwitz; TE/DE Kennon Lee, who “will anchor the D-line;” sophomore QB/ DB Oliver Summers, who is “projected to be the QB starter;” RB/LB Cooper Turner; OL/DL Zeb Murphree; RB/ LB Cody Cantu and top sophomore candidate WR/DB Madden Weaver.

Prospects to keep your eyes on, according to TFM, are RB/LB Ricky Shank; RB/ LB Cade Branquinho; WR/ DB/K Ethan Kalbas; OL/DL Kellan Craig; OL/DL Hector Najera; OL/DL Jordan Najera; OL/DL Tucker Ondrusek and WR/DB Bryan Ibarra.

GO BIG RED: Cheer camp officially kicked off Monday (June 13) with 95 little campers. These future cheer leaders learned new cheers, made friends, and played games all while having that Bulldog Pride. Pictured below is Co-cheer coach Christina Hertal teaching the little campers while one strikes a pose.

CLINICAL PRECISION: Fresh off coaching Decatur High School to consecutive 4A Division 1 volleyball state championships, Texas Girls Coaches Association 1A-4A Coach of the Year Stormi Snider, pictured below, took time out of her busy schedule to put on a two-day skills clinic for Hamilton’s high school volleyball players on Monday and Tuesday of this week. “The instructional camp provided our girls an opportunity to learn from the best,” said Head Lady Bulldog Volleyball Coach Andrew Heers. Below right, incoming freshman Carolina DeLaGarza smashes a precise kill under the watchful eye of Snider, and Landry Gardnerispicturedhammering aperfectsetbyKinseySchroeder. PhotosbyGrantLengefeld

The Hamilton Public Library recently had its summer camp, “Unearth a story,” with a dinosaur theme for all activities and stories. It only seemed fitting that it would also be the week to unveil their new eight-foot-plus sculpture of a T-Rex made of discarded library books. The engineer/dinosaur wrangler of this prehistoric reader is Hamilton’s own Glenn Jones.

Jones’ father made sculptures and art pieces, but this was his first attempt at his own. Usually, Jones’ creative sparks turn into background sets for the Hamilton Civic Theater, but a dinosaur sculpture made of old books was a new adventure.

“[Library Director] Kym Jeschke got ahold of me and asked, ‘Hey, you want to make a dinosaur out of books?’

“I’m like, oh, that sounds like fun. Let’s do that,” said Jones. “I normally build sets for the theater and like it to look really nice when it’s done.”

As for the T-Rex design, Jones said, “My vision I wanted was a little more fancy - especially the head. It kind of looks like a dragon, but I’m still happy with it. I’m glad it worked and came together - it was getting down to the wire.”

Jones recently had neck surgery, so there was a lot of drawing and planning to do before figuring out how he could create the dinosaur. He chose a T-Rex for the art piece because it seemed most fitting for the camp, but it would also help him structurally balance weight between the head, an upright body and a heavy tail.

There is a “skeleton” of sorts, as the inside of the structure is made of steel pipes. The Jurassic beast’s claws were made of resin and pieces of junk from garage sales. The eyes are also made of resin, but Jones painted the design straight from Jurassic Park artwork to give them a menacing stare. Jones designed it, gathered materials and built the centerpiece in three months, with a majority of the time spent gathering supplies and designing.

“A lot of putting together and taking apart took place,” said Jones.

On the steel pipe skeleton of the T-Rex, there are old or damaged books from the public library. The pages are open and spread out to fill out the body and tail of the dinosaur, with some areas containing book covers or pages cut into certain shapes. Jones swears he’s never bought so much glue and adhesive in his life, with the pipes being the most difficult piece of the puzzle.

“I had to fit them really tight, and when the process failed, I had to take it apart and put it together again until everything looked right,” he said.

“I probably ended up making a lot of hardware people mad going to look for parts. It required multiple trips to the store and taking everything they had.”

The T-Rex was built on a platform with wheels, so transporting it to the library at 10-15 miles per hour was made easier with straps and locked wheels. When the sculpture was finally delivered to the library, he was proud of his work and relieved to have it out of his workshop.

“I’ve gotten a lot of calls saying, ‘I saw your dinosaur,’ which is neat. It’s good to have it finally at the library,” Jones said.

There’s no place like home, and for Jana Jones it’s filled with new experiences as well. Hamilton ISD has announced Bulldog alumni Jones as the new head girls’ basketball coach and girls’ coordinator. Coming back home and becoming a coach was an easy choice for the 2002 graduate. While she never explored many other careers, coaching and basketball were always the things she adored.

“Basketball’s always been my passion; it’s just always been my favorite. I always knew what I wanted to do, and the end game was always coaching. Head basketball coach somewhere, and it’s crazy that it’s here. It’s kind of a full circle moment, because I’ve coached basketball now for almost 20 years,” Jones said.

In her 20 years leading up to her eventual return, Jones has held roles on every campus, from an elementary program to the varsity assistant coach. In her years of assisting and learning the ropes, she’s also been waiting. Waiting for an opportunity to run her own show, her alma mater provided her with that shot. This will be Jones first year as a girls’ coordinator and a head coach.

“I’m very excited. It’s always nerve-wracking when you’re doing something new, but I’m so excited. I feel like I’ve got a good base. I’ve learned from so many different coaches. I’ve had so many good mentors that I’ve gotten to coach under and watch coach and who’ve coached me, that I’m ready and super excited,” Jones said.

Jones was previously the junior varsity coach at Joshua High School. Jones praised her time working with head coach Anthony Dickson and the way she got to help turn that program around.

Throughout her coaching journey, she found herself agreeing with high school basketball hall of fame member and former Granbury girls’ basketball coach Leta Andrews on how fundamentals are of key importance to her players.

A key identity she wants her team to have is a chaotic defense.

“My favorite thing is defense. So that’s going to be a heavy focus, no matter who we’re playing, whether they’re bigger than us, faster than us, we are going to cause chaos and make it hard for them to score. Another is being able to run the floor. You may not be the most skilled kids out there; you may be playing a team that’s way better than you, but if you are able to tire them out and run them up and down the floor, you can beat teams that way. You don’t always have to be the most skilled, so conditioning and running the floor is huge as well. And I’m sure they’ve loved that,” Jones said.

Off the court, she wants to make sure that a strong, supportive culture is being built. There are already plans for camps, team meals and other bonding activities. Jones wants every player to be cheering for each other’s success, no matter the minutes they’re playing or the situation. Jones feels she’s a very positive person and wants that personality to show through her team.

“Being a team player and promoting that positive culture.

We are family, and we spend the majority of our time together. I don’t want you to be able to tell who the starting five are. I want those people who come off the bench to step right in there and know exactly what they’re doing and be able to do it. It takes a lot of practice and lots of reps, but that’s my goal,” Jones said.

During the day, she will be one of the special education teachers at the high school teaching a life skills class.

“I’ve done special education and math for the majority of my teaching career. I’ve always been in the special education program. I’ve enjoyed it. I like being able to advocate for those kids and find new ways to teach them old things that maybe will help them understand,” Jones said.

Coming back home wasn’t always the plan, but it made too much sense with her family still being here. Her brother Jeffrey Jones is an Ag Mechanics teacher at the high school, and her young daughter loves being closer to her cousins and grandparents.

“Hopefully, we can grow the program, have a great season, and hopefully we can just get numbers up. It’s a winning program, and you want to be known as a competitive, solid program. I hope that I can do a good job,” Jones said.

Gunslinging quarterback Oliver Summers, sticky-handed wide receivers Madden Weaver and Colton DeLaGarza, and the 7-on-7 Hamilton Bulldog football team will be one of 32 Division 3 teams represented this Thursday and Friday at Dave Campbell’s Texas Football 7-on-7 State Championships to be held at Veterans Park and Athletic Complex in College Station. Hamilton will kickoff during pool play on Thursday at 10 a.m. versus Rice Consolidated, followed by a showdown with rival Tioga at 11:30 and a 1 p.m. pigskin shootout with Wink. Bracketology on Friday will be determined by Thursday’s pool play results. Visit texasfootball.com for more state tournament details.

Photos by Harper Lengefeld

SUMMER TRACK: Runners gather at the starting line, and Case Yocham is pictured delivering the baton to Adam Massingill during the sprint relay on Monday at Kooken Field as the Hamilton County Youth Athletic Association hosted another successful summer track meet. Two meets remain, including this coming Monday and on Monday, June 29. Events begin at 6 p.m. with the 3200-meter run and long jump for all ages, followed by running finals at 7 p.m. Participation is open to all children up to incoming eighth graders. The entry fee to compete in unlimited events is $5. Registration is held at Kooken Field the day of the event. HCYAA is also currently accepting applications through July 3 for fifth and sixth grade football. All games will be played in Brownwood, and the registration cost is $135.

SUMMER HOOPS: Ollie Summers