Very few Texas high school football teams have no room for improvement, at least when it comes to the win column. In the COVID-strangled 2020 season, just two UIL teams won the maximum number of games — 4A Division I state champion Argyle (16-0) and 1A Division I state champion Sterling City (15-0). For the remainder of the 1,200-plus squads across the state, there was room to grow their most important number: victories.

Of course, progress doesn't come easy, especially in the rough-and-tumble world of TXHSFB. Of the 1,222 UIL Texas high school football teams that played each of the last two seasons, 419 won fewer games in 2021 than in 2020, while another 165 won the same number of contests. That leaves 638 teams that improved their record in 2021 — some buoyed at least in part by far fewer canceled games this season.

But of those teams on the upswing, a handful made a particularly large leap.