The Most Improved TXHSFB Teams of 2025

All teams improved their win total by eight from 2024 to 2025, and are therefore ranked subjectively on most improved.

5. San Marcos Rattlers

2025 Season: 8-5
2024 Season: 0-10

San Marcos entered the year on a 21-game losing streak with just seven players on the entire 56-man roster who had ever started a varsity game. But the Rattlers were one of the most intriguing teams in TXHSFB, because they’d play at full strength for the first time in years. 

Nine players, most of whom were Division I recruits, were ruled ineligible by the UIL from October 2022 to the start of the 2025 season. 

“Those nine kids are special, but their eligibility is hitting at the same time as a couple of good back-to-back classes of kids who’ve grown up in San Marcos,” head coach John Walsh said after Week 1. “It’s a perfect storm hitting.”

That perfect storm brewed the Rattlers’ first trip to the third round of the playoffs since 2006.

San Marcos had one of the best linebacker corps in all of Class 6A with three First Team All-District selections. SMU signee I’Zayah Young led the Rattlers with 19.5 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks. Texas State signee Derius Davis led the team with 111 tackles, and sophomore Cameron Bundage had a breakout year with 72 tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks.

The Rattlers are ranked fifth because their 0-10 season was due to playing under-manned.

4. Lubbock Liberty Patriots

2025 Season: 10-2
2024 Season: 2-8

In 2024, Lubbock Liberty went 2-8 while playing without seniors. The strength disadvantage was compounded by the fact that the Patriots were lifting weights in two makeshift P.E. locker rooms until their weight room was finished in mid-October.

“The biggest improvement is our offensive line,” head coach Joe Sexton said in September. “We’ve got eight offensive linemen who are a lot bigger and a lot stronger than they were last year. To me, that’s the biggest improvement in our offense. We can run the ball and throw the ball because we have time.”

Center Hudson Hefner, guard Dylan Thomas and tackle Barrett Sugarek all earned First Team All-District 2-4A DII honors. Their efforts kept senior QB Colton Bichard comfortable enough to win the district’s Offensive Player of the Year.

The Patriots’ defense held opponents to just 14.5 points per game behind the district’s Defensive Player of the Year, strong safety Jaxon Thomas. 

The remarkable turnaround from 2-8 to 10-2 in one season is a microcosm of Lubbock Liberty’s journey as a new school. In the two years before 2025, the program got dressed in a classroom before the fieldhouse was finished, and even had to do laundry at another campus. But the players bought into building the program. 

“I’ve seen some schools that have opened up and struggled for a while,” Sexton said. “Our second year of playing varsity football and we’re where we are right now is pretty special. That’s all because of our kids. 

Lubbock Liberty is ranked fourth on this list because the 2-8 record can be explained by the program not having seniors in 2024.

3. Mansfield Lake Ridge Eagles

2025 Season: 9-3
2024 Season: 1-9

Mansfield Lake Ridge went 1-19 over the past two seasons while starting six different quarterbacks due to injury. But in 2025, junior QB DeShawn Edwards earned District 3-6A with 2,453 passing yards and 25 passing touchdowns. He also led the Eagles with 1,390 rushing yards and 21 rushing touchdowns.

“He’s a lot like some guys we’ve had here: Jett Duffey, Jason Bean and Chandler Rogers,” Mansfield Lake Ridge head coach Kirk Thor said. “He’s got that same special ‘It’ factor that those guys had. He can make a lot of plays with his feet when things break down. He’s got great vision and can see when people come open. He’s just done a really great job.”

Edwards helped lead Mansfield Lake Ridge to a 9-3 season, its first winning season since 2018. But the Eagles had the blueprint for success. From 2014-18, Mansfield Lake Ridge made at least the second round of the playoffs every year, and even reached the state championship game in 2015. Coach Thor said those teams were player-led, and he felt his 2025 squad had the same quality after how five-star offensive lineman Felix Ojo attacked the offseason. 

“Felix Ojo signed that record NIL deal, but Felix is all about his teammates and takes coaching well,” Thor said. “When you’ve got a guy like that who’s got that kind of humility, and the teammates just love being around him, you know you’ve got a pretty good culture.”

2. Sheldon C.E. King Panthers

2025 Season: 13-3
2024 Season: 5-5

Sheldon C.E. King head coach Cory Laxen was named DCTX’s “Coach of the Year” for guiding the Panthers to the first state championship game in program history in his first season as a head coach, all while playing 12 sophomores at the 6A level.

Laxen, who was elevated from offensive line coach, knew Sheldon C.E. King wasn’t far away from success in 2024. The Panthers went 5-5 in District 23-6A, one of the toughest in the state, and missed out on the playoffs after a 21-20 loss to Humble Kingwood.

Because his team missed the postseason by the smallest possible margin, Laxen knew he had to harp on the little things in his first season. 

“If a kid is late to class, that might not be a big deal originally, but don’t get mad when he’s late to your meeting,” Laxen said. “Because these kids are creatures of habit.”

The new emphasis on small details led to a massive increase in summer strength and conditioning participation, with 200 kids showing up, up from 105 the previous year. That was the first hint Laxen had that his team could be special, and he was proven right on the field.

Running back Dionne Sims, a Rice signee, was named the district’ Offensive Player of the Year after 1,961 yards and 27 touchdowns. Sophomore wide receiver Dillon Mitchell was named District Newcomer of the Year with over 1,700 all-purpose yards and 14 touchdowns. 

1. Mission Veterans Memorial Patriots

2025 Season: 10-2
2024 Season: 2-9

Mission Veterans Memorial is the DCTX winner of ‘Most Improved Team’ in 2025. By and large, the same group of athletes, playing the exact same schedule, went from 2-9 to 10-2, the program’s first double-digit win season since 2018. The one regular-season loss was by one point.  

Coach David Gilpin told his players and parents all offseason that last year was an aberration. The Patriots were 0-5 in games within 10 points and were -19 in the turnover battle. Gilpin’s staff has been at Mission Veterans Memorial for 17 seasons. While the Patriots are known for their flashy, spread offense, the program prides itself on a blue-collar work ethic, which they returned to in 2025.

Sophomore QB Roman Reyna won District 15-5A DII Overall MVP at the helm of that offense. Reyna started the final five games of the season as a freshman and totaled 65 rushing yards. But this year, he blossomed into the dual-threat playmaker who could thrive in the organized chaos of the scramble drill. Reyna led the Patriots with 929 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns. 

 “Kid is a stud,” Gilpin said. “This is an extremely talented young man. He can spin it with anyone in the state.”

The defense had massive question marks entering the 2025 season. The Patriots had lost the program’s all-time tackles leader, Aiden Uribe, and had one defensive lineman on the roster before spring ball. But senior linebacker Cuauhtemoc Labastida earned the district’s Defensive MVP honors with 124 tackles, 17 tackles for loss and nine sacks. Guillermo Garcia, the district’s Defensive Lineman of the Year, was nearly unblockable with 19 tackles for loss and seven sacks. 

Gilpin’s staff won the district’s Coaching Staff of the Year, but he measures the season based on how many gold balls they collect. So mwhether you look at the district awards, the district championship or the bi-district playoff win, 2025 was a resounding success. 

“If we can call ourselves a championship team at the end of the year, whether it’s a district championship or a bi-district championship or a playoff run, then it was a successful year,” Gilpin said. “That’s the way we measure ourselves. To be able to do so with two Gold Balls last year, coming off of a rough year, we felt really good.”

Honorable Mention (Teams who increased win total by 7)

Crawford. 3-9 to 10-2

Stinnett West Texas, 7-4 to 14-1

Fort Bend Crawford, 5-6 to 12-2

Merkel. 0-10 to 7-5

Chilton, 3-7 to 10-2