LUMBERTON, Texas — Lumberton football’s head coach James Reyes took the raiders from sixth in district to third in his first year with an inexperienced roster.
“The kids when I came in did a great job of taking care of business and getting in the weight room and believing in what we were preaching and doing, so it filtered in through the offseason and our kids have gained some weight," said Coach Reyes. "Again, we’ve gotten faster. Our kids knowledge-wise of what we’re doing offensively and defensively is a lot further along.”
This season, Coach Reyes says the Raiders are playing with some confidence after tapping into their talent.
“Defensively we look great," said Coach Reyes. "I think Coach McDonald has done a great job so far. Kids are flying to the football."
"Offensively, our trigger puller is back in Lucas Powell," said Coach Reyes. "He’s gonna do a great job back there. We’ve got a running back coming back. Three of our four receivers are back. We’ve got some depth outside at receiver and we’ve got some depth at running back now. Then offensive line, we’ve got mostly everybody back."
"We’ve got some depth finally," said Coach Reyes. "We don’t have any kids playing both ways which is gonna help us out throughout the year.”
High expectations follow Coach Reyes and the Raiders, a team that has six playoff appearances but is picked 12th in the state this season.
“The kids' expectations are different," said Coach Reyes. "We want to finish at the top and so our kids are practicing like that right now."
"We know there’s a target on our back. We know Dave Campbell’s picked us to win the district which is fine," said Reyes. "That’s what we want to be. We don’t want to be at the bottom. We want to be at the top and we’re picked 12th in the state which is great but it’s all numbers to us. We’re not looking at that. We’re looking at week one, Hamshire-Fannett. Try to win that football game and just get better at Lumberton football going into district play.”
LUMBERTON RAIDERS
2021 Record: 6-5, 3-2
District Finish: Tied for 3rd
Playoffs: Bi-District (Lindale, L 56-39)
State Championships: None
State Championship Appearances: None
Playoff Appearances: 6 (Last 2021)
2022 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Aug. 26 - at Hamshire-Fannett
Sept. 2 - at St. Thomas
Sept. 9 - vs Nacogdochees
Sept. 16 - vs Bridge City
Sept. 24 - vs Tatum (Abe Martin Stadium, Lufkin)
*Oct. 7 - vs Splendora
*Oct. 14 - vs Vidor
*Oct. 21 - at Huffman Hargrave
*Oct. 28 - vs Little Cypress-Mauriceville
*Nov. 4 - at Livingston
(*) District