This Week in Texas High School Football: April 4

Herman Johnson returns home We missed this in last week’s update, but let’s make sure we give Herman Johnson his due. The Duncanville offensive coordinator who has been with Reggie Samples for years finally got his first shot at a head coaching job taking over at his alma mater Dallas Skyline. Johnson, who was Samples’ offensive coordinator for two state semi-final teams at Skyline, is a well-respected play caller and offensive mind in around the state. Waxahachie hires After two rounds of interviews and two separate hiring committees, Waxahachie ended its search for a new head football coach by hiring alum and longtime coach in the district Todd Alexander. Alexander, has been with WISD for over 20 years in various capacities within the district most recently as the girls cross country coach. Alexander has been the run game coordinator at Waxahachie but has not coached football the last two seasons. Coach Alexander is a well-respected name in the community and because he is Waxahachie born and bred, he should be able to mend some fences in a community that has been divided over various issues involving the football program the past few years. Frisco Heritage names Kenneth Gilchrist Tuesday, Frisco Heritage announced its new head coach as former Whitney head coach Kenneth Gilchrist heads north to take over the Coyotes program. Gilchrist who has spent the past five years at Whitney posting a 29-25 overall record, he spent 2012 as the head coach at Caldwell and from 2009-2011 he was also the head coach at Whitney as well. Angleton’s Ryan Roark announces retirement Thursday morning, Angleton head coach Ryan Roark announced to his staff and team that he would be retiring from education after 30 years. Roark led Angleton to a 13-1 record and a state semi-final appearance in his final season and wraps up his career with a solid 127-63 record in 16 seasons as a head coach at Angleton, Needville, Princeton and Bullard. Coach Roark was also an assistant at Burnet, Bangs, Cuero and Rice Consolidated. Brenham hires Houston Stratford’s Eliot Allen After 16 years at the helm at Houston Stratford, Eliot Allen departs to take over at one of the state’s better Class 5A jobs in Brenham. Allen will leave big shoes to fill at Stratford where he posted a 118-62 mark in his 16 seasons but has large shoes to fill at Brenham in replacing Glen West. West stepped down in early March after 20 seasons to take a position with the THSCA. He led Brenham to three state title game appearances. An era ends in Forney On Tuesday afternoon, DCTF was informed that Forney head coach Kevin Rush announced his retirement to his team. Rush spent 16 seasons leading the Forney program and guided the Jackrabbits from a one-town 3A program through the growing pains of moving up in classification and then splitting into two high schools. Rush’s best season leading Forney was his first when he led FHS to a 12-2 mark losing to eventual state champion Everman in the state semi-finals. He finishes up at Forney with an 83-88 overall record. Lake Worth hires Tracy Welch After a 122-day search, Lake Worth ISD finally settled on a coach as the school board on Monday night approved Copperas Cove offensive coordinator Tracy Welch as its next head football coach/athletic director. Welch worked with his brother Jack Welch for the last 29 years, 24 of which were spent at Copperas Cove. Coach Welch will have to get to Lake Worth quickly and get things going as the off-season is winding down. Eustace hires Steve Smith On Monday, Eustace made it official hiring former Sundown head coach Steve Smith to replace Heath Ragle who departed in March. Smith, spent four years at Sundown posting a 25-21 record before he stepped down in late January. David T. Sine returns to head coaching After a year out of head coaching, David T. Sine will return to the sidelines as the new head coach at Johnson City. Sine, who has had major success in two separate stints at Sonora, resigned abruptly last April from Sonora. Sine has a career coaching record of 115-71 with stints at Flatonia, Sonora, Columbus and Bandera. Converse Judson gets a Canadian transfer Mustapha Yekini, a 6’2 170-pound dual threat QB from Canada (Yes, Canada), has enrolled at Converse Judson according to multiple reports and Yekini’s Twitter profile. Yekini played his junior season at Hunting Hills High School in Red Deer, Alberta. It remains to be seen how Yekini will adapt and make the incredibly large jump from high school football in Canada to a 6A powerhouse in Texas, however Yekini has certainly garnered plenty of interest from several FBS programs around the country. Spring football is approaching Spring football is right around the corner for 6A and 5A programs statewide. We will have a statewide listing of spring football games right here each week until the end of May. If you’d like your spring game to be listed; send an e-mail to matt.stepp@texasfootball.com.  Here’s a listing of the spring games we currently have. May 4 Edcouch-Elsa, 6:00pm at Edcouch-Elsa HS May 10 Flower Mound, 6:00pm at Wilson Stadium Mansfield Timberiew, 6:00pm at Timberview HS Round Rock Cedar Ridge, 7:30pm at Cedar Ridge HS May 14 Katy Cinco Ranch, 6:30pm at Legacy Stadium Lufkin, 6:00pm at Martin Stadium May 15 Fort Bend Travis, 6:30pm at Travis HS Keller Central, 7:00pm at KISD Stadium Laredo United, 6:00pm at United HS May 16 Amarillo Tascosa, 7:00pm at Bivins Stadium Pearland Dawson, 6:00pm at Dawson HS May 17 Cedar Hill, 7:00pm at Longhorn Stadium Denton Guyer, 6:30pm at Guyer HS Dickinson, 5:00pm at Vitanza Stadium Flower Mound Marcus, 7:00pm at Marcus HS Keller, 7:00pm at KISD Stadium Mansfield Legacy, 6:00pm at Legacy HS Richardson, 6:30pm at Eagle-Mustang Stadium San Angelo Central 6:30pm at San Angelo Stadium Waco Midway, 6:00pm at Panther Stadium Wichita Falls, 7:00pm at Memorial Stadium May 18 Alief Elsik, 6:00pm at Crump Stadium Amarillo Palo Duro, 6:00pm at Bivins Stadium Burleson Centennial, 6:00pm at Centennial HS Cleburne, 7:00pm at Cleburne HS Cypress Fairbanks, 4:00pm at Cy Fair HS Granbury, 6:30pm at Pirate Stadium Houston Westside, 5:00pm at Westside HS Hurst Bell, 6:00pm at Pennington Field Joshua, 7:00pm at Owl Stadium Lake Travis, 7:30pm at Cavalier Stadium Richardson Pearce, 7:00pm at Eagle-Mustang Stadium Weatherford, 6:30pm at Kangaroo Stadium May 22 Abilene, 6:00pm at Shotwell Stadium Arlington Lamar, 6:00pm at Cravens Field Clear Springs, 6:00pm at Clear Springs HS Conroe Oak Ridge, 6:00pm at Oak Ridge HS Cypress Bridgeland, 6:00pm at Bridgeland HS DeSoto, 6:30pm at Eagle Stadium Grapevine, 6:00pm at Cross Timbers MS Mission Veterans Memorial, 6:00pm at Veterans Memorial HS Rockwall, 7:00pm at Wilkerson-Sanders Stadium South Garland, 6:00pm at HBJ Stadium May 23 Arlington Sam Houston, 5:00pm at Wilemon Field Arlington Seguin, 6:30pm at Seguin HS Belton, 5:00pm at Tiger Field Colleyville Heritage, 6:00pm at Heritage HS El Paso Pebble Hills, 7:00pm at Pebble Hills HS Saginaw Boswell, 6:00pm at Pioneer Stadium May 24 Alice, 7:00pm at Memorial Stadium Arlington, 6:00pm at Arlington HS Arlington Bowie, 6:30pm at Bowie HS Arlington Martin, 7:00pm at Martin HS Cibolo Steele, 6:00pm at Steele HS College Station, 6:00pm at CSHS Cougar Stadium El Paso Eastlake, 6:30pm at Eastlake HS El Paso Franklin, 7:00pm at Franklin HS Frisco Lone Star, 6:00pm at Lone Star HS Frisco Memorial, 6:00pm at Memorial HS Haslet Eaton, 6:00pm at Eaton HS Killeen, 7:00pm at Killeen HS Lancaster, 6:30pm at Tiger Stadium Mesquite Horn, 6:30pm at Horn HS Mesquite Poteet, 6:00pm at Memorial Stadium McKinney Boyd, 7:00pm at Boyd HS McKinney North, 6:30pm at McKinney North HS Midlothian, 6:00p at MISD Stadium North Forney, 6:00pm at City Bank Stadium San Antonio East Central, 6:00pm at Hornet Stadium San Antonio O’Connor, 6:00pm at O’Connor HS Tyler John Tyler, 6:00pm at John Tyler HS Waco, 5:30pm at Waco ISD Stadium Waller, 5:30pm at Waller ISD Stadium May 25 Dallas South Oak Cliff, 7:00pm at Life Oak Cliff HS El Paso Americas, 7:00pm at Americas HS El Paso Del Valle, 5:30pm at Conquest Stadium El Paso Parkland, 6:00pm at Parkland HS Fort Worth South Hills, 5:30pm at South Hills HS Fort Worth Southwest, 6:00pm at Southwest HS Hallsville, 6:30pm at Bobcat Stadium McAllen Memorial, 6:00pm at Memorial HS Trophy Club Nelson, 6:00pm at Byron Nelson HS May 29 Sachse, 6:00pm at Sachse HS June 1 San Antonio McCollum, 6pm at Memorial Stadium     Coaching Clinics With the off-season starting that means it’s also clinic season throughout the state of Texas,  here’s a listing of clinics from around the state, if we don’t have you clinic listed e-mail it to us at matt.stepp@texasfootball.com May 5-6: Best Little Clinic in Texas, Wingate Hotel and Conference Center, Round Rock http://www.hcfc-blc.com May 25-26: Gateway to Mexico Clinic, Laredo June 12-14: Angelo Coaches Clinic, San Angelo http://www.angelofootballclinic.com/index.html June 14-15: Dos Amigos Ranch Football Clinic, Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino-Hotel, Eagle Pass July 22-25: 2018 THSCA Convention & Coaching School, Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio http://www.thsca.com/convention