BRONTE, TX — Rocky Rawls is best known for his 40-year career as the Bronte High School boys basketball coach.
Yet Rawls is also a longtime football coach, and he came out of retirement to lead the Longhorns again this fall.
It will be his ninth year as a head football coach, in addition to numerous years as an assistant.
If this is going to be his final season, he feels like it has a chance to be a good one.
Bronte returns four starters on offense and three on defense from last year’s team that went 4-6 and tied for the District 6-1A Division II title.
Despite a share of the district title, Bronte missed out on the playoffs due to finishing on the wrong end of a three-way tiebreaker.
“We kind of break our goals up into segments, I guess you might say, and the first segment is to make the playoffs and try and win a district championship,” said Rawls, who is heading into his 42nd year of coaching overall. “Once we reach that goal, then we’ll reset our goals from there.”
Bronte hasn’t won an outright district title since 2011. The Longhorns were picked to finish as the runner-up this year by Texas Football magazine behind No. 15-ranked Blackwell.
“We have a difficult schedule and play several Division I schools, but I’ve never been afraid of competition. I think competition makes you better,” Rawls said. “The district favorite will be Blackwell, and that’s a very big ball game. But our first game in district is with Loraine, and they were a playoff team out of this district last year, so that’s a very big game to open up with.”
Bronte went 4-8 under Rawls two years ago, which included a playoff win.
The sophomores from that team are now his senior leaders, led by wide receiver/defensive back Ray Williams.
“He’s the fastest kid on our team, and he’s started since he was a sophomore, so it was nice to come back and have Raymond here with the versatility he has,” Rawls said.
A leader on Bronte’s defense, Joel Pena, is also back.
“He also started as a sophomore (two years ago) and was our leading tackler back then, and I know he did real well last year also. He’s a linebacker and fullback for us and does a wonderful job,” Rawls said.
Center/linebacker Aiden Speary is another three-year starter returning.
Parker Holland is slated to be Bronte’s running back.
“It’s his turn to step up and be the man as far as running the football,” Rawls said.
Jack Robbins will take over as the full-time quarterback after seeing some action there last year.
“Plus, he’s a very good kicker. It’s hard to find a better kicker than Jack is, and in six-man that’s very important since kicks are worth two points,” Rawls said.
The Longhorns will be running the Jay Bird offense and hope to expand from there, Rawls said.
“We’re going back to the same thing we did two years ago. We started out running the Jay on offense. And as the year went along, we progressed to a little bit of spread that every team’s going to need at some point,” Rawls said.
Bronte will open its season Thursday, Aug. 28, at home against Santa Anna. Other nondistrict highlights include games against No. 19-ranked Menard and longtime rival No. 15 Robert Lee.
The Longhorns’ district opener is Oct. 10 at home against Loraine.
Bronte Longhorns
2025 schedule
Aug. 28 Santa Anna
Sept. 5 Rule
Sept. 12 at Veribest
Sept. 19 at Menard
Sept. 26 at Eden
Oct. 3 Robert Lee
Oct. 10 Loraine*
Oct. 17 OPEN
Oct. 24 at Blackwell*
Oct. 31 Trent*
Nov. 7 at Olfen*
*District 6-1A Division II game
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