Robert Lee Poised to End District Title Drought in New Season

ROBERT LEE, TX-- It’s been nearly six years since the Robert Lee Steers won a district title.

A favorable realignment into Region IV, solid corps of returning starters and some talented transfers has head coach Shay Avants and his squad thinking 2018 is the year to end that drought.

“We expect to compete for a district championship,” Avants declared. “That’s what our goal is. That’s what we’re working towards.”

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Rather than facing Region II powers Garden City and Sterling City, the Steers will face six-man debutant Bronte, Eden, Paint Rock and Veribest.

“It’s extremely exciting,” said the ten-year Robert Lee coach. “In my time here, we’ve always been in Region II, one of the toughest regions in the state. When realignment came out, we got moved all the way to Region IV, which blew my mind. It opens a lot of possibilities, a lot of doors. We’re excited about it. We’re very excited about it.”

Because of how wide open Region IV is, Avants feels one door that could open is a deep playoff run.

“It’s not just the district,” Avants said. “It’s the whole region that’s wide open. If you look at the teams in the region, Jonesboro’s been to the State Championship the last two years...They’re kind of the standard in the region. After that, it’s kind of wide open.”

Avants said the kids have really bought in, as well. In fact, 24 of the 26 boys enrolled at Robert Lee High School were out at practice according to Avants.

“Those are pretty good participation numbers,” Avants smiled. “We’re pretty excited about that.”

The Robert Lee staff was really excited when they hired Manuel Gamboa as an assistant coach from Water Valley. That means his two sons, Manny and Julian, transferred over to Robert Lee. Manny was a crucial piece to Water Valley’s team and will likely have that same factor for the Steers.

Avant’s squad was bolstered once more when former Veribest star Jayton Warren moved into the district due to one of his parents accepting a teaching job there.

Those two will add to a fairly stacked roster highlighted by junior Lane Fowler. The utility man for Robert Lee threw for over 1,000 yards and 25 touchdowns in his sophomore season for Robert Lee.

The Steers are moving more to a spread offense to play to their strengths offensively, as well.

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“It’s going to be big,” Avants said of having Fowler back. “We had coach (John) York calling the plays last year. We’re going to be a lot different this year. Last year, we were a lot bigger. We had a lot more linemen-type kids. This year, we’re going to have more speed. I’m going back to the offense I’m used to. It’s going to be a learning process for everyone, but it’s going to be fun.”

York accepted the head coach and athletic director position at Paducah, opening the door for Manuel Gamboa to move to Robert Lee.

For the first time in a long time, Bronte and Robert Lee will renew their rivalry in a meaningful way. The two schools did a home-and-home series a few years back where one year they played six-man football and the other year was 11-man. Avants thinks the renewing of the rivalry will also be fun.

“That’s a long ways down the road, but the rivalry between Robert Lee and Bronte is special,” Avants said. “It’s going to be fun to renew it in district games that matter. When Robert Lee went six-man and Bronte stayed 11-man, the rivalry kind of faded over time. But I think now that we’re both in the same division of football and the same district, it’s going to be awesome.”

The Steers will open the season on Aug. 31 with a trip to the Gamboa’s old stomping grounds in Water Valley.