The wait is over as Monday morning marks the start of high school football season in Texas with the first practices of the season.

Brownwood Lions head coach Sammy Burnett will be starting his fifth campaign and looking to improve on last year’s 4-6 mark. The Lions have moved to District 2-4A Division I in Region I, whereas of last week Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine tabbed Brownwood as the regional favorite.

“I’m really excited about their attitudes and happiness to be together and be out there and just work through the grind that for four years we’ve preached,” Burnett said of the team outlook heading into two-a-days. “They just embrace it now; they know it’s what they do and work through it.”

The Lions will be practicing at 7:30 a.m. each weekday during the first week, with the Maroon-White scrimmage set to take place the morning of Saturday, Aug. 6 at Gordon Wood Stadium.

“When we don’t have pads on what I want to see is their attention to detail – are they willing to be coached, are they listening to their coach, are they applying what they’re being taught, the sense of urgency, the importance of knowing as much as you can possibly know so that you can be the best that you can possibly be,” Burnett said. “Then when we put on the pads and have our Maroon and White scrimmage Saturday, the things I want to see is them being physical. I want to see them get upset if something doesn’t go their way. I want to see some passion in what they’re doing.”

Over in Early, the Longhorns are looking to build on last year’s 9-3 campaign as they make the move to Class 3A Division II.

Third-year head coach Daniel Price and the Longhorns enter the season ranked No. 15 in the state by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football.

“We’re really excited about getting this season started,” Price said. “We’re bringing back quite a bit from last year, so we have a lot of experience and we’re ready to go. That 9-3 season has created some extra excitement for these guys, and I know they’ve been pretty excited this summer to get back to work and now it’s here.”

Price added the new classification level has added an extra pep to the team’s preseason step.

“That drop down helps us a little bit because it gives us an opportunity to compete with some teams the same size as us,” Price said. “It’s not going to be easy at all but having a little bit different feel with the number of kids has given us a sense that we have a chance to be pretty good.”

Early will practice from 7 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday at Longhorn Stadium and 7 to 9 a.m. Saturday.

“We want to see them come out with a sense of urgency and get to work from day one,” Price said. “We want to see them fly around. It’s great to know both the offense and defense have been pretty consistent, everything’s installed, and we like where we’re at there. Hopefully we’ll continue to improve in those areas”

The Bangs Dragons and fifth-year head coach Kyle Maxfield welcome the fresh that comes with the program’s move to Class 2A Division I. The Dragons are coming off a 1-8 campaign a year ago.

“We feel really good, everybody’s excited this time of year,” Maxfield said. “We’re a year older, a year more experienced and our kids are really excited to get started.”

While the drop to 2A will benefit Bangs athletics as a whole, Maxfield admitted the Dragons’ new football district will be just as tough as the previous one. Bangs has been placed in District 5-2A Division I with Coleman, Goldthwaite, San Saba, Hamilton, De Leon and Tolar.

“We have some new challengers in football, and it may be bigger challengers,” Maxfield said. “But we had a great summer, we have a great staff, and while our senior class isn’t big, there’s some quality there. The seniors are providing the leadership that we had before and hopefully we can get back to where we’ve been.”

Maxfield stated the Dragons will practice during the week from 7:15 to 11:30 a.m.