GRIDIRON GLANCE ’25: Mullin Bulldogs

August 15, 2025 at 8:34 am Updated: August 16th, 2025 at 4:39 pm Derrick Stuckly

MULLIN – Following a 2-8 campaign in 2024 that featured a winless record in four District 14-A Division II outings, Ethan Smart has taken over the reins of the Mullin Bulldogs, looking to guide the program back to the postseason for the first time since 2014.

“I was here last year and took over with some of these guys at the end of basketball, so they’ve been in my program,” Smart said. “For two-a-days, I told them things were going to be different, we were going to have higher expectations and higher standards. They’ve come in and are living up to that, and right now they’re impressive. We were 2-8 last year, but the work ethic is there with these kids. They don’t have any quit in them.”

The Bulldogs are counting on a nine-player roster, with no seniors, to turn the tide in 2025.

Leading the charge are juniors Jonathan Armendarez at center/nose guard, Aaron Porter at fullback/running back, and Chandler Moreno at center/defensive end, to go along with sophomores Mani Morales at running back/defensive back, Toby Kuhn at quarterback/safety, Lucas Cook at offensive line/defensive end, Abraham Guzman at fullback/linebacker, Isaiah Pledger at offensive line/defensive line, and utility player Juan Vega.

“Mani’s going to be good running the ball,” Smart said. “We have some offensive linemen who are going to be stellar and be able to open up holes for us. Where we have to improve from the junior high all the way up through the program is defense. They’ll be in the second year with this defense, so hopefully they’ll be better, but we have to improve defensively.”

Mullin begins the season with three consecutive home games against Brookesmith (Aug. 29), Panther Creek (Sept. 5) and Buckholts (Sept. 12), before traveling three straight weeks to Moran (Sept. 19), Ranger (Sept. 26) and Lohn (Oct. 3) ahead of the district opener.

Regarding the goals for the Bulldogs early in the season, Smart said, “I want to see them get better every week. We’ve got a pretty favorable schedule pre-district, there are some tough games on there, but I want to see them continue to buy in every week and get better.”

The 14-A Division II slate begins at home against reigning champion and Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Class A Division II preseason No. 4 Oglesby (Oct. 10), followed by a trip to Evant, (Oct. 17), then the district bye, the home finale against Cranfills Gap (Oct, 31), and a road game at rival Priddy (Nov. 7).

“When you have the No. 4 ranked team in the state in your district it’s tough,” Smart said. “We’re picked last in district, we lost all our district games last year and it’s been a while for Mullin since it was in the playoffs. Oglesby has 20-30 players out for football, Priddy, Cranfills Gap and Evant all have good teams. But if our guys come together and stay healthy, we may be able to make some noise in district.”

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MULLIN BULLDOGS 2025 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

August 29	Brookesmith	7:30 p.m.
September 05	Panther Creek	7:30 p.m.
September 12	Buckholts#	7:30 p.m.
September 19	at Moran	7:30 p.m.
September 26	at Ranger	7:30 p.m.
October 03	at Lohn	7 p.m.
October 10	Oglesby*	7 p.m.
October 17	at Evant*	7 p.m.
October 24	OPEN
October 31	Cranfills Gap*	7 p.m.
November 07	at Priddy*	7 p.m.