As high school football season approaches, the goal all over the Houston area is the same

For every high school football player in the Houston area and around the state of Texas, the goal is the same. "State championship, come on," Spring Branch Memorial senior linebacker Jackson Van Wie said. "District championship, we got to get that first, you know, we've got to get to state. " "Goal for the team: 16-0 easy, " Fulshear junior running back Jayelen Collins said. "After the weight room, we got 16 push-ups to represent us going 16-0 and going to state this year." Fulshear and Memorial held their first scrimmage of fall camp, and the two head coaches were back together on the same field for the first time since they were co-offensive coordinators for Randle's state championship in 2024. "I think at any level in Texas football, I mean, you might as well have a better shot at winning the lottery in some sense, because, I mean, so much has to go right," Memorial Head Coach Brooks Haack said. "So many of the pieces have to fall in the right place." Both Coach Haack and Coach Stephen Hill of Fulshear know how difficult it is to win on the big stage. "We're going to make mistakes," Coach Hill said to his sophomore starting quarterback before the scrimmage. "We may make bad throws, right? But the most important thing is that we learn from it." Memorial is coming off one of its best seasons in recent memory, going undefeated in district a year ago. Fulshear went 7-4 in Hill's first year as head coach. Both schools are looking forward to having a clean slate when the season kicks off; both are playing in new districts this year with a lot of youth. Both schools will lean on their more experienced players to help guide and build the program with the ultimate goal in mind: a state championship. "We're really focused on coming together as a team," Fulshear senior Ryland Forks said. "We're young, and we've got some guys that are going to shine this year for sure, some young guys. So we're ready to get out there and start winning some games." "I'm eager to get out there," Memorial's Van Wie said. "I mean, we got a whole new group coming in. We had five returners on the defense, so some fresh faces, you know. So we're excited about the season. We got some young guys that can really ball out." The excitement builds all around the state as opening weekend approaches. The regular season starts on Thursday, Aug. 27, and all teams plan, at this point of the season, to play at Jerry World in the state championships Dec. 16-19.