By Kyle Mooty

LPR Editor

If you begin discussing the lineup for the 2024 Lockhart High School football team, you may believe Coach Todd Moebes is reading from his sophomore roster.

Instead, Moebes had the right list of prospective starters. It’s just that a majority of them happen to be underclassmen, sophomores in particular.

“I feel good,” said Moebes, who will be entering his sixth season at the helm of the Lions. “We still have a young football team this year, and we have a lot of sophomores. Our sophomore class is really strong. We have a handful of sophomores who got varsity experience last year as freshmen, and now we have about two handfuls of sophomores that are about to play for the first time. That’s on both sides of the football.

“I have been very pleased with our strength and conditioning and our training and everything we’ve done the last few weeks. I think our guys are excited to roll. Where we are going out in the scrimmage (Aug. 22) is probably going to be different than where we are going out in Game 10. They’re going to have to get used to the speed of the game.”

Lockhart is moving up in competition as its enrollment numbers have catapulted the Lions into Class 5A Division I, up from 5A D2. Lockhart ‘s new Region III District 12 will include College Station, College Station’s A&M Consolidated, Austin Anderson, Pflugerville Weiss, Pflugerville Hendrickson, Hays of Buda, Kyle Lehman, and Cedar Creek. 

Lockhart will scrimmage Elgin Thursday, Aug. 22 at Lions Stadium. The Lions open the regular season with back-to-back road games, first at Victoria West on Aug. 30 and on Sept. 6 at San Antonio Lockhart will open its new district with its first home game on Sept. 13 against familiar foe Kyle Lehman. The Lions will also get Cedar Creek, Pflugerville Weiss, and Austin Anderson at home, but must travel to Pflugerville Hendrickson, Buda Hays, College Station, and A&M Consolidated at College Station. (See complete schedule on Page 5B.)

“Five of our 10 opponents are in the top 25 in the state of Texas right now in Dave Campbell’s Texas Football,” Moebes said. “Victoria West went three rounds (in the playoffs) last year. Obviously, I don’t know a lot about team’s personnel other than who we did play last year, but I know this district has several Division I commits.”

Pflugerville Weiss dropped from 6A to 5A D1 this season. College Station also reached the third round of the 5A D1 playoffs, while A&M Consolidated made it to the semifinals before falling.

While Lockhart has limited knowledge of its new opponents, the same can be said for the new opponents’ knowledge of the Lions.

“That’ll probably end after we play Victoria West,” Moebes said. “We all trade film.

“College Station has won a state championship in recent years and A&M Consolidated has been a traditional, high-performing program. Weiss knocked us out of the playoffs in 2019. They’re all very, very talented.”

Perhaps the biggest obstacle Lockhart faces is overcoming the departure of graduating quarterback Ashton Dickens, who has taken his talents to West Point to play for the Army Black Knights.

“We tried to get him a fifth year, but UIL wouldn’t let us,” Moebes joked. “We understand they graduate, and you’ve got to be able to reload. If we’re able to get half of the production from the quarterback position that we got the past two years from Ashton, then great. Both kids (Noel Jaimes and Kadon Moebes) are new to the position. We’re playing a very competitive schedule at the 5A level. You know there’s going to be a learning curve. Our football team isn’t blind to that, either. Those guys are gonna have success. I believe in both of them. We’ve got to be able to put them in the right positions as a coaching staff for them to be able to be successful.

“We could overload Ashton’s plate at times. By the time he started as a senior, he had started 21 games. The game was really slow for him. The games are gonna be faster for the new guys right now, but they’re gonna get experience with every senior rep. We’ve just got to play complimentary football.”

Sophomore Moebes and junior Jaimes are battling for the quarterback slot at LHS, and both will likely see action.

“They’re both great young men and they’ll grow with it,” Coach Moebes said. “I think they’re both good athletes. They both have shown to be mobile. Take that in perspective because we had a pretty mobile guy, but both of them can move. They are both really intelligent kids and they both have high character. Those are great qualities you’ve got to be able to have. They’re smart kids that know what we’re trying to accomplish.

“We’ve just got to make sure they’re playing within themselves. They can’t go out there and be Ashton right now, and no one is asking them to be. We’ve got great memories of Ashton being our quarterback, but it’s time for somebody new. We certainly have high expectations for what we’re asking them to do.”

Lockhart is set at running back with two options in senior workhorse Nathaniel Gonzales and sophomore budding star Nate Roland.

Moebes admits he has a pair of quality running backs whom the staff trusts, which should help relieve pressure from the inexperience at quarterback.

“Going into last year, I told Gonzales several times he may not be able to bust a run for 60 yards, but that was OK, we would just line up and do it again,” Moebes said. “But shoot, he proved me wrong several times. I love to be proved wrong.

“Both of them, if they get in the open field, can crank it away. There’s great track speed and there’s great football speed. They play football at a very high level. Both of those guys play the game the right way with a lot of courage. They certainly play faster than what a stopwatch will say.”

Also, Moebes believes as a group, his receiving corps could be the best he’s seen at Lockhart.

Sophomore Jordon Frohock had such an impressive freshman campaign he has already received offers from the Big Ten Conference’s Nebraska Cornhuskers as well as Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl champion UT-San Antonio. Moebes also said he has been in talks with some SEC programs that will likely be recruiting Frohock this season.

“Jordon is doing things right now that seniors don’t do,” Moebes said. “He’s certainly going to get a lot of attention and it’s very deserved.”

Gage Deutsch had been the most consistent receiver for the Lions and returns for his senior season. In fact, Deutsch led the team in receiving last year.

“Those guys will certainly help the two young quarterbacks,” Moebes said.
Sophomore Wes Abel will also be added into the receiving mix with what Moebes said were “tremendous hands and the ability to adjust to the football. He plays way bigger than he is.”

Junior Parker Connor and sophomore Malik Hill, “very coachable players,” according to Moebes, will battle at tight end.

The Lions’ success running the ball was greatly enhanced by a standout offensive line, but Brady Stephenson is now at Texas A&M and Alex Richardson is at Sul Ross University. (A fourth member of last year’s Lions, Tyler Staton, is playing at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley.)

However, juniors Kaleb Alvardo (center) and Dylan Ovale (left tackle) were each starters last season. 

Sophomore Saul Hinojos can play either guard or tackle. “He’s gonna be a really good player,” Moebes said. “And we’re very versatile with those guys.”

Junior Braden Martinez has moved to the offensive line from the defensive side.

The Lions will be under the play calling of Offensive Coordinator Donovan Williams, who has been on the staff the last two seasons as the offensive line coach.

“Donovan was very heavily involved in all of our offensive planning,” Moebes said. “He’s a great football coach. He was certainly ready for the promotion and opportunity to run the offense himself. He’s done such a tremendous job since this spring. There have been some tweaks and changes to what his preference level is, but for the most part, 80 percent of what we’re doing offensively is consistent with what we have done over the last several years. There’s no major changes, just terminology stuff and some alignment stuff that’s different.

“Football is a game that evolves anyway. We’ve been very successful offensively with what we’ve done.”

Lockhart has also added two new receiver coaches in Justin Torres and Craig Nager.

Torres is originally from the area but spent the last couple of years in Florida. He got his Master’s Degree from the University of Miami, where he was able to work as a graduate assistant.

“Justin comes with a wealth of knowledge,” Moebes said. “He will also be our head track coach.”

Mager is a graduate of Luling who went on to play football at Texas State, where he was a Second team All-Sun Belt at cornerback. He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers and played several years in the NFL. He played for the Chargers both in San Diego and Los Angeles and finished with the Denver Broncos.

“Collectively, this could be some of the best receiver coaches we’ve had here, and we’ve had some good ones,” Moebes said.

Also new on the offensive staff is line coach Dillon Wilson, who played at the successful Dallas-Fort area program of Euless Trinity. He graduated from LSU.

While the Lions were especially strong offensively the last two seasons, they did allow a lot of points on defense.

Enter Aaron Faith as the new Defensive Coordinator with hopes of turning around Lockhart’s fortunes on that side of the ball. Originally from Albany, he is the son of legendary Albany head coach Denney Faith, the fifth-winningest coach in Texas High Schools with 360 career wins. Aaron Faith played and coached for his father, who has been at the helm of the 2A Albany program since 1987.

“This is his first big school, I guess,” Moebes said. “He grew up in a fieldhouse in the coaching profession. Albany is a 2A powerhouse. His mom films for them. I’m not so sure I would trust my wife with the filming duties. She’s great at a lot of things. I just don’t think that’d be the best fit for us. 2A ball is just different.”

Rolando Garza is the new Secondary Coach at LHS. A former Lockhart resident, Garza graduated from Seguin High and went on to coach at Texas Lutheran University. “He is very motivated and driven,” Moebes said of Garza.

Coaching the defensive line is Larry Maciel, a graduate of Lockhart High School who has coached at San Angelo and Yorktown before returning to his alma mater.

“With Maciel being an alumnus, I’ve been very pleased with the experience and pride that he’s brought to our staff,” Moebes said.

The Lions will return senior Michael Foster at defensive end. Sophomore Julian Benavidez will be at noseguard, 

Connor, Hill, and Ovalle, could play up front on both sides for LHS.

“Obviously, we don’t have the largest numbers on our football team,” Moebes said. “I’m just real proud of the depth our coaching staff has been able to create on both sides of the ball. We’ve got guys that will play both ways.”

There are three returning starters at linebacker, including junior Miguel Portillo at outside linebacker, senior Santiago Guerra at inside linebacker, and junior Josuph Zurita at inside linebacker.

Sophomore Kaidyn Roland-Brite (KB) will also see time at a linebacker position, as will seniors Cade Marez and Julian White.

The defensive backfield will have junior Dylan White and sophomore Avery Ybarra at cornerback, while junior Ayden Scott and sophomore Bob Estrada will be at safeties. Junior Keelan Lies and sophomore Peyton Jackson are also expected to vie for playing time.

The Lions have played several seasons with the reliable Omar Ocampo handling all kicking duties. Now, it’s sophomore Evan Estrada’s turn and he’s bringing to the field a very powerful leg.

“Evan has hit some (field goals) from 50 yards,” Moebes said. “I don’t think we’ve really scratched the surface. He’ll be punting, kicking extra points and field goals.”

Estrada played a position last season but will primarily handle the kicking duties this season.

“He’s got a tremendous leg,” Moebes said of Estrada. “The ball flies off his foot. It just sounds different. He’s a huge member of our football team.”

LHS Varsity Football Schedule

August

22 – HOME, Scrimmage vs. Elgin, TBA

30 – at Victoria West, 7:30 p.m.

September

  6 – at SA Southwest, 7:30 p.m.

13 – HOME, *Lehman, 7:30 p.m.

20 – at *Pflugerville Hendrickson, 7:30 p.m.

27 – HOME, *Cedar Creek, 7:30 p.m.

October

  4 – at *Hays (Buda), 7:30 p.m.

11 – OPEN

18 – HOME, *Pflugerville Weiss, 7:30 p.m.

25 – at *College Station, 7 p.m.

November

  1 – HOME, *Austin Anderson, 7:30 p.m.

  8 – at *A&M Consolidated (College Station), 7 p.m.

LHF Varsity 

Football Roster

0 – Kadon Moebes, sophomore, EB/DB

1 — Gabe Deutsch, senior, WR

2 – Bob Estrada, sophomore, DB

3 – Nathan Roland, sophomore, RB

4 – George McGee sophomore, WR/DB

5 – Ayden Scott, junior, WR/DB

6 – Julian White, senior, WR/ DB

7 – Avery Ybarra, sophomore, DB

8 – Kaidyn Roland-Brite, sophomore, LB

9 – Dylan White, junior, DB

10 – Noel Jaimes, junior, QB

11 – Evan Estrada, sophomore, K

12 – Jordan Frohock, sophomore, WR/DB

14 – Miguel Portillo, junior, LB

16 – Keelan Liles, junior, DB/WR

18 – Jamarian Hawkins, senior, LB

21 – Nathaniel Gonzales, senior, RB

22 – Ben Mendez, senior, DB

23 – Peyton Jackson, sophomore, DB/WR

24 – Malik Hill, sophomore, TE/DL

25 – Josuph Zurita, junior, LB

30 – Santiago Guerra, senior, LB

31 – Thomas Ramirez, senior, RN

32 – Cade Marez, senior, LB

35 – Parker Connor, junior, TE/DL

45 – Michael Foster, senior, DL

49 – Joseph Phares, senior, DL

55 – Dylan Ovalle, junior, OL/DL

62 – Daelyn Darby, senior, OL

64 – Joe Woody, junior, OL
66 – Sidney Larley, senior, DL

70 – Kaleb Alvarado, junior, OL

73 – Wesley Meitler, senior, DL

74 – Julian Benavidez, sophomore, DL

75 – Saul Hinojos, sophomore, OL/DL

77 – Brayden Martinez, junior, OL/DL

78 – Joe Johnson, junior, OL/DL

83 – Wes Abel, sophomore, WR/DB

90 – Myles Carter, junior, DL