Football team motivated by preseason predictions

Cedar Hill—Entering his third season as Cedar Hill head football coach, Nick Ward has mixed feelings about Dave Campbell’s Texas Football’s assertion that the Longhorns will finish fifth in District 6A-11.

“We take it kind of personally,” said Ward, who is 11-12 as a head coach. “We’re not upset. We expected it because of what we did last year.”

The Longhorns raised expectations after a resounding 40-7 season opening victory at Midlothian last August.

Reaching the playoffs, which required finishing in the top four of the vaunted “District of Doom,” largely depended on winning one of two road games, Lancaster and Waxahachie.

A 41-35 overtime loss at Lancaster last September changed the trajectory of the Longhorns’ season and not for the better. They ended up fifth in the district, capped the season at 3-7 overall and lost to last place Mesquite Horn, 56-35.

Cedar Hill will open the 2025 season on Aug. 29 against a Midlothian team that finished 10-3 and reached the third round of the playoffs.

The Longhorns prepped for the Panthers through summer workouts and officially began practice on the first day of classes, Aug. 11.

This season, the Longhorns have both Lancaster (Sept. 26) and Waxahachie (Oct. 17) at Longhorn Stadium.

“We have the talent; we just have to get our kids to perform,” Ward said.

Cedar Hill returns nine starters, four on offense and five on defense. Among the returning defenders are junior Jalen Brewster, the top-rated defensive lineman in the Class of 2027 who already has scholarship offers from Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon and more, and senior Desman Manuel, who has verbally committed to Colorado State.

Manuel, also a defensive lineman, set the school record in the shot-put last spring, while finishing third in the UIL Class 6A Track & Field Championships.

The Longhorns will have a new leader at quarterback in senior Omowale Muhammid, who was the backup to Tamarion Crochett last season. He will have several juniors at wide receiver, including Emarian Bagley and Braylon Caston.

Muhammid spent the summer training with former Cedar Hill quarterback Anthony Edwards (now at Hardin Simmons University), who led the Longhorns to an 8-5 record and a trip to the fourth round of the playoffs in 2023.

SOURCE Cedar Hill ISD