Llano football facing 2A state runner-up Wall in season opener
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
LLANO — Perhaps Llano High School head football coach Craig Slaughter misses the district competition he faced last year when the Yellow Jackets played Burnet, Brownwood, Liberty Hill and Lampasas.
Is that why he agreed to a home-and-home series with Wall, the Class 2A state runner-up?
“Their head coach (Houston Guy) and I played high school football together (at Winters),” he said. “We joked about it over the years. They’re like us; there’s not that many schools out there in that 500-700 (school enrollment) range.”
The Hawks feature a run-based offense where their varsity and subvarsity teams all experience success. Last season, Wall had two teams that lost a game each. The others were undefeated.
“They’re the epitome of a program that doesn’t rebuild; it reloads,” Slaughter said.
The workhorse will be Llano senior athlete Jalen Bauman, who will line up in multiple spots thanks to his versatility.
Senior Holden Simpson is Llano’s starting quarterback.
“The big thing about Holden is he has more experience than anyone else in our system,” Slaughter said. “He’s had 20 games playing quarterback in our system to Wyatt Casey’s two. Wyatt last played quarterback in the eighth grade. That’s a big step.”
The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 29 at Llano Stadium, 400 Texas 71 East.
jfierro@thepicayune.com