HCCS FOOTBALL
It had been nine years since the Rams had won a playoff game and 10 years since Hill Country Christian advanced to the state semifinals.
Despite not even being the favorite to win their own district, let alone make a deep run in the TAPPS Division 3 Six-Man football playoffs, the Rams embraced not being the traditional sixman powerhouse.
“We’re underdogs all year,” senior Josh Frasier said. “We use that as motivation just to keep winning and proving ourselves so [opponents] stopped doubting us. It was just another game, but I feel like we were even more prepared for that game because we knew how big it was, but we still had confidence in ourselves and confidence in our coaching staff and everyone around us.”
Senior Andrew Davis agreed with his classmate, adding it wasn’t enough just to win.
“We didn’t come into any game thinking we wouldn’t have to fight,” Senior Andrew Davis said. “Even if we won by a lot, we didn’t just want to win. We wanted to destroy them. If [the computers] said we were going to win by 15, we were gonna 45 [mercy rule] them. So I think that underdog mentality helped us go that far.”
That underdog mentality and wanting to do more besides win helped the Rams deliver one of the best seasons in program history, capturing the district championship and advancing all the way to state semifinals, finishing the season at 10-3.
The Rams were coming off a 4-6 season having made the playoffs but losing in the first round of the playoffs to Bryan St. Joseph despite being the favorite.
Hill Country Christian also entered the 2025 season under a new head coach but it was a familiar face in and around the program.
Brodie Flack had been named the new head coach of Hill Country Christian after last season being the defensive coordinator. Flack was very familiar with the program, having been on the coaching staff on and off over the past several years while also being a HCCS alum and played on the 2015 state championship-winning team. Now in charge of the Rams football program, “The biggest challenge was honestly, this was my first time being a varsity head coach,” Flack said. “I also spent some time at Texas State as a lower assistant at Texas State back in 2020, 2021, with Jake Spavital. I just knew what I didn’t want, which was to have a bunch of yes men personalities.
“I intentionally, when I chose my coaching staff, hired men that would challenge me and that would intentionally not see the same perspectives that I did. The biggest challenge was actually bringing a lot of those personalities together and then allowing for the kids to be able to express and have conflict really well.”
Though many can see conflict on a team as a negative trait, Flack sees it as a positive and why it can strengthen a team.
“What fighting does is more honoring and loving each other through differences, it’s actually what strengthens and actually bonds a team,” Flack said. “All of us coaches are super close and what happened in this room in particular directly affected just how the boys were able to fight in terms of the things we had to overcome.
“If anything, it was instilling the culture of how to do healthy conflicts in a way that actually really allowed us to grow and be at a place where we were really at.”
One of those obstacles was the loss of Davis, who tore his ACL last summer. But despite not being on the field physically, Davis found other ways to help his team out both on and off the field.
“I would try to give the guys any advice,” Davis said. “I’m not the best when it comes to football knowledge, but stuff that I did know, I would try to go help the guys. Not just on the field, but if they were in school, if they weren’t like, weren’t getting their stuff down or something, and I knew that they could be failing a class, which would hurt their stuff on the field, I would make sure I could help them with that.”
With Davis out, Frasier knew it was time to both step up as a leader and lead a young core of players.
“The past couple of years, I was kind of irrelevant,” Frasier said. “I felt I had other people above me and I was just a follower. Probably like a quarter way through the season, one of our captains was hurt and we had younger guys that were stepping up instead of me. I just thought to myself that I have to be a leader and this is my last time doing this so I have to go all out.
“For me, it was a mindset change. … I feel like we had to step up a lot and I just wanted to try and improve the team as much as I can.”
Despite all the challenges, the Rams ran the gauntlet and finished the regular season with a 8-2 overall record. The highlight of the season came in Hill Country’s dramatic 42-38 win over powerhouse Fredericksburg Heritage to clinch a share of the district title, the Rams first win over the Eagles on the road since 2015.
The victory over the Eagles not only provided another gold ball trophy for the Rams, but also a much needed moral boost heading into the playoffs.
“It really helped our confidence,” Davis said. “Fredericksburg, not just in football, but in all the sports is always going to be good. They’re always going to be better than us. So being able to beat them, that’s really where our mindset went like, ‘Oh, we can go, really far this year.’” Having personally known the sting of last year’s agonizing playoff loss, coming into the Rams Area Playoff game against Midland Holy Cross, Hill Country Christian came with a different mentality.
“Last year, we probably came in a little bit arrogant and we were up then we were like, ‘Oh, we’re sure going to win it before it all came crashing down.” Davis said. “But this year, I felt like we were really prepared for that win. Our other captain, Braden, before the game gave us guys a speech in the locker room to get us hyped up and I think the guys were really prepared for that win. Kind of like how Josh [Frazier] said with treating Fredericksburg’s just another game. We just treated that first playoff game as just another win on the road to state.”
The Rams broke their postseason win drought with a dominating 56-8 win over the Crusaders before defeating Bellville Faith 66-23 at regionals.
Hill Country Christian’s season ended in the state semifinals against Lake Jackson Brazosport Christian in a hard fought 42-32 loss but the foundation for the Rams success in the future is set.
“In regards of just the buy-in culture, and even to just being proud of just knowing that what we’re doing is, we’re actually using this sport to actually build men and in a really positive direction,” Flack said. “What I was beyond proud of is we could have been 010. How we did it is what I’m extremely proud of and how we created a team and a we vs. me culture.”
