Th 13-2 Llano YellowJackets hit the end of the trail last Friday night in Pflugerville as the Yoakum Bulldogs won the State Semi Finals game. This Jacket team is the first Jacket team to play 15 games in a season. And only the second team to play five games deep into the State Play-offs. 2020 was the other team to play five games. Pretty elite company.

I’m not going to go very deep into the details of the game. Someday I will. And someday I know the seniors on this great team will come to appreciate what was accomplished.

Junior quarterback Luke Davis found senior Graham Prokop late in the first quarter for a 60 yard TD pass and catch to bring the score to 7-6. But the Jacket extra point was blocked, and run back for a 2 point score. Yoakum lead 9-6. Yoakum would then score 27 points in the second quarter to put the game away. The speed of the Bulldogs was numbing. Not one, not two, but four Bulldogs ran crazy the entire second half. The effort of the Jackets was never questioned. The speed and keeping up was not happening.

While this Jacket team would be considered to have good speed…sprinters speed all over the field could not be matched. Still outstanding plays thru out the game by Llano gave fans spurts of hope. Junior Jason Cherry at linebacker had a great game. Senior George Gallucci had a great game at defensive end. Linebacker Niko Arms made numerous stops. Junior Cody Greenwood at linebacker. Seniors Grayson Lilie, Austin Humphries, Gavin Hays and JD Friday were often the last chance for a stop as these four secondary players played their hearts out, often to a frustrated ending and made for a long night. Mario Hernandez and Cole Kennedy, both juniors had several stops for loss yardage. Evan Gomez, another junior, played hard against a very tough situation. Nick Light played hard. And the fifth junior defensive lineman, Logan Robinson will build off this loss. It was a long night for all.

The Jackets never gave up. Llano scored with 5:53 in the third quarter. Luke hit Graham for a ten yard gain, and then came back with a 24 yard strike to senior Jose Sillas and the score. Senior Francisco Parravano kicked good…again. Francisco had a great senior year kicking for Llano. I’ll have his numbers up in a few days.

Jose scored again in the fourth quarter on a three yard run. Luke had carried two times for 8 yards, freshman Cole Landers ran for 10 yards and a first down. Senior Brayton Shaw ran twice for 19 yards. Francisco’s kick was good. Llano had 20.

Llano last drive was it’s longest, driving 13 plays and going 84 yards. Senior River Thomison, Jose, Brayton, Luke, Cash Lynch and Cole all carried for positive yards. Graham had another catch, and Jose carried it over the goal line. Fancisco again kicked true. Llano had 27 points. The Jackets ended the game with a little over 200 yards rushing. Blocking by seniors Cason Stephenson and James Greenwood was tough against a very good and larger Yoakum defensive line. But along with senior Hayden Bigger and juniors Nick Light and Camren Smith they were able to make holes. 13-3AAA Offensive Lineman of the Year, senior Zach Driskel had an outstanding game and an outstanding senior year. Also, three great blockers all year long have been seniors Brady Kelly, River Thomison and Angelo State bound tight end Konrad Zwicke.

Luke threw for about 200 yards. Graham had a super night catching the ball. Junior Cash Lynch, Jose, Brayton, junior Josiah Wood, Cole Landers, and Austin all had catches.

The Jackets in 2025 have broken so many records. I’ve only begun adding numbers to the LHS record book. Most games played in a season. Tied for most wins ever. One Jacket fan pointed out to me that these seniors and some juniors have played in 9 play off games over the past 12 months. Play off games. Ever to play in one was a dream of many. Was a thing to have for the rest of your life to know you had that kind of experiences. People…it just is hard to get better than that. There are only a handful of teams in the entire State of Texas that can say that. 9 !!!

I will be working on the record book, and try to get all entered by the end of the year. I too will enter the ALL District Players here over the next few days. So lets’ all take a deep breathe. 13-2. 25 wins over the last two seasons. Great to be a part of YellowJackeet Nation.