Brock football adds to the school’s winning ways

What growing pains?

The only ones feeling pain from the growth of the Brock football program are the Eagles’ opponents.

While many football programs have been around for decades and haven’t come close to winning a UIL state championship, the Eagles have fielded a varsity team a handful of seasons and are already playing for their second title.

Brock (13-2) meets Rockdale (12-3) in the Class 3A Division I final Thursday at 3 p.m. at AT&T Stadium.

“It doesn’t matter what you are involved in at Brock, they like to be successful,” Eagles football coach Chad Worrell said. “Archery, FFA, name it. If they’re going to do it, they’re going to do it great.

“That’s a big reason I took the job.”

Since 2001 Brock has won 16 University Interscholastic League championships in girls basketball (8), boys basketball (3), golf (2) and one each in volleyball, baseball and softball.

Now, football has its place. Since they first became UIL eligible in 2014, the Eagles are 54-5, including 17-2 in the postseason. The football team beat Cameron Yoe, 43-33, in 2015 for the 3A Division I title.

In addition, the subvarsity teams have never had a losing record since beginning play in 2011. This season the junior highs, junior varsity and freshmen squads were a combined 35-2.

Worrell said a 2013 freelance schedule helped greatly. Though ineligible for the playoffs, they went 8-2. They also played and won two varsity games in 2012, though officially the program was listed as a JV.

“We wanted them to get that varsity experience before throwing them into a district,” he said. “Honestly, I didn’t expect to have that much success.

“I think we started six freshmen that independent season. Those freshmen and sophomores were a big part of our team that won state in 2015.”

Brock superintendent Scott Drillette was athletic director when the football program started. He said though there was a strong group against bringing football to Brock, there was a more determined group to get the sport.

Still, it took four attempts for a bond to pass, providing funding for a football stadium and field house for the 2014 season. Those early teams played on an old field near the junior high.

“Looking back, I think all the stars aligned for us regarding the success of our football program,” Drillette said. “We had a group of people in our community that were 100 percent committed to starting not just a football program, but a highly successful football program. They were incredible in their pursuit.”

Success can also be aided by learning from others who came before. Drillette and a committee studied a couple of other new programs similar in size.

“We were fortunate that Krum and Ponder had recently started their football programs just a few years before we started ours at Brock,” he said. “That was a huge asset for us as both districts were extremely open to answering our questions, showing us their facilities and discussing the things that did and didn’t work when they started.”

Then came finding the right coach. Worrell was chosen from around 150 applicants. He had enjoyed success at Hamlin, Tom Bean and San Angelo Grape Creek as a head coach, and as an assistant on two Celina state championship teams — an experience he shared with his son Cody, then a player. Cody then joined his dad at Brock as an assistant.

“I don’t know how many coaches have coached their kid to a state title as a player and then won another coaching alongside him,” said Worrell, whose 100th career victory was in last week’s 49-21 semifinal win over Kemp. “That’s just another special thing about being at Brock.”

Senior running back Tanner Patino, who was also on the 2015 state championship team, remembers the fight to get football in Brock. He said that battle helped fuel their quick success.

The basis for those resisting? They didn’t believe Brock could be great in both football and boys basketball.

Since the football team came into existence, the Eagles basketball team has won a state championship (2015) and this past season reached the finals.

“We knew when we got it we had to go out and win right away, or else those doubters would be proven right,” Patino said. “But now that they see what we’ve built, they’ve changed their minds.”

This story was originally published December 19, 2017 at 6:30 PM with the headline "Brock football adds to the school’s winning ways."