The best six-man football team in Texas is now beating 11-man teams, too
Gordon plays six-man football, and if you need its equivalent, or a comp, the best one may be the Empire from Star Wars (minus the evil).
One-third of Gordon’s starting football team is slated to play NCAA FBS college ball. Gordon is currently riding a 37-game winning streak, the longest in Texas.
The small team from the tiny town 71 miles southwest of downtown Fort Worth is on a run so overpowering that it is playing games against 11-man teams this season.
On Friday night, Gordon will play at Class 2A Brackett in Kerrville. You’d think the six-man team will be blown into the Gulf of Mexico.
But on Sept. 19, Gordon played at 2A Thorndale, which was a playoff team last season and is expected to be 3A in the next UIL reclassification. The Bulldogs gave the Gordon Longhorns a game. Gordon won in a thriller, 54-21, its closest outcome of the season. Gordon is winning by an average margin of 49 points per game.
“This happened because we had some holes in our schedule because we were playing teams last year that were not able to compete with us, and after the game, we realized it didn’t do anyone any service to play [the game],” Gordon coach Mike Reed said in a phone interview. “This is no disrespect to the other team, but there was too much of a gap.
“Those teams elected not to play us, if we could find other teams. So I am scrambling trying to get other games, and I am reaching out to 11-man teams just to fill out the schedule.”
Gordon is motoring on to what looks like will be its third straight state title in six-man football in a season where it’s the road team every game.
Gordon’s football field was destroyed in a tornado in May.
“We believe that we will play our very last game of the season on our field,” Reed said. “Helus Construction Company has made it their goal to make sure that happens. And looks to be possible. We only will have a field and lights.
“But at least a homecoming and senior night looks to be a reality.”
The high school with 77 students is in one of those special times when it has a handful of talented players that has made its football team one the best ever in its classification.
The Longhorns are 7-0, and most of it games are “called” before the fourth quarter. Texas six-man football has a mercy rule that states if a team leads by 45 points at, or at any point after, halftime the game immediately ends.
Gordon won its 2024 state title when the game was called with 9:45 remaining. In the third quarter. In this winning streak, Gordon has played into the fourth quarter once. It averages about 11 plays on offense per game.
Gordon sticking with six-man
All of this success has not given Reed, or anyone at Gordon, the idea it should move up a classification.
“We’d devalue what we are known for; we are proud of being a six-man team,” Reed said. “We are one of the top basketball teams in the state. We play 6A teams in the summer. In baseball, we made it to the state title game, and we play 2A and 3A schools. We won back-to-back state championships in track. We go to the Texas Relays and run against Allen, DeSoto.”
To prepare for the games against 11-man teams, Reed runs half practice for the six-man game, and the other half for 11 vs. 11.
“In football, just because we have 25 players it doesn’t mean we have 25 18-year-old kids. We have freshmen and sophomores,” Reed said. “To play [11-man] is challenging. Most 11-man schools have coaching staffs of seven or eight, and we have three. The players enjoyed going toe-to-toe with the bigger program, and it’s a lot to do for our kids, and it’s nice, but it’s not sustainable.”
So much Division I talent at small school
Another reason it’s not sustainable, Gordon’s roster has a caliber of talent a school that small seldom enjoys at the same time.
Senior Ry Reed has committed to Army. Senior Stryker Reed, who is the son of the head coach, has committed to play at Air Force. (Ry Reed is not related to Stryker, but is the son of Gordon’s baseball coach, Shad Reed.)
Stryker also plays basketball, baseball and runs track. He also had interest from Rice, Army and a handful of FCS programs in Texas.
“Playing six-man does hurt [college recruiting] to a certain degree, just because of the publicity and the game we do play,” Stryker Reed said. “But I got a Division III offer my junior year. After we finished the playoffs last year, I started getting a lot more attention.
“UTSA reached out. Some track programs reached out before then. We started pushing it further and further, and this happened at Air Force.”
Gordon also features two other seniors — wide receiver/linebacker Brayden Walters and tight end/defensive end Asher Salinas — who have received offers to join the track and field team at Navy.
Maybe it’s not offers from Texas, Alabama or Ohio State, but for a six-man football team to have four NCAA Division I athletes, two of whom are scheduled to play FBS football, at the same time feels Dream Team-ish.
That’s why when six-man Gordon plays an 11-man team, the small team from the tiny town is the big favorite.
This story was originally published October 23, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
