They are neighbors who’ve met more than 50 times on the gridiron but no meetings since 1999. They were district foes, 1988-91, and Llano won all four contests. They are joined at the district hip once more, and Fredericksburg makes the 36-mile journey to Llano on the first Friday night in October.

The Billies have been Battlin’, but are 2-3, while the Jackets have won three games in a row and are 3-1. Fredericksburg opened 8-3A competition, September 26, but was routed at home by Liberty Hill, 38-0. Llano enjoyed a bye week.

“It couldn’t have come at a better time,” head coach David Yeager said. “Some of our guys who were injured were cleared to play, and the kids could focus more on their studies as the first six weeks came to an end.”

“This is where it really counts,” linebacker Seth Graham stated, concerning the district duels. “When we made mistakes the first four games, we could always shake ‘em off the next week--not anymore.”

Llano hasn’t made too many mistakes. The slot-T formation has resulted in an average of more than 400 yards rushing per outing. The Orange and Black is recording a whopping 23 first downs each Friday. Clayton Maples has rushed for 607 yards, and Estevan Aviles is averaging 11.6 yards a carry.

“We hope to keep the momentum going against Fredericksburg,” Kayden Gass declared. The offensive lineman-linebacker knows something about momentum. To help ease the team’s pain from the aforementioned injuries, he was playing 48 minutes. “You do what you have to do,” Gass says in a soft, modest voice. “You have to fight through the fatigue.”

“We were thought of as an underdog,” Walker Woolman emphasizes in discussing some preseason predictions. “No one really knew what we had, but now people are starting to realize we're for real.” Woolman, the tight end and linebacker, is another one unfamiliar with time on the sidelines.

The Fredericksburg File, part one: the Billies lead the series, 34-15, with two games ending in a tie. The most points Fredericksburg has scored against Llano is 47 in 1965; the Jackets tallied 46 in 1950.

Llano’s defense had trouble with a very strong Rockdale team in the Aug. 29 opener, and Bandera scored 48 points on the strength of six touchdown passes by Cole Hubble. The Jackets still won the classic, 51-48, and, “We bounced back pretty well after that,” Graham advised. Yes, indeed: a 25-7 win at Taylor. The defense also shutout Bangs, 41-0.

“The Billies play hard,” Yeager contends. “J.C. Hickman runs the ball well, and Caleb McCrae is a good passer.” The coach attended the Liberty Hill game. “The Panthers had to fight for everything they got. Fredericksburg’s defense swarms to the ball.”

“I think the kids are resilient,” Billies’ head coach Dean Herbort told a reporter. “They can come back; I’m certainly counting on it.”

Fredericksburg File, part two: The Jackets’ last win in the series occurred in 1991, 17-14. Since then, the Billies have won four straight. The teams first met in 1929--probably within days or a few weeks of the Stock Market Crash. Go ahead, finish the paragraph any way you like.

“We were overconfident against Bandera,” Woolman discloses, “and we learned our lesson pretty well, just as we learned how to battle back against Rockdale, even though we lost. You can't take anyone lightly--or you’ll find yourself out of the playoffs.”