#bEASTTexas Football Countdown: Beckville

Published 5:45 am Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Editor’s Note: During the 30 days leading up to the high school football season, we will be spotlighting teams ranked in the preseason #bEASTTexas Fabulous 15 for the 2022 season. The series continues today with the No. 5 team in the Class 3A/2A/TAPPS poll: the Beckville Bearcats.

From 1931-2018, before head coach Cody Ross’ arrival, Beckville had two double-digit win seasons — 12-2 in 2000 and 10-3 in 2015. Ross is entering his fourth season at Beckville, and the Bearcats have won double-digit games in each of the past two seasons going 10-4 in 2020 and 12-1 in 2021. The Bearcats are equipped to have another winning season in 2022. All eyes will be on Beckville on season-opening night of Aug. 25 when the Bearcats host Beckville in a battle of Top 10 teams in the State in Class 2A Division I.

Poll history: Beckville was unranked in the poll for all of 2019 and 2020. But once the Bearcats got into the poll after Week 1 of 2021, they never left, making it to as high as No. 5 in the final poll.

That dude: J’Koby Williams. The 5-10, 165-pound junior running back is rated as a three-star athlete in the Class of 2024 by 247Sports. He has offers from Baylor, Houston, SMU, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech, UTSA and Lamar. Williams had 114 carries for 1,385 yards and 21 touchdowns, caught 25 passes for 524 yards and eight touchdowns and added three punt return touchdowns as a sophomore.

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For more on Beckville and other East Texas high school football programs, check out The Zone magazine, which is scheduled to release on Aug. 21 inside the Tyler Morning Telegraph and Longview News-Journal.

Aug. 25: Timpson

Sept. 2: Joaquin

Sept. 9: at Harmony

Sept. 16: Elysian Fields

Sept. 23: *Big Sandy

Sept. 30: *at Hawkins

Oct. 13: *Ore City

Oct. 21: *at Frankston

Oct. 28: *Harleton

Nov. 4: *at Union Grove

*District 10-2A Division I Game 

All games at 7:30 p.m.