Lindale part of KYKX Game of the Week

Published 5:20 pm Friday, March 1, 2024

KYKX Game of the Week

The longstanding tradition of KYKX Game of the Week high school football broadcasts will continue the next two falls, and Lindale and Overton are two of the 12 East Texas programs selected for the announced six-week schedule for both the 13th and 14th editions of the series in 2024 and 2025.

All games are scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. on Thursday, and will be broadcast by Harlen Lobley (Harlen the Sports Guy) and Robert Taylor (Pigskin Bob) on KYKX 105.7 FM and KYKX1057.com.

“We think this is one of our most exciting schedules we’ve put together since we started doing this,” Lobley said. “The best news is this ensures another 24 $1,005 scholarships that will be awarded to student athletes from those 12 schools over the next two years. That’s what really makes it worth it and exciting for thee kids and their parents.”

Hallsville will revive an old football series when it travels to Lindale and Eagle Stadium for a season-opening non-district game on Aug. 29, 2024, and will host the Eagles at Bobcat Stadium in 2025.

“It’s awesome,” Hallsville head football coach Josh Strickland said of his program’s opportunity to be a part of a KYKX Game of the Week the next two seasons. “To be able to open up the season with those guys, and against Lindale and a coach who’s one of my best friends [in Chris Cochran], it’s going to be pretty fun.”



Hallsville owns a 6-4 series record over the past quarter-century after it prevailed in the 1998, 2002, 2003, 2010, 2012 and 2013 meetings, while Lindale soared in the 1999, 2011, 2018 and 2019 matchups. The programs were District 9-5A Division II mates as recently as the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

“When I was a junior and senior here in [19]98 and [19]99, I know they were our first game of the year,” Strickland said of the renewal of Hallsville’s football series with Lindale. “I think we split with them 1-1 [those years]. Actually, Coach Cochran was one of my teammates here at Hallsville. We graduated together. He’s playing his hometown, and it’s the first time as head coaches that we’ve played against each other. That’s the main thing I’m looking forward to.”

Hallsville missed the 2023 UIL 5A Division II postseason with a 1-9 record, and will test itself against a Lindale group that advanced to the UIL 4A Division I area round with a 7-5 mark.

“We’re going to play a disciplined, well-coached football team right out of the gate,” Strickland said of Hallsville’s opponent in week one. “I think it’ll be great for our kids. The biggest improvement usually in a season or the biggest adjustments and things you need to work is from week one to week two. With us playing this game on a Thursday night, it gives you an eighth day to work things out that you see in game one.”

Tatum is next on the docket when it travels to familiar foe Daingerfield and Mickey Mayne Tiger Stadium on Sept. 5, 2024. The Eagles and Tigers have played every year since 2019, and will extend the annual battle to seven straight seasons when the series heads to Tatum’s Eagle Stadium in 2025.

Daingerfield owns a recent 3-2 series edge after wins in 2019, 2022 and 2023, while Tatum topped the competition in 2020 and 2021.

“I think our kids enjoy it,” Tatum athletic director and head football coach Whitney Keeling said of his program’s opportunity to play in a broadcasted game. “KYKX does a great job promoting it. It’s always a good game.”

Keeling’s Tatum squad qualified for the 2023 Class 3A Division I area round with a 6-5 season record, and is excited to face a Davin Nelson-directed Daingerfield group that finished an 11-4 run at the 2023 Class 3A Division II state semifinal.

“Daingerfield’s a fixture program in East Texas,” Keeling said of the test in Tatum’s continual series. “Year in and year out, they’re going to have a chance to be a perennial state champion. It’s a huge challenge for us as we’re trying to build and get to that level. We’re excited about the opportunity. They’re a great foe [and] preseason game for us to get our guys ready for the district campaign.”

The rest of the 2024 broadcast schedule will feature Gladewater’s non-district visit to West Rusk and Bruce Bradshaw Stadium on Sept. 12, Overton’s 11-2A Division II district home game against Tenaha at Coach Chester Roy Stadium on Oct. 3, Union Grove’s 10-2A Division I district trip to Ore City and Rebel Stadium on Oct. 10, and Big Sandy’s 10-2A Division I district home game against Waskom at Wildcat Stadium on Oct. 24. Those matchups are also home-and-home two-year series, so 2025 broadcasts are scheduled to take place at the other school’s venue.

West Rusk is coming off a 10-3 season and a Class 3A Division II Region III semifinal appearance with head coach Rafe Mata in 2023, while Gladewater is coming off a 3-8 mark and a Class 3A Division I bi-district berth with leadman Jonathan Louvier.

Overton and head coach Scotty Laymance earned a 10-2 record and a Class 2A Division II area round playoff finish last fall, while Tenaha will look to build on a 10-3 mark and a Class 2A Division II Region III semifinal finish with new head coach Marlon Byrdsong.

The Kyle Adams-led Ore City finished the 2023 campaign with a 5-5 record and a Class 2A Division I bi-district berth, while Bobby Chadwick’s Union Grove group missed the postseason with a 4-6 mark.

Waskom and Big Sandy missed the respective Class 3A Division II and Class 2A Division I postseasons with identical 3-7 records in 2023.

Wade Lawson will begin his first year as Waskom’s head football coach, while Brian Pullum retains the reins at Big Sandy.