West Rusk football’s Jase Reasoner, Judson Dotson, Cole Jackson and Hunter McCandless at a fall sports media day at the CHRISTUS Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Institute on Aug. 1. (Michel Alfaro/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

West Rusk recorded its ninth straight playoff appearance, third straight season with double-digit wins and also third consecutive trip to the third round of the postseason in year one under head coach Rafe Mata.

“We’re looking for pretty much the same things we always look for,” Mata said. “They’re a bunch of hard-playing kids. It’s kind of become a staple of the program. That’s what we’re going to do. The group we have right here (seniors and junior), they’ve set the tone to get the young kids to buy into that. I think that’s going to be the biggest push this year is trying to keep our mentality the same as it’s always been.”

Mata was joined by senior safety/receiver Jase Reasoner, junior cornerback/receiver/quarterback Judson Dotson, senior running back/linebacker Cole Jackson and junior running back/linebacker Hunter McCandless at a fall sports media day at the CHRISTUS Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Institute on Aug. 1 to talk about the upcoming season.

“The ultimate goal is to win state,” Reasoner said. “We have to gel like brothers, go practice by practice and game by game.”

“We’re going to do what we’ve done every year,” Dotson said. “We’re going to go out and compete. We’re going to compete at a high level like we always do, and the ultimate goal is to win state.”

“The end goal is to win state,” Jackson said. “We’ve just got to take it week by week and build and grow together as a team. We had a great run game last year and are looking to improve on it even more this year. We’re possibly going to have a young receiving corps and quarterback, so we’re looking to try to establish our passing game early on, as well.”

“We want to win state,” McCandless said. “We’ve got to go game by game, practice by practice and do what we’ve always done.”

The Raiders went 10-3 last season before falling to Daingerfield in the regional semifinals.

Jackson ran for 1,274 yards and 15 touchdowns. McCandless had 72 tackles. Dotson had 38 tackles and four interceptions. Reasoner had three return touchdowns last season on special teams.

West Rusk will compete in District 11-3A Division II with New Diana, Arp, Troup, Winona, Elkhart and Buffalo.

The Raiders will open the season Aug. 30 at reigning Class 3A Division I champion Malakoff.