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The Standard-Times will be previewing area high school football teams throughout July and August as part of the West Texas Huddle series .
For previous stories in the series go to gosanangelo.com.
Sterling City Eagles
District: 4-2A Division II
2023 Record: 6-4, 3-2
Head coach: DJ Howell
Most recent district championship: 2020
State titles: 1 (2020)
Top returners
RB/DE Seth Turner, OL/DL Slate Clark, TE/LB Rett Dickison, WR/DB Marquis Johnson, OL Cason McCrea, OL Aaven Helms
What to know for 2024
Sterling City enters the season with new coach DJ Howell at the helm after the departure of longtime coach Trey Sisco. Howell comes from the six-man ranks at Miami, where he coached for three years, bringing the Warriors to the state quarterfinals. Before Miami, he spent 22 years in Oklahoma coaching at the 11-man level. Sterling City was a combined 13-9 with a playoff win after coming up to 11-man football running the Slot-T offense but will switch to a spread scheme under Howell. Turner stands to get an increase in carriers as a traditional running back, while Johnson and sophomore Nano Turner battle for the starting quarterback job. Despite losing nine lettermen to graduation, the offensive and defensive lines look to be a strong spot with the return of Clark, Dickison, McCrea and Helms.
Coach DJ Howell on the 2024 season
“We’ve grown a lot in the last 60 days. We’ve made a tremendous amount of improvement in the weight room. I think we’re bigger, faster, stronger and more physical than what we were when I took the job. We’ve got some younger guys that are stepping into some bigger roles this year, but I think that they have improved greatly. I’m very optimistic about what we’ve got going forward this season… I think the recent success of the program is a huge motivating factor. It’s also a thing you can point to directly to the team and say, ‘Hey, these are the things that are possible here in Sterling City.' I think it’s a hard-working community and the kids come from families that are very hard-working and have high expectations.”
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2024 Schedule
Week 1 – Odessa Compass Academy at Sterling City, 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 30
Week 2 – Sterling City at Miles, 7 p.m. Friday, Sep. 6
Week 3 – Winters at Sterling City, 7 p.m. Friday, Sep. 13
Week 4 – Christoval at Sterling City, 7 p.m. Friday, Sep. 20
Week 5 – Sterling City at Cross Plains, 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27
Week 6 – OPEN
Week 7 – Sterling City at Van Horn, 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11
Week 8 – Sterling City at Eldorado, 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18
Week 9 – Wink at Sterling City, 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25
Week 10 – Sterling City at McCamey, 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1
Week 11 – Iraan at Sterling City, 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8
Paul Witwer covers high school sports and Angelo State University sports for The San Angelo Standard-Times. Reach him at sports@gosanangelo.com . Follow him on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @Paul_Witwer .
This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: West Texas Huddle: Sterling City football facing major changes ahead of 2024 season
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