Shepherd hasn't had much luck against Hamshire-Fannett recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Pirates will challenge the Longhorns at 7:30 p.m. The two teams are strolling into their matchups after big wins in their previous games.
Shepherd is headed into the game after thoroughly thrashing Jasper: they outscored them in every quarter. The Pirates put the hurt on the Bulldogs with a sharp 32-7 victory on Friday. The high-flying offensive performance was a huge turnaround for the Pirates considering their six-point performance the contest before.
Landen Dellinger
| 10/03/25 vs Diboll | 199 |
| 10/17/25 vs West Orange-Stark | 108 |
| 10/24/25 @ Jasper | 104 |
| 09/05/25 vs Coldspring-Oakhurst | 95 |
| 08/29/25 @ Kirbyville | 95 |
Shepherd's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Benjamin Coyle led the charge by rushing for 110 yards and one score on only ten carries. The bulk of those rushing yards came from one huge play: a run that gained an incredible 67 yards. Shepherd also got a significant boost from Landen Dellinger, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 104 yards.
Another reason for the win was Shepherd's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for 5.5 sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Michael Weekes and Brayden White, who racked up four sacks between them.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Hamshire-Fannett). They claimed a resounding 65-0 win over Tarkington. The final result isn't all that surprising considering Hamshire-Fannett's considerable advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 227th, while Tarkington is ranked 1026th).
Shepherd pushed their record up to 7-1 with the victory, which was their fourth straight on the road. The road wins came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 11.3 points on average over those games. As for Hamshire-Fannett, their record is now 6-2.
Friday's matchup might be decided on the ground. Shepherd has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 320.8 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Hamshire-Fannett struggles in that department as they've been averaging 163.4 rushing yards. There's a good chance Friday's game turns into a tough fight on the ground.
Shepherd was taken down by Hamshire-Fannett 55-8 in their previous meeting back in November of 2024. Thankfully for the Pirates, Ty Bryson (who threw for 462 yards and six touchdowns while completing 89.5% of his passes) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
