There was a time when seeing Goldthwaite near the top of small-school Texas football required no explanation. Four state championships made sure of that.
But even the proudest programs go through difficult stretches, and for much of the past decade, wins in Goldthwaite were harder to come by than this program had historically been accustomed to.
Now, you can feel the shift on Friday nights. The climb back isn’t complete, but the Eagles are beginning to soar again.
When Andy Howard took over the program in 2022, the Eagles went 0-10. What followed wasn't an overnight turnaround. The Eagles won three games the next year, then took a much bigger step with seven wins in 2024. In 2025, they pushed that total to eight and reached the second round of the playoffs for a second straight year.
The win totals tell part of the story. What matters more is what Goldthwaite has built along the way. Four years after a winless season, the Eagles once again look like a team capable of making some noise in November.
Through two weeks of 2026, that progress suddenly feels like a breakthrough. After dropping 59 points on Junction and pitching a 48-0 road shutout against Granger, the production behind this 2-0 start has become impossible to ignore.
Junior Landry Sanderson has set the tone, powering the ground game with 252 yards and eight rushing touchdowns while adding another score through the air.
Under center, junior Hayes Greenway has been remarkably efficient. He has completed 30 of 46 passes for 480 yards and six touchdowns without an interception, while tearing off another 187 yards and a score on the ground.
When the Eagles need to stretch a defense vertically, senior Aidyn Lee has been their most dangerous weapon, hauling in 12 catches for 257 yards and five touchdowns, an average of 21.4 yards per catch.
Those aren't just stat lines from a team trying to scratch out wins. It’s an offense playing with the confidence that comes from years of hard work.
This program isn't learning how to compete anymore. It expects to win. That distinction is everything in a town where playoff football used to be an expectation.
What makes this resurgence feel real is that Goldthwaite appears to be building something sustainable. Two of the offense’s driving forces are only juniors, and behind them is a freshman group that spent its middle school years doing little but winning. The well is being replenished.
Much tougher tests await, though. Before district play arrives, the Eagles have a potential brawl with a red-hot De Leon team carrying momentum of its own. Then comes a brutal district slate featuring heavyweights like Albany and Stamford, which should tell us much more about just how far this Goldthwaite rebuild has come.
September may be a little early for thoughts of AT&T Stadium.
But the question around town is no longer whether the Eagles can fight their way back to relevance.
It's how high they can fly now that they've found their wings again.