Cards looking to defend their title

The Columbus Cardinals won the UIL 3A Division I State Championship last season, and this year they will be looking to defend their title.

The Cardinals finished the year with a 15-1 overall record and a 3-1 record in district play to win the state championship.

Now fans of this team know the type of talent that has left this team because they graduated and are continuing their athletic career at the college level. To summarize the losses the Cardinals experienced from a personal standpoint include, the offensive and defensive players of the year, the best running back in the district and one of the top running backs in the state, a disruptive defensive end and two of the best receivers in the district.

Those are pretty big shoes to fill, especially on the defensive side of the ball because John Schobel and Anthony Shorter provided so much. The good news is though there are plenty of underclassmen that will be returning to the Cardinals looking to make a big impact.

A couple of players to keep an eye on to fill that role this season are Brody Vinklarek, Cooper Osborne and Rylan Carruthers. All three were impact players last season and with a role and responsibility increase there is an expectation that they will be even more impactful in their senior season.

Offensively it is going to be aq challenge as well to be as successful as they were last season when they scored an average of around 40 points a game. They lost Adam Schobel, Grayson Rigdon, Camdon Pitchford and Elijah Usher.

Fans of the team know just how productive this group was in 2024; they were so productive that they all ended up committing to play football for Division I colleges. Replacing those guys is going to be difficult, especially at the quarterback position.

Adam Schobel threw for 3,743 yards, 54 touchdowns and only three interceptions. Replacing that level of production is going to be the biggest and almost impossible challenge for this team this offseason.

Knowing Cardinals Head Football Coach Matt Schobel, he already has a plan in place to have this team ready to go for week one. But that does not take away from the fact that all eyes will be in the quarterback position when camp opens up later this month.

The start of the season for the Cards is set for August 29, when they will take on the Cuero Fighti ng Gobblers on their home field to celebrate their State Championship victory with the Cardinal fans in week one.