The Alamo Heights Junior School Mule’s 8th Grade A-Team football team delivered their best performance in the 2024 season, both on game days and in practice, improving throughout the season to achieve a perfect 7-0 record and claim the title of district champions.

Last week, my partner and I interviewed some key players from the team: Bobby Speilhagen, Tyler Davis, Emiliano Alonso, and Jimmy Curtis. Each player made significant contributions to the team, whether through leadership, athleticism, or sportsmanship. There’s no doubt that their coaches also played a major role in the team’s undefeated success this season. All of the players we spoke with shared how their coaches helped them and the team improve.

One of the responses we received came from Jimmy Curtis, when we asked, “How do you think your coaches helped you win the district?” He replied, “They helped us by watching film, studying the other teams, and helping us prepare for whatever they had in store for us.” Bobby Speilhagen also shared his thoughts, saying, “Yeah, you know, Coach Bond, Coach Wogstad, and Coach Stevens are all great coaches. I love them all. Coach Wogstad, my receivers coach, has really inspired me to be my best. Coach Bond has believed in me throughout the year and given me a chance to get the ball, and Coach Stevens is a great motivator who always makes us strive to be our best.”

We also asked the players about their experience playing in a new district, and they all had similar responses. They noted some differences and challenges but also said it felt mostly the same. Jimmy Curtis summed it up by saying, “It was definitely different, but just new teams and new schemes.”

With the Mules winning district champs and finishing the season undefeated, it’s clear that their hard work in practice and their team effort paid off in their games. With a total score of 7-0 in the 2024 season, and their biggest win being a dominant 54-15 victory, the Alamo Heights Class of 2029 football team is well on its way to continuing the legacy being built at the high school level.

Looking ahead, the team hopes to carry the same momentum into their basketball season. If they maintain the same motivation and eagerness to win, they could be contenders for the district title in a new sport. We’ll see if they can bring the same level of talent to basketball that they demonstrated on the football field.

Coach Wogstad, one of the football coaches, is also the basketball coach, so it will be interesting to see if the boys can build some chemistry and win another title. They won the basketball title last year with Coach Olguin, but with a new district, they will need to be prepared to adjust and keep up their winning ways.