Texas high school football records: Why the "Sugar Land Express" just got bumped

Texas high school football records: Why the "Sugar Land Express" just got bumped

If you’ve ever sat in the bleachers of a small-town stadium on a Friday night, you know that texas high school football records aren't just numbers. They're basically holy scripture in some parts of this state. For seventy years, one name sat at the very top of that mountain: Kenneth Hall.

The "Sugar Land Express."

People honestly thought his career rushing record of 11,232 yards was untouchable. Like, actually impossible to break. But then 2025 happened, and a kid named Kaegan Ash from Mount Enterprise decided to rewrite history.

The day the "unbreakable" record fell

It happened in December 2025. Kaegan Ash, a Texas Tech commit, didn't just crawl past Ken Hall’s mark; he absolutely shattered it. Ash finished his career with 11,382 rushing yards.

Think about that for a second.

To put that in perspective, you’d have to average over 2,800 yards a season for four straight years. Most kids are lucky to hit 1,000 once. Ash also snagged the national record for touchdowns in a single season with 77. Honestly, the stats look like something out of a video game.

But we can't talk about Ash without respecting the ghost he was chasing. Kenneth Hall set his record back in 1953. Back then, they played in leather-ish helmets and didn't have fancy spread offenses. Hall once had a game where he carried the ball 11 times for 520 yards.

That is 47.3 yards per carry. Basically, every time he touched the ball, he scored or got close enough to smell the end zone.

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Who actually owns the most state titles?

When people argue about the greatest programs, they usually start screaming about Aledo or Carthage. And yeah, they’ve got the hardware to back it up.

Aledo is the king of the mountain right now with 12 state championships.

What’s wild is that 11 of those have come in the last 15 years. They went on a run that basically broke the UIL. You’ve got teams like Carthage right behind them with 10 titles, mostly under Scott Surratt, who seems to win a ring every time he sneezes.

  • Aledo: 12 titles (Record holder)
  • Carthage: 10 titles
  • Celina: 9 titles
  • Southlake Carroll: 8 titles

It's not just about the big schools, though. Abilene High has 7, but most of theirs came during a dynasty in the 1950s. If you’re looking for the school that has been there the most, Katy holds the record for state championship appearances with 16. They don't always win the final, but they are almost always in the building.

The QB records nobody talks about

Everyone loves the running backs, but the passing texas high school football records are where the math gets really stupid.

You’ve got Garrett Gilbert from Austin Lake Travis holding the career passing yardage record at 12,537. He was the first of that modern breed of Texas QBs that just threw the ball 50 times a game.

Then you have the single-season kings. In 2024, the air raid offenses reached a fever pitch. But the name that still stands out is Graham Harrell from Ennis. Before he was a coach, he put up 12,532 career yards. He and Gilbert are basically 1A and 1B in the history books.

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What about the "most points in a game" record? That belongs to Hull-Daisetta, who once hung 186 points on Wallis in 1927. No, that’s not a typo. 186 to 0. It’s kinda mean when you think about it, but hey, a record is a record.

Coaching legends and the 400-win club

You can't have these records without the guys wearing the headsets. Randy Allen at Dallas Highland Park is the current gold standard. He’s sitting at 460 wins as of late 2025.

The crazy part? He’s still going.

Most people remember G.A. Moore or Gordon Wood, the legends who defined the 20th century. But Allen has navigated the modern era of super-teams and recruiting drama to stay at the top.

Why these records are harder to break now

A lot of fans think records are easier to break today because of the 16-game seasons. If you go to the state finals, you play way more football than Ken Hall did in 1953.

But there's a flip side.

Defenses are faster. Players are specialized. If you’re a superstar like Kaegan Ash, every defensive coordinator in the county is watching your film on their iPad by Saturday morning. You aren't surprising anyone.

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The most "Texas" record of all time

If you want to know what this sport means to people, look at the attendance records.

In 1994, Plano and John Tyler played a regional playoff game. People still talk about it like it was a war. But the actual attendance record for a state final was set in 2013 when 54,347 people packed AT&T Stadium to watch Allen beat Pearland.

That is more people than some NFL teams draw on a bad Sunday.

It proves that texas high school football records aren't just about the athletes; they're about the communities that refuse to stay home. Whether it's a 1A six-man game in the Panhandle or a 6A showdown in Arlington, the scale is just different here.

What you should do next

If you're a stat nerd or just a fan, your next move should be checking out the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football archives or the UIL historical database. They track everything from "consecutive district wins" (where Aledo held a 111-game streak) to the most field goals in a career.

Keep an eye on the 2026 recruiting classes, too. With the way offenses are evolving, Kaegan Ash’s "unbreakable" rushing record might not actually last another seventy years. It might only last seven.