Schreiner brings football home for the first time since the 1950s, with a roster built from Texas

Schreiner University football takes the field for real Saturday for the first time in nearly 70 years, and the roster head coach Keith Allen has assembled tells two stories at once: a homecoming for a small cluster of Kerr County kids, and a program stitched together from high schools scattered the length and width of Texas.

The Mountaineers open the season at 6 p.m. Saturday against Austin College at Antler Stadium, the first of five home dates this fall under a new agreement that lets Schreiner share Kerrville ISD’s stadium with Tivy High School. It’s the program’s first competitive season since Schreiner fielded a team in 1956; the sport was discontinued the following year under then-university president Andrew Edington amid declining enrollment, ending a run that had lasted three decades.

“The first time in NCAA history”

Allen has spent fall camp trying to keep his players from feeling the weight of that history.

“I’ve said my entire coaching career that every game is important, but no game is special,” Allen said. “This one’s a little different — because this is the first time in NCAA history we’ve had a game here. There are some things that are a little special about it. So I’m trying to minimize that. I don’t want the significance to overshadow it. We’re still playing a game. We’re still on a football field, and it’s 11-on-11 — something these kids have done their entire lives, over and over.”

The message to his team this week has been about controlling what’s controllable.

“The only thing equal between us and them is time,” Allen said. “So what are we going to do for the next 45 hours to be difference-makers?”

That approach extends to how he’s talked about Saturday’s opponent. Austin College enters its third season under head coach Tony Joe White after going 3-6 in 2025.

“Tony Joe has done a great job recruiting there — he’s been tasked with changing that program, and this is his third year,” Allen said. “We’re going to see a marked improvement. But we can’t control that. What we can control is what we do. What you’re going to see from us is a well-disciplined team that’s going to play tough, give fanatical effort and be excited to be here.”

On the field, Allen said to expect the same identity his team showed during last year’s developmental season.

“We’re going to be up-tempo, no-huddle, fast-paced,” Allen said. “We’re going to move the ball quickly, and we’re going to take advantage of mismatches and numbers — if they give us a light box, we’ll run it; if they give us a heavier box, we’ll find the one-on-one matchups on the perimeter.”

At quarterback, Isaac Ponce — the Mary Hardin-Baylor and Texas Lutheran transfer who started under center during Schreiner’s developmental season last year — is expected to get the nod Saturday. Beyond that, Allen stayed characteristically vague about who else will see the field, a pattern that held throughout the interview: he named Tony Joe White and his own assistant coaches freely, but not a single Schreiner player.

“We don’t have a senior who’s been with us three or four years, so there’s more trust with the kids who played last year,” Allen said. “But you’re going to see a lot of freshmen — a lot of first-year players are going to play. As the game goes, we’ll make adjustments based on what we’re seeing in real time. We don’t script it — you get four series, you get two, you get one. We don’t promise that. If somebody’s hand is hot and he’s rolling, he’ll be the only guy. But if we’re struggling, we’re going to try to figure out who gives us the best matchup.”

Nearly 70 years after the program’s last season, Allen — in his first year leading a varsity team at Schreiner, alongside offensive coordinator David Jones and defensive coordinator Shane Hallmark — has built a 142-player roster that leans almost entirely on Texas talent. All but two players list Texas hometowns; the lone exception is cornerback Braylen South, who came in from Lake Charles, Louisiana. Defensive lineman Brandon Castenada, a transfer from Northeastern State University, is the roster’s only player without a hometown listed at all.

A Kerrville backfield, reassembled

The most local storyline sits in the backfield and receiving corps. Running backs Domynik Vasquez and Aidan Varwig, along with wide receivers Carson Jones, Cade Jones and President Calamaco, were all key contributors together at Tivy High School in recent seasons — Vasquez and Varwig were both selected to the inaugural Hill Country All-Star Game in May 2025, and Carson Jones and Cade Jones ranked among the Antlers’ top returning receivers in 2024. Calamaco, a senior wideout on Tivy’s 2025 team, was honored alongside the Antlers program at the 2026 San Antonio Sports All-Star Game for on-field success and community service.

The connection runs deeper than the roster: Jones, Schreiner’s offensive coordinator, is the former head coach at Tivy.

A roster from all over the state

Beyond Kerrville, the roster’s geography stretches across Texas. San Antonio sent the most players by far, with 15, followed by Corpus Christi (nine), Houston (seven) and Katy (six). Kerrville’s five players are the next-largest single hometown, tied with — not quite, but close to — Austin, Leander and Missouri City, which each sent three. Seventeen more Texas cities and towns, from Cedar Park to Victoria, sent exactly two players apiece, and 55 additional hometowns are represented by a single player each — everywhere from Zapata to Paris, Texas. (See accompanying graphic for the full city-by-city count.)

Transfers add experience at the skill positions

A handful of players arrive with more advanced football résumés than a typical first- and second-year program usually attracts. Quarterbacks Isaac Ponce and Gibby Alvarado both spent time at Texas Lutheran University before transferring to Schreiner — Ponce also began his college career at Mary Hardin-Baylor, and Alvarado was a decorated passer at Holy Cross High School in San Antonio, ranked fourth all-time in the Greater San Antonio area in career passing yards. Quarterback Jacari Killingsworth and wide receiver Ethan Collida both played at Hardin-Simmons University before landing at Schreiner.

Up front, offensive lineman Christopher Alva arrives after earning first-team All-District honors at Ingram Tom Moore High School, where he also anchored the Warriors’ defensive front in the postseason.

Looking ahead

Schreiner’s home slate at Antler Stadium continues with Southwestern (Texas) on Sept. 19, Hendrix on Oct. 3 for homecoming weekend, Howard Payne on Oct. 17 and McMurry on Nov. 14, as the Mountaineers begin American Southwest Conference play in their first full season of competition.