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The past meets the future in Groesbeck

When Jerry Bomar took over the 1989 Groesbeck Goats, he turned around a team that only played in two playoff games ever. He's hoping he can do it again in 2019.

GROESBECK, Texas — Groesbeck had only played in two playoff football games when the district hired Jerry Bomar in 1989. 

When he left just three years later, he had led that same program to the 1991 Class 3A State Championship.

Eleven Central Texas schools are going into the 2019 season with new head coaches. Among those 11 schools is Groesbeck, which Bomar returned to in April and who's hoping history will repeat itself for the Goats.

In the 28 years that have passed since Bomar left Groesbeck, the game has changed, as have the athletes. He said he's more than ready to adapt.

"The Eagles broke up in 1980 and said the only way they'd get back together was is if hell freezes over," Bomar said. "In 1994, they reform and are still playing today. Their deal was, 'We're not going to go back and play the same songs.' Well, I looked at it like enough time has gone by, I'm not going to go back and play the same songs."

The players said they know about Bomar's success, and they're ready to see what he can do their team now.

"It definitely gives us a certain amount of trust that we could confide in him because we already knew he accomplished great things in the past and that he could lead us to greatness," senior wide receiver Jeremy Rodriguez said.

Bomar's staff can also testify to his success. Offensive line coach Eric Turrubiarte was a senior offensive tackle on the Goats' 1991 State Champion team.

He said even after all these years, Bomar still has the intensity he remembers from his days as a player.

"As a player, he really pushed you," Turrubiarte said. "It was very, very fulfilling to know that I'm giving everything that I can because coach is pushing me and making me do that. Now I get to help him do that with a new generation of kids."

Bomar remembered the year Turrubiarte and the rest of the 1991 team defied the odds and took an unranked team to the top.

"That was totally unexpected," Bomar said. "We weren't ranked. We were picked to miss the playoffs, so I don't worry about that stuff. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it doesn't."

But, he said he only wants today's team focused on the future.

"I want the guys to not think about, 'We've got to try to get back to that,'" Bomar said. "I want them to think, 'We need to be the best we can be,' and I want them to surpass what we did."

Since Bomar left Limestone County after that state title, the Goats have seen 13 more playoff trips but zero playoff wins. If anyone can turn that record around, Turrubiarte said it's his old coach.

"I think that right there is a man that can do it," Turrubiarte said.

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