(Marion) — Head Coach Joel Call was a busy man last year.
After year one as Marion’s football leader, Call has gotten better at balancing his various responsibilities and managing the stress of his job.
“I was going gray before then, but … the gray hair comes with that,” Call jokingly answered. “One of the reasons this job attracted me [last year] is the type of community it [has]. When you have a good supporting cast that realize the value of athletics, it makes things a whole lot easier.”
It must have!
In his first full year as head coach, Marion football had their best district finish since 2019. Call’s 7-win opening act tied Tom DeKunder’s 1977 season for the second-most wins by a Bulldog head coach in year one. Now, Call is focused on raising the program’s standards after they advanced to the Area round for the second straight year.
“Forget the past and look forward to what lies ahead. I challenged them after the Edna [area playoff loss] last year [that] we have got to get out of the mindset that we’re a ‘one playoff win’ team. That shouldn’t be the ceiling. ”
While Call is not going to let prior success dictate his team’s mentality, he did note that last year proved the team could expect more from their efforts.
“We look at the [teams] we played that made long playoff runs – the Ednas, the Llanos, and Ingram [Moore]. We were in each of those ballgames. We are more than capable to play that way. ”
With that mindset, Call believes Marion can achieve great things after retaining 30 of the 47 lettermen who played last season, including five offensive starters and seven defensive starters. That talent retention is better than any other team in 3A Marion’s realigned district 13.
“We have to address some key positions, fulfill some roles, and replace some people. But we got a lot of people back that played significant roles [last year]. These kids understand our expectations because [they] played on varsity.”
Marion’s 2025 all-district returners include unanimous first team wide receiver Jack Wells (6’3″ SR), unanimous first team wideout/defensive back Emerson Blevins (6’2″ SR), unanimous first team lineman Mark Pardo (6’0″ SR), and unanimous first team defensive back/returner Eli Parker (5’8″ JR). Plenty of talent will wear the Marion uniform this fall. The challenge will be filling some big shoes left by the 2025 seniors.
Last offseason, Marion graduated three first team all-district players: quarterback Kade Pape (44 TD, 254 YDs/GM), running back Tanner Otis (1244yds, 12 TDs), and wide receiver Jaiden Riley (71 rec, 1244yds, 22 TD). Riley’s numbers were ridiculously impressive. He had the second-most TD catches in 3A, earned a spot on the TSWA All-State third team, and won district MVP.
“A 1,200-yard receiver doesn’t just walk through the hall everywhere,” Call said. “I’ve coached receivers for 24 years and [Riley] was my first [one]. There’s not another Jaiden Riley.”
Despite losing some incredible players, Call wants to make the message to his next crop clear. “We don’t ever want our kids to feel like they have to be that next guy. We just need you to be the best version of [yourself],” Call stated. “We want them to work on building each other in those aspects.”
So, what are those aspects that Call wants people to identify with his program?
“Our theme … we want our coaches to build bulldogs. There’s a lot of different types of dogs out there. But what makes bulldogs different?” Using the first four letters in bulldog, Call’s answer highlighted the creed his crew of players will try to embody every second.
The ‘B‘ is ‘based on integrity‘. The ‘U‘ is ‘uncommon effort‘. The [first] ‘L‘ is ‘live with enthusiasm‘. The [second] ‘L‘ is we ‘love each other‘.
Do these things and Call believes Marion can overcome any challenge along the way. In fact, Call is eager to face the challenges this season will bring. “If you want to be the best, you got to play the best. We’re not playing any 3A teams in our non-district. I think overall it’s a tougher district,” Call said.
Can’t argue with that. After district realignment, Marion and district 13 lost Llano and Ingram Moore to district three. In their place, the reigning D1 3A state champs out of Yoakum joined Marion in district 13. No one said it would be a cake walk.
But all that matters to Call is that his team remains focused on themselves.
“We want them to be where their feet are. We want to worry about one game at a time. I think that’s really important with teenagers to not get caught up in the name on the jersey across from you. We are going to worry about improving each week, each play.”
As the season opener at 4A Gonzales draws closer and Bulldog nation comes together for year two with Joel Call’s Bulldogs, the former Judson head track coach wants his Bulldogs to play without fear of failure.
“We just want them to play fast and hard. There are going to be mistakes made … blown assignments … but we want them to make those mistakes and blow those assignments going 99 million miles an hour. Like Ray Lewis said, ‘effort is between you and you’. We want to challenge our kids that when somebody comes and sits in the stands to look at us and see that [Marion football] does things the right way, [has] integrity, and plays with uncommon effort.”
Marion starts their 2026 season on the road at Gonzales. Tune into KWED on September 18th for our featured broadcast of Marion’s non-district finale vs Uvalde. Pregame from Veterans Stadium starts at 6:30 with a 7:00pm kickoff. Reily Chestnut and Dan Hernandez will call the action.
Schedule – Sept. 18th home game vs Uvalde to be broadcast on KWED and SeguinToday.com
Aug. 28th – 7:30 PM at Gonzales
Sept. 4th – 7 PM vs Austin Crockett
Sept. 11th – 7 PM at Devine
Sept. 18th – 7 PM vs Uvalde
Sept. 25th – 7 PM vs San Antonio Cole*
Oct. 2nd – 7 PM at Yoakum*
Oct. 9th – OPEN
Oct. 16th – 7 PM vs Smithville*
Oct. 23rd – at Luling*
Oct. 30th – vs Universal City Randolph*
Nov. 6th – at Hallettsville*
*District