The Brady football game has a very long history. And the number of times that this football game determined the District Championship, or an undefeated season, rates as high on the heartbreak list as any game you might want to place on the charts.

Llano and Brady first met on the football field in 1936. Brady splattered the Jackets 59 to 6. In 1945, my Father (J.B.Virdell, the first LHS football player to earn a Division I athletic scholarship (Rice University)) was a sophomore at Llano High School. Llano won that game24 to 0. It was 20 years later before Llano was able to beat the Bulldogs again. I was a sophomore at Llano High school on the 1965 Yellowjacket team. We beat a very good Brady team 19 to 6 playing in Brady. But, there is more to this story. The following story was written by me, in 1982. Maybe the rest of this story will be of interest to many of you . . .

"The year was 1964. I was a wide-eyed freshman in Llano High School, and along with Dennis Raesener, Randy Scott, and Richard Rabb, we were chosen by then head football coach Weldon Seeliger to do the book-keeping for the varsity team on Friday nights. Believe me when I tell you it was not a job, but a privilege and one that was a treat beyond my imagination. We traveled with the team, ate with the team, and rubbed elbows with stars. Butch Stovall was the quarterback, and the running backs were Dean Sheppard, Sammy Rabb, Tommy Duncan, and Ronnie Simpson. These were the stars we admired and even talked to!. These players were my first heroes, and forever do they have a place in my heart, for those days were like no others, as they treated me as well as my three co-workers as equals. Friday nights were so special, and this night would turn out to be one that would live until today.
When Weldon Seeliger came to Llano, the football program was in terrible shape. The losing record of years before hung over the team like great black clouds. The Fredericksburg Billies and the Brady Bulldogs were perennial powers that always fought for the district crown. San Saba was a power with big strong tough athletes. The job was one few wanted, yet still, somehow, through all of the bad history of gloom, Weldon Seeliger felt like there was hope, and with a new approach and a new attitude, the Llano program could be put back on its feet. Seeliger would turn his new program around, not by winning I a great sensational game of the century, but through a loss that would turn loser into winner, and a rallying call that inspired later teams not only to win against weaker teams, but to realize that in hard work and dedication, winning could take place by a Jacket team against anyone.

On the cold October night, the Brady Bulldogs rolled into town. The Jackets had already equaled the number of victories of the previous year, but still the program had a long ways to go. Brady was a power house with speed to burn. The game turned out to be a rout. A mismatch, but still the Jackets gave it their all. One great moment was a long touchdown run by Sheppard crisscrossing back across the field to put the only points on the scoreboard for Llano. Brady in the meantime kept rolling up the points, and doing so with their first team throughout the whole game, with the exception of the quarterback and the wingback, and the wingback moving to the quarterback position. With less than two minutes to play in the game, the Bulldogs were still with the passing game, trying to put another score on the total. And they did. With a hurry up offense, the Bulldogs scored again. The fans and players alike were numbed. Why the display of poor sportsmanship in a game already won before half?

A shall never forget standing on the East side of the old Jacket Stadium, inside the cold press box….Watching as my friends were not just losing a football game they were not suppose to win, but being completely humiliated by bullies, kicked around with no show of respect, and not one ounce of humbleness on the part of the visitors.

The dressing room was a morgue. The silence was cold and the loss was the beginning of the revival of the Llano Yellowjackets football fortunes.

Dateline, Brady Texas…. a cold night in October 1965. The Llano Yellowjackets traveled to Brady, Texas to face the ever tough Brady Bulldogs. But this was a different Llano Yellowjacket team than Brady had been used to, because Brady had not lost to Llano in 25 years. Why suspect that this game would be any different? Especially since it was a home game for the Bulldogs.

The Jackets entered the game with a fine 5-1-1 record, and the new program of Weldon Seeliger was taking hold. In less than one year, the Jackets football team was competitive. But there were still disbelievers . The Jackets had their work cut out for them, because Brady again was good, and another team with great speed. This game would tell the story of how competitive the Jackets would be.

All week long the practice sessions were intense, serious, and no nonsense. The words on every players lips were easy to read…64-6…
64-6….64-6…the score of the 1964 game before the home crowd…64-6. That was the motivation. To beat Brady in Brady, and do so with the intensity that would last until the end of time. Brady should never forget their own unsportsmanlike behavior of the previous year. The Bulldogs wore black hats, the Jackets white. It was easy to get ready for the 1965 game.

Sammy Rabb at fullback. Tommy Duncan at tailback, sophomore Dennis Raesener at quarterback, Robert Mosley, Greg Pyles, Jim Everett, Lendon Lockhart, Douglas Wooten, Frankie Frederick, Sonny Ross, Larry Stovall at linebacker, Pat Zucha, Danny Nixon, big sophomore Joe Lawley, Lanny Hallmark, Jimmy Smith, R.C. Oestreich, Tommy Lockhart, Larry Ligon, Mike Livingston, Johnny Sawyer, Sammy Tate, Bill Miller,, and senior Butch Stovall who missed the most of his senior year due to a severe leg injury suffered in the early part of the season, and myself as tight end. This was the team that followed Coach Weldon Seeliger to Brady in 1965.

Brady received the kickoff and drove 80 plus yards to the one yardline, thena fumble, Llano had the football, and from that point on, it was all Llano. Llano had the ball most of the first half. On to a 19-6 victory with touchdown runs from Zucha and Rabb, the victory not only put the Jackets at 6-1-1 at that point in the season, but the Jackets were for real.

Most Yellowjacket teams remembered for a long time. Llano beat Brady the next year in Llano. And then over the next 9 games Llano played Brady in Brady, Llano won 7 of those games."

Now, here we are again, 42 years later from that 1965 game. What has changed? The Llano Yellowjackets travel to Brady. Brady is picked to make the 2AA playoffs, while Llano is expected to do the same in 3AAA. Great games come around every few years. Same as the case with Llano and Brady.

The best story I remember, was in 1998. Llano was to end up a very inspired 6-6 football season, but in the meantime Llano had to play Brady, rated as the #1 3AAA School in all of West Texas. Brady had a super defense, with two all-everything linebackers. It would be difficult to score on this team. And head football Coach Karl McCormack, after watching film on the Bulldogs all the previous weekend came to the conclusion: Llano’s offense would not likely be able to score on this Brady Bulldog defense. Few others had. Brady was that good on defense.

Was Llano giving up? Would Llano just not show up for the game? Coach Mac, plainly and calculating figured the only way to score on Brady, was to score on its’ offense! Brady ran a version of the old Houston veer and the triple option. Highly skilled and fast players were required to run such an offense. And as fast as the eye could follow, the lightening fast Bulldog quarterback would sprint to one side or the other, and at the last moment flip the football out to a sprinter of a tailback coming and headed for the sideline. Worked all season long. The only weakness in the Bulldog attack was an occasional fumble, usually by the quarterback flipping the football out to the tailback, and he being too fast.

The Jackets went to work during that week. Linebackers picking up fumbles. Not recovering fumbles. Picking up fumbles. Every linebacker for the Jackets worked on it every day. Some players were even wondering what were they doing? But, picking up fumbles, after fumbles, after fumbles is what Llano did all week long.

The game was played in Brady. Brady scored early, with a field goal. Llano waits. Llano fans were beginning to understand that this Brady defense really was the real McCoy. Yielding virtually no yardage to the Jacket offense. The Brady all-everything linebackers stopped Llano cold. Half-time…3-0. Third quarter, 3 to 0. And then the moment came. Brady’s quarterback rolled to his left toward the Jacket sideline, and at the last possible moment, he flipped the football to his tailback. But the tailback was not there. He had run ahead of the quarterback too far, too fast. The football was on the ground, and what seemed like forever, the football laid on the October yellowed grass of Bulldog Stadium. The moment had come, just as Coach Mac had planned. A Yellow Jacket linebacker was waiting. Sprinting to the football, and without losing one bit of speed, picked up the football and sprinted to the end zone, about 40 yards away. The Bulldogs were in pursuit. A race to the goal line. But it was not to be. Llano scored. It was 6 to 3, Llano.

The Jackets played the most inspiring fourth quarter you can ever imagine. Every play by the Bulldog offense was now a play of desperation. Yet, then for 12 minutes, the Llano defense was the best defense on the field. The Bulldogs had never trailed in a game that season. Only against Llano, did the Bulldogs trial. The Bulldogs 6-3 lose was a real heartbreaker to a team that finished 9-1 regular season, with 6 shutouts.

Llano on the other hand, finished the season 5-5. But in the Bi-District game, Llano unset another undefeated team, beating Pearsall 41-26. Llano lost to Industrial the next week in over-time. Llano had just finished its third season in a row in which it won the Bi-District Crown.

If you can try to understand this small item. Beating Brady in Brady just does not get any better for a Yellowjacket fan that knows just a little bit of history. Because in 1964, Llano had been humiliated in front of its home town crowd by the score of 64 to 6. Llano was 7-2-1 over the next decade playing against the Bulldogs. Pay backs are heck, even 42 years later. Just look at the record. Brady just will not go away. Llano has not beat Brady in Brady since that night in 1998! Beating Brady in Brady is no small task.

Scores of Recent Years:

Year Llano Brady Played In

1998     6     3    Brady
1999   20   14    Llano
2000   14   30    Brady
2001   22     0    Llano
2002   27   33    Llano
2003     6   21    Brady
2004   14   32    Brady
2005   24     6    Llano
2006   50     0    Llano
2007      ?      ? Brady

The over-all record of this great rivalry stands at 24 wins for Llano, 22 wins for Brady, with 2 ties.

Prediction: Llano 28 Brady 16