By Tracy Gupton
The 101st season of Roughnecks football will kick off Friday night at Griggs Field in West Columbia when the Needville Blue Jays come to town. Local football fans are encouraged to attend a big pep rally at 7:30 tonight (Thursday) at the stadium on Loggins Drive that has been home to the mighty, mighty Roughnecks since 1969. The 2023 season opener is slated to begin at 7 p.m. Friday.
The Blue Jays edged the Roughnecks 21-20 last season in Needville. So the home team will be looking for a little revenge against their longtime Fort Bend County foes. While Needville’s Little League All Stars are on the verge of qualifying for the championship game at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the boys in maroon and white are hoping to send the Blue Jays home Friday night with a one in their loss column. The 2023 version of the Roughnecks -powered on offense by quarterback Major Marshall and running backs Trevon Lewis and Kavion Lewis – have a little extra incentive to win their season opener.
It is the first game of new head coach Earnest Pena’s career at the helm of the Columbia High football team’s ship. A 2003 graduate of CHS himself, Coach Pena becomes only the second former Roughneck to be hired as athletic director and head football coach in West Columbia. The first was the late Johnnie Renfro, whose 14-5 won-loss record in his two seasons as West Columbia High School’s head coach in 1936 and 1937 gives the former Texas Aggie Renfro the best winning percentage (0.736) in the Brazoria County high school’s long history.
Photo by Tracy Gupton/Columbia Historical Museum Director
New Columbia High School Athletic Director/Head Football Coach Earnest Pena addressed the West Columbia Rotary Club Wednesday and brought along several members of his coaching staff. Pictured, from left, are Roughnecks offensive coordinator Buddy Hardin, defensive coordinator Bubba Ryan, CBISD Superintendent Steven Galloway, Head Coach Earnest Pena, Assistant Head Coach Willis Johnson and Brian Lane. Both Galloway and Lane are members of the West Columbia Rotary Club. Pena played for Brian Lane when he was the Roughnecks head football coach and AD from 2001 to 2006. The Necks won 39 games under Coach Lane and the 2023 team is hoping to give Coach Pena his first win Friday night when the Roughnecks play hosts to the longtime rival Needville High School Blue Jays.
This writer has a family connection with both of the Roughnecks’ home-grown head coaches: my son Bret Gupton played varsity football and baseball for Columbia High with Earnest Pena while my father Rex Gupton played football and basketball for Coach Renfro. My Dad contributed as an offensive and defensive lineman on the Roughnecks’ 1937 team that surrendered the fewest points (13) in a season in Roughnecks’ history.
Earnest Pena was a multi-sport letter winner at Columbia High School, excelling in football, basketball and baseball for the Roughnecks. He graduated from CHS in 2003 and played college baseball before embarking on his coaching career. Coach Pena addressed the West Columbia Rotary Club at their Wednesday noon meeting and brought along several members of his coaching staff.
“My family moved here when I was four years old,” Pena said at the Rotary Club luncheon Wednesday. “I played football under Coach Brian Lane.” Lane, who is a member of the local Rotary Club and was present at the meeting earlier this week, led the Roughnecks several rounds deep in the postseason Earnest Pena’s senior year at Columbia High School.
Pena said that 2016 was his first year back as a teacher and coach at his old alma mater. He is replacing Brent Mascheck as the CBISD athletic director and head football coach. Mascheck, who is now the head coach in Flatonia, leaves West Columbia with a 39-32 record over his seven years as the Roughnecks head football coach. Mascheck’s 2019 team finished 9-2 and were district champs.
CBISD Superintendent Steven Galloway, like Coach Lane a West Columbia Rotarian, introduced Pena at Wednesday’s luncheon at the West Columbia Civic Center. Galloway, a former football coach himself who used to play quarterback for the Angleton Wildcats, informed the audience that the Roughnecks are 15 games under .500 over the school’s 101- year history on the gridiron. Galloway said it is impossible for the 2023 Roughnecks to make up that difference in just one season but added that he expects Coach Pena to guide his football teams to great success over the next couple years.
Pena has been the Roughnecks head baseball coach in recent seasons while also serving as first defensive coordinator then last season as offensive coordinator under Brent Mascheck. Pena was the head baseball coach in the spring of 2023 after accepting the offer from the local school board and Superintendent Galloway to be Columbia High School’s next athletic director and, as mentioned earlier, only the second graduate of West Columbia High School to serve as the school’s head football coach and AD.
Former Roughnecks all district center Wes Griggs was present at Wednesday’s meeting. He is a longtime Rotarian and the grandson of former West Columbia school superintendent Asa Griggs. The old football field that was located next to historic Columbia Cemetery, where Wes Griggs and many other Roughnecks of the past battled opponents on the field, was named after Asa Griggs. Wes graduated from CHS in 1967 and the 1968 football team was the last to play their games at the old stadium. The current stadium is also called Griggs Field.
Jack Hays, the winningest head coach in Columbia High School history with 80 victories over his 11 years as athletic director, took the Roughnecks to the only state championship berth in school history in his first year as head coach in 1969, which was also the first year the current football stadium opened. The athletic field house at Columbia High School is now named the Jack Hays Field House in honor of the member of the Texas High School Association’s Hall of Fame who was the Roughnecks head coach from 1969 to 1979.
Hays’ successor, Ed Derrich, who was my government teacher and coached me on the junior varsity team in 1972, holds the school record for the most years served as Columbia High School athletic director and head football coach. Coach Derrich’s tenure as AD at CHS lasted from 1980 to 1993.
The 2014 Roughnecks team, coached by Randy Lynch’s staff, scored the most accumulated points in a single season in school history with 526, while the most wins in a single season (13) has been accomplished three times, in 1969 when the Roughnecks lost to Brownwood in the Class 3A state championship game, 1987 and 2011.
Galloway introduced new Roughnecks head coach Earnest Pena at Wednesday’s luncheon as West Columbia High School’s 25th AD and head coach in school history.
Pena introduced his offensive coordinator Buddy Hardin, defensive coordinator Bubba Ryan and strength coordinator and assistant head coach Willis Johnson who, like Pena, is a former Roughnecks football player.
“I want to build consistency through our coaching staff,” Pena said, adding that he wants to hire assistant coaches who plan to stay with his program for multiple years. “I grew up here. Willis grew up here. Bubba is from Sweeny, but he lives in Columbia Lakes. We played against each other in high school.”
Coach Pena said he will incorporate the Wing-T offense in 2023. “It’s harder defensively to plan against the Wing-T.”
Photo by Tracy Gupton/Columbia Historical Museum Director
First year Roughnecks head football coach Earnest Pena spoke about his hopes for his inaugural season as Columbia High School’s new athletic director in 2023 at Wednesday’s Rotary Club luncheon in West Columbia.
“Accountability is huge,” Pena said. “I want to create a culture of positivity through discipline and love.” He emphasized the importance of each player on an Earnest Pena coached team to always be accountable for his actions, both on the field and off. He is hoping this approach to coaching at the same school where he attended classes and stood out on the football field, basketball court and baseball diamond will pay off in the long run.
The four Roughnecks football coaches encourage everyone to throw their support behind this year’s football team by attending pep rallies and games throughout the 2023 season. District foes this year will be Sealy, Bellville, Wharton, Sweeny, LaMarque and Brookshire Royal. Pena realizes that it will be difficult to reach the playoffs in his rookie season as head football coach, but the former standout Roughnecks multi-sport athlete is looking forward to the challenge.