Rankin’s Two-headed monster at Running back
· Yahoo Sports
RANKIN, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) - The Rankin Red Devils have a very young team in 2026, with only two seniors, and they're both at running back.
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Matthew Ramos and Kayin Hanna are leading the way for Rankin this season. Last week, not only did the Red Devils shut out Sterling City, but Hanna won homecoming king, putting the cherry on top.
"it feels great. I mean, I've always seen it as a kid and I always thought it'd be cool for that to eventually be me one day, but I enjoyed it," Hanna said. "I mean, I was honestly kind of surprised because I haven't been here for too long, but I didn't really expect it too much, but it's cool."
As for Ramos, the biggest improvement from his junior year is relying on his guys.
"I would say that my game has had the biggest growth in just trusting in my teammates," Ramos said. "Honestly, just letting them lift me up and help me through the season. I feel like I've gotten a lot better at that."
Head coach Garret Avalos led the Red Devils to the state championship game in 2025, and is leaning on the duo to take them there.
"They're veterans by now," Avalos said. "We rely on them a lot to kind of lead us through practices. They're both phenomenal athletes, but even better kids. And I call them kids, they're young men now."
Additionally, as Rankin looks to get back to the state title game, Avalos makes it a point to focus on the present, despite being a stacked district.
"I tell them every year, this is the 2026 football team, it's not 2025 anymore. So it's brand new, whether it's one guy or two guys that we lost last year, three or four, it doesn't matter," Avalos said. "It's a whole new makeup and we got to fill some spots, and the way our region is just extremely loaded with, with talented teams. It's hard to think that far down the road, but I think it would definitely be very, very special to get to experience that again."
Ramos is halfway through his senior season; he wants to push himself to the limit day in and day out.
"I want to look back and I don't want to have any regrets about my time here at Rankin or my senior season," Ramos said. "I just want to, you know, go out there and leave it all out there, have the most fun I can with all my teammates for one last ride."
The Red Devils take on the Grandfalls-Royalty Cowboys tonight at 7 p.m. at John S. White Stadium.
To hear more from the running back duo, watch the video above.
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