By Van Wade
The Orange Leader

After losing a tremendous senior class that saw 13 players sign from the 2016 Class 4A Division II state championship team, the West Orange-Stark Mustangs’ reputation remains sky-high as the Mustangs are ranked No. 2 in the division in the preseason poll by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine.
Of course, fans of the team in Blue and White have become spoiled as WOS rolled to a perfect 16-0 and captured its second consecutive title with a whipping of Sweetwater and third straight trip to the state championship game.
All the Mustangs accomplished was outscoring the opposition by an 811-69 count to go along with eight shutouts in what was one of the best performances in Texas high school football history.
Coach Cornel Thompson and Co. are in somewhat of a rebuilding mode entering the upcoming season. The Mustangs do have a handful of starters back on both sides of the ball plus plenty of young talents that captured District 9-4A Division II titles on the junior varsity and freshman levels.
There are plenty of tradition-rich programs that fill up the poll.
The Gilmer Buckeyes (13-2 last year), who defeated the Mustangs in the 2014 state title game, is ranked No. 1 in Class 4A Division II.
Celina (11-3), who the Mustangs toppled in the 2015 state title game is ranked No. 4. Sweetwater (13-2), meanwhile, is ranked No. 10.
In Class 4A Division II, both the Bridge City Cardinals and Silsbee Tigers are ranked in the top 20 as the Cardinals (9-3) are No. 19 and the Tigers (6-5) are No. 20.
The two teams duked it out for the District 10-4A Division I title last year with the Cardinals taking a thrilling 42-41 victory at home as Bridge City went three rounds deep into the postseason.
Defending state champion Carthage (13-2) is ranked No. 1 and Abilene Wylie (11-2), whom Carthage defeated in the state title game is No. 6.
In Class 5A, Port Neches-Groves (11-2) and Port Arthur Memorial (10-2), who shared the District 22-5A title with Vidor last season, are ranked No. 31 and No. 35 respectively in the Class 5A poll.
Texas Football will hit the newsstands soon with University of Texas first-year head coach Tom Herman on the cover.