Rogers has a long, proud football tradition, and the Eagles came close to giving their town its first state championship when they reached the Class 2A title game in 1997. But Rogers lost to Stamford and the Eagles haven't advanced past the state semifinals since then.
So although Rogers probably still likes to think of itself as a football town, its itch to become home to a state champion was first scratched by the Eagles' baseball program.
Rogers joined the realm of state champions when it won the 2A baseball crown in 2007, then validated its status as a modern diamond power by capturing another 2A title in 2010.
The two trophies look the same, but the fashion in which those two groups of Eagles attained Lone Star State superiority was quite different.
The 2007 squad of coach Craig Coheley was downright dominant, racking up a 36-2 record and never losing to a 2A opponent. The Eagles, first-time state semifinalists in 2006, were 10-0 in the '07 playoffs, sweeping four straight best-of-three series before taking down Blanco and Hooks to seize the state championship at Round Rock's Dell Diamond.
Rogers' star player that year was hard-throwing junior pitcher Taylor Jungmann, the tall right-hander who compiled a 14-0 record and was selected 2A's state player of the year. Jungmann, who transferred to 5A Georgetown for his senior year, went on to star for the Texas Longhorns.
Alan Valenzuela, Chris Joshlin, Ricky Brenek, Marshall Coots, Braxton Byers and Cameron Doskocil also played vital roles for Rogers in 2007.
On the other hand, Rogers' 2010 club didn't come close to displaying that kind of dominance but still found a way to emerge as the state's best.
The Eagles of second-year coach Keith Klaus (Coheley departed for Farmersville after the 2008 season) had to share the district title with rival Salado (the 2A state champ in '08), and they lost the opening game of best-of-three playoff series against Johnson City LBJ, Comfort and Danbury before rallying back to advance. Rogers reached its third state tournament in five years by beating Weimar 4-3 in the single-game Region IV final.
Competing at the University of Texas' Disch-Falk Field in Austin, Rogers rode the pitching of senior right-handers Gregory Mendoza and Chance Marek (both were part-time players on the '07 team) plus opportunistic offense to defeat White Oak and Bushland, respectively, for its second state championship in four seasons.
Nobody would contend that Rogers' 2010 team would have much of a chance to beat its 2007 squad, but that wasn't the point. No, the point was that Rogers, the old football town, had confirmed its status as a bona fide baseball powerhouse.
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