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High school football team’s truly Texan sendoff goes viral

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Published  November 28, 2025 12:44pm CST
Texas
FOX 4
Texas football team gets a horse sendoff

Texas football team gets a horse sendoff

The Henrietta Bearcats football team got a one-of-a-kind send-off before its playoff game in Gunter on Friday.

The Brief

    • A North Texas high school football team, the Henrietta Bearcats, received a viral, Texan sendoff before their playoff games.
    • The unique tradition involves local cowboys riding alongside the team bus on horseback while waving flags.
    • The team won their first game after the original sendoff and received an even larger version for this week's playoff contest.

DALLAS - A North Texas football team got a truly Texan sendoff before a playoff game. 

Several cowboys on horseback rode alongside the players’ bus while waving Texas, American, and team flags.

Henrietta Bearcats Horse Sendoff

Courtesy Henrietta ISD

The backstory:

Last week, a few parents came up with the idea to hype up the Henrietta High School football team before a playoff game against Callisburg High School.

Players captured video of the flag-waving cowboys as their horses galloped alongside the bus. The video went viral on TikTok and Instagram.

And the sendoff seemed to work. Henrietta beat Callisburg 48-21.

What they're saying:

"T H I S  is how you do a SENDOFF!! Clay County Boys, Bearcats, Cowboys! YeeHaw!" Amy Lee Coleman said in the caption of the original sendoff video that was posted on social media.

Henrietta ISD Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Jay Jones said the sendoff was a fun surprise.

"It was a total surprise to us, but we absolutely loved it. Our kids were really fired up about it!" he told FOX 4.

What's new:

The team got an even bigger horseback sendoff as the bus was leaving for this week’s game against Gunter High School in the 3A Division II playoffs.

Dig deeper:

Henrietta is a small city in Clay County located about an hour and 20 minutes northwest of Fort Worth.

The Source: The information in this story comes from Henrietta ISD Superintendent Jaime Clark, Athletic Director Jay Jones, and videos the school district posted on social media.

TexasSports