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Keller Central running back Anthony France celebrates a touchdown run with his teammate during a district game between Keller Central and L.D. Bell at Keller ISD Stadium in Keller, Texas on October 16, 2025.
Special to the Star-Telegram
KELLER
Senior Austin Martin had been on more than a few tough bus rides home during his time at Keller Central.
The one back to the campus in Fort Worth on Thursday night had to feel pretty good.
The linebacker and kicker booted a field goal and also threw a touchdown on a fake field goal attempt in a 38-23 win against Hurst L.D. Bell in a District 4-6A contest at Keller ISD Athletic Complex.
The victory surges the Chargers up to 5-3 overall and 3-3 in district play.
“We are just trying to change the whole mentality through the whole school, just throughout everything,” Martin said. “Through the fans, the students, just the whole program.”
His first two seasons of varsity football resulted in a 1-19 record.
He recalls going 0-10 his sophomore season. Last year, the Chargers went 1-9 but lost the last 8 games of the season.
When the team won the first two games of this year this season, it was the first time since 2021 that the program was 2-0. However, that 2021 season ended with a 2-8 mark.
Since 2021, the Fort Worth school has won only 4 games compared to 36 losses.
“The most important thing to change is the culture,” Keller Central head coach Eric Vance said. “The attitude of winning with expectations.”
Keller Central is off next week, but will close the year playing Southlake Carroll and Byron Nelson.
With a 5-3 mark already, the Chargers will have the first non-losing regular season since 2019, which was also the last time they made the playoffs.
You can attribute some of the change to Vance and his background. He was a four-year starter at Vanderbilt and played six years in the NFL after being an undrafted free agent.
He also spent time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the Director of Player Development and joined the staff at the University of Miami in 2013 as the assistant director of football operations.
All of those stops helped him learn about winning and persevering.
However, he says the blueprint he is using now at Keller Central came from the head coach from across the field — L.D. Bell’s TJ Dibble.
He became the Blue Raiders’ defensive coordinator before the 2021 season for Dibble.
“Coach Dibble is a great coach and he kind of gave me the blueprint,” Vance said. “I’m just taking that blueprint and doing it over at Central and it’s working. Our goal is to go 1-0. We want to go 1-0 every day and if you go 1-0 enough times, at the end of the year, you can look back and say you did a good job.”
When Dibble took over the Blue Raiders program, there were some similarities to the situation that Vance inherited at Central.
From 2014 to 2020, Bell never won more than 3 games in a season and had three years of 1-9 marks.
The Blue Raiders went 2-8 the first year, before jumping to 6-4 and then 7-3.
Vance’s Chargers have followed the same script so far with a 4-win improvement.
“We had a good offseason and the guys are buying in,” he said. “Year two of a program, you’re supposed to be better, right? Last year, I was trying to convince our players that we were a good team. We were probably the best 1-9 team ever. The district is tough.”
LD Bell (5-2, 3-2) missed a field goal on the opening drive, but Central responded and took the lead 3-0 on a 25-yard field goal by Martin.
Bell took the lead less than two minutes later on a 1-yard touchdown run by Braylon Harris, set up by a 60-yard kickoff return by Levi Boyer.
Central took the lead for good on a pair of touchdown runs by quarterback Isaiah Taylor. A 25-yard run on an option pitch came at the 5:34 mark in the second and his 4-yard run with 15 seconds left in the first half made it 17-7.
After holding the Bell offense in check to open the third, Central essentially iced the win on the next drive.
Martin went out to attempt a 31-yard field goal that would’ve made it 20-7. Instead, the Chargers went for the fake and it worked.
Martin got the ball and found his holder, Edward Cole, in the right flat. Cole, going for the catch, was hit but still made the catch and ran it in for a touchdown.
“We found a hole in their defense and our guys executed,” Vance said. “It doesn’t matter if you draw it up if your guys can’t execute. The whole goal was we needed to put the nail in the coffin. We wanted them to look down and get upset. It’s a different game being up by 17 points than 13. [Up by] Three scores is a big deal.”
Martin said the team worked on that play a lot in practice this week before the game.
“I was ready,” he said of his throwing debut. “(Coach Vance) wanted me to kick a few (field goals), to get them distracted and I made the first one. I think it was a turning point.”
Martin credits the wins to the passion and mentality of winning that Vance has tried to instill in the program. He said that before he expected to lose, but now he expects the team to compete.
“The players on the team, we are able to change that mentality,” Martin said.
This story was originally published October 17, 2025 at 12:41 AM.
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Cody Thorn
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