{"id":26912,"date":"2025-10-29T23:27:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T23:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/26912\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T23:27:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T23:27:07","slug":"with-chance-culley-leading-the-way-plano-has-sights-set-on-new-heights-in-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/26912\/","title":{"rendered":"With Chance Culley leading the way, Plano has sights set on new heights in playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

When asked about why he has been successful running the ball the past two years Chance Culley\u2019s first response is to praise his offensive line. He knows what the often underappreciated guys in the trenches go through, because once upon a time he was one of them.<\/p>\n

And that time wasn\u2019t always pleasant, because he had different football dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started playing football in the fifth grade I was at right guard. I was big for my age, and a little chubby,\u201d said Culley with a laugh. \u201cBut I liked having the ball. I liked running over people and I had been pretty fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately for Plano, Culley would not stay on the line long, and moving forward to today he\u2019s had quite a year running through and away their opposition.<\/p>\n

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Culley\u2019s running has been a critical part of Plano\u2019s success. He has rushed for 1,195 yards and 11 touchdowns for Plano, which concludes its regular season hosting on Prosper Rock Hill on Friday at John Clark Field<\/a>. The game is important for the playoff hopes for both teams as Plano (5-3, 4-3) is currently tied for third place in District 6-6A while Rock Hill (4-3, 3-3) is a half-game behind.<\/p>\n

Plano fans would likely love for Culley to do against Rock Hill what he\u2019s done most of this year. He has rushed for at least 100 yards seven times this season, going over 200 in three of those games.<\/p>\n

This includes 213 yards in a 17-15 win over Plano East last week<\/a>. While he enjoyed a big game over Plano\u2019s archrival, Culley\u2019s favorite game was the season opener when he rumbled for 237 yards and two touchdowns in a 27-17 win over Odessa Permian on Aug. 30 at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco<\/a>. He said the Permian game was his favorite because it avenged a 13-10 loss from last year.<\/p>\n

Culley said that he doesn\u2019t feel tired when he\u2019s having a 200-yard game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just ready to go,\u201d Culley said. \u201cIt\u2019s go time in the fourth quarter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Culley\u2019s time to give running the ball a go turned out to be the seventh grade. Culley credited then-Schimelpfenig Middle School coach Zach Arogosch for giving him the opportunity.<\/p>\n

Culley also credited watching videos of former Plano star Rex Burkhead to improve. Burkhead rushed for 3,530 yards and 57 touchdowns in the 2007 and 2008 seasons combined at Plano before a standout collegiate career at Nebraska and 10 years in the NFL.<\/p>\n

Plano coach Cody White said Culley caught his eye at the junior-varsity level with a style that reminded him of when Plano won state championships in 1986 and 1987.<\/p>\n

\u201cChance is a no-fear football player,\u201d White said. \u201cHe reminds me of the running backs we had under Tom Kimbrough in the late 80s and early 90s.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his varsity debut in 2024 Culley rushed 1,141 yards and 12 touchdowns, helping Plano go 5-5 for the program\u2019s first non-losing season since 2019. In a district with playoff regulars such as Allen, Prosper and McKinney, Culley earned first-team honors on the All-District 6-6A team.<\/p>\n

The linemen helping Culley have another big season in 2025 include tackles Ryan Copeland and Gregory Hurtado, guards Jud Lookenbill and Daniel Holder, center Connor Washington and tight end Greg Pitts. <\/p>\n

Yet despite his success, opportunities to play college football have been limited for Culley. The only program to make him an offer so far is Hendrix College, a Division III program in Conway, Ark. Culley said he can deal with the possibility of not playing college football, but he will exhaust every opportunity first.<\/p>\n

White said Culley is an example of a high school player who is getting fewer chances because of recent changes in the NCAA in which the transfer portal has big-time FBS programs looking to smaller programs for recruits. Those schools in turn look to transfers from below Division I.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll that stuff has a trickle-down effect to high-school kids. It\u2019s not unusual, but it is frustrating,\u201d White said. \u201cBut I think for Chance more offers will come at the start of January. There will be opportunities for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Culley said his focus right now is beating Rock Hill and making a run in the playoffs, although he also has a personal goal of 1,500 rushing yards. Plano has not won a playoff game since 2009, going 0-6 in the postseason since.<\/p>\n

Culley said the legacy he wants to leave at Plano is a sense of self-motivation that worked for him back in the fifth grade, is working now and hopefully will work in the near future.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor future Plano Wildcats I want them to know that if there\u2019s a will, there\u2019s a way. You just have to work at it. You can accomplish anything,\u201d Culley said. \u201cIt worked for me when they told me I would play right guard when I wanted to run the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Find more high school sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sign up for our FREE HS newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When asked about why he has been successful running the ball the past two years Chance Culley\u2019s first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[300,1227,160,162,161,1262],"class_list":["post-26912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-football","tag-high-schools","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news","tag-plano-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}