Morton Ranch announced its new head football coach on Friday, bringing in a coach with experience in the area and a background in developing strong programs.

Nicholas Cavallo was named the new head coach of Morton Ranch, as he will be the fifth head coach in school history.

Cavallo moves into the role after leading the George Ranch program in Richmond for the past six seasons. He comes off a 9-3 season where he led the Longhorns to a third place finish and an area round appearance, with the Longhorns beating Taylor in the bi-district round to advance to the second round of the playoffs.

He led the Longhorns to playoffs in five of his six seasons as head coach and accumulated a 34-30 record.

Cavallo earned a bachelors degree in law and society at Purdue where he then went on to become a graduate assistant, eventually becoming an offensive player development specialist at Rutgers before becoming a defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator at Campbell University. Cavallo came to the Houston area and became the defensive coordinator at Terry High School, where he helped the Rangers to two playoff appearances from 2013-2017 before becoming the head coach at George Ranch in 2018.

George Ranch improved every year under Cavallo, going from a 4-6 record to a 5-7 record in 2019, a 5-4 record in 2020, a 5-5 record in 2021, a 6-5 record in 2022 and a 9-3 record this past season.

He succeeds Ron Counter, who had a record of 29-40 at Morton Ranch over the past seven seasons, making the playoffs once in 2022, where the Mavericks lost to Hightower in the bi-district round. Before Ron Counter, Dave Meadows, Scott Svendsen and Jim Shewmake led the Mavericks program, overall Morton Ranch has a record of 72-111 in the history of its football program.

“I am grateful and excited for the opportunity to work with such a dedicated and talented team of educators and staff at Morton Ranch High School,” Cavallo said. “The Mavericks’ reputation precedes itself, and I feel privileged to join this remarkable community. I am excited to hit the ground running and get to work. I am looking forward to building a championship program that both our students and the entire school community can be proud of.”