TEMPLE, Texas — The Temple High School Pitmasters BBQ Team will be advancing to the Texas High School BBQ Association State Competition after blazing its way to a top five finish at a Regional Qualifier cookoff this past weekend.
Temple High School hosted the Texas High School BBQ Association Regional Qualifier on Saturday (November 15), and the Pitmasters’ performance earned the team a spot in the organization’s state cookoff. All five members of the Temple HS Pitmasters are new to the team this year and Saturday’s cookoff was the first time this squad had competed against other high school teams. Those two factors made qualifying for the state competition a sweet surprise for some of the team members.
“It was surprising to say the least,” said Alex Mungia, a senior at Temple High School. “I really felt like we should have scored higher in some of the events, so I was a little scared that we weren’t going to qualify. So, I was really happy.”
“It felt pretty good to qualify,” added Travis Scantling, a THS junior. “I love cooking and my dad also competes in cookoffs, so I want to be able to go out and beat him in competitions.”
The Temple High School Pitmasters are comprised of Mungia, Scantling, junior Hunter Frank, sophomore Colton McKenney, and freshman Maxwell Morrison. The Pitmasters are coached by Joe and Allison Medrano. Each team member is responsible for a specific food item that must be turned in on a very rigid timeline during each competition. Mungia is in charge of the upside-down Dutch oven cake, Scantling specializes in ribeye steaks, Frank oversees the grilled cheese, McKenney is the chicken specialist, and Morrison is in charge of the ribs.
The team members say they joined the Pitmasters for a variety of reasons and have enjoyed learning about spices, seasonings, and the mechanics of barbecue. But they are also learning a menu full of other lessons, too.
“I have learned teamwork and leadership skills,” said Mungia. “I have also learned how to handle different types of people on my team and sportsmanship.”
“Leadership is a big part in barbecuing,” Frank said. “You have to constantly be talking to your teammates during the competition.”
Those type of lessons are especially important to someone like Frank who hopes to open his own restaurant after he graduates. He says being part of the Pitmasters and having the chance to learn and compete will help him towards that goal.
“This is going to help with developing leadership and teamwork down the road,” Frank added. “The cooking skills are also going to help me.”
Not everyone on the team plans to go into the restaurant business after high school, but the students are learning more about barbecue every time they get a chance to cook or compete. The career aspirations may be different, but they all have the same goals going into the state competition.
“My expectations are going to be way higher; I am hoping that we can keep practicing and go out and hit it hard going into state,” Mungia said.
“We have to make sure that we go and place at state,” added Scantling.
“I am expecting to go into state and place and then eventually to win it,” Frank said.
The Texas High School BBQ Association State Championship will be held May 2, 2026, at Burnet High School. The Temple High School Pitmasters, with five different team members, also qualified for the state competition in 2023 and went on to finish second as reserve grand champion in the National High School BBQ Association’s National Championship that year.