Dip Our Souls in Texas Football
by whills on Dec 10, 2010 3:23 PM CST
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PrintWhile we pay attention to all things Longhorn, the overriding truth is we're steeped in Texas football and all it's lore. This starts early and begins in high school and remains accessible to us long after we've left those fields of play.
Right now the Texas high school playoffs have progressed to the semi-finals and, in the case of 3A Division I, the finals. There is a richness to these games that replenishes the well-spring of our love for football - our football. Texas football. With more schools and more teams than any other state, it is no wonder that there is a world of talent and innovation saturated and fired by great competition in whatever class you may choose. Late in the season, new talent emerges, seniors that were missed in early recruiting who matured in their final season, junior and sophomores just making their mark, occasionally the remarkable freshman...these are the games where reputations are created and transferred into the lore we call Texas football.
This is the week of dreams, where the perspiration of summer and aspirations to greatness finally pay off for a select few teams. Are they the very best? Maybe not, but they've earned it in the time-honored Texas tradition - on the field of play. These are the hot shot gunslingers of our day, just as fast, just as quick and sleek, and just as sneaky, as anyone who ever set a boot in the Texas dust. No more talk. This is for forever.
Austin teams continue to drive toward state titles. At the top of the list in 5A Division I is Round Rock Stony Point, a whopping 72-48 winner over DeSoto last week and now making a bid for true power program status. To get it, they have to face the team that beat them last year at this stage, one acclaimed by four polls as the Number 1 team in the state at this moment, Euless Trinity. Trinity has won three out of the last five titles but barely slipped by Coppell last week, 41-40. Two weeks earlier, they edged Allen, 37-35. College coaches and scouts will be flocking to Waco's Floyd Casey Stadium to eyeball the great talent at 4 tomorrow.
On the other side of the bracket, Longview beat Mesquite Horn, 28-14, over in Louisiana to earn the right to face Denton Guyer, who beat Southlake Carrol, 24-14. Even if Stony Point wins, there will be tough, tough competition in the finals.
Lake Travis found the means to beat Cedar Park, 21-20, last Saturday. Cedar Park was minus its starting quarterback due to injury, but still put up better numbers than Lake Travis. But, as DKR said, the punt return will kill you quicker than anything else and the Cavs got one to help out their cause. Now they face Friendswood Saturday at 2 at Kyle Field. The winner will face the winner of Denton Ryan and Wylie.
Bastrop was the lone CenTex team that didn't make the cut, closely losing to Poteet, 42-35, in 4A Division II. Damn close but no cigar. Poteet now faces the reigning champion Aledo in Mansfield Newsom Stadium Friday at 7:30. In the other bracket, long-time coastal powers LaMarque and Calallen clash in the Alamodome Friday at 7:30.
Brownwood just keeps rolling as Bob Shipley chases the Gordon Wood mystique. Wood took Brownwood to five state championships and won all of them. You don't get any better than that. I know some Brownwood people living here now and they're all slobbering like rabid cats. They beat an old rival in Monahans last week, 44-14. Three of those five Gordon Wood teams had to face Monahans as well and in one it came out a 10-10 tie, with Brownwood advancing. That's four great Monahans teams that went down to the Lions, the kind of bad karma that will probably even out one day.
There was an earlier playoff Brownwood game that is worth noting, in bi-district against Iowa Park. Some of you may have seen the score, 88-24, and wondered what the hell. Well, there was some very brutal play involved in the first half of that game. One game replay noted 17 illegal - and possibly injurious - hits in the first half. Twelve of those were by Iowa Park and five by Brownwood. Several of those were on Texas commit Jaxon Shipley. And boy did Bob, his dad/coach, go ballistic.
Reports said that Bob Shipley and IP Coach Scott Palmer had to be separated by security at the end of the first half. Palmer really didn't get what Shipley's point was, which we'll reconcile in a moment. Shipley essentially told him, to paraphrase without the spit and drool, 'if you don't stop the dirty play, we're not gonna stop scoring.' It was 55-24 at the half. Apparently Palmer didn't get the full message and thus the final, 88-24. Brownwood averages 57.5 a game, so they have the weaponry to do pretty much as they please.
In a follow-up interview Monday morning, North Texas journalist Nick Gholson watched the film with Palmer and they counted up the bad hits - IP got seven personal foul penalties as well as an ejection - and when Palmer saw the hits on Jaxon, then he understood...he has boys playing football and could empathize with the situation. That story is here.
Jaxon scored on three long receptions and had another TD on a 39 yard run. By my best calculation (I can't find his exact stats; anyone?), he has about 75 receptions for 1,500 yards and 28 TDs. What is the amazing statistic is that, minus one pick 6, Brownwood scored 12 touchdowns in just 45 offensive plays. That's a hell of an output. Here's the Iowa Park game story from the Abilene Reporter-News. Next Brownwood faces East Texas powerhouse Carthage at Dallas' Kincaid Stadium at 7:30 p.m. If you're in the Metroplex, that's where the fireworks will be.
Wimberley has a shot in the other 3A bracket. The Texans pounded Geronimo-Navarro, 40-14, and will face Coldspring, another near East Texas school south of Livingston. This will be at Floyd Casey in Waco Friday at 7:30 p.m.
The one game that will be played in Austin, the upstart 2A Lago Vista Vikings will visit the big time environs of DKR Memorial Stadium to host the traditionally powerful Cameron Yoe in Austin Saturday at 7 p.m. Lago slipped by Rice Consolidated, 20-17, and they are loving the Cinderella dream in their first-time adventure. Both towns couldn't fill up a quarter of the stadium, so if you're interested, there will be plenty of great seats for all.
All in all, last week was a hell of a show for local teams and I didn't even include Lexington, relatively nearby. If you're hungering for football, your menu is loaded this evening and tomorrow.
The UIL website for all the brackets is here.
Earlier this week lnghrn53 did a fan post regarding the 6-man finals this weekend at Shotwell Stadium in Abilene, with the games at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., a great two-fer.
If have have favorites, are going to the games or just have some of your own memories from those past days, let 'em fly in the comments. Gotta go for the short term but will return early evening.
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1998, 1999, 2000 5A State Champions
And all of the sudden I’m missing the glory days.
Robert E. Lee High School Class Of 2001.
High School Football Playoffs are magical. There is something electrifying about them that stays with you forever. Aside from the injuries.
" Answers --Become Resources."
Without Questions, There are limited Resources...
Robert E Lee was good...
but I still don’t understand how in 2004 (when the district was just Longview, Lufkin, Lee, and Tyler who all played twice and sent 3 to the playoffs) they could lose twice to both Lufkin and Longview and then get placed in Big 5A and win state while Lufkin and Longview played for a third time in the semi-finals (like Longview and Mesquite Horn this year) knocking Longview out and Lufkin eventually gets beat by South Lake Carroll. I think the whole Big5A Little 5A is extremely flawed. If anything I’d rather have the district champs play in one bracket and the wildcard teams play in another.
It's all about orange slices and participation ribbons.
Just like the CFB bowl system. Doesn’t really separate the wheat from the chaff.
There's also the UIL funding issue in the background.
They get a percentage of the playoff gate (15%, if I remember correctly, if it hasn’t changed) so expanding the playoffs expands their funding.
In addition, coaches get to add to their victory totals, particularly playoff wins. So, coaches are sorta coerced by the padding of their records into accepting the playoff expansion.
Frankly, two teams are plenty. I played when there was only one district champ and there were often great teams, 9-1 or 9-0-1 in those times, who never got a shot. This really hurt some powerful districts. In smaller schools, once-in-decade teams sometimes never went anywhere because of a powerful program in their district (like a Lake Travis). So, I find that two are fair, more are frivolous.
I just don't get the division splits
I was all for the 5A move. That made sense to me. But the divisional splits thin the water.
The way I understand
it was attempt to balance out the scale of the difference in a class sizes. In 4A, that’s about 900 students from small to large; in 5A it can be several thousand, although now not as extreme as Plano at one time before it split. In 3A it’s about 400.
The class size is not always a good indicator of great teams, and the inequity is often more on the district level. I understand there was some serious talks this year of going to a 6A designation to balance things out, although nothing will really do that.
Sometimes the best teams get pushed down to Division II when they could have won in Division I. The practical side is that schools can’t handle the time frame for over 32 teams in a bracket (in terms of weeks). But you’re right in that there is an equivalency problem as far as I see.
For example, we’re one of the smaller schools in our 4A district, some 1,100+, with three schools over 1,800 or so (Cedar Park, Lake Travis and Vista Ridge). That’s about a 3A teams worth of difference in the numbers…greater range of athletes to choose from proving greater depth and more speed across the board. just for openers.
I think we're discussing a different Lee.
I’m refering to Lee in Midland, TX. While I don’t remember them being in the same district with Longview, Tyler, and Lufkin, I could be wrong.
In 1998 we won 5A small school. While in 1999 we won 5A Big School, although we weren’t considered a 5A Big School at the time. I remember being ranked number 1 in the country going into the 2000 season, but it was confusing due to the fact that we didn’t have an official 5A small and 5A big school ranking. UIL is almost as bad as the BCS.
" Answers --Become Resources."
Without Questions, There are limited Resources...
Great stuff.
I feel remiss that I haven’t been weighing in at all on the high school playoffs. Would add that Shipley is going against fellow Texas commit Kendall Thompson and a 2012 safety I like a lot in Edward Pope, who plays both ways for Carthage. Shipley is essentially uncoverable and Brownwood has an unfair amount of talent for a 3A program, but Carthage are the two-time defending champions, having defeated Case and Bob McCoy’s Graham team last season. Should be a fantastic game.
Down in San Antonio, Malcolm Brown’s Cibolo Steele team will be taking on Memorial from Houston, a week after taking down SA Macarthur 49-26 in a game that featured 241 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries for Brown and Texas Tech commit Jace Amaro, my number one tight end in the state, had 116 yards and three touchdowns on seven catches of his own,
by Wescott Eberts (GoBR) on Dec 10, 2010 4:33 PM CST reply actions
Thanks, ghost.
I just ran too long to add Cibolo Steele but I had heard Brown is nearing 2,000 yards again, a number that I didn’t think he’d get close to after moving up to 5A. Kudos to the team for jumping a class and going farther in the playoffs than last year.
This article from mysanantonio.com talks about the strength of the Steele defense running the Tampa 2 which has been the backbone the team needed to get so far. Sounds like their MLB Ryan Simmons (159 tackles) and their safeties, Shane and Eric Huhn, do a hell of a job.
I hope...
Longview and Cibolo Steele play in the State Championship Game, I’d love to see Malcolm Brown in person…while still rooting for my Lobos of course.
As reported at brownwoodnews.com
After 14 straight wins this season, the Brownwood Lions ended their playoff run in the State Semi-Final game against the Carthage Bulldogs in the final seconds of the game.
In the end, Carthage put enough pressure on the Lions to cause them to miss a pass from the 5 yard line into the end zone with two seconds on the clock that could have tied up the game. Brownwood players, coaches, and fans stood stunned as the clock ran out giving Carthage the win 28-35.
A battle was fought throughout the entire game, touchdown after touchdown was answered by the opposing team. All in attendance endured one of the most emotional games of the season as was predicted by much of the media and sports authorities.
It was an unexpected blow to all on the Brownwood side, a truly heartbreaking game to end the season many felt sure would bring that coveted 8th State title.
Coach Shipley and his Lion “hearts” went down swinging in the final seconds. See his soulful post game remarks here.
It hurts. If you weren’t a winner, it wouldn’t hurt.
Money.
Not endorsing this....
but this is why the anti-playoff guys like the bowl system, no disappoint…
Personally I think disappointment in sports is healthy for these young men and wish the NCAA would take note from the UIL and kill the BCS already.
by TowerPower on Dec 11, 2010 12:06 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Unbelievable
Denton Guyer blocks a Longview punt with :25 remaining in the game down 6. One play later, Guyer throws a TD with :10 left. Go on to win by 1 point 21-20 after playing from behind the entire game. Good lesson for you up and coming football players. The game is SIXTY minutes long for a reason. Play ’till the final whistle. Um um um. Too bad for the Lobos.
Actually, just 48 for HS, but the sentiment is still the same.
Thanks for all your comments. We really need some more of these game stories. Some of these games are truly amazing.
I head a museum and we are moving – well, we’ve been packing and transferring everything for this past week and will have more this coming week. So my time is limited but I will do another post for the finals. If you or anyone has any special insight about the teams, email me. Again, thanks.
I definitely agree with TowerPower that disappointment in sports is healthy for young people. It really gives the victories depth and significance and makes them realize just how fine the edge is between winning and losing, like it is in so much of life.
One of the good things which may come out of this years meltdown by the Horns is that I hope they have a fresh appreciation for what it takes to be victorious.
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