I enjoyed writing every single HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL article and sharing my thoughts and pictures with you. “Nobody loves High School Football more than Mark,” Don Harris, News4 San Antonio sportscaster and play-by-play analyst for Thursday Night Lights on CW35. I am thrilled that I have a place where I can share my passion with the rest of the world.
Thank you so much for the BLOG comments, the Facebook comments and likes, and all of the Twitter retweets, favorites, and comments. I really appreciate it.
HOLY MOLY, the 2013 High School football season was AWESOME and I had a front-row seat to 34 games in 14 weeks!!! Yeah, I was a bit disappointed that it ended earlier than I had planned. I was planning a triple header on Saturday, December 21st in Arlington at Cowboys stadium with Alamo Heights, Judson, and Steele but that obviously didn’t happen.
The Falls City Beavers did make it Arlington, but fell short in the 1A-DII state championship game.
The Brennan Bears also made it to Arlington, but they fell short in the 4A-DI state championship game.
CONGRATS TO THE FALLS CITY BEAVERS AND THE SAN ANTONIO BRENNAN BEARS FOR A GREAT YEAR!!
In my high school football wrap-up last season, I mentioned that after each game, my feet hurt. Well, no feet issues this season as I got custom fitted for a colorful pair of new balance sneakers!!! Super comfy and the salesman at the New Balance store at the Forum was nice, helpful, and put up with me and my wife (we both got new sneakers)!!!
I ordered business cards to promote myself and the blog and handed quite a few out.
I did a good job of being “social media friendly” during games by provided scoring updates and key stats. I enjoyed doing that and loved the interaction with my readers.
In Week 12, I had a stat issue!!! No, I didn’t forget how to add and subtract numbers nor did I run out of dry erase markers (that really happened a few years ago). When I opened my football backpack to set myself up, I realized that the 2 stat-boards that I use all the time were in my laptop bag but I just happen to have a backup stat-board (only 1)…so, I had to use that 1 board for both teams and I also had to make sure it was readable for the broadcasters. You know something, it actually worked out easier than I imagined.
Just so you know, some of my High School Football articles were written at the Semmes Library (that is why my stat boards were in my laptop bag). Hey, they got free WiFi, it is quiet, and when we had house showings on Saturday’s it was a good place to go for me.
No more showing as we are under contract from a buyer and closing is set for January 31st…yep, there will be JOINT real estate BLOGS written by me and my wife!!! You won’t want to miss these!!! We will tell you the truth of real estate!!!
I couldn’t even begin to count how many breath taking moments I witnessed this year (yeah, I should know since I am a stat man)!
You know something, two of those breath taking moments stood out to me and I will always remember them as they are permanently embedded in my “football brain.”
The first was Scott Lehnoff, the Steele Knight head coach, getting his first victory.
The second was the Judson Rockets breaking 2 (yes 2) records in the same game…first was 37 consecutive years of winning seasons in Texas High School football (they are number 1) and in that same game, they also scored a team high of 72 points!!! DOUBLE WOW!!!
Out of the 34 games, 14 of them were Judson Rockets. At all the Judson homes games, Dickeys BBQ on FM 78 provided us with dinner and that was extremely nice of them. Thanks Mark Cohen and Dickeys BBQ!!
JUDSON ROCKETS WEEKLY RECAP
Dude, they started with a HUGE Week 0 win at Lake Travis.
In Week 1, they lost to Steele, but to be brutally honest, had Judson not had the turnover bug, they would’ve easily defeated the Steele Knights which would’ve also pushed Steele to 0 wins and 2 losses!!!
The Rockets defeated Churchill in Week 2, East Central in Week 3, and Corpus Christi Carroll in Week 4.
In Week 6, the Rockets played Wagner in the Hammer Bowl. Coming into the game, Wagner was winless and Judson had 1 loss. DW Rutledge stadium was packed and the fans and us in the press-box were treated to a Judson win and a lot of strange stats. This was also the first time in my many years as a stat man, that I went down to the field during halftime to get pictures of all the fans.
Man, in Week 7, the Rockets got Spring Branch’itis as something “bad” was in the air that made the Rockets play horrible against there District rival, the Smithson Valley Rangers.
In Week 8, they played the San Marcos Rattlers whose coach is Mark Soto, a former Judson assistant and the Rockets broke 2 records that night!!! WOW!!!
New Braunfels Canyon and New Braunfels were defeated by Judson in Week 9 and Week 10.
Week 11 was a rematch against the Churchill Chargers and the Rockets took care of business. In Week 12, they faced a tough Warren Warrior team but unfortunately, the starting quarterback for Warren got hurt and Judson didn’t give any mercy to the back-up quarterback and crushed the Warriors (had the starter been healthy, it would’ve been a much different outcome).
Now comes “Valley Week 13” where Judson played the Laredo United Longhorns and the Valley teams just don’t have the speed or athleticism to compete with the San Antonio teams…Judson annihilated Laredo United by a score of 68 to 21.
Now, we got the much anticipated Week 14 match-up of Judson and Madison. Dude, the 4th quarter had 5 lead changes but in the end, Madison won (I thought Judson scored to win the game on a 4th and goal from the 3 yard line, but the officials called it just short).
The Judson Rockets finished the season earlier than I and a lot of fans wanted.
Despite not having a 1,000 yard rusher (for probably the first time in many many many years), they still had HUGE offensive numbers. The quarterback, Rayjohn Austin-Ramsey threw for 2,965 yards (that is a team record) with 31 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. Ramsey was also my stat/player of the week 3 times!!! WOW!!! Along with Ramsey, I want to say thanks to Malik Pryor, Andre Wilson, Brandon Sanders, Jo’Von Kyle, Cameron Johnson, Cedric Williams, and the rest of the seniors on the Rockets team. Good luck.
OK, now is a great place to bring up my GAME’S OF THE YEAR (this is only games that I worked). Will any Judson games make the list? You will have to keep reading to find out!!!
Comeback Game of the Year
In Week 4, the Burbank Bulldogs defeated the Highlands Owls by a score of 43 to 21. At Halftime, Highlands led 21 to 0 and it looked they were gonna sail to an easy victory. Man, in the 2nd half, Burbank forced turnovers and got quick scores and completely turned the game around. Oh, it was also Burbank’s first victory over Highlands since 1987!!!
Blow-out Game of the Year
How can I not give it to a team that scored 72 points and held the opponent to 18? This happened in Week 8 as the Judson Rockets took the venom out of the San Marcos Rattlers. I have never seen a team score that many points…9 offensive touchdowns, a punt return for a touchdown, and a safety!!! WOW!!! With the win, the Rockets also recorded 37 consecutive years of winning season and that puts them at number 1 for the state of Texas!!!
QUICK SIDE NOTE: The Aledo Bearcats defeated Fort Worth Western Hills in October by a score of 91 to 0!!! Yes, 91 to 0 folks. A parent of a Fort Worth player filed a bullying complaint against Aledo (which was investigated by Aledo and ultimately dropped because they found no grounds for it). This actually got the attention of national media.
Aledo won the 4A-DII state championship last Saturday in Arlington and they ALSO hold the record for most points scored in a season with 1,023 in the USA!!!
Let me express my opinions on running up the score. The back-ups work just as hard as the starters and if the back-ups have a chance to score, I am all for it!!! I haven’t worked a blow-out where the starters are still playing in garbage time…that I think is wrong.
Upset Game of the Year
The number 1 Madison Mavericks hosted the number 4 Smithson Valley Rangers in Week 3. After the first quarter, the Rangers were up 21 to 0 and easily won the game by a final score of 47 to 20. Yeah, I was surprised on how dominate Smithson Valley was that night. The Rangers racked up 574 yards of total offense and Madison had less than 200!!! With that win, the Rangers were the number 1 team for the rest of the season, but they lost in the first round of the playoffs and Madison lost in the semifinals.
Almost Upset Game of the Year
In Week 8, the winless Southside Cardinals played the 1 loss Harlandale Indians. The Southside Cardinals played their hearts out and almost won and had that happened, this would’ve easily been the upset game of the year. The final score was 21 to 14 Harlandale with the win.
Game of the Year
Last year, my Game of the Year was the state quarterfinal playoff game between the Madison Mavericks and O’Connor Panthers. That game featured 5 players over 100 yards, 14 touchdowns, 45 first downs, 101 points, 122 plays, and 1,027 yards of offense. WOW!!!
Well, this year, the game I chose does feature one of these teams but the overall numbers are complete opposites: 2 touchdowns, 3 field goals, and 22 points!!!
This game was the O’Connor Panthers and the Brandeis Broncos in Week 3. These schools are rivals and are less than 4 miles from each. Farris stadium was a packed house and they saw an absolutely crazy finish that will be talked about for a very long time.
Dude, in my BLOG recap for that game, I called it the Game of the Year and heck it stood strong and remained at the top of my list all season long!!!
Let me tell you what happened in the last :80 seconds of the game…
The Brandeis Broncos had a 9 to 7 lead over the O’Connor Panthers. Everybody was standing and cheering!!
O’Connor recovered a Brandeis fumble near midfield with 1:20 remaining. The Panthers kicked what I thought would be a game winning 29 yard field goal with :08 seconds left in the game and led 10 to 9. All they had to do was kickoff and defend one play…sounds easy?
The Broncos got the ball with :06 seconds left and 74 yards of field in front of them. O’Connor was defending for a pass and they had men 50 yards down the field. The Brandeis quarterback threw a short pass to a wide receiver who lateraled it to another player (at this time, the clock showed triple zeros and the O’Connor players ran on the field to celebrate a 10 to 9 win). I was up in the press-box and I also was giving O’Connor the win as I thought the Brandeis player got tackled out of bounds.
I then saw a Brandeis player running with the football (the O’Connor players who ran on the field had to quickly get back to the sideline). That Brandeis player was finally tackled at the 35 yards line and oh no, a yellow penalty flag is on the field. The penalty was on O’Connor for a sideline infraction which gave Brandeis one final play with no time on the clock. OMG!!! Brandeis kicked a 30 yard field goal and nailed it and they won the game 12 to 10!!!
The O’Connor fans couldn’t believe what just happened and I was saying unbelievable!!! WOW!!! We sure got treated to an amazing finish!!!
It was by far the most unbelievable finish I have ever seen in a High School football game and I got 17 years of this so that says a lot!!!
After the game ended, a nearby Whataburger got the “food fight of the year” as students from both schools took their frustrations out on each other with food!!! No charges were filed and poor Whataburger had to shut down for a minutes to clean up the mess. WOW and YUCK and WHAT A GREAT WASTE OF FOOD!!!
Controversial Games of the Year
So, what did I think of that FINAL penalty from the Brandeis and O’Connor game? Gosh, I was in the press-box and I thought the Brandeis player got tackled out of bounds (it happened on the far side of the field and there were a lot of players involved).
In Week 14, the Judson Rockets played the Madison Mavericks in the state quarterfinals and there were several calls that could’ve gone either way and who knows, the outcome could’ve been different as well.
One of those questionable calls happened at the end of the game…Madison led 33 to 29 and Judson had a 4th and goal from the 3 yard line with :23 seconds left in the game. Andre Wilson was the quarterback and he ran the ball to the right side and I though he scored a touchdown for the win, but it was called just short…Madison took over on downs and ran one play and sealed a victory. I saw pictures of the last play from Andre and it really looks like the ball was across the goal-line. WOW!!!
The officials don’t have instant replay available and they are much closer to the action and they made the calls. We can’t go back and do it over! Of course, there will be opinions from fans, coaches, players, and even us in the media. So, we have to deal with it and move on.
I have learned my lesson and won’t ever complain again about the officiating. Last year, I complained (in my blog) about the refs from a High School Football game I worked; well, the head official found my comments and emailed me. We communicated back and forth via email several times and I am happy to say that we are on very good terms.
Funny random side note about that official…his mother was the Vice Principle where I, my brother, and my cousins attended middle school. He was also in the replay booth at UTSA Football games last year and I was doing stats for the Spanish radio crew for UTSA Football games and our booths were next to each other and yes, I eventually did meet him a few weeks after our email exchanges.
ALAMO STADIUM
Alamo stadium was unavailable for games this season because it is undergoing MAJOR renovations. It will be ready for the 2014 season and let me be the first to say, that when it is done, it is going to be awesome.
I started taking photos of the Alamo stadium/convocation center renovations in March of this year and have made a total of 9 site visits (most recent was on December 13, 2013). The first visit was curiosity and then it turned in to a job for me. I am so glad I am able to visually document the progress and share it with you. With each visit, I am always wowed by the transformation.
I never imagined how much publicity these photos have gotten and trust me, they have gotten a lot. Dude, they got me on KSAT 12.
I was also on CW35 a few times throughout the Thursday Night Lights football games AGAIN for my Alamo stadium photos!!! Yep, I am almost famous!!!
I can definitely see myself in 50 years driving past the stadium and reminiscing the fact that I got to see and photograph the renovations…which I will never forget!!! WOW!!! Man, just writing that gave me goosebumps.
Tomorrow, I will have PART 2 which will be about players.