Texas High School Football Titans Ready For Clash
Abilene high school football players practice for the state championship game. - The Abilene high school football team practices on their home field in preparation for the Saturday night state championship. This is the first time Abilene has been in the championship game since 1956 — and it's taking on two-time defending state champion Katy. (Tom Goldman / NPR)
NPR reporters Tom Goldman and Mike Pesca have been crisscrossing the country, collecting the sounds and sights of this year's high school football season. The series Friday Night Lives culminates with the Texas 5A Division II state championship game Saturday between the Katy High School Tigers and the Abilene High School Eagles. Mike Pesca spent time in Katy, 30 miles outside of Houston; Goldman went to Abilene in West Texas. The two will meet up in San Antonio for this weekend's title match-up to report on the big game.
The two best high school football teams in Texas will go head to head in the state championship Saturday night at the Alamodome in San Antonio — and it's expected to be a titanic showdown.
This is the first time Abilene has been in the state championship game since 1956 — and it's taking on Katy, the two-time defending champion. USA Today's national poll of the best high school football teams rated Katy No. 3 and Abilene No. 4.
Attendance is expected to reach the tens of thousands — possibly as high as 40,000. But that's high school football in Texas.
In the Lone Star state, 160,000 kids play high school football, and that's more than in any other state, according to the most recent survey. The lore of Texas football has been captured as well as anywhere in the 1990 book Friday Night Lights, which was adapted into a movie and TV series. And so, like the end of a fireworks display where all the pyrotechnics go off, NPR agreed to go to the epicenter of high school football.
Katy: The Latest Lone Star Football Dynasty
Katy is a two-time defending champion in the state's highest classification of high school teams: 5A Division II.
The Tigers are the most recent football dynasty in Texas, having also won state championships in 2003, 2000 and 1997. But Katy High School is not a football factory, sending player after player to top college programs and the pros.
Though massive lineman Shep Klinke (6' 9", 290 pounds) is committed to Texas A&M University next year, for the most part, the Tigers rely on solid execution and teamwork. In fact, they've switched quarterbacks throughout the playoffs, and the starter in the championship game, Brooks Haack, had been coming off the bench as recently as two weeks ago.
Opponents are averaging less than 9 points a game against Katy over their last 10 contests, making the championship game a classic contest between a high-powered, complex offense and a straightforward but stingy defense.
That's just the way Katy head coach Gary Joseph likes it.
"[There's] not a lot of flash and dash to Coach Joseph," says Katy's athletic director, Rusty Dowling. With both his offensive and defensive strategies, Joseph is "a very conservative, down-to-earth guy," Dowling says.
Joseph's offensive strategy, Dowling says, can be summed up as "Try to stop it." And his defensive strategy: "This is how we're going to line up. See if you can move the ball."
The Other Side Of The Line
The undefeated Abilene Eagles love to move the ball — and they've been tremendously successful this season.
They have a star running back in junior Herschel Sims, who relies primarily on speed. He has rushed for 2,245 yards this season and has 34 touchdowns. He has also caught five touchdown passes.
His running mate, a fellow junior named Tony Curtis, is more of a bruiser. Sim's cousin, Ronnell Sims, is the Eagles' starting quarterback. He can throw a nice ball, but Ronnell also adds to the Eagles' formidable running attack: This season, he gained almost 1,000 yards and scored 12 rushing touchdowns.
On defense, Abilene sounds similar to Katy, although with less size. The Eagles don't have a lot of players who appear to be bound for Division I college ball — but they are tremendously cohesive and use their timing and speed to great effect. Over this undefeated season, the Abilene defense has held opponents to an average of 12 points per game.
So with two great defenses and two potent running attacks, who will gain the advantage? Perhaps the kicking game — kickoffs, punts and returns — will tip the balance. Kickoff and punt returns are the way teams can strike quickly to turn the momentum of a close game.
Of Team And Community
In Abilene, there's a tremendous amount of excitement about this year's team, but the Eagles are also resonating for nostalgic reasons.
This is the first time Abilene has been in the state championship game since 1956. In 1999, The Dallas Morning News named the Eagles team that played between 1954 and 1957 the Texas high school "Team of the Century." The Eagles' current success has made stars of those '50s-era players and coaches again. Those still alive and living in Abilene have been doing interviews and giving talks about the connections between then and now.
Abilene's success has also caused a surge in pride in West Texas football. From small dusty towns to bigger cities like Abilene, West Texas came to define a kind of no-nonsense, hard-working brand of football that reflected the people who came from the sparsely populated region.
In recent years, dominance in the highest classification of Texas high school football has shifted to the metro areas, like Dallas/Ft. Worth, San Antonio and Houston. It's a matter of numbers: There are more kids in those areas, more money and therefore, richer districts with better facilities and equipment.
Considering that shift over the last decade or so, it's not surprising that the Abilene Eagles have gained a lot of fans throughout West Texas — fans who are counting on the team to "show those big boys in the city."
That connection between team and community was evident this week at Abilene's last full practice before the big game.
Coach Steve Warren gathered his team on the field and read a three-page letter from an anonymous fan that talked about how the people of Abilene were grateful for the team's exciting run to the championship game.
When he finished reading, Warren had a decidedly un-Texan reaction: He choked up.
Fighting through tears, Warren said to his players: "You've done something special. It's worth talking about from now on, and it's worth feeling good about, because nobody can ever, ever take away what you've created in this community, and what you've created with your teammates. You really ought to be proud of that, because that doesn't happen every single day. ... We're gonna go down there and win this football game because it's our time. And it's our place, and we're going after it. One game. That's it. One game."
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MELISSA BLOCK, host:
It is the biggest game in all of high school football. This Saturday, the Texas Class 5A Division Two Championship: The Abilene Eagles versus the Katy Tigers.
We've been covering high school football throughout this season with our series Friday Night Live. And today, our two sports correspondents are with us from Texas. Mike Pesca is in San Antonio.
Mike, that's where Saturday's game is going to be played?
MIKE PESCA: Hi, that's right. They're playing in the Alamodome.
BLOCK: And, Tom Goldman, you're in Abilene.
TOM GOLDMAN: That's right, Melissa.
BLOCK: And, Tom, let's start with you. Tell us a little bit more about this game. This is high stakes high school football here.
GOLDMAN: Absolutely. These are the best two teams in the state and that's not just according to the people here in Texas. USA Today's national poll of top high school teams has Katy ranked number three in the nation, Abilene number four. So these are two powers with rich winning traditions. Katy's success is more recent than Abilene's though.
PESCA: And the state of Texas, it really is the epicenter of high school football. Texas has more high school football players than any state in the country. Almost 600 Texans play in the NFL. And every time that we go to other places, Tom and I have had this experience, we'll talk to a coach in Kentucky or a coach in Pennsylvania, and they'll always compare themselves to Texas.
They'll say, you know, our crowds are as big as some of those in Texas. Or, I think our schools can stand up to some of those Texas powerhouses.
BLOCK: Well, let's hear some about the teams. Tom, you have been spending time with the Abilene Eagles.
GOLDMAN: Yeah, that's right. Everyone here, Melissa, is in love with this 2009 team. The Eagles are undefeated this season. They have a great junior running back, Hershel Sims, who you'll probably be hearing about when he gets to college. They've got great team speed on both offense and defense.
What's also interesting and what makes this team resonate is its link to the past. Now, the last time Abilene was in the state championship game was 1956. And that was the time when West Texas dominated the highest classification of high school football in the state.
You know, West Texas was that romantic image of smaller towns, where football was everything.
In recent years, that dominance has been more in the metro areas, like Katy, near Houston, where Mike is, and so this Abilene team has a real sense that it's representing West Texas, as well.
At the last practice yesterday before the game, the coach of 14 years here, Steve Warren, actually choked up when he talked about the connections his team has made.
Mr. STEVE WARREN (Head Coach, Abilene Eagles): ...that you've done something special, and it's worth talking about from now on. And it's worth feeling good about because nobody can ever, ever take away what you've created in this community and what you've created with your teammates. And you really ought to be proud of that because that doesn't happen every single day. We're going to go down there and win this football game. Do you hear what I said? We're going to go down there and win this football game because it's our time. It's our time...
GOLDMAN: Now, Melissa, really, there's no crying in Texas football, right? But...
(Soundbite of laughter)
BLOCK: I guess there is.
GOLDMAN: ...you know, in this case, I think Steve Warren kind of captures the emotion behind this moment for this team in this region of the state.
BLOCK: And Mike Pesca, tell us about the emotion right now in Katy, Texas, home of the Tigers.
PESCA: Well, their head coach, Gary Joseph, coach of the Tigers, is a different kind of cat, I guess you would say. We should note that the Tigers have been here before literally. They're the defending state champions, and the year before that, they also won the state championship. They won state championships in '97, '00, '03. They're a real powerhouse. And one of the reasons is that coach, Gary Joseph. He plays a conservative style of offense and a very straightforward but tough style of defense, and he's a pretty conservative guy himself.
I talked to Rusty Dowling, the school's athletic director, about Gary Joseph.
Mr. RUSTY DOWLING (Athletic Director, Katy Tigers): He's a very conservative, very down-to-earth guy, not a lot of flash and dash to Coach Joseph, just not.
PESCA: Same with his offense.
GOLDMAN: Yeah, same with his offense. I mean, this is what we're going to do, you don't try to stop it. And defensively, this is how we're going to line up. Let's see if you can move the ball.
PESCA: And Abilene will be trying to move the ball with their adept and advanced offense, and it's a real clash of styles because Abilene spreads the field and throws it all around and expects to gain hundreds and hundreds of yards on offense. And Katy just has this shutdown defense that's basic, but man, are they tough. And if all works out as people are hoping, it's going to be a very good game.
BLOCK: You know, it sounds like it'll be a great time. How many people are expected to show up tomorrow night there in San Antonio?
PESCA: Well, it is part of a double-header. There is an afternoon game, and all those people could come to the night game, which is the Abilene versus Katy game, could be up to 40,000 people.
GOLDMAN: And Melissa, I can tell you that we've been a number of places during this series, and 40,000 would just makes people's head spin in a lot of the places we've been.
BLOCK: I bet. Well, NPR's Tom Goldman and Mike Pesca, thanks so much. We'll be hearing from you both on Monday about how that game turns out. Thanks.
GOLDMAN: You're welcome, Melissa.
PESCA: Looking forward to it.
(Soundbite of music) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
