East Texas Owns Class 3A

Two East Texas teams battled it out for the Class 3A DI State Championship Friday night with Henderson prevailing 28-21 over Tyler Chapel Hill. Tyler and Henderson are only 34 miles apart, and when you add in Carthage, who knocked off previously unbeaten Brownwood, 35-28, and meets Coldspring-Oakhurst next week for the Class 3A DII title, you have to say that East Texas has earned bragging rights in Class 3A football this year.

Carthage is only 29 miles east of Henderson and they will be gunning for a third consecutive title next Friday at Cowboys Stadium. If Carthage does bring home another title, it will be a clean sweep for district 16-3A.

By the way, the Henderson-Chapel Hill game drew 20,560 fans at Cowboys Stadium last night; a great attendance for a Class 3A game, and it could be a precursor to some huge crowds next weekend for the class 4A and 5A championships.

TV and Webcast Info for State Championship Games

Fox Sports Southwest and Fox Sports Houston have all the championship games covered this year either on live TV or live webcast. Most all newer TV's will allow a direct hookup to your computer, so if you have the setup, you can watch the live webcasts on your big screen. They are also broadcasting some classic games this year (see schedule below).

The action kicks off tomorrow night with the live webcast of the Class 3A Division I title game from Cowboys Stadium between Tyler Chapel Hill and Henderson.

Live TV Broadcasts on Fox Sports
Class 5A Division I and Division II, the Class 4A Division I and Division II and the Class 3A Division II championships played at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington on Friday, Dec. 17 and Saturday, Dec. 18.

Live Webcasts at foxsportssouthwest.com
Class 3A Division I title game from Cowboys Stadium on Friday, Dec. 10; the Six Man Division I and Division II championships from Shotwell Stadium in Abilene on Saturday, Dec. 11; and four games from Vernon Newsome Stadium in Mansfield on Friday, Dec. 17 and Saturday, Dec. 18 in Class 1A Division I and Division II and Class 2A Division I and Division II.

Texas High School Football Championship Classics Schedule
Dec. 12 8:00 p.m. 2001: Mesquite vs. San Antonio Taft FS Southwest/FS Houston
Dec. 13 11:00 a.m. 2001: Mesquite vs. San Antonio Taft FS Southwest/FS Houston
Dec. 13 7:00 p.m. 2008: Allen vs. Fort Bend Hightower FS Southwest*/FS Houston
Dec. 14 4:30 p.m. 2008: Allen vs. Fort Bend Hightower FS Southwest/FS Houston
Dec. 14 9:30 p.m. 1995: Converse Judson vs. Odessa Permian FS Southwest/FS Houston Plus
Dec. 15 Noon 1995: Converse Judson vs. Odessa Permian FS Southwest/FS Houston
Dec. 15 5:00 p.m. 2009: Euless Trinity vs. Austin Westlake FS Southwest/FS Houston
Dec. 16 11:00 a.m. 2009: Euless Trinity vs. Austin Westlake FS Southwest/FS Houston
Dec. 16 11:00 p.m. 2004: Southlake Carroll vs. Smithson Valley FS Southwest/FS Houston
Dec. 17 1:00 p.m. 2004: Southlake Carroll vs. Smithson Valley FS Southwest/FS Houston
* -- available on FOX Sports Southwest Plus in North Texas markets

Pearland / Katy Attendance Makes Record Books

High school football attendance is sometimes hard to get a handle on as the turnstile count is often an estimate or involves guesswork, but the thrilling Pearland / Katy game (Pearland won 38-35) played at Rice Stadium this afternoon had an announced crowd of 41,368, and that's good enough to move it in to 6th place on the all-time list. Rice Stadium also hosted the 4th and 12th highest attended games.

Attendance Game Site Year
49,953 Plano vs. Port Neches-Groves Texas Stadium 1977*
46,339 Southlake Carroll vs. Euless Trinity Texas Stadium 2006
45,790 Highland Park vs. Waco Cotton Bowl 1945*
45,000 Houston Washington vs. Galveston Rice Stadium 1968
45,000 Dallas Adams vs. Richardson Cotton Bowl 1967
41,368 Katy vs. Pearland Rice Stadium 2010
39,102 Garland vs. Katy Astrodome 1999*
39,102 Stephenville vs. Port Neches-Groves Astrodome 1999*
38,570 Port Neches-Groves vs. Houston Kashmere Astrodome 1977
38,374 Plano vs. Highland Park Texas Stadium 1980
38,000 Odessa vs. San Antonio Jefferson Memorial Stadium (Austin) 1946
36,000 Fort Bend Willowridge vs. Houston Yates Rice Stadium 1988
*state championship game

Sources: UIL, Bill McMurray's Texas High School Record Book,
Texas Football magazine, FW Star-Telegram archives, Txprepsfootball.com

More on Trinity / Coppell

Euless Trinity's 41-40 victory over Coppell Friday night was an instant classic.

A few snippets from the game.......

Euless Trinity extended it's winning streak to 27 games.
There were exactly 0 punts in the game.
Coppell scored all eight times it had the ball ( 4 TD's, 4 FG's), and it still wasn't enough.
Coppell QB Joe Minden had an exceptional game as he was 26-35 passing for 392 yards and two TD's.
Trinity had 539 yards of offense and Coppell had 441 yards.
Trinity's Brandon Carter was 4-5 passing for 79 yards and a TD, rushed 13 times for 149 yards and a TD, and had a reception for 24 yards.

If Trinity is to win a state title, they will have to break a trend. They have won three titles since 2005, and they have all come in odd numbered years (05', 07', 09').

Big Games Litter the Landscape

Suffice to say that every game is big in the fourth round of the playoffs, but this week brings an extra special smorgasboard of enticing games.

Start off with undefeated Euless Trinity and Coppell in Class 5A. The game sold out 48 hours in advance allowing it to be televised live and local in the DFW area on channel 21.

Move down the road to Waco where traditional Class 4A rivals Stephenville and Aledo square off at Baylors' Floyd Casey Stadium, and on to the Alamodome for CC Calallen and Boerne Champion.

In Class 3A, 13-0 teams Brownwood and Monahans lock horns in San Angelo, while undefeated Class 2A teams New London West Rusk and Lexington meet at Hewitt Midway High School in Waco.

And in what has to be the Class 1A game of the year, Canadian and Albany, who have been ranked 1 & 2 much of the year, tangle in Plainview to see who remains undefeated.

And that's just Friday night ........... Saturday brings equal value to the plate with a Class 5A matchup in Waco between DeSoto and Round Rock Stony Point (tape delayed Saturday at midnight in DFW area on 21), and undefeated teams Pearland (13-0) and Katy (13-0) at Rice Stadium.

Class 25-4A district foes Cedar Park and Lake Travis meet in a rematch of a regular season game won by Cedar Park at UT's Memorial Sadium, while Class 2A features two more games between undefeated teams when Tatum (12-0) and Cameron Yoe (12-0) meet in Ennis, and Schulenburg (12-0) and Refugio (12-0) battle at the Alamodome.

These games and many more on the schedule will help to make this the biggest weekend of Texas High School football yet to be seen in 2010.