News

THSCA Weekly Headlines 9/1

Date: Sep 01, 2010

$59.6 million high school stadium price not too big in Texas
USA Today    Share   
A price of $59.6 million might sound like a lot of money for Allen's new stadium, set to open in 2012. But this is Texas, and Allen won the state 5A-I title in 2008. Construction costs were approved by the Allen school board. The stadium will seat 18,000, including 5,000 reserved seats. That ties it for the fifth-largest high school stadium in the state. Allen's current stadium, built in 1976, has 7,000 seats. In recent years, temporary bleachers for 7,000 additional seats have been rented at a cost of $225,000 a year. More

Lake Travis beats Westlake, extends win streak to 47 with comeback win
Austin American-Statesman    Share   
Inspired by a large and festive crowd, Lake Travis quarterback Michael Brewer and an upstart wide receiver showed why the Cavaliers are owners of three straight football championships and the state's longest winning streak. Trailing for most of the Great Lake Showdown, the Cavaliers rallied in the second half behind Brewer and junior Griffin Gilbert to post a 32-21 victory over Westlake before 30,000 fans Saturday night at Royal-Memorial Stadium. It marked the 47th straight victory for Lake Travis, a streak that began in the third game of the 2007 season. More

Lee tackles building 'team out of thin air'
Houston Chronicle    Share   
Football is a foreign concept at Lee High School on a couple of levels. Some of the players tasked with becoming building blocks for a sport at a school where it hasn't been played in a decade are from countries where they didn't grow up watching football. Last February, the administration at Lee and the Houston Independent School District decided to bring the sport back to the school for the first time since 2000. Lee will field a junior varsity team the next two seasons with plans for a varsity in 2012 — the school's 50th anniversary. More

Mascot mania: What's the most popular mascot in Texas high school football?
Austin American-Statesman    Share   
Last week, the Lions, Tigers and Bears took the fields, along with the Wampus Cats, Bumblebees, Red Ants and Pied Pipers as the Friday night lights shine again across Texas. The Lone Star State's colorful high school football history wouldn't be so colorful without unique mascots from Angoras (Rocksprings) to Zebras (Grandview). You needn't look far to find interesting nicknames: Fredericksburg has the Battlin' Billies, Hutto has the Hippos, Taylor has the Ducks and Austin High the Maroons. Far more common, the Austin American-Statesman found in cataloging the 1,366 public- and private-school teams in this year's Texas Football magazine, are critters more often found elsewhere: Eagles, Tigers and Lions. Mascots from good to odd More

Texas high school officials to aid players' hydration
KENS5-TV    Share   
It has been so hot that the Texas Association of Sports Officials has just issued new guidelines about young athletes and hydration. With the entire state suffering through record-breaking heat, the start of the high school football season couldn't have come at a worse time for athletes. In the course of two-a-days and practices, coaches have control of how long athletes go between water breaks, however, in a football game timeouts are often the only chance for water. Responding to the concern over heat, the TASO issued a memo to all of its football officials asking them to find "natural" stopping points in each quarter to allow the kids to rehydrate. The memo instructs officials to use an "official's timeout" once in each quarter after a touchdown, field goal or other change of possession so that the kids have the time needed to get a drink of water and are not rushed back onto the field. More

Passing game shows its popularity as season starts
Austin American-Statesman    Share   
Offseason changes in Hutto were on display when receiver Alex Aday scored the Hippos' first touchdown of the 2010 season last Friday night. Aday gathered in a 29-yard strike from quarterback Ryan Higgins, a pass play that appeared to fool LBJ's defensive backfield. The Hippos have discovered the forward pass, a concept foreign to most Hutto playbooks in recent years, when Hutto's success was based on its ability to run, run, run and run some more. More

Bruising running game is well within expectations
Fort Worth Star-Telegram    Share   
Hurst L.D. Bell senior Kenneth Farrow isn't any faster or bigger than he was last season. But he's healthier, and that showed last week. Same for Damon Bullock of Mansfield. And Bo Burgess of Kennedale. All three returned in spectacular fashion after being limited by injuries in '09. More

MacArthur football players balance faith, Texas heat
The Dallas Morning News    Share   
Like most Texas high school football players, Shahzeb Khan and Mohammed Mohammed spend a lot of their triple-digit August days sweating under the sun while being weighed down with pads and helmets. But these two MacArthur High football players have been doing so without food or water on most days. That's because they're fasting for Ramadan, the month when Muslims fast from dusk to dawn to practice self-restraint and commemorate when the angel Gabriel began dictating the Quran to prophet Muhammad. More

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