THE CZECH IS IN THE MAIL | Jason Chlapek
As a former high school football player, one of the greatest feelings in the world is winning a state championship. While I never experienced that feeling as a player, I have been associated with teams and players who have.
When I was in middle school, my hometown Temple Wildcats won a state championship. Witnessing that experience as a youth inspired me to play for Temple High School.
After graduating from college, I became a sports writer. During the last two decades, I have covered numerous teams – some of which became state champions – and their experiences have been similar to the ones Temple experienced many moons ago.
Although none of the eastern Williamson County teams will compete for a state championship this week, there are four teams who I covered for previous publications who will. Those teams are Smithson Valley (5A-Division I), Joaquin (2A-Division I), Muenster (2A-Division II) and Shiner (2A-Division II).
I covered Smithson Valley, who faces Frisco Lone Star at 7 p.m. Friday, during my tenure at the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung. Joaquin, who takes on Hamilton at 7 p.m. today, was one of five schools in my coverage area during my time at the Center Light and Champion.
The 2A-Division II title game is a battle of two teams formerly covered by me. I covered Shiner while I was at the Gonzales Inquirer, and Muenster while working with the Muenster Enterprise and its sister papers the Lindsay Letter and Whitesboro News-Record.
If I still worked for those papers, I would be busy this week. I wish my former teams the best of luck this week.
One theme of the state championship lineup happens to be the number of schools who hail from onehigh school districts. Nineteen of the 24 schools competing this weekend are the only high schools in their respective school districts.
While it is common for schools in Classes 4A-A to be the only high schools in their school districts, many 6A and 5A schools are in districts with multiple high schools. All four teams competing for the 5A state titles are from multi-high school districts.
In 5A-Division I, Smithson Valley is one of five high schools in the Comal Independent School District, while Lone Star is one of 12 in Frisco ISD. In 5A-Division II, Dallas South Oak Cliff is one of 21 football-playing high schools in Dallas ISD, and its opponent, Richmond Randle, is one of seven high schools in Lamar CISD.
The other team from a multi-high school district who is competing for a state crown is Galena Park North Shore, who will face Duncanville for the 6A-Division I title. North Shore is one of two high schools in Galena Park ISD, while Duncanville is the only high school in Duncanville ISD.
In 6A-Division II, both DeSoto and Houston C.E. King are the only high schools in their respective school districts – DeSoto and Sheldon ISDs. All of the schools competing for titles in Classes 4A-A are the only high schools in their respective school districts.
The state championship games can be seen on Bally Sports. I encourage you to check out those games – there’s nothing like it.
Chlapek is the Area Editor of the Elgin Courier and Taylor Press. He can be reached at jason.chlapek@ granitemediapartners. com.
