Friday, September 27, 1996

John Tyler-La Marque, Alto-Granger highlight weekend slate
By JAIME ARON
Associated Press

DALLAS (AP) - La Marque coach Alan Weddell believes he knows why Tyler John Tyler's home field is called Rose Stadium.

"They grow flowers there for the funerals of visiting teams," he joked.

La Marque, ranked No. 1 in Class 4A, hopes not to be smelling the roses Friday night when it visits East Texas to face John Tyler, which is No. 5 in 5A.

For La Marque, this is about as big of a game as it can have in a month other than December.
The Cougars are putting on the line their 19-game winning streak and their 4A-record-tying streak of 50 straight regular-season wins.

But the real lure is the fact a win would solidify La Marque's place among the elite teams in Texas football, according to Weddell, who lists John Tyler as one of those powers.

"If we win this game, it shows that we are for real," said Weddell, whose team is 48-2 since the 1993 season with three championship game appearances.

"It would prove that we're not just the best of 4A, but the best of everybody."

Several other ranked teams are involved in important bragging-rights battles, the top one coming from the lower classes when Alto, ranked second in 2A, plays Class A's No. 2 Granger.

The best part of that matchup is the coaches: Alto's Lucky Gamble vs. Granger's John Valastro. He was the quarterback of Gamble's 1979 Class A state champion at High Island and was Gamble's defensive coordinator at Alto from 1993-94.

Elsewhere, 5A's No. 1 North Mesquite plays its district opener against No. 10 Richardson Lake Highlands; and in 3A, No. 1 Sealy will seek its class-record 36th straight victory against La Grange.
John Tyler seemingly has little to gain by playing La Marque. A victory is expected because JT is a 5A school; a loss to a team from a lower class would appear to be a major upset.

But Lions coach Allen Wilson said that's not the case against a team the caliber of La Marque.
"I think when you play great programs like that you can't lose anything. There are great teams that are good at any classification," Wilson said. "This game should prepare us for district and be a gauge to show us where we are."

As usually is the case when great programs meet in non-district, both coaches were having trouble finding an opponent so they decided to face each other.

The result is a playoff-type game that doesn't mean the end of the season for the loser.
"That's the fun part about it," Weddell said. "This is a possible prelim of two state champions playing, and it's for fun. There's no playoff implications, so there's not that type of pressure."

Wilson said star defender David Warren, who missed last week's game against Dallas Carter because of a knee injury, has recovered a bit, although he's only at "probably 80 percent."

"Right now, we'll probably play him," Wilson said. "How much depends on how well he does."

The Alto-Granger game is interesting enough because of the teams' rankings. Throw in the subplot of Valastro the pupil vs. Gamble the mentor and it's really exciting.

"It's a special treat," Valastro said. "Not too many coaches get to coach against their high school coach."

Gamble said this will be a first for him. Although he's gone against several former players as assistant coaches, none have become a rival head coach.

Still, he's not getting worked up over it.

"It's just a game," he said. "John's a good friend and he was a good player when I coached him in high school. But he's at another school and I'm sure he wants to win as bad I do."

The game should be a cakewalk for Alto, which has won its last two games by the combined score of 121-34.

If the unthinkable happens and Granger wins, Valastro thinks he knows how Gamble would react.
"You'd probably have to bury him right there," Valastro said, laughing. "He may just die. ... And I'll be the first one to throw some dirt on him."