High School Championship weekend one for the books

By the Associated Press/Staff Writer

DALLAS - This weekend's high school football championship slate is one for the record books.

On Saturday, defending 4A champion La Marque (13-2) will become the first team to appear in four straight title games since the 1958-61 Wichita Falls powerhouse squads when it plays Denison (14-1). The game is a rematch of last year's 4A championship, won 31-8 by La Marque, and it will decide the first-ever 4A Division II crown.

Meanwhile, Sealy (14-1) takes on Tatum (11-4) as it tries to become the state's first three-time champion since Abilene in the mid-'50s. Sealy set a state record last weekend by winning its 17th straight playoff game.

Also Saturday, Austin Westlake (15-0) will try finally winning a football title to go along with all its "country club" crowns against Abilene Cooper (12-3). Cooper coach Randy Allen was a starter on Cooper's only other state finalists, the 1967 team that controversially lost by one point to another Austin school.

And, the 2A crown will go to an undefeated team, either Jim Bird-led Groveton (15-0) or Iraan (15-0), which is led by Robin Hanna, the son of coach Larry Hanna.

La Marque and Sealy have a lot in common.

Both coaches consider their teams overachievers. Each believes their 1995 squads were more talented, yet they describe this year's squads as having better chemistry.

As proof, consider that La Marque had five first-team all-state selections last year and just one this season.

"That's why this has been a very rewarding year - because we don't have the all-state players or the Division I superstars," Cougars coach Alan Weddell said. "We just have a bunch of good high school players who do their best to work together in a team sport."

Sealy coach T.J. Mills marvels at how his team has come together this season because he had to replace so many players who played big roles on the previous two championship teams.

"I really don't know how we've gotten there," said Mills, uncharacteristically doing a Lou Holtz-like poor-mouthing routine. "We have so many new faces, jayvee kids, guys who've played over their heads. It's been a dream to get here."

One of Mills' biggest surprise producers has been Isaiah Joiner, a freshman who has rushed for 1,228 yards. He's only 417 yards behind senior star Jaron Dabney.

Denison, whose only loss came to 3A Atlanta, earned a rematch with La Marque despite a relatively young lineup.

All-state defensive lineman De'Nard Whitfield is one of only five senior starters. The Yellow Jackets also have one starter - the rest are juniors, including talented running back Chris Robertson.

Tatum began the year ranked ninth, then lost its first four games, two of them by shutouts.

Then, the Eagles clicked and haven't lost since. They've won 11 in a row, scoring at least 27 points all but once. They're averaging 34.4 points in the playoffs.

Sealy's strength is defense. The Tigers gave up two touchdowns last weekend for the first time since week four, when they lost 20-12 to La Grange to end their 3A record-tying 35-game winning streak.

Westlake has been the state's most successful teams in the 1990s, going 93-8-3 and winning its last 55 regular-season games.

The Chaparrals haven't won a state title, though, losing the 4A championship in 1990 and the 5A Division II crown in 1994.

Coach Ron Schroeder admits he'd love to add a football trophy alongside the school's collection of golf, tennis, swimming and women's basketball hardware.

"I think it would be unique for Westlake to win in a sport like football," Schroeder said.

Cooper had galloped into the championship aboard the back of Dominic Rhodes, who has used the postseason to prove he may be the best running back in the state.

Rhodes has scored 15 touchdowns in the playoffs, but defenses can't sell out to stop him because quarterback Michael Anderson has completed 61 percent of his passes.

Groveton, which won the 1989 and 1990 2A titles with Rodney Thomas in the backfield, was ranked third when the regular-season ended then knocked off wire-to-wire No. 1 Alto in the second round, 14-13.

Bird, the defensive coordinator's son, runs the offense at quarterback (accounting for 19 touchdowns) and he anchors the defense at middle linebacker (coming up with 179 tackles).

Using the outdated Wing-T offense, coach Hanna's offense scores nearly 40 points per game and a speedy 4-3 defense allows just 7.5 points per game.