Posted: Wed, 16 Jun 2010 09:57 AM - 9,621 Readers
By: Rick Cantu
Before Cowboys Stadium welcomes Super Bowl XLV, Westlake, Lake Travis and Liberty Hill will have a chance to play football in the 80,000-seat palace, too.
So will about 750 other public high school teams in Texas that play in Class 5A, Class 4A or Class 3A.
Between Dec. 10 and Dec. 18, Cowboys Stadium in Arlington will be the site of six high school football state championship games. For the first time, teams in 5A, 4A and 3A will have their title games at the same predetermined site, University Interscholastic League officials said Tuesday.
The UIL wants to rotate the sites of its larger-classification state championship games between Reliant Stadium in Houston, the Alamodome in San Antonio and Cowboys Stadium. There was speculation that the Class 5A championship games would be played at Cowboys Stadium last season, but the two matchups were switched to San Antonio because they conflicted with the North Carolina-Texas basketball game on Dec. 19, said Cliff Odenwald, the UIL's athletic director.
Odenwald said predetermined sites for football championships benefit teams and their fans because they know when and where the title games will be played. Odenwald said there was a "great possibility" that Royal-Memorial Stadium could be added to the rotation of possible sites in the future. UT's recent switch from a natural-grass field to an artificial surface means there would be less concern about increased wear and tear on the playing surface.
The state championship games involving Class 2A and Class A teams will be split between Mansfield and Abilene this season.
A few Central Texas football coaches had mixed views about the championship games being played at Cowboys Stadium.
"I have had the pleasure of coaching at (Texas Stadium) and I will never forget that experience," said Austin High's coach, L.D. Williams, a former Leander High assistant. "I can only imagine how great Jerry's World would be."
"I guess if the NFL thinks it's good enough to play the Super Bowl there, then it's probably OK to have a high school championship game there, too," Cedar Park coach Chris Ross joked. "But for kids to just reach the championship game, they'd play it in a cow pasture. They're so excited, their ultimate goal is just to make it that far."
Liberty Hill coach Jerry Vance said playing at Cowboys Stadium will be good for some, but not for everybody. Travel distance will be a problem for teams that reside in some parts of the state, and it might be difficult to get fans to travel to the Class 3A, Division II title game scheduled for 4 p.m. on Dec. 17, a Friday.
Most teams that reach a state championship game are accustomed to playing on Saturdays, Vance said, allowing fans ample time to travel.
"When we played in Floyd Casey (in Waco), the stadium wasn't (25 percent filled) for our (state title) games against Celina and Gilmer," Vance said Tuesday. "Put that size crowd in Cowboys Stadium, your supporters are going to look like a postage stamp in the middle of the stands."
Reliant Stadium and the Alamodome have already been the site of 5A championship games. Last season, Euless Trinity topped Westlake 41-38 in overtime at the Alamodome to win the Division I title.
"Playing for a state championship is incentive enough," longtime Hays coach Bob Shelton said. "It doesn't matter where (the game) is played."
The site of the 2011 state football championships has not been determined, Odenwald said.
rcantu@statesman.com; 445-3953
Arlington or bust
This high school football season, Cowboys Stadium in Arlington will be home to six state championship games, including five over two days. The lineup:
Friday, Dec. 10
Class 3A, Division I, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 17
Class 3A, Division II, 4 p.m.
Class 4A, Division II, 8 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 18
Class 4A, Division I, 12 p.m.
Class 5A, Division II, 4 p.m.
Class 5A, Division I, 8 p.m.
