Rooting For Fort Bend Marshall

My high school alma mater was messed with by HISD to the point that it no longer has high school athletics on campus.  But I'm still a high school football fan, just not to the level I was when my beloved Jones Falcons were in the hunt for Texas high school football glory.   

Yesterday started the Texas high school football championship weekend here in the Lone Star State.  It's a smorgasbord of Texas high school football, with twelve title games from Class A (six man) to Class 6A being played at one location over the next four days. with all the games being broadcast on Fox Sports Southwest.

It also makes it easier for all the collegiate recruiters to check out players they either have signed during the NCAA early signing period or spot one they may not have noticed previously that is a late football bloomer.

The championship games location are rotated between Houston, Dallas and San Antonio because all three cities have domed stadiums, This year and in 2019, all the games will be played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington 

In Texas high school football and basketball, the top four teams in each district make the playoffs.  Two teams are placed in the Division I playoff bracket, and the other two in the Division II bracket based in enrollment.

I'm always rooting for Houston area teams that make it to the title game in their class, and this year is no different.

The highly anticipated Class 6A Division I game on Saturday night has undefeated Galena Park North Shore (15-0) who rolled over perennial powerhouse Katy in their usual clash at NRG Stadium and also beat them in the regular season.   The Mustangs try to complete their perfect season against unbeaten DFW area homeboys Duncanville (14-0), who beat top 5 nationally ranked Allen in their march to the finals. 

In the Class 6A Division II game Saturday afternoon Beaumont West Brook (13-2) will take on unbeaten perennial East Texas high school powerhouse Longview (15-0).

In the Class 6A Division I game it's a clash of the unbeaten old versus the new kids on the playoff block.   The Highland Park Scots, the team with the most wins in Texas high school football history, that has played in some legendary games still talked about among Texas high school football fans, and is the alma mater of Detroit Lions QB Matthew Stafford, takes on Alvin Shadow Creek. 

The Sharks are playing their first year of varsity football, and are trying to attempt the feat their district mates Manvel failed to accomplish by winning a state championship in their first year of play.

The game I'll definitely be watching is taking place on Friday night in Class 5A Division II.
Unbeaten Fort Bend Marshall (15-0), who made a deep playoff run last year but fell short, tries to capture its first state title against (15-0) Aledo.  The Bearcats were upset in the state title game last year against College Station, and are looking to avenge that loss at Marshall's expense.

Aledo has more than few UIL championship trophies in their school trophy case, having won six state football titles in the last nine years.

Marshall is not only trying to complete an unbeaten season, they are trying to do so while grieving the loss of  their senior teammate Drew Conley days before their semifinal playoff game.

Conley was murdered by his uncle, and five days later the Buffs pulled out an emotional game against Corpus Christi Calallen last week 19-17 to punch their ticket to the Jerrydome.

The other reasons I'm rooting for Marshall is the school is named for the eminent Supreme Court justice, and their school colors are the same black, gold and white my Falcons wore.

The Buffs were recently visited by Houston Texans DB Tyrann Mathieu for a motivational speech.

We'll see if it worked for the Buffs tomorrow night at 7 PM.   Go Buffs!  Do it for Drew.  Bring that Class 5A Division II title back to the Houston area!.

TransGriot Update:  They hung with them for a quarter, but Aledo unfortunately beat Marshall 55-19 

Fort Bend ISD Naming School For Malala

Fort Bend County to the southwest of Houston is one of the suburban areas, like Montgomery County to our north that has experienced explosive population growth since the 1980's.  The Fort Bend Independent School District has been on what seems to be an almost nonstop building program to keep up with it.

Even better, it turned blue because of that explosive growth in the 2018 midterm elections

A new elementary school, the 51st in the FBISD, is currently being built in the Aliana community in the northwest part of the district.   After asking the FBISD community to submit a name for the new school scheduled to open in January 2020, a committee comprised of FBISD teachers, parents, students, community advocates, staff and an FBISD board member went through the nearly 100 names submitted to choose the name of the new school.

The school will be named Malala Yousafzai Elementary School, and it is one as a TK I am definitely in agreement with.   The Nobel laureate has been a tireless advocate for public education.

“Fort Bend ISD is proud to name Malala Yousafzai Elementary in honor of a true advocate for education. Our FBISD Profile of a Graduate outlines the skills and attributes graduates should possess upon graduation from our schools. Through her compassion for others and servant leadership, Yousafzai is an embodiment of these characteristics, which we are trying to instill in our students. We look forward to hearing of the many successes of the school and its students in the future,” said Dr. Charles Dupre, FBISD Superintendent of Schools.
The name for the new school was approved during the December 17 FBISD board meeting

Malala and her father are currently on a trip to Australia, and when they heard the news, were quite pleased with it.

This is such great and encouraging news," said Malala's father Ziauddin Yousafzai.  "I'm very thankful for this.  It's an opportunity for young students to get inspiration."

"Malala's name is known globally and now, for a school to be associated with Malala's name, it just shows that the spirit of education is being wholeheartedly promoted," he added..

As for Malala's thoughts about the FBISD action, she conveyed through her father that she was "quite glad" and 'grateful to the Sugar Land community for helping spread her message of education for girls.

She garnered international attention at age 15 for surviving an Taliban attack on her while traveling home from school.   A year later in 2013 she delivered a highly publicized United Nations speech that urged world leaders to make education a priority.    Yousafzai became the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014

The attendance zone boundaries for Yousafzai Elementary are currently being determined by the district.

As for whether the Yousafzai's will be in the Lone Star State when the school is dedicated, Ziauddin Yousafzai said, "I cannot make any promises right now, but should we receive an invitation and are in Texas or nearby, we would definitely love to attend and meet these amazing people.

Um, FBISD, y'all might want to get on that ASAP.