Mavchamp

There was so much regional interest in that game it was insane. One of the biggest games every played on East Texas soil. I sat with Lobofan07. But I saw a nice contingent from Marshall there. And I talked to a couple of people from Nacogdoches and Kilgore at that game. One thing I like about East Texas. Esp when East Texas is playing metro schools, we tend to pull together. When I was at that game (in my Mav hoodie) the congrts on Marshall's win the night before in the playoffs was greeted kindly by Lobo, Nac, and Jacksonville fans. But when East Texas battles each other in the playoffs....it can be pretty epic. Longview/Luf, Hend/Gilmer. There is really just two schools in East Texas I can't bring myself to pull for in the playoffs...... and one of them makes it so infrequently and without any success.... that I feel like I win. LMAO

It's the most I've ever seen at Rose Stadium. No idea how many there were, but it was beyond packed. Great game too!!! Biggest crowds I've ever seen at Rose 1. Longview/Lufkin playoff 2. Marshall/John Tyler 1996 (both were in the top 5....or ten IIRC- amazing game) 3. John Tyler/Tyler Lee 1998 4. Marshall Vs. Highland Park 2005 State Championship Seems like all four of those games had close to or over 20,000 in attendance. But without a doubt.... Longview/Lufkin was the biggest. I could be wrong, but personally I think there were more at the Longview/Lufkin playoff game that was at SFA. Had to have been over 30K at that game. Felt like it at least

I had to look it up.....and it was 2006. Another one of those crazy years in the district. Marshall finished with a 6-4 record in 2006. The game that broke their back was when they lost to WH by 1 point (35-34) in one of the most exciting games I've ever seen. The following week I think we needed to beat Kilgore by 8....or maybe 10 points to get into the playoffs..... but we only beat the Bulldogs 22-15. Tough way to miss out on the playoffs.

Here are the last two articles on the OC, WR coach and the secondary coaches Coach Bird (dad) and....Coach Bird (son) the OC and WR coaches from Lake Travis (Dad was most recently at Duncanville and Joshua) http://www.marshallnewsmessenger.com/sports/high_school/birds-hope-to-have-maverick-offense-flying-high/article_5bee54e9-e5ee-531b-a68a-4d9ed1132287.html Coach Mitchell.... the new secondary coach. He's actually a product of MP from back in their 90's heyday I believe. http://www.marshallnewsmessenger.com/sports/high_school/mitchell-looks-to-bring-his-own-winning-ways/article_7c2bc004-62ec-5368-a44c-e795793580a9.html Victory Bennett- He's a product of Marshall. And was part of Coach Richter's staff. Inside recivers. http://www.marshallnewsmessenger.com/sports/bennett-back-to-what-he-cherishes-the-most/article_0b87e20a-bafe-519f-9cf7-3f305a0d9ec0.html I think that round out the staff. Best of luck to them all this season

I was at the Lakeview game.....but like I said, I was pretty young. I've read a TON of things written about that season. And the vibe that I got from what I read was that most people wanted Carter out of the playoffs because they cheated. If Marshall beat Lakeview by TEN and the better team lost..... I guess the same could be said that since Marshall lost to Carter by only 4 on a last second play, then the better team lost there too. And no doubt they didn't have fans in Odessa, Marshall, Lufkin, and any of the other teams they played en route to their title. Why? Because they all played by the rules. I think it's naive to think that ANYONE outside of Carter was pulling for them when they knowingly cheated. I have a hard time believing Plano and Garland and most of those DFW schools were excited about Carter. Maybe the DISD schools. But those suburban schools had no reason to cheer for Carter. And I agree....Carter would have won without the guy that was ineligable. But the rules are the rules..... and UIL won that suit. Carter shouldn't have even played ONE playoff game, much less five. They cheated. And the only reason I mention it seemed like a Carter against the world was the attendance of the Marshall-Carter game. There is no mathematical way Marshall could have had a crowd that big unless a lot of people from other places were there seeing that game. And they chose to sit on the Marshall side. Maybe someone else that recalls it. But it has def gone down in history as Carter being one of the most hated teams. No matter how much talent they had. Anyone else recall???

I was a kid.....so that's possible!! But I've read the book (loved it), and I've read a lot of different accounts of the events.... some maybe more, and some maybe less flattering for Carter. BTW....the movie was awful IMHO. I've read the recap of the events by the Dallas Morning News...... some of it is in the above link by Lobofan07. Carter was in the courtroom EVERY week after winning their games.... fighting to keep themselves in the playoffs. UIL had (weekly) filed suit against Carter to get them kicked out of the playoffs. In fact, according to the MNM, Marshall had to prepare for Lufkin and Carter that week because they could have played either. They found out it would be Carter, and not Lufkin, on that Friday, less than 24 hours before the kickoff. The same judge, every week would put an injunction against the UIL suit, which would allow Carter to play. And apparently there WAS outcry against Carter for breaking the No Pass No Play rule. That was made very clear in the book. It wasn't until after the title had been won that the UIL won their case that Carter was in fact in violation of the no pass no play rule. That didn't have anything to do with the robberies. That was simply about Carter knowingly playing a player thathad failed a class. As far as being "fortunate to beat Lakeview"...... we won by 10 points. Winning by double digits in the third round of the playoffs sounds like more than just "fortunate to beat" them.

Yeah...that 2004 district was insane. If Hallsville had been in any other district they probably would have won district. We lost to Kilgore that year in OT on a failed 2 point conversion 28-27. We only beat Jax by 4 (20-16). Can't remember the Jax/Kilgore score. But we were separated by inches. And Hallsville wasn't far behind. 2007 was very good too.... because there ALMOST ended up being a three way tie for the district title between Marshall, Kilgore, and Whitehouse. But point differentials gave the title to Kilgore if I recall correctly. All the games between WH, Kilgore, and Marshall were very close. We lost to Kilgore 10-7 in the season finale in an absolute heavyweight bout. SO many hard hits in that game. Happened again in 2009. Longview made their run to the state title game in Div I. Marshall and Sulphur springs almost met in the quarterfinals in Div II..... But 3 of us advanced to regionals.

The outside looks great. The inside looks pretty plain for that amount of money IMHO. Having been to the Berry Center..... I can't imagine anything even coming close. But I haven't been to Allen's yet. But the Berry Center is absolutely amazing.

Where to begin..... 1, The 2004 State Championship Vs. Ennis. Marshall was up 21-16 with about a min and a half in the game. The Mavs were forced to punt from about the 40. We would have pinned the Lions deep and forced the length of the field on short time. BUT..... the snap sailed over the punter's head. Ennis recovered deep in Mav territory and got the score with less than a min to play. NO DOUBT in my mind that had we got that punt of cleanly Marshall would have been the 2004 4A Div I state champions. WHAT IF. 2. 1993 Area Round- Temple was leading 15-9 late in the game. Marshall drove to the Killeen 15 yardline. A wide open wide receiver got the ball in stride....hit him dead in the hands....had it for one step...and then dropped it. He was all alone in the endzone.... and he dropped it. Final was 15-9 Killeen. They went on to win state that season. 3. If Jesse Armstead had not caught that pass in the 1988 5A quarterfinals with 6 seconds left in the game.... Marshall would have advanced to the state semis to play a Permian team they had already beat earlier in the year. No matter what the movies said....Marshall beat Permian in 1988 at Maverick Stadium. 4. 1989.... 5A state semifinals Vs. Odessa Permian. If our QB had not separated his shoulder right before halftime, I think we COULD have won that game. It was a close nailbiter up until that time. After we lost our QB, the offense squatted and MOJO took over. How much more history Marshall could have had with just the change of a couple of plays: 1988 state semifinalist.... maybe champions. 1989 state semifinalist....maybe champion 1990 state champions....OK....that DID happen :) 2004 state champions 2005 state champions (if Matthew Stafford had gotten the flu and SMU hadn't let HP borrow their offensive line...lol) 2007 state semifinalist But..... it didn't happen that way. Fun times..... fun times. It's the reason I love this game. Bonus: 2007- Marshall Vs. McKinney Boyd. I honestly believe had that game not been played in a sleet/snow storm, the Mavs would have ended up in the state semis for the third time in 4 years. We were a pass happy team in 2007..... and the wind/snow/sleet halted our offense. Boyd was a running team and their offense ticked along. Marshall lost 21-14 with temp in the upper 20's. Miserable game in every way possible.

LOL. Classy. I'd be thrilled if it were just semi-competitive after the last two seasons.

I remember that like it was yesterday.....and I was a kid. I saw grown men cry that day. There was an article I recall reading that said that the entire state had got behind whichever team Carter was playing each week. Almost like a form of protest. By the time the quarterfinals had come around, Texas was in a frenzy of "anti-carter". The article said it was like the entire state rallied for Marshall to beat Carter. About 30,000 tickets were sold on the Marshall side when they played Carter. Considering Marshall only has about 24,000 people.... it's impossible to have that kind of crowd. Probably one of the biggest crowds Floyd Casey Stadium ever saw....lol. If we had won, it would have been Odessa Permian next, whom we had beat earlier in the year. If we had won that game, it would have been Converse Judson, who we beat in the 1990 state championship. If that ONE play had gone differently.....who knows how different Maverick Football history would be.

http://www.marshallnewsmessenger.com/sports/high_school/mitchell-looks-to-bring-his-own-winning-ways/article_7c2bc004-62ec-5368-a44c-e795793580a9.html Here is an article on the new secondary coach He's a product of Mount Pleasant

That's insane....because they were bigger than us in the mid 90's. They were running 1900+ and we were around 1700. I had a friend in college that taught at Duncanville ISD. And the lines of DISD/Carter and Duncanville were adjacent. And they told me when Duncanville had their surge in football..... that Carter kids flooded Duncanville. In some cases....DHS was much closer than DCHS was to some of the students. I dunno if that's still going on today..... but early 2000's..... it was a big deal. Because "some" Duncanville officials were concerned the influx of DISD students would hurt their stellar test scores. (shrug). Couldn't happen to a finer school.....not that I'm bitter.....LOL. I just remember having some expereinces with Carter back when we were playing them in the mid 90's. The stories I got!!!

I saw Gilmer win their 2004 state championship. You guys played right after we did....... I was completely heartbroken losing to Ennis the way we did (that was OUR title..and we let it slip away). But I felt much better after watching the Gilmer game.... had a blast at that game.

Can't argue talent hasn't been down compared to 04-09. Those years were just insane with talent. But I think the dry spell could be ending (fingers crossed) One of the 8th grade teams (red?) won the district championship last season. The 9th grade team was extremly competitive.... and that was with the #1 freshman QB playing on Varsity. Had he actually been on the freshman team......wow. The JV team was inconsistent..... but was close in most of their games. Longview and WH were blowouts I remember. Varsity is going to come down to talent that came up and those that learned from last season the most. The offense slowly came around last season. Defensive improvement is a must. Can't get much worse than it was.....lol.

I loved those old 12-5A triple headers at Texas Stadium. Esp when all three would win!

All those extra snaps can only mean good things for the QBs at Longview and JT. No matter how the tourny turned out for them IMHO.

Couple of benchmark moments.... 1. 2 semi-final appearances in the 20's. 2. Y.A. Tittle playing for the Mavs in the 40's. 3. Tug of war in the 50's and 60's with Texas High and JT for district supremecy 4. The 70's were just awful. 5. Hiring Dennis Parker.... and then the fun finally started. 6. Winning the district title in 1988 after 22 years without one- then advancing to the region finals and losing to Dallas Carter in the final seconds. I think beating Odessa Permian (the movie Lied) was the turning point. 7. Advancing to the state semis before losing to Odessa Permain 8. Winning the 5A Div I state championship 21-19 over Converse Judson 9. Personally I love the teams in 93, 94, and 95..... I think Marshall fnished in third place behind Longview and JT all three of those years....and still managed to advance to the regionals TWICE as a # 3 team. I think this was the beginning of 12-5A's dominance until UIL crashed the party in 2002. 10. Going 10-0 and being #2 in the state most of the year in 1996. 11. 1997...... being #1 in one poll, while Longview was #1 in another poll....and we dueled to a double overtime Thriller. We were both #1 that season...and neither made the playoffs. Seems like we sat at home with a 8-2 record and Longview was about the same. 12. Retirement of Bill Harper. He is still the winningnest coach in MHS history....and officially closed ties with the Dennis Parker era for Marshall football. 13. Rodney Southern comes to town 14. Back to back state title games in 04 and 05 showed that Marshall Football was still alive after 6 seasons of "close, but no cigar". 15. Almost crashing into the semifinals again in 2007....but a heartbreaking loss in the snow/ice ended the Bid. 16. Almost shocked the world again in 2009 when we were beating Denison by 13. The Tigers were picked to win it all that season. But a 4th quarter collapse cost us a trip to the semis again. 17. Almost pulled off a mircale in 2010 too when the 6-4 Mavs nearly pulled off the upset against 9-1 Sherman. Bearkats held off a late drive into their terriroty for the 24-17 final after the Mavs had been down 24-0. Hopefully #18 will be hiring Clint Harper. Time will tell!!!

I think Clint Harper made a name for himself in a hurry down in CenTex. That has allowed him to bring in some pedigree that some others may not have been able to pull off. Not to mention...... resurrecting a program with Marshall's history looks good on some of these guys' resume. Some of the talk on SDC, you would think we were in the same boat (no bashing intended) as PT and Nac. But the fact is, we are only 2 years removed from the playoffs and a playoff streak that included two title games and two regional appearances. Harper believes the talent is still there....and just needs to be cultivated. He says Leander didn't have near the athletes Marshall does and look at the success they had. Time will tell. He's put together a great staff for the gridiron. And his hires for the rest of the athletic department have raised some eyebrows too. He's brought in a lot of homegrown talent. The V-ball coach has tons of college pedigree, but she hails from Marshall and played on the 80's MHS teams that were neck and neck with the likes of Longview and Lee. Trey Hobson is heading the soccer team and continued their winning ways getting to the playoffs... and he's a 90's MHS graduate. The girls BB coach came from Ruston and had success there. And the baseball hire brings some NCAA experience behind him, but he's been in Marshall a while having been on staff at ETBU. I like the idea of getting people in spots that love the school. It's their alma mater in a lot of cases. So it bring a lot of pride with it. Who wouldn't love to build their alma mater in to a winner for the sport they love? Best of luck..... here's to hoping for big things.

Jason Bird joined his dad on the football staff at Marshall this week, accepting the WR position. Bird played on Lake Travis' 2007 state title squad. That year he broke the record for receptions in a season with 153. Not sure if that's just a 4A record, a Texas HS record, or a national record. And it may have been broken since. But it was/is his for a minute. His dad will be the offensive coordinator for Marshall. The senior Bird served as the OC at Lake Travis before becoming the OC at Duncanville. He later served as the HC of a FW area school prior to coming to Marshall (Joshua I think...but don't quote me). This rounds out the football staff for coach Harper and the Mavs: Jerry Bird ----------------- Offensive Coordinator Barry Walker ------------- Defensive Coordinator Paul Sharr ----------------- Defensive Line, Assist. Ath Director Scott Hale ----------------- Outside Linebackers Brandon Joslin ---------- Middle Linebackers C.J. Lottingger ----------- Offensive Line Jason Bird & Victor Bennett ----------- Wide Receivers and tight ends Aaron Mitchell------------ Secondary Not a shabby staff at all IMO. Several of them have state title experience and at least two of them had runs at EF. I hope it all comes together for them. Also saw where Derick Dunaway was named the Head Baseball coach for MHS. He comes from coaching stops at Mary-Hardin Univeristy (including as HC) and most recently was on staff at ETBU as an assistant. Not sure it's official yet, but it may be. Ready for the season to get here....and see where we stand. It's only been 2 seasons.....but it's been 2 seasons too long....

I get OK for gas..... but no hybrid. lol But it's unavoidable. I have to be in Dallas Friday and Sunday..... and technically Saturday.... but I'm going to play hooky to see our game. and maybe at least some of the Longview game before heading back to big D.

The astrodome did Quadruple headers all the time back in the day. For whatever reason Texas Stadium and Jerrys World has never really been into it. I went to two of them in Houston. Made for some LONG.....LOOOOOONG days. But I saw some great football....and it was never cold. Good old days!

Oh no doubt I go to more than the Mavs' 10 games a season. I think my record though came in 2004 and 2005. I attended all ten of Marshall's regular season games both seasons, then all six of their playoff games both seasons. Most of those playoff games were on Friday nights..... and I was going to the Lobo football playoff games on Saturday. And if there was an ealier or later game in the area....I'd take those in too. Lots of tripleheaders at Texas Stadium. IIRC correctly....there was one weekend I drove to Tyler for a Thursday night playoff game. Then drove to Waco on Fri because Marshall played Houston Yates that night. Drove back to Marshall.... then took off for Dallas that Saturday to watch Longview play in a triple header at Texas Stadium. Fun times. Always loved it when Marshall and Longview were both having great playoff runs. I'd wear my Mav T-shirts or hoodies.....and the Lobos fans would congratulate us on our win the night before while I was there to pull for the Lobos. Most Lobo fans. Not all.......

Friday driving Longview to Dallas Saturday morning driving Dallas to Shreveport Saturday night driving Shreveport to Dallas late Sunday night driving Dallas back to Longview Wonder what gas is gonna cost by then.....

Gonna put some serious miles on my car that weekend. Need a win to make it all worth it :)