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Here's my question, why was this sent to the UIL on Dec 1 for something that happened in June?

From being a kid along the fence...to playing and seeing my dad along the fence..to watching my kids play and still standing along the fence..to watching my kids watch their kids watching a game,still standing along the fence...thank you God for fences ...and thank you lord for the games we can stand an watch..

For my friends on here who know me, and prayed for me during my fight with leukemia, thank you from the bottom of my heart.. Wendsday at 4 pm I was diagnosed as being cancer free.. I won, I beat that demon.. Thanks for caring.. Chain out..

The Football season is over, and Duncanville has won another State Championship and Desoto has won another state championship, cementing them as the 2 best football programs in the state of Texas. However, I'm betting it won't as mean as much in Duncanville or Desoto as it will in Gunter, or Timpson, or Gilmer. Because the heart of small towns is their football team. Gilmer is like most small towns. It's a friendly, close-knit community, but it is still a very divided community. Divided by religion, culture, ethnicity, and socioeconomics. However, on a Friday night, everybody is a Buckeye. The bond to the Buckeyes goes beyond denomination, economics, race, and everything else in the community. But this is not just true on Friday night. It's true throughout the year. When unspeakable tragedy hit the Gilmer community, the football team rallied around the city and the city rallied around the football team. It was the selling of football shirts that helped provide for the families and pay for the services. It was to football coaches who were putting out extra seats at the funeral. It was the football players who loved on and surrounded a teammate. The whole town came together around the football team. It's why the emotional release was so huge on Friday. It's why Metzel spoke with tears in his interview. He wasn't a head coach talking about a game; he was a pastor, a mentor, and a community member talking about how young students became young men and carried the hopes and hurts of their town. It's why we love the Gilmer broadcasters: as homerish as they can be at times, they love the kids and know them personally. It just means more in a small town. I know the same could be said this year for Timpson and Terry Bussey. For these small towns, football becomes a reminder of what we can do and be when we put aside our differences and come together for a common goal. Hopefully, we can learn to move this from the football field and into our everyday actions with those in our community.

We are devastated. We are numb. And we are broken. I was at the game tonight as my son is a teammate of the young man we lost. I sat in horror as I watched Vonte Mumphrey, sophomore at Alto HS, collapse on the floor. It was only the second period and Alto was leading 17-6 over Mount Enterprise. Vonte had already hit two 3s and made a couple layups. You see, Vonte is special. He was the District Newcomer of the Year for basketball his freshman year (2020) and then the District Newcomer of the Year for football this past fall as a sophomore. He was one of my son’s best friends. A teammate he had played with since Little Dribblers as kids. Vonte didn’t play football his freshman year (he loves basketball more!) but my son talked him into it for sophomore year….in exchange my son agreed to continue to play basketball. He was a natural athlete (track star too!), one of the nicest and most polite young men you would ever meet. He was quiet and reserved and he loved to play basketball. And that’s just what he did tonight. Hundreds of the Alto community showed up. The softball game was stopped and everyone gathered outside the gym, praying. A vigil was held among all the high school and middle school students with a huge circle of folks arm in arm praying for a miracle. It was not to be this night. We do not understand and will never understand. It brought back a flood of memories and opened the wounds from when we lost our Cam’ron Matthews on the football field in 2015. A town should not have to endure one loss, much less two. I am having a tough time wrapping my mind around that. To be present at both games and witness the unthinkable is crushing. I know we will get through this and I know that our community will rally around the Mumphrey family. I know God will use this, but MAN IS IT HARD. Thank you to all those on Smoaky and beyond who have offered up thoughts and prayers. We need them. This is the young man we lost tonight (#9) and my son (#21), who is just devastated. Please say an extra prayer for him and his teammates. You know a small school…..EVERYONE is family and everyone feels the loss. It will be tough to get though this.

Thank you for doing this. I logged in for the first time in a while today with the intentions of creating the thread and here it is. Good job and well said. As a dad with a senior my heart has been shattered. And not just any senior, but one who has dreamed his whole life of playing for the Alto Yellowjackets. He was practically born with a football (any ball really) in his hand. He’s that kid; you know the kind. The one who has been to every Friday ballgame (and most Thursdays) since he was born. He has cried when the Jackets lost (just about inconsolable when the 28-game win steak came to an end the first week at San Augustine…and he was 3). He learned to count by 7s if that tells you anything. If the boys were playing ball, he wanted to be in the middle of it. And most of the time it was older cousins and their friends or kids who would meet him in the halls of AHS that he would juke and pretend to be running for touchdowns. He played peewee ball in Lufkin with his Alto buddies and dreamed of the day when he got to play for his school. We have had to readjust our thinking and make the best out of a horrible situation that is out of our control. That has been hard because of the hopes and dreams of a lifetime and the realization that those have been taken away. The night of August 2nd helped me to put things in perspective. Close to 100 folks showed up at practice to support the boys. I sat in silence and didn’t really talk to anyone; I didn’t want to. But people showed up and it was comforting. Kind of like grieving and mourning a death, I sat and watched as my boy and his teammates had a better practice than the day before. I was pretty amazed at how upbeat everyone was. I couldn’t imagine what the coaches had said to the boys to have them so motivated and focused. Then I remembered that’s who these kids are. That’s what life has taught them….to take what you have been given and make the best of it. Tornadoes, portable buildings, pandemic, a 2-8 season as sophomores when they were district champs in 7th, 8th, and 9th grades….and the absolutely devastating loss of a teammate and friend on a basketball court just this February. The hardest of them all. Earth shattering and life changing. The season and the playoff run was to be dedicated to Vonte. And all these boys wanted to do was to go and make a run for Vonte, #9 running back and newcomer of the year last season. As practice continued I turned and heard a familiar voice. It was Meka, Vonte’s mom. She and her family had come up to encourage the kids. Here is this lady who will not get to watch her baby on that football field this season ENCOURAGING US. I went over and hugged her and she spoke some wonderful words to me. And that, my friends, puts things in perspective. I get to watch my son play the game that fills his heart with joy. 2 scrimmages and 10 games; it’s not what we hoped or dreamed of but I know Meka would give anything just to be able to see her boy again. She said she would be at every single game cheering our boys and to just keep on playing. And that’s what we are doing and what we will do, just as the 94 Yellowjacket teams who have come before this 95th version have done through the years…play ball. We will play for Vonte, his family, our brothers on the field, coaches, our school, and our town. Our LOVE of the game. We will gather every Friday night under the lights and celebrate the team we love and the game that brings us together. We will remember this time and give thanks for the blessing of another day watching our boys, cheerleaders, and band give it all they got. And I will cherish every second. This guy of mine, #21 of the Alto Yellowjackets, (and his teammates) deserve nothing less. He has worked his tail off for years and I know that he will fight every week and leave it all on the field. He does every single time and I couldn’t be more proud. Go Jackets!

I’ll finish it for you. Until we all come together and stop letting other people divide us.

About every year at this time I post an old article I wrote about playing my last game of varsity football and what a high school football coach meant to me. It's long, but I've always received tremendous feedback from the membership and from high school football coaches throughout Texas. So, here it is... Merry Christmas! Smoaky ===== Dear Coach, I've been fortunate enough to have played the game of football in this state, and yes, before you smirk, many years ago (late-70's) at Universal City Randolph. As a military brat, I played for three high schools in four years with my senior year being in north San Antonio at Randolph High. I loved the "Ro-Hawks" tradition and history. The program had one coach for nearly three decades, Bob Mickler, Sr. I transferred in from Japan before my senior year and he did everything but question my manhood when I walked thru that old field house door asking about practice. My father was with me, and I think that's about the only reason he didn't. He had the offensive line coach, Jimmy Turnbow walk me into the locker room, which had an old Universal weight machine right in the middle. As we walked toward the lockers, I heard Coach Mickler in the background, "give him the locker in between the Varsity and JV, he probably won't be here very long." I was already motivated by Coach Mickler's arrogance, and so that comment right then gave me super-charged energy. I had an earlier taste of Texas H.S. football when we lived in San Antonio prior to our four-year tour in Japan. My older brothers, Robert, Jr. and Michael both played at Roosevelt High, the Rough Riders, a school not far from Randolph Air Force Base, about 20-minutes away down I-35. Back then, the only school in between Randolph and Roosevelt was a place called Converse Judson. And, back then, Judson was just an average program with very little history. Well, we know that soon changed under D.W. Rutledge and Company. My brother, Robert, played for Roosevelt in 1971 and I remember watching big-boy Texas high school football his senior year, when Roosevelt stunned San Antonio Lee in a playoff game. Yep, the S.A. Lee team had a QB named Tommy Kramer, a wide receiver named Pat Rockett (who would later play MLB with the Braves) and a TE named Richard Osborne. Kramer was a record-setting QB at Rice and also played in the NFL. Osborne went on to play with the Eagles in the NFL. I had a really good taste of the bravado and passion of Texas High School Football. I didn't need a grumpy old coach to tell me anything I didn't know. Well, maybe Coach Mickler was just trying to push the right buttons and then again, maybe he didn't think I'd make the roster for the perennial power Ro-Hawks. I made a statement during the first day of workouts, and then the next one, and the first scrimmage and eventually started both ways at right guard and defensive end. Randolph once lost to Plano High School in the Class 2-A State Championship Game in 1967, and the Ro-Hawks made one playoff appearance after another, including trips to the quarterfinals and semifinals. The program has never suffered a losing season, but my senior season tested that tradition with an ugly 5-4-1. We lost a great all-state linebacker Donn McCorkindale to a knee injury in the middle of the season. We had some issues with leadership from the returning seniors, and since I was the "newbie" it was well into the season before I felt anyone was listening to me. My best friends were actually juniors, including Greg Brodman, a great athlete who was forced to sit out his junior season with the Texas transfer rules. Greg would later become a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force and played a major role in Randolph's quarterfinal round team the next year. He played one year at Angelo State University before transferring to Trinity University. Greg was a great friend, and that's why the call I received in April 2005 crushed my soul when I found out he had suffered a massive heart attack and died. Military brats don't have the opportunity to have too many life-long friends, so the one's we know, we appreciate and then, before you know it, their father is transferred to another state or another country. Greg Brodman and I had a lot of incredible memories, some that only he and I will ever know, and some that I mentioned while having the honor of giving his Eulogy at Randolph Air Force Base that April Day in 2005. Every time Coach Mickler rode me hard, I dug deep inside and kept scratching and clawing while wanting to lash out at the lack of senior leadership on the team. But, this was well before I started hosting an afternoon talk show, the opinions just didn't flow out of my mouth like they do now. I did everything I could throughout my senior season, but I wasn't talented enough to make too much of a difference. We finished 5-4-1, and lost to Hays Consolidated 46-20 on the final night of the 1976 regular season. I remember picking up a blocked field goal and racing into the end zone, and since I hadn't been there in a while, I don't know what got into me, but I started a Billy White Shoes Johnson/Elmo Wright dance with my knees going up and down. The game was close at that time, but it sure wasn't much of a contest in the second half. I remember how we prepared all week on defending this high-octane Rebels Triple-Wishbone offense, but, it's not like we hadn't seen it before...the option back then was like the spread today...most everyone was running it. We actually ran a Pro-Style I-formation, which I always loved...it was what the pro's ran back then as if I ever had a chance to play past high school. Hays Consolidated turned out to be a really good program too, Smithson Valley, now 5-A was a new school back then, and we crushed them 34-0. I'll never forget I threw a block that sprung then sophomore Brad Swanson for a 99-yard TD run early in the game. I try and forget a lot of those games, but there are some that I try and hang onto a little bit. No, I'm not one of those old guys trying to act 17 or 20, I'm as 61 as they get, I weighed 175-pounds in high school and proud to say I've gone from 282 to 190 and holding steady. Following our final game and loss to Hays, I was just lost. I didn't understand how it could end this way, I thought these Ro-Hawks were a "perennial" power, how could we go 5-4-1 and not even make the playoffs? Really? Well, because we didn't have chemistry, we just never were as one as coaches like to say, we were very talented, but we didn't have "it" that season. I regret that entire season, basically from the first workout until that last second ticked off the clock and I looked at the scoreboard, 46-20. What the heck? I was upset, angry, frustrated and lost. My football career was over and I felt so useless. I sat in that same locker room where I met Coach Mickler and Coach Turnbow, and by the end of the season, my locker was near the front. I looked around at my buddy Rigo Santiago, who blocked that field goal. I glanced at another really good friend, Pete Wesp, the left guard and a really good junior linebacker, who was a junior, and who is now the AD/Football Coach at "our" Alma Mater. Dan Hargrove was to my right, Donn McCorkindale was up against the wall with a cast on his leg. Unfortunately, McCorkindale left us too early after after crashing during a fighter pilot exercise. There was junior quarterback Eric Cox who was sneaky speed and a really good arm, but he just wasn't quite ready to shine...the next year, he did and made some of his doubters from our 1976 team look awfully silly. You see, we were a fractured team, a group of seniors who were friends, but not "all in" in my opinion, and a junior class that was talented, but unable to take control of the locker room because of "tradition." Frustrating... I don't know how many minutes passed by before I heard some of the coaches talking and shaking the hands of each senior, one-by-one telling them good luck. That's when I felt this large shadow in front of me, I looked up and it was my head coach, Bob Mickler. The same Coach Mickler who questioned me, pushed me, called me a moron on more than one occasion (which I always deserved), and that man did that because he saw potential in me, he just wanted to find the right button to push. He did, and I loved that man, I loved proving him wrong, and I loved playing for him. He stopped in front of my locker as I refused to take off my shoulder pads and helmet, "Smoak, I want to thank you for everything you've given to this program, you were a God-send to us this season and I'll never forget you. You once had no clue about what or who was a Ro-Hawk, but you'll always be one of us." As tears were rolling down my cheeks, upset with failing the tradition of being a Randolph football player, tears from losing a game, my final game, and tears knowing I would never again put on a uniform. I knew, I knew my time as a football player had ended and I was coming to grips with that right then and there...right at that specific moment. Coach Mickler leaned down and just slightly tapped his hand on my helmet, and said, "It's time young man, you've done what you could do, it's time to move on and dammit, Coach English (another one of our asst. coaches) is trying to do the laundry and we need your jersey!" I cracked up and laughed my butt off, because only Coach Mickler could have such a twisted sense of humor in such an emotional time. He added, "You can keep that helmet, you deserve it, and you better never forget about this place, this locker room, this program." As you can tell, I never did, and I never will. That's why when my younger brother Philip had a monster game at linebacker in a district championship clinching victory over Medina Valley three years later, I climbed out of the stands onto the sideline, and as the clock expired, I ran onto the field and hugged him, and slapped his helmet about a dozen times, excited for him and for the program. My brother would later tell me, "You thumping me on my helmet was the toughest hit I'd taken all night." He was part of passing on the torch of that Randolph tradition. Many of you reading this might reflect back on your last play, your last game, your old high school football coach or greatest high school football memory. I loved that man, I loved Coach Mickler. And, that's why, when I walked into the newsroom at my radio station in Tyler back in 1991, I fell to my knees and cried out loud, when I ripped a story off the Associated Press wire, "Texas H.S. Football Coach Dies in Car Wreck." The headline caught my attention, the first sentence is something I'll never forget. It was the news that Bob Mickler, Sr. and his wife, were killed in a two car accident in the mountains in Mexico. It was less than five-minutes before I was about to host my afternoon sports talk show...and as sad and emotional as I was at that time, I reflected back on what Coach Mickler once said about adversity and character and being mentally tough. I somehow made it thru those three hours, because I brought up his death, his passion for coaching kids, and the impact a high school football coach, or any coach, or teacher can have on our children today. Coach Mickler is still listed among the all-time wins and winning percentage in Texas high school football history, and it's still shocking to me he's not in the Texas H.S. Football Hall of Fame. But, you see, he wasn't a hand shaker and politician, he was a no-nonsense football coach who won games and turned young boys into men. He was old school like I am now. He was one of my heroes in life and had a tremendous influence on my life. And, now perhaps more people can understand why I have such a passion for coaches and what they do for a living, win or lose. As another season approaches, let's understand the role of a coaching staff and the countless hours they spend with our kids, being their coach, teacher, and in some cases, their guardian and father. Thank you for your time. David Smoak [email protected]

Who really cares about Covid any more. Masks don’t stop viruses, just our freedom. We Americans would never follow such ridiculous orders from an abusive authority. We would fight back and refuse. Or maybe we are more like sheep than we think. What color shirt should I wear on Friday, sir? I’m sure it matters.

Tatum lost a great kid and player last night. Prayers for Tatum High, the Tatum community, the Mimbs family, and all that are touched by this tragic moment. Fly High, Braden.

Sometimes the other guy or other team is just better that day and folks have a hard time believing it and want to have someone else to blame

Take note of the teams still playing, and then again of the ones in Arlington next week. You'll notice something, the vast majority will look exactly alike. It's a discipline issue, and yes, it's a small thing, but small things make the difference between teams sitting at home and those still playing this time of year.

PG will win, Gibson will cry with cameras in his face for his post game speech, it will get 5k views on Facebook, a couple 8th grade kids will see it and move to PG, they will be freak freshmen next year, get 12 offers, and all will be right in Texas!

Thanks to everyone for the kind words and support I am glad to be out of the hospital, still have 4 weeks of IV antibiotics from home ahead of me but I'm on the mend.

Thank you all for your love and dedication to this country. For all of us who didn’t serve, make sure you go out of your way to shake a vets hand and thank him or her. I put this here instead of the political forum. It can get a little hairy over there. Just like we all love high school football, we should all show thanks and respect to our vets. My wife’s grandfather is a 103 year old WW2 vet and it makes him feel 70 years younger when someone thanks him. It’s important, so do it. God bless you vets.

https://www.texasfootball.com/article/2021/02/03/he-was-homeless-and-worked-from-3-7-am-to-make-ends-meet-now-he-s-signed-to-play-college-football?ref=article_preview_title

Sometimes in life you have to realize that not all things are taken as you intended or as wish they were. After being confronted about a couple of things and reflecting over the last week , I have been made aware of things I have posted. People who know me know that I say a lot of things “tongue in cheek “. I posted some things in that manner and also posted things just to get a rise out of fellow posters. I am sorry they were not taken that way. From now on I will not be posting any negative comments about any offense or of any nature. I surely did not intend to make things sound like I was belittling a coach as a person. A coach’s decision for his team is just that- his decision. Once again my apologies and only positive comments from now on. Good bless yall and have a great week coming up.

Welllllll, look at Mr. fair-weather fan over here... all season long he's been saying THREE-hunnit, but nowwwww he's saying only TWO-hunnit. You clearly lack faith in the Lobos. You're no longer invited to the barbecue. Please turn in your overpriced Rockin' L water bottle and your John King action figure with the kung fu grip. You are BANNNED, sir.

My SENIOR brother has gone through: tornados- (3 years of high school in portable buildings), the loss of one of his best friends, and now has his honors stripped away. He plays every single sport our high school has to offer. He lives and breathes football. He has waited on this moment his entire life. He will never get this back. I am completely heartbroken for him, his teammates, our Alto fam, and his coaches. BUT we will press on and always #DTS

Being a graduate from this school and many in my family as well, I believe the UIL did what they had to do. It is a complete embarrassment to me the lack of competence displayed today by a “head of a school”. No doubt there needs and will be changes coming. I am saddened by the loss of the chance for all the students effected by the lack leadership. The buck lies at Alto ISD’s feet though. Everyone is aware, that has kept up with football in the state of Texas, the severity of the punishments for just such “mistakes/ lack of communications”. It would not be right to ask the schools that did their job correctly to carry the burden of Alto’s mistakes. Yes it sucks, I care very much about Alto, the school and the success of the programs there, but the rules were broken. No matter the intent.

Mr. Sammy Owens infamously aka Powerlifter and one of the most die hard WOS fans to ever be passed away last night.

There are a few things wrong with this for me. First, you aren't comparing the same thing. Setting aside whether or not one agrees with the mercy rule in 6-man, it is a higher scoring game inherently. Also, generally speaking, the reason schools play 6-man football is because they don't have the enrollment to play 11-man - ergo, they don't really have much in the way of playing backups and even then, if the other team just isn't very good, it doesn't stop the scoring anyway. This is not to say that I agree with the mercy rule, but merely to point out that you are comparing two very different games from a scoring perspective. Second, when a team wins by 85 in 11-man, it makes a few waves. People hear about it and talk about it. If the margin of victory is higher, it makes the news, so there is not some epidemic of 85+ point blowouts happening that needs fixing - otherwise, they would not be noteworthy when they happen. Third, a mercy rule deprives playing time for kids on the winning side that otherwise not get to see the field. Remember, we are talking about KIDS playing a GAME here. Some of the more dominant teams can put up 60 points in a half - and for the most part, these teams send in the second team in the second half of these games and might get one or two more scores. These kids would not get to play if you add a mercy rule. Fourth, when the winning team sends in the second, third, JV call-ups after having the game in hand, a mercy rule would deprive kids on the losing side the chance to play football against a squad more on their level. There is not much fun in playing against a team who doesn't allow you to gain a yard while scoring on you every third play. If the mercy rule existed, that's all those kids would experience. Let's be honest, the teams that are losing by 85 points are losing big to everyone. If there were a mercy rule, none of them would get to play meaningful football. Only when the backups come in do they get to experience running a play that gains actual yardage. At that point in the game - down by 40, 50, 60, etc. They might as well be down by 100. The score is arbitrary at that point. The mercy rule would only add insult to injury. You're not good enough to finish this game, kids. Sorry. That's not a message I would ever want to send to kids who just want to play a game. So, no - it is not time for a mercy rule. EDIT : I have gone back the last 10 years looking at the rankings for the largest margin of victories in all classifications of 11-man football. Using 85 because that's the number you used - the number of games in ALL classifications of 11-man football for the last 10 years that had a margin of victory of 85 or more is 18. This is a tiny number. In 2020, there were 1,085 11-man football teams in Texas. Generally speaking, each of those teams plays 10 games. This would be 10,850 team games. Since two teams play in each game, the actual number of games would be half that - so 5,425 games. Plus there are 567 (63 per classification * 9 classifications) playoff games played each year for a total of 5,992 games per year - - times 10 years, and we get close to 60,000 11-man football games that have been played in the last decade. Of these 60,000 or so games, in only 18 of them was the margin of victory 85 or more.

I don’t respond to many things especially rumors. But I’m going to clear the air so you know the truth. Last year we got in a lightning delay and it showed on the radar to not clear out until 10-11 pm. So both coaches decided not to wait it out. I offered San Augustine to drive back the next day but because it was a holiday weekend they didn’t want to do that. Not because they were scared to play Waskom. We agreed to play for 2 years we were young and coming off a 5-5 season. This year your new coach who got the job in May decided he didn’t want to play us on June 18th. Which he was on staff there. He said he didn’t wanna play us with such a young team and how many kids we have coming back and that we made the semi final last year. He said he had to do what’s right for kids and program cause we are to physical to be playing with such a young group. My opinion is that’s bull ####. You sign up and play. Shelbyville didn’t cancel they are young with a new coach. San Augustine is keeping West Rusk on the schedule does that mean West rusk isn’t any good. They won there dist and made it to the Third round with a bunch of talent remaining. So In our society we tell our kids to quit when times get tough and athletics we try to change that mentality all the time. Looks like to me San Augustine is sending there kids the wrong message. When San Augustine made 2-3 trips to semi in a row. I wonder how many teams wanted to cancel on them. But didn’t

You should probably stay home if you need alcohol to enjoy Texas HS football.

I know y`all been having fun with 89Falcon, and he's trolling, but #99 for Bellville is an awesome player. Any team in Texas would want him on their team. I'm looking forward to seeing him play in person on Friday........The same way that Bellville fans should be looking forward to seeing #1 for Gilmer play in person. You won't likely see speed like #1 has anytime again soon, and just like #99 for Bellville, any team in Texas would want #1 from Gilmer on their team. Two fantastic athletes. Bellville runs their offense exceptionally well AND unlike a lot of slot/wing T offenses, they have some RBs who are darn good athletes and have some good speed. Seems like a lot of slot/wing T offensive teams rely on perfect execution and timing to get yards (Liberty Hill in 2007 was an absolute machine), Bellville has this and good athletes on top of it. They are going to move the ball and score some points on Gilmer, that's a given. They will probably score a good amount of points to be honest. That being said, I watched the Bellville/Wimberley game and it was a great one. I love the Wimberley QB. He' built kind of like a fire hydrant and doesn't really look like much, but I would take him on my team any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Great effort from that kid. He was 24 for 31 passing for 275 yards and ran the ball 40 times for 200 yards.....And he does not have one single receiver/running back that could start for Gilmer and he wouldn't be the starting QB for Gilmer either. That's not a knock on the Wimberley kids, it's just that Gilmer is exceptionally talented at the skill positions. If the Gilmer coaches implement the right game plan Gilmer, it should have the Buckeyes scoring a lot of points, and I do mean a lot of points. So as has been the story of this unexpected season from the Buckeyes, they will have to outscore Bellville, and the right game plan will do just that. Gilmer seems to ALWAYS struggle with slot/wing T offenses, so it's going to take a near perfect effort from the Buckeyes, but they have come this far, why not win just one more game that they are picked to lose. Safe travels to everyone.

I prefer to stay off Lobo threads 99.9999% of the time....BUT..... Every. Single. Year. Outside of one season in the last 20 years we endure some Lobo fans and outsiders calling for King's job. Baffles my mind. I'm not saying King is perfect...I'm not saying he doesn't make mistakes....I'm not even saying he doesn't lose games for Longview.....BUT..... Longview has been rich in talent for the last 30-40 years. The King years have been the richest in Lobo history. How many title game appearances since he's been here? How many semifinal appearances? Quarterfinals? It's absolutely unreal. We are talking Katy, Judson, SLC, ET, LT type stuff....obviously without all the titles. Is a title the LONE measure of a successful season??? Go back and look at the 90's......80's....70's....... all still rich in history...but NOTHING like the last 20 have been like. Be careful what you ask for. You could return to that "mediocrity". I'm not saying the Lobos WOULD return to that. I'm saying it COULD happen. All of a sudden those late playoff losses could become distant memories you could only wish for. I cannot fathom wanting him gone. Sometimes the better team doesn't win. Sometimes you aren't the better team. Would the outcome of some of these playoff losses be any different with a different coach? Bigger question: Would you have even made it as far as you did without him???? Congrats to the Lobos on another successful season. You guys are what so many of us are striving to become.

Thanks for letting me invade the ET board this week and chat it up with some of the best football fans in the state. It's always a good time with 99% of ya'll, jk jk , I got love for all of y'all, 100% of y'all. I hope everyone has a safe Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Remember, Jesus is the reason for the season, our risen Lord and Savior!

It is with deep sadness that I have to report that my sister, Kayla Scalise, passed away last night. She will be missed.

Discipline kinda starts at home and filters over from the coach! IMO

If you have issues with the app dont ask me....I'm not tech support. Email [email protected] I installed the update at 7on7 and it works just fine for me....yes it looks new, but on the scoring app the features are the same and IMO does have a cleaner look. Someone asked why fix it if its not broken? Well we had to do a lot of manual work to prevent it from breaking, its old and the coding isn't compatiable with our site, so loading schedules had to be done manually, which is why it took so long for playoff games to appear last year. I personally have asked for the game chats to be removed and I hope they stay gone, they are too hard to moderate and became cesspools of racism, people posting coaches and kids personal information etc...not worth the liability IMO

Since covid, lots of teachers, coaches, and even AD's are getting out. As was said above lots of administrations have become impossible to deal with as they seemed to have gone insane after covid. Communities have also changed drastically during this time. Add in rogue parents who have become even more emboldened through political rhetoric, on either side, and you are now seeing the result on education. There are many on this site that will disagree, but they are probably not in the mix of it. The kids are still the same kids we all were during our youth, the parents and surrounding environment around them has changed and has caused 'the job' to much harder than it was as little as 5 years ago.

Austin is an absolute train wreck of a city. Thanks to being overtaken by communists, violent crime is skyrocketing. If the UIL wants to use some of the $$ they rob from schools every year to build a multi-sport complex to host events, great. But there’s at least ten cities in Texas better suited to hosting it than Austin.

This is a dumb thread.

Look who came to lil ole Daingerfield today

Dude, respectfully... you have no idea what you're talking about. No. Idea. I don't mean that in a derisive sense, but a very literal one. Longview is an extraordinarily difficult place to be the AD, and it has nothing to do with X's and O's. There are particular challenges at a big 5A/6A district that smaller ones cannot imagine. There are challenges unique to Longview that smaller towns will never know. There are a multitude of things that King is a master of, that literally no one on this forum is aware of, but that I see on a daily basis. Take him to task about his playcalling, sure, fine. That comes with the job. Every coach is gonna get called out for stuff like that. <shrug> I don't care. But his leadership within the department, the campus, the district, and entire LISD community is without peer. I'll die on that hill.

This was the state championship game imo

Just saw a Facebook post...Blaise is walking out of the hospital!!

Looking forward to getting back to AT&T for the UIL state football championships. My oldest grandson and I stared a tradition in 2010 and look to keep it going for as long as we can. Great venue to hold these games.

Never talk to a pitcher in the middle of a no-hitter.

You do a great job every week. There is nothing else like it for any other school. Kudos sir.

Let God back in school, put the board back in the principal’s hand, bring back yes sir, no sir, yes mam, no mam, please, may I , and thank you. Students need to fear punishment and respect authority. If the student or there parents won’t allow it, kick their butts out of school. When I was young and got in trouble at school, it was much worse when I got home.

On behalf of the Smoaky staff and its members, I’d like to take this moment to announce our newest member of the SDC Hall of Fame. This poster has helped make this site great with his posts. When the story of SDC gets told, it’s impossible not to to tell it without him. Congratulations to @Hagar!!!

Please dont....if you dont want to subscribe that's fine I understand, but subscriptions help keep me employed and help me take the time to do the research for these and other projects. I dont like to work for free and I dont imagine anyone likes working for free

The health effects of the virus are way below predictions, but what we are now doing has a powerful sociological effect on people. The fearfulness needs to stop and the pandemic needs to be declared over.

The journey began in December of 1997 when my dad and I attended my first Lobo game. That game just happened to be the state championship game against Katy. I remember the atmosphere, pregame and the band. However most of all I remember the fans, the barking, howling fans and the train horn. Everyone remembers a missed opportunity to win a state championship. I remember how I got hooked on Lobo football. Each year we would follow Longview until they lost, not ready to end the season we would look at the remaining playoff games. After deciding which game to go watch, off we would go until the end of the season. I would be scared to know just how many miles we drove over the years but man did we see some of the best players and games that Texas High school football has to offer. Each week of each season for the next 21 years were spent planning for Friday night football. Dad had it down to a science. He would pickup tickets, game gear, check the weather, plan the route, pick the restaurant and the best escape route after the games. After work on game day it was a mad rush to get home, change and get on the road. Thanks to dad we were always at the gate early enough to pick our seats (50 yard line about half way up). To pass the time on the drive to the game and back home we discussed any of a number of topics but often the discussion included game strategy, players, and coaching for both teams as well as what we thought could have been done different, we were high school football experts in the car. At the game we were among the most loyal of Lobo fans. Over the years we were blessed to see each Championship game that the Lobos played in and like most fans the anticipation built each season. So many seasons we felt the talent was there but the season ended in coulda, shoulda, woulda. In 2017 I began to work the Longview home games on the sidelines. It was a bittersweet year as I was able to get permission for my dad to be on the sidelines with me. For dad it was a dream come true, he had one of the best seats in the house. He even got tackled on one play and at 77 years old he just looked up at me and smiled. He knew he made it on the big screen. The 2017 season ended with hope that 2018 would be the year Longview would win the state championship. 2017 was also the year we discovered dad had Lewy Body Dementia. In 2018 we held our breath and crossed our fingers as each game was played. Anyone who watches football knows (especially Lobo fans) that even if you have the team and the talent all it takes is a key injury or just plain bad luck and your done. That season we only went to the home games because of the progression of dads dementia. When the playoffs began we hit the road for what I knew would be our last season of Lobo Football together. We watched and game by game the Lobos won, but each week seemed to bring more and more confusion for dad. Finally we were back at Jerry’s world in hopes of finally watching Longview bring home the ever elusive state championship. No one in ATT stadium wanted to see Longview win more than I did. I wanted it for the kids and the fans but I needed it for me and my dad. As always dad wanted to get there early so we watched the Highland park game before the Longview game. I could tell dad was struggling as he asked questions he should have known the answer to, I could see his frustration growing. We were able to last the entire game and after 21 years and four state championship games dad got to see Longview win that trophy. In July 2019 needing 24 hour care, I was finally forced to place dad in a nursing home. Dad was a outside kinda man and being in a memory care unit was like caging a wild animal. This past Saturday after two weeks of battling Covid 19 alone, dad passed away. I will miss watching the games and the long drives to and from, but more than anything else I will miss the games and the drives with dad. We finally got the perfect end to a football season but it was also the not so perfect ending of what was way more than just a game. A huge Thank you goes to coach King and the Lobos for one Hell of a ride to the end.

I did my own research from what the CDC has given us:.4% of the US population has contracted COVID-19.The death rate of 30-39 age group accounts for .2% of all deaths from COVID-19.The next age group up (40-49) accounts for .4% of all deaths from COVID-19.In NYC of the 309 deaths of 30-39 year olds, 240 of them had underlying conditions, 40 more they were unsure about. Only 26 died with no underlying causes. Ages 15-24 have had a total of 48 COVID-19 deaths. That is .7% death rate among kids that get infected. Meaning 7 people out of every 1000. And since we are going crazy with stats, I will let you do a little math from the CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htmTake all deaths, subtract covid deaths, subtract pneumonia deaths, that will leave you with influenza deaths. Notice how similar the stats are? And we have vaccines and treatments for influenza. Do we really need to wait for a vaccine to live life again? This crap is literally insane. The media is taking #s and spoon feeding it to the masses. What they aren't doing is telling you the truth. 70% or more of COVID deaths are from the elderly or individuals with underlying conditions. Instead of locking the world up, LOCK THOSE PEOPLE UP! We are killing our country, not the virus, US! Remember the huge transgender push? That was less than 1% of the population forcig us to let boys compete as girls. We are letting the government tell us to rot inside our homes and go broke for about 1/2 % of the US population who just tested positive for the virus. So of that 1/2% of the population, you can see the fraction of a percent up there of the infected. Meaning we are hiding from the 1/2 percent of the 1/2 percent. You liberal scared people, go hide in your hole and live off of scraps. I want to go back to work.

Lobos: Last night was a hard loss. I, for one, was in shock after the game, and I'm sure some still are today. But I want to focus on what this team has accomplished. We've witnessed something most of us have wondered for years if we ever would. We saw this team own the states longest winning streak, at 27 games! We saw countless records set over the last few seasons. Even more, we saw our Lobos (most of us in person) bring home a State Championship!! The pride and excitement we have all experienced the last few years, has been amazing! We have a saying in Longview...'Once a Lobo, ALWAYS a Lobo'. I could not be more proud of what our team has accomplished, and I could not be more proud to be a Lobo!

Your service is appreciated.....have a great Veteran's Day........