Texas H.S. Football Playoffs Coming To…Louisiana?

November 30, 2010 / Football
Shreveporttimes.com (La.)

It won’t be a Louisiana team that breaks in Independence Stadium’s new turf. That goes to two Texas High Schools, but one school has northwest Louisiana connections.

Longview (Texas) plays district rival Mesquite (Texas) Horn in the quarterfinals of the Class 5A Division II football playoffs at 6 p.m. Saturday. Longview coach John King is from Springhill and attended Northwestern State. Longview’s athletic director Pat Collins also attended Fair Park High School.

“Independence Stadium was really our most logical choice — the place we’ve played at in years past,” King said. “My ticket request has doubled. We got some guys on staff that have Louisiana connections. I can imagine there will be people from Springhill and northwest Louisiana out there.”

The two teams couldn’t decide on a neutral venue, so they went to a coin flip to decide it. Longview offered to play at Kincaide Stadium in Dallas, but Mesquite wanted to play at SMU’s Gerald J. Ford Stadium instead. Collins then suggested Independence Stadium, a venue Longview played West Monroe at previously. When the Lobos won the coin flip, Shreveport was the destination.

“It’s a convenient place to play,” Collins said. “We’ll let you know what kind of surface it is when we get through.”

Mansfield: Boys basketball coach Chris Thomas is searching for consistency with his young group. The Wolverines defeated West Orange-Stark (Texas) 58-44 to win the consolation championship of the St. Louis Tournament last week, but the motivation of that win didn’t last. Mansfield fell to Northwood on Saturday after making 14-of-54 field goals.

“We looked like we came out of the gate fast than Saturday happens. It was disappointing,” Thomas said. “We’re not consistent. Once we find it, we’ll be much better.”

Thomas returns all his starters after he started two freshmen, a sophomore and two juniors last season. The team, which hasn’t made the playoffs the last two seasons, is led my sophomore point guard Brandon Campbell. He scored a team-best 15 points against West Orange.

Zwolle: The Zwolle Hawks are 9-1, but coach Bradley McLaren knows a tougher schedule awaits them this week. Zwolle hosts Neville tonight and plays Winnfield and Lakeview in the Lakeview Tournament Thursday and Friday.

“This is a big week for us,” McLaren said. “They’ll be able to match up with us athlete to athlete.”

Zwolle has four starters returning this season, including 6-foot-8 center Marvin Frazier and 6-foot-1 guard Breion Beaver.

“We have a lot of team speed,” McLaren said. “We’re faster than last year. We try to use our speed and athleticism to wear teams down.”


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