Now that the much-anticipated
Trinity (Euless) vs.
Allen playoff game is set, some believe that it will set break the Texas record for attendance at a high school football game. The record has stood since 1977, when Plano and Port Neches-Groves drew 49,953 for the Class 4A state championship.
The matchup Saturday is only a second-round game, but it certainly has the ingredients for record-breaking attendance.
Trinity is 11-0 this season and ranked No. 1 in MaxPreps Xcellent 25 rankings presented by the Army National Guard. Allen is 10-1. Trinity is the defending Class 5A Division I state champion and Allen won the title in 2008. The only team to beat Trinity in the playoffs since 2006 is Allen.
The schools also have huge fan followings that can fill up any high school stadium. And as part of an attractive Saturday quadrupleheader at Cowboys Stadium, the attendance could rival the 46,339 fans that attended Trinity's second-round game against Southlake Carroll in 2006.
But it's hard to see Saturday's game breaking the 33-year-old record. It's still early in the playoffs, so there will be lots of games that scatter fans across the state. SMU, Texas, Texas A&M and Baylor also play home games that day.
It will be, however, the premier destination for high school football in Texas on Saturday.
The schedule:
Cedar Hill (8-3) vs.
Guyer (Denton) (9-2), 11 a.m.
Heritage (Colleyville) (8-3) vs.
Carroll (Southlake) (9-2), 2 p.m.
Euless Trinity (11-0) vs. Allen (10-1), 5 p.m.
Coppell (11-0) vs.
Duncanville (8-3), 8 p.m.
Click here to view MaxPreps' Texas football playoff brackets.More top stories of the last week from around the Dallas area.
2. Mesquite Horn stuns Copperas Cove: Horn (Mesquite) came in with a 6-4 record and Copperas Cove was considered a favorite to win the 5A Division II football title, but Horn rolled to a 48-14 victory. Horn receiver
Jakeem Grant caught two touchdown passes and ran for three more on sweep plays. It was Horn's first football playoff victory ever.
3. Celina passes playoff test: Celina entered the 3A Division I football playoffs undefeated, but after blowing out weak district opponents by nearly 50 points per game, it was hard to know Celina's strength. Celina (11-0) was expected to get a test of that strength against Sanger, which had given undefeated Argyle a scare in the final week of the regular season. But Celina made Sanger (9-2) look like just another victim in rolling to a 49-7 victory. Celina holds the state record for football titles with eight.
4. Coppell's defense stuffs another opponent: Coppell won District 7-5A and was No. 5 in the final 5A state football rankings, but it still got a tough draw in the playoffs. Coppell drew Plano, a tradition-rich program from one of the state's toughest football districts (8-5A). But Coppell (11-0) held Plano (7-4) to pair of field goals in a 27-6 win on Saturday. Coppell, which is allowing 9.5 points per game, could meet Euless Trinity in the 5A Division I Region I final.
LOOKING AHEADThe Cowboys Stadium football quadrupleheader Saturday features some of the biggest games of the week, but not all of them. Two of the biggest games will be on Friday.
In a 3A Division I matchup, Celina (11-0) takes on Lovejoy (10-1). Lovejoy hasn't lost since its season opener, but it will be without starting quarterback Michael Means and two other seniors who were suspended from the team for violation of team rules.
In a 5A Division I matchup,
DeSoto (9-2) takes on
Skyline (Dallas) (9-2). The teams played in the second round the last two years and Skyline won both times. DeSoto has one of the best offenses in the state, featuring quarterback
Ryan Polite (3,293 yards passing, 31 touchdowns). Skyline's defense allows only 11.7 points per game.
NEWS AND VIEWSThe record for attendance at a Texas high school football game probably won't be broken this week, but there's a good chance it will fall next month when the biggest championship games are held over a two-day span at Cowboys Stadium.
Matt Wixon is the high school sports columnist for The Dallas Morning News. He can be reached at mwixon@dallasnews.com or on Twitter @mattwixon.
