By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
DALLAS, Texas - Members of the Southlake Carroll football team said they're oblivious to the firestorm, the pressure-cooker, the sizzling scrutiny.
So what that fans will pack Southern Methodist University on Saturday night.
No big that ESPNU is telecasting the contest live across the country.
Who gives a hoot that their calling the showdown against Northwestern-Miami the biggest high school football game ever; that a mythical national championship is at stake; that the storied state's longest big-school win streak is on the line.
The Dragons live in Southlake for perfection's sake. The kids there thrive with figurative guns to their heads which they've proven time after time after time on the football field.
They've won 80 of the last 81 games including 18 straight 5A playoff games in probably the nation's toughest most anxiety-packed post-season tournament.
They've won three straight state and mythical national crowns.
This is just another test, they said matter-of-factly Wednesday in a national press conference normally reserved for professional and college athletes.
This, they said assuredly, is just another game.
Except for one thing, star running back Tre' Newton finally figured out and eventually `fessed up.
One very big thing.
"Every week around here everyone wants to see us lose," Newton said. "Now it seems like everyone is rooting for us. It's nice to see people on our side."
The reason Texans are suddenly in Carroll's corner is as clear and transparent as spanking new scotch tape.
This is Texas versus Florida and the folks down home have taken the boys from Tarrant County under their wings, fed `em some grits and called them their own.
The coaches have downplayed it. The kids have tried to ignore it. And analysts have correctly side-stepped it.
But when it all comes down to it - when picking apart the team's remarkably explosive offenses and active defenses, when gushing over the amazing talent levels of both teams, when weighing the hyperbole, the travel, the special teams - the single fact that intrigues all fans, followers and analyst the most is this:
We repeat, this is Texas versus Florida.
The last time the two states tangled in a high-profile game was in 2005 when defending state Texas 5A champion Tyler Lee defeated Chaminade-Madonna of Hollywood (Fla.) 34-28. In the most famous Florida-Texas matchup, Carter-Dallas and Southridge-Miami split home-and-home series in 1997 and 1998.
Saturday's game, however, pits teams from the two states that are ranked either first or second in national polls.
"This is surely the most anticipated high school football game since 2001 when De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) played Long Beach Poly (Calif.)," said PrepNation.com publisher Jamie DeMoney, who has compiled national rankings the last decade. "But those were teams from the same state. For the overall package involving schools from these two states, this game is probably unrivaled."
CSTV's Tom Lemming, considered the first national recruiting expert, pulls no punches. With due respect to Ohio, California and Pennsylvania, high school players from Texas and Florida are the top producers of college football talent in the country.
Off the top of his head, Lemming picked Emmit Smith and Michael Irvin as top recent Florida products and Billy Sims, Eric Dickerson and Vince Young among native Texans.
Lemming, who drives roughly 60,000 miles a year to view the nation's top talent, said currently Florida is the top state to pick out premier players followed closely by Texas.
"In the 50s through 80s, Texas was undoubtedly No. 1 but with the population explosion in the late 80s and 90s, Florida took over," Lemming said. "Texas has more past history and more great teams, but Florida now has just unbelievably great players."
No where is that more evident than this Northwestern team, which Lemming says has six legitimate All-American prospects: 6-foot-3, 305 pound defensive lineman Marcus Forston, linebacker Sean Spence (6-0, 200), receivers Aldarius Johnson (6-2, 195) and Tommy Streeter (6-5, 200), quarterback Jacory Harris (6-4, 185) and offensive lineman Brandon Washington (6-4, 315).
The Bulls have upwards of 12 Division I-A college prospects (some recruiters say more) on their senior roster.
"They literally have as much or more top-end talent on their team than some entire states," Lemming said.
Carroll isn't exactly picking up scrap heap.
The Dragons start with a pair of stars with deep football roots, 2006 MaxPreps.com National Player of the Year, quarterback Riley Dodge (6-0, 185), son of former University of Texas quarterback and Carroll coach Todd Dodge, and running back Newton ((2,031 yards, 20 touchdowns last year), son of former Cowboys offensive lineman Nate Newton, and receiver Ford Renfro (5-11, 165), son of former NFL receiver Mike Renfro.
Newton has verbally committed to Texas as did Dodge, who changed his mind and will play for his dad at North Texas.
Add in receiver Blake Cantu (6-3, 190), who has committed to Oregon, and offensive lineman Sam Schwartzstein (6-5, 270), Nick Leppo (6-3, 260) and Jack Jackson (6-5, 275) and Carroll's senior class heading to Division I-A programs should reach double digits.
But Texas recruiting expert Randy Rodgers (randyrodgersrecruiting.com) warns all the top-end talent in this game doesn't necessarily mean the winner of Saturday's game can lay claim to being the country's top state.
"It's definitely a heck of a made-for-television match-up," Rodgers said. "And it gives people a lot to talk about."
Players and coaches aren't amongst them. Not publicly anyway.
There's enough hyperbole and juice concerning the game that coaches and players don't need the burden of playing for their hometown states.
"Honestly, the (win) streaks and bragging rights angle are great conversation pieces, but we don't get caught up in that," Carroll coach Hal Wasson said. "We take it one game at a time. We know we're going to get everyone's `A' game just like Northwestern does. We expect a tough football games. This is no exception. We don't get wrapped up in the exterior things."
Said Forston: "Everyone is putting the game as Texas versus Florida. But to me it's just another game."
A game pitting the top two teams from their respective states.
DeMoney, also a recruiting analyst for Forbes Recruiting Evaluation who sees film on 300 to 400 Texas teams a year, said the Lone Star state is indeed the country's top star.
"From top to bottom, Texas would get my vote," he said. "If you look at the teams there with losing records, they look a lot better than teams with losing records in every other state. Texas has very few bad teams."
The reason for that, DeMoney said, is largely based on commitment and resources.
Texas coaches are paid the highest, many top 4A and 5A schools pay them six figures and coaching is all they do.
"Most 5A and 4A head coaches don't teach or have administrative duties," he said. "Therefore, they can focus strictly on the games, the players and building great coaching staffs."
In that way it's a lot like college, where you'll see coaches move up the ranks and get pay increased along the way.
It looks more like college in the springtime in Texas, where 19 days of practice with pads is allowed. That's prohibited in almost all states.
Texas also has independent school districts - 15 alone in Tarrant County where Southlake sits - where funding and property taxes funnel for specific needs, such as athletic departments.
In Florida, money and resources are funneled to huge county boards leaving schools like Northwestern to rely on gate, parking and car washing fees. Little is left for athletics.
Carroll makes the most of those built-in commitments from the state with remarkable facilities and specialty coaches.
"These kids, for instance, work with speed trainers who teach and work on explosive fast-twitch muscles," DeMoney said.
Combine that with excellent athletes and coaches who spend gobs of hours studying the game and offenses such as Todd Dodge's spread and shoot are formed.
A state once known for smashmouth and the wishbone has gone to the speed game, something Florida was often known for.
Lemming and DeMoney note that Texas is probably ahead now in the speed game, but that also has largely to do with the weather.
"Surprisingly, many Florida teams still rely on smashmouth," DeMoney said. "Florida isn't cold but it gets a lot more rain. You see a lot of low scoring games in Florida, a lot of great defenses."
Case in point is Northwestern, which racked up a remarkable seven straight shutouts last season en route to a 6A state title and 15-0 record. The Bulls allowed just 108 points all season (7.2 per game).
"The bottom line is that both states have an abundance of speed and athleticism and a great number of Division I prospects," DeMoney said.
Per capita, DeMoney thought Florida ranks No. 1 for prospects but Texas produces the most overall, especially between the Dallas to San Antonio to Houston triangle.
One thing is pretty clear: the collection of talent on SMU's field in Dallas on Saturday will be hard to beat. The only thing more stirring will be the collective passion from both states.
"This is for bragging rights," DeMoney said. "This will be a statement game for who plays the best football."
E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.
