PLAYOFF MEMORIES

The Texas High School Football Playoffs are a unique and once-in-a-lifetime type of experience (although many athletes will experience it more than once).

High school football players in the playoffs stop caring about the length of practice. Those bumps and bruises that have been nagging for several weeks don't nag so much anymore. Coaches seem to be nicer and more enjoyable to be around. You feel like a superstar walking the halls and driving around town.

It's such a different experience because you don't know if Monday's practice will be the last Monday practice of the year - and if your a senior - the last high school Monday practice of your life.

Because of that you don't care how long it goes because you never want it to end. And these guys don't realize the magnitude of the moment right now. They will in ten years.

I was at the 2004 3A Division 1 State Title game between Abilene Wylie and #1 Cuero. Wylie went into the post-season unranked and beat the #2, 3 and 9 teams in the state to get to the final game. They beat Cuero on a field goal as time expired.

The guys that won the State Championship in 2004 are beginning to realize just how special they're run was. I sacrificed a ton and would have given tenfold more to have been able to go through something like that. To win a state championship.

Today more kids have the chance to win a championship than ever before since every division crowns 14 champs, but it doesn't water it down any for those guys that are going through it or for their memories and bonds with their teammates that will be broken by death alone...nothing more.

I always get a little nostalgic this time of year. My Plano team went three rounds deep and was destined for a rematch with Duncanville in the state-semis. Duncanville had beat us in the
second week of the regular season and we were ready for revenge.

What we weren't ready for was a Jersey Village team that none of us had ever heard of. Their running back was a freshman named Selvin Young - he's now a running back for the Denver Broncos.

Jersey Village had us figured out. We didn't adjust. And just like that. The season was over. Gone with the sound of the Texas Stadium horn, the roar of the opposing sideline and the deep and utter silence of our own.

The young men playing out there tonight all over the state will remember tonight and the rest of these games forever. They'll remember their specific opponent, the guy they battled all night. They'll remember the date. The place. The sounds and the smells. They'll talk about it with their teammates for years to come. Every time they get together.

And the only ones that will have no regrets, that won't stare off into silence with a half-smile and squinted eyes will be the ones who were lucky enough, good enough and tough enough to win the whole thing. To realize every high school football players' dream.

To end the season...with a win.