Cowboys Stadium to Host Every Texas Championship Football Game This Year

by Jeff Fisher
Texas High School Football Huddle

The University Interscholastic League has announced that all ten 11-man Texas high school football championship games will be held in Cowboys Stadium in December.

Last year was the first year that the title games were held in the home of the Cowboys, but only the Class 5A, 4A and 3A games were held in Arlington.  The 2A and 1A games were played in Mansfield.

This year the Class 2A Division I championship and the two Class A title games will be played December 15th; the Class 2A and Class 3A Division II championship games will be played on Friday, December 15th; and the Class 4A Division II and both Class 5A title games will be played on Saturday.  The Class 3A Division I championship game will be played a week earlier on December 9th.

The UIL also announced that the Division I and II six-man championships will be played in Abilene on December 10th.

Texas High School Football Broadcasts by Longhorn Television Network Paused

by Jeff Fisher

Texas High School Football Huddle

As legendary college football play-by-play man Keith Jackson who say...."Whoa Nellie!"

According to published reports in the Dallas Morning News, Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe has put a temporary hold on plans by the newly created Longhorn Television Network to broadcast high school football games in Texas.

Beebe decided to push the pause button on the high school games after ESPN VP Dave Brown may have committed an NCAA violation by mentioning the names of two 2012 University of Texas recruits in a June radio interview.

The Longhorn Television Network, which is scheduled to launch August 26th, is a 24-hour network owned by ESPN.  The Worldwide Leader in Sports reportedly is paying $300 million over a 20-year period for ownership of the network that will be focused on U of T sports.

The LTN had planned on broadcasting 18 high school football games during the 2011 season, but those plans have been delayed while Beebe and his staff try to determine if such broadcasts are an NCAA violation.  Several Big 12 members reportedly feel the airing of high school games on the Longhorn Television Network gives a recruiting advantage to Texas.

Various media outlets are also reporting that Big 12 members Texas A&M and Oklahoma are considering a possible move to the SEC.

In addition to making sure the network doesn't violate NCAA rules, Beebe wants to also make sure that fellow Big 12 members are not put at a disadvantage.

Stay tuned!

DeSoto Takes Texas 7-on-7 Division I Title

by Jeff Fisher
Texas High School Football Huddle

DeSoto improved on last year's 2nd place finish in the FOX Sports Southwest 7-on-7 Division I State Championship.

The Eagles beat Houston Lamar 35-25 Saturday to win the school's first-ever Texas 7-on-7 state title.  The game was a rematch of their Friday game in Pool J when DeSoto won 38-19.  The Eagles were a perfect 8-0 over the weekend.

Rosenberg Terry beat Abilene Cooper 46-26 in the 3rd place game.

Texas 7-on-7 Championships - Division I Championship Bracket Scores

1st Round
Mesquite  40  Channelview  34
Houston Lamar  27  The Woodlands  20
Hebron  33  Dobie  24
Arlington Bowie  45  Katy  13
Riverside  32  La Marque  27
Cy-Falls  40  Jersey Village  18
A&M Consolidated  41  North Crowley  33
West Brook  41  Lake Dallas  40
San Antonio Johnson  39  Keller Central  35
DeSoto  51  Vista Ridge  18
Lake Travis  34  Belton  6
Westwood  40  John Tyler  30
Klein Forest  24  Plano  20
Willis  48  Arlington  32
Stratford  26  Cy-Fair  12
Duncanville  33  Klein Collins  26

2nd Round
Houston Lamar  27  Mesquite  24
Bowie  33  Hebron  19
Riverside  41  Cy-Falls  34
A&M Consolidated  32  West Brook  22
DeSoto  26  San Antonio Johnson  24
Westwood 27  Lake Travis  26
Willis  20  Klein Forest  19
Duncan  27  Stratford  20

Quarterfinals
Houston Lamar  27  Bowie  21
A&M Consolidated  47  Riverside  41
DeSoto  39  Westwood  33
Duncan  34  Willis  20

Semifinals
Houston Lamar  53  A&M Consolidated  12
DeSoto  39  Duncan  26

Championship
DeSoto  34  Houston Lamar  25

Melissa Wins Texas 7-on-7 Division II Title

by Jeff Fisher
Texas High School Football Huddle

Melissa beat Kinkaid 27-20 on Friday at Texas A&M's Kyle Field to win the FOX Sports Southwest 7-on-7 State Division II Championship.

The Cardinals, who advanced to the championship round after going 2-1 in pool play, won the game when quarterback Wes McQueen tossed a touchdown pass to Brad Bush after Kinkaid tied the game at 20. McQueen was named MVP.

Gatesville won the bronze medal game beating Whitney 34-15.

Texas 7-on-7 Championships - Division II Championship Bracket

by Jeff Fisher
Texas High School Football Huddle

32 teams made it through Thursday's pool play to have a shot at winning the 2011 Texas 7-on-7 Division II championship.

The run to a possible championship began at 8 AM Friday morning at Texas A&M with the ultimate winner having to play and win five games in less than eight hours!

Brownwood is the defending Division II champ.

Here are the scores, starting with the first round:

1st Round
Wimberly  35  Burnet  12
Lorena  28  Crockett  16
Gilmer  42  Rice Consolidated  18
Brownwood  41  Wellington  14
Kaufman  44  Liberty  21
Godley  21  Celina  20
Wylie  20  Chapel Hill  14
Melissa  26  Ballinger  19
La Villa  35  West Orange  22
Sonora  32  Edna  13
Seminole  42  Argyle  41
Aubrey  27  Prosper  13
Lindale  42  Merkel  14
Ingleside  48  Iraan  28
Kinkaid  46  Sanger  31
Navasota  18  Hitchcock  14

2nd Round
Lorena  33  Wimberly  27
Brownwood  36  Gilmer  35
Kaufman  56  Godley  13
Melissa  33  Wylie  26
La Villa  46  Sonora  34
Aubrey  53  Seminole  13
Lindale  39  Ingelside  30
Kinkaid  42  Navasota  27

Quarterfinals
Lorena  31  Brownwood  20
Melissa  27  Kaufman  2
Aubrey  53  La Villa  24
Kinkaid  45  Lindale  14

Semifinals
Melissa  39  Lorena  28
Kinkaid  32  Aubrey  12

Championship
Melissa  27  Kinkaid  20

Texas High School Football 7-on-7 Championships July 14-16

by Jeff Fisher
Texas High School Football Huddle

The field is set for the Texas 7-on-7 high school football championships that will be held at Texas A&M from July 14th through the 16th.

128-teams qualified for the two division tournament through State Qualifying Tournaments over the last month-and-a-half.

Defending 2010 Division I champ Lake Travis is back to defend its title.  LT beat DeSoto in last year's title game 42-39 in overtime, which the Cavaliers used as a springboard to win their fourth straight state title in the fall.

Brownwood, last year's Division II champ is also back to defend its title.  Cameron, which lost to Brownwood 34-32 in the Division II championship game, is also in the 2011 field.

No team in either division has ever won back-to-back 7-on-7 championships since the competition began in 1998.

Here's the list of former champs:

2010 - Lake Travis (Division I), Brownwood (Division II)
2009 - Round Rock Stony Point (Division I), Celina (Division II)
2008 - Richland (Division I), Crane (Division II)
2007 - Georgetown (Division I), Celina (Division II)
2006 - Colleyville Heritage
2005 - Baytown Lee
2004 - Tyler Lee
2003 - Odesaa Permian
2002 - Katy Cinco Ranch
2001 - Baytown Lee
2000 - Celina
1999 - North Mesquite
1998 - Southlake Carroll

Below is an alphabetic list of qualifiers:

Division I (Class 5A & 4A)

Abilene
Abilene Cooper
Arlington
Arlington Bowie
Arlington Lamar
Austin Bowie
Belton
Beaumont West Brook
Buda Hays
Carrollton Creekview
Cedar Park Vista Ridge
Channelview
College Station Consolidated
Coppell
Crowley North
Cy Fair
Cy Falls
Dallas Jesuit
DeSoto
Duncanville
Edinburg
El Paso Coronado
El Paso Franklin
El Paso Riverside
Fort Bend Elkins
Fort Worth Paschal
Friendswood
Houston Chavez
Houston Lamar
Houston Stratford
Jersey Village
John Tyler
Katy
Katy Cinco Rank
Keller Center
Klein Forest
Klein Oak
Klein Woods
Lake Dallas
Lake Travis
La Marque
Langham Creek
Lewisville Hebron
Mesquite
Midlothian
Montgomery
Pasadena Dobie
Pearland
Plano
Plano West
Rockwall
Rockwall Heath
Rosenburg Terry
Round Rock McNeil
Round Rock Westwood
San Antonio Alamo Heights
San Antonio Johnson
The Woodlands
Tomball
Tyler Lee
Weslaco
Wichita Falls
Willis
Wolfforth Friendship

Division II (Class 3A, 2A & 1A)

Abilene Wylie
Academy
Alpine
Altair Rice
Anahuac
Argyle
Aubrey
Austin St. Andrews
Ballinger
Bandera
Bangs
Beaumont Kelly
Boyd
Brownwood
Burnet
Cameron
Celina
Clifton
Comanche
Crockett
Decatur
East Bernard
Eastland
Edna
Fort Stockton
Gatesville
Gilmer
Glen Rose
Godley
Graham
Hitchcock
Houston Kinkaid
Ingleside
Iraan
Kaufman
Lago Vista
La Villa
Lexington
Liberty
Lindale
Lorena
Marion
Mathis
Melissa
Merkel
Navasota
Pettus
Princeton
Prosper
Rockdale
Salado
Sanger
Seminole
Somerset
Sonora
Taft
Turkey Valley
Tyler Chapel Hill
Vanderbilt Industrial
Waco Reicher
Wellington
West Orange
Whitney
Wimberly