Three East Texas Teams Can Earn Elite Status
Chase Colston
Dynasty can be a word thrown around too loosely.
What constitutes a dynasty? Is it two championships in a row? Three in four years, a la the Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s and the recent New England Patriots?
It's all subjective. However one defines it, the argument for three area teams should come up after Saturday.
Alto, Tatum and Gilmer are all on the brink of reaching that realm of the teams that everyone remembers, the ones that the old guys talk about in the diner 40 years down the road.
Alto is riding a state-best 27-game winning streak and is one win from a second straight Class A Division I title.
The Yellowjackets don't know what losing is since dropping down to 1A. Their average margin of victory is almost 45 points in that time span.
Alto (13-0) currently owns the ninth-longest winning streak among Class A teams in the state's history. The Big Sandy teams of the 1970s also won 27 straight.
The Yellowjackets are seven wins from tying Pflugerville (1960-62) for the longest winning streak in 1A history, according to Texas high school football historian Joe Lee Smith.
Pflugerville won 34 straight games in Class B, which is now 1A. Thorndale has the longest streak (32) since 1A became the lowest 11-man classification.
It would only be Alto's second state title in a row (and ever), but the manner in which the Yellowjackets have won equals nothing short of dynastic.
Tatum might have the most impressive historical resume up to this point, and its potential is even greater.
What constitutes a dynasty? Is it two championships in a row? Three in four years, a la the Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s and the recent New England Patriots?
It's all subjective. However one defines it, the argument for three area teams should come up after Saturday.
Alto, Tatum and Gilmer are all on the brink of reaching that realm of the teams that everyone remembers, the ones that the old guys talk about in the diner 40 years down the road.
Alto is riding a state-best 27-game winning streak and is one win from a second straight Class A Division I title.
The Yellowjackets don't know what losing is since dropping down to 1A. Their average margin of victory is almost 45 points in that time span.
Alto (13-0) currently owns the ninth-longest winning streak among Class A teams in the state's history. The Big Sandy teams of the 1970s also won 27 straight.
The Yellowjackets are seven wins from tying Pflugerville (1960-62) for the longest winning streak in 1A history, according to Texas high school football historian Joe Lee Smith.
Pflugerville won 34 straight games in Class B, which is now 1A. Thorndale has the longest streak (32) since 1A became the lowest 11-man classification.
It would only be Alto's second state title in a row (and ever), but the manner in which the Yellowjackets have won equals nothing short of dynastic.
Tatum might have the most impressive historical resume up to this point, and its potential is even greater.
(Staff File Photo By Herb Nygren Jr.)
ALTO’S Tarlandus Mitchell, now the team’s quarterback, leads the team to the state title game on Saturday.
A 3A Division II title in 2005, a 2A Division I crown last year and one win from another 2A Division I championship this year potentially puts Tatum in a class with some of the state's most historical programs.
The Eagles could become the 10th school to win three state titles in a row.
Quarterback Cashas Pollard is 41-3 since he started his sophomore year. Head coach Andy Evans is in his fourth season and owns a 53-5 record.
If Tatum wins, the Eagles will do something Odessa Permian never did, or the Daingerfield teams of the early 1980s.
That is what you can call a dynasty.
In 3A, Gilmer owns a Division I state championship (2004), has not lost a district game in seven years and head coach Jeff Traylor is 85-14 since starting at the helm in 2000.
A win over Liberty Hill on Saturday would give the Buckeyes their second state title in four years.
Dynasty? It's a harder argument to make than for Alto and Tatum, but Gilmer is synonymous with the best 3A football in East Texas.
There will be arguments for and against even if all three times walk off the field state champions on Saturday. But you can't deny greatness, and these three programs - regardless of classification - have solidified themselves as the premier football schools in the area.
Attention Ms. Waitress in the local Mom & Pop Diner in 2047: Start making the coffee now.
It's going to be a long night of talking greatness.
Extra Points: No. 1 Alto plays Seymour at 3 p.m. Saturday in Midlothian in the 1A Division I title game. Midlothian built the new MISD Multi-Purpose Stadium in 2006. The facility seats 8,000 fans, has an artificial turf field and a video scoreboard. ... The Yellowjackets currently have 482 all-time wins, sixth most in 1A. Groveton is first with 600. ... Tatum faces Farmersville at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Corsicana's new Tiger Stadium. ... Gilmer and Liberty Hill play at 4 p.m. Saturday at Baylor University's Floyd Casey Stadium.
The Eagles could become the 10th school to win three state titles in a row.
Quarterback Cashas Pollard is 41-3 since he started his sophomore year. Head coach Andy Evans is in his fourth season and owns a 53-5 record.
If Tatum wins, the Eagles will do something Odessa Permian never did, or the Daingerfield teams of the early 1980s.
That is what you can call a dynasty.
In 3A, Gilmer owns a Division I state championship (2004), has not lost a district game in seven years and head coach Jeff Traylor is 85-14 since starting at the helm in 2000.
A win over Liberty Hill on Saturday would give the Buckeyes their second state title in four years.
Dynasty? It's a harder argument to make than for Alto and Tatum, but Gilmer is synonymous with the best 3A football in East Texas.
There will be arguments for and against even if all three times walk off the field state champions on Saturday. But you can't deny greatness, and these three programs - regardless of classification - have solidified themselves as the premier football schools in the area.
Attention Ms. Waitress in the local Mom & Pop Diner in 2047: Start making the coffee now.
It's going to be a long night of talking greatness.
Extra Points: No. 1 Alto plays Seymour at 3 p.m. Saturday in Midlothian in the 1A Division I title game. Midlothian built the new MISD Multi-Purpose Stadium in 2006. The facility seats 8,000 fans, has an artificial turf field and a video scoreboard. ... The Yellowjackets currently have 482 all-time wins, sixth most in 1A. Groveton is first with 600. ... Tatum faces Farmersville at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Corsicana's new Tiger Stadium. ... Gilmer and Liberty Hill play at 4 p.m. Saturday at Baylor University's Floyd Casey Stadium.
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