After the high school football playoff schedule was released last week, Hair Balls was ready to jump on the Galveston Ball High bandwagon and follow the team on what we hoped would be a miracle playoff run. Ball had already exceeded expectations by making the playoffs, considering Hurricane Ike made football in Galveston an afterthought just a year ago.
Shortly after the storm, rumor had it that Ball would cancel the whole season, and Ball's head coach, Ron Holmes, told players he would help them transfer schools if they wanted to leave. He also tried to rally the team:
"We can make Galveston proud," Holmes told the crowd that had packed the pews at the chapel. "I know the people of Galveston love football, and our football team can take pressure off their minds. We can salvage our season and help get the community back to how it was. We can be the inspiration."
Most of the team didn't transfer, and Ball didn't cancel its season, playing six games and losing all but one. Holmes retired as head coach a couple months after the last game.
After getting blown out in two loses to start this season, it didn't seem that things would go much better for the team this year. But Ball put together a string of three straight district wins, helping the team finish with a 5-5 record to limp into the playoffs.
Problem was, Ball drew Hightower High School -- with the unfortunate team name the Hurricanes -- in the first round of the playoffs. Hightower has lost one game in the last two years -- the state championship game -- and is ranked fourth among the state's 5A schools.
The game was played Saturday at Alvin's Memorial Stadium. Hightower was the visiting team, and its fans poured into the stadium, packing the visiting bleachers with green and white. The home side was a bit more bare, and the Ball band didn't even fill a section of the stands. Before the game started, even if you knew nothing about the two teams, Ball looked severely overmatched.
But with the first half winding down, Ball only trailed in the game by a touchdown.
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Then Hightower scored two touchdowns -- on a long pass and punt return -- in the final two minutes of the half to pretty much put away the game. Hightower, looking like the team we saw earlier this year, scored three touchdowns in the third quarter and eventually won the game 48-21.
Then Hightower scored two touchdowns -- on a long pass and punt return -- in the final two minutes of the half to pretty much put away the game. Hightower, looking like the team we saw earlier this year, scored three touchdowns in the third quarter and eventually won the game 48-21.
So, we didn't get to see a miracle playoff run by the Galveston underdog, but we certainly expect the Hurricanes to continue to demolish other schools.
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