Hirschi-Vernon not playing and other football notes
Hirschi and Vernon have played football against each other every year since 1986.
It was a long-time non-district rivalry back when the Huskies were in the old 4A classification. The Lions and Huskies were in the same district for a decade before it became a non-district matchup again in 2014 because of 4A splitting into two divisions.
The two most recent realignments they didn’t play (1974-75, 1984-85) were probably because the Huskies were in a nine-team and eight-team district, respectively.
It’s noteworthy enough to mention the 31-year streak of playing each other is coming to an end in 2017. But the fact it’s happening during the middle of a realignment period is truly unusual because those games almost never change.
How did this come about and who are the Huskies and Lions playing instead during Week 4 of their season? That’s where the story starts.
Almost every high school football season, the state of Texas begins a week before Oklahoma’s schools. That’s why Vernon’s rivalry game against Altus is always Week 2 and is usually Altus’ opener.
This year, the Texas high school season starts later than it has recently – the first Friday night is Sept. 1. And that’s the same week Oklahoma kicks off, which presents some major problems. However, not for Vernon because Altus luckily had a bye week right after its game against Vernon so it was an easy switch.
It was a problem for the likes of Dalhart and Perryton, both of which had Oklahoma teams on their 2016 schedules (Perryton Week 2 vs. Weatherford; Dalhart Week 4 vs. Guymon).
One of those schools called Vernon’s Mark Bateman asking what he was doing about the problem, but he told them he was fortunate enough to have the Altus game work out. A couple weeks later in March, Bateman was called again by the panhandle schools with a proposition.
Perryton had talked Pampa into playing Week 2 instead of Week 4 (Pampa’s 2016 bye week) so both Perryton and Dalhart needed a Week 4 game. They wouldn’t want to play each other since they are District 1-4A Division II mates.
Would Vernon and Hirschi be willing to play the two panhandle schools? Bateman said he was fine with it as long as the Lions kept their home game (Vernon was at Hirschi in 2016), but that he’d have to check with Hirschi coach Danny Youngs.
The Huskies’ coach has mentioned he likes playing new people – remember Hirschi-Iowa Park didn’t happen in 2016-17 – and that he’d be willing to switch out the Vernon game on a couple conditions: Hirschi would only do it if a spread team is involved and the Huskies weren't traveling.
Perryton is a spread team and will come to Memorial Stadium on Thursday, Sept. 21. The next night Vernon hosts Dalhart, a team it’s somewhat familiar with having been in the same district with the Golden Wolves the last realignment.
While I’m sure there will be a bunch of fans and alumni bummed Hirschi-Vernon isn’t happening this fall, both coaches believe their new opponents will benefit their programs.
From Hirschi’s perspective, it already played two non-district teams that run tricky flexbone offenses and adding Vernon’s wing-T (although the offense could change some with Matthew Hoover taking over) doesn’t help the Huskies prepare for a district with mostly spread teams. Plus you get another home game, and Youngs likes playing on Thursdays, too.
From Vernon’s perspective, it allows the Lions’ non-district schedule to soften up a bit. The Lions open with 4A finalist Abilene Wylie and play Springtown, Canadian and Altus. Swapping out a very good Hirschi bunch for Dalhart, which like Vernon went 2-9 in 2016, will be a benefit for a team looking to gain some confidence before district.
Tackett’s take on 2A title game switches
A couple weeks ago, the UIL released its schedule for the 2017 state title games, and the most notable change is that the 2A Division I title game will take place on Wednesday night after the two six-man championships.
That frees up the Thursday schedule, which previously had all four 3A/2A games take place. Our area has three 2A Division I teams – Windthorst, Seymour and Olney.
I consider the Trojans to have the best chance of making a deep playoff run of those three. They return key players at almost every position and went three rounds deep in 2016.
So will the Wednesday title game change how Tackett approaches the playoffs? The assumption out there is that many 2A schools could keep scheduling Thursday games to avoid losing a day or two of preparation before the semifinals and finals.
Tackett said he’s not opposed to playing on Thursdays – I remember covering a second-round Windthorst-Sundown matchup a few years ago in Sweetwater – but he’s also not sure it will drastically change what days coaches play on leading up to the title game.
After all, there’s not much preparation done in between Wednesday night and Thursday morning at 10 a.m. when the first Thursday game was held.
And Tackett took the same stance I’ve heard a lot of coaches take regarding when state title games are played at AT&T. If you make the title game and get to walk into Jerry World, you’ll play whenever they tell you to play.
Other random football notes:
* The correlation between football and track success has been mentioned plenty by coaches and media through the years.
Just thought it was interesting that four area guys won gold or silver medals at state last weekend. Three of them – Graham’s Hunter Dooley and Jack Hays plus Hirschi’s Roman Turner – were Red River 22 selections in 2016. Another silver medalist – Jacksboro’s Kade Weldon – was a two-way first-team District 5-3A Division II selection.
* Not sure of the details, but noticed Gold-Burg is looking for a new football coach as Jay Johnson’s job was posted on the regional job site. Johnson was with the Bears for three years at a tough place to have success because of numbers. That means two area six-man schools (also Forestburg) will be breaking in new football coaches.
* Forgot to mention this in a previous blog, but former Graham assistant Joe Merrett, who had finished his first season at Perrin-Whitt, is headed to Weatherford as an assistant.
* I knew I forgot a note last night. Anyway, in what surely isn't a surprise, Graham qualified for the state 7-on-7 tournament over the weekend. The Steers go pretty much every year and they take 7-on-7 more seriously than probably any other area school. This weekend Midwestern State will host a state-qualifying 7-on-7 tournament.