Texas High School Football, oh my!

Last weekend Paul's brother Matt came to visit with his buddy Pete. They had a conference in town and stayed with us for a few days. We took them out during their first night here for some cajun food at Doodie's -- (One of Paul's favorites) and discussed what they wanted to see and do while they were here. One of the first things they said was "see a high school football game -Is it like Friday Night Lights" they asked? I was like umm.. well... I don't know? We have lived here for over four years and have never been. So, I figured it was about time and having the boys in town was the perfect excuse!

The next day I got to work and starting asking around. I found out that Allen was playing Plano at Clark Stadium that night -- two big high schools in town --and that would be a good game to see. So, after some investigating online I decided I would swing by Clark Stadium to get tickets around lunch. I contemplated waiting to get them at the gate...but I knew these were two big teams and wanted to secure tix since we had company in town to entertain. Good thing I did because Clark Stadium ticket office had about 40 people in line for tickets at 1pm on Friday afternoon! The chatter in line was that Allen High School was sold out and Plano was close...craziness! So, I stood in line and got our "assigned seat" tickets for that night.

We arrived to the Spring Creek exit and hit bumper to bumper to traffic -- are we at the cowboys stadium? We decided to park at the bank on the corner and walk the 2 miles to the stadium. The place was packed and our 5 assigned seats looked more like three... ugh! We squeezed in and enjoyed some crazy dad's screaming about plays, mom's chanting old cheers (I'm assuming) and little kids dressed in small uniforms and cheer outfits with their faces painted. I'm pretty sure we were the only people not wearing school colors - seriously. When the teams took the field there was giant inflatables, fog machines, balloons, banners (not paper ones!) and this wasn't homecoming! It was pretty nuts...oh, and the band had 500 people! They took up the entire field during half time... and let's not even get into drill team (dancers!)and cheer team! Let's just say it's a sight to see and the texan's take this game of football pretty seriously. I guess I better get on board if I'm going to live here ;-)

Allen HS is ranked #1 5A team in Texas --- they beat Plano 42- 7.