ESPN RISE

James Richardson would scarcely have believed his eyes.

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John F. Rhodes/Staff Photographe

Trinity's 2006 playoff clash with Southlake Carroll is the embodiment of Texas high school football.

Born in Illinois, educated at Yale, Richardson is regarded by many as the father of Texas high school football.

His team at Galveston Ball is believed to be the first to represent a state high school on the field of competition, losing 14-0 on Christmas Eve in 1892 to a local amateur squad nicknamed the Rugbys.

According to a yellowed newspaper account in the Galveston Daily News, later reprinted in the historical tome "King Football," the game was attended by "a large crowd of young ladies, dressed in the colors of the Rugbys and Ball High, and older folks."

More than a century later, with the sport having joined the Alamo and cowboy hats as an indelible part of the state's cultural identity, an even larger crowd assembled at Texas Stadium in Irving.

The year was 2006. The occasion was arguably the most memorable high school game in state history.

A matchup between Southlake Carroll and Euless Trinity, two of the state's premier programs, had been hotly anticipated for years.

Yet despite being situated roughly 10 miles apart, the two Metroplex powers -- Carroll from one of the wealthiest suburbs in the nation, Trinity from a blue-collar enclave next to the Dallas-Fort Worth airport -- had never crossed paths.

Their first meeting would finally come in the second round of the Class 5A Division I playoffs*. Adding to the drama, it marked the first postseason meeting between reigning 5A champions since the split-division system was implemented in 1990.

College-quality coaching and talent, pro-style media coverage, the presence of legitimate state champions crowned through a true playoff system, rabid fan support -- everything Texas high school football has to offer was on display that November afternoon as an estimated 60,000 packed a venue normally reserved for the NFL to watch Carroll rally for a 22-21 victory.

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John F. Rhodes/Staff Photographe

Southlake Carroll's fans showed up en masse to "Green Out" the stadium.

While some states might share some, or even all, of those characteristics, none bring them together on a stage as immense as the one offered by Texas, where high school football isn't so much a game as it is a way of life.

"I would think the top [states] all have pockets where it's like that," said Cisco Junior College coach John Parchman, the winner of three state championships at Midland Lee, "but overall, it's the norm rather than the exception in Texas. You notice more when it's not there. There are places, even in Texas, where football isn't important. And you think, these guys don't get it."

With roots stretching back through the turn of two centuries, high school football has been so significant for so long in Texas that few, if any, can remember when it wasn't.

By the time Ken Hall came of age in the early 1950s, stadiums were almost always packed for important games.

"You had people hanging out of trees, standing on cars, around the track, wherever they could," said Hall, nicknamed the Sugar Land Express while rushing for a national-record 11,232 yards from 1950 to '53. "People in this state just live for Friday night football."

In scores of towns throughout the state, often the only ways to secure decent seats are by camping out overnight for season tickets or showing up hours before kickoff.

"It's been that way for a long time," said legendary coach G.A. Moore, who retired in 2004 with a state-record 408 victories. "People want something to hang their hat on, and football is it [in Texas]."

Never was that passion more apparent than Nov. 24, 2006, when more than 100 years of history came to a head at Texas Stadium.

State champions in three of the previous four seasons, Carroll was no stranger to huge crowds -- 44,000 against Lufkin in 2004; 40,000 in back-to-back games against Abilene and Plano in 2005; 37,000 against Abilene in 2004.

But no amount of experience could prepare the Dragons for the spectacle that presented itself as they strode down the tunnel for pregame warm-ups.

"We had been coached to play in that kind of environment," said former Carroll defensive end Kyle Russo, now a freshman at North Texas, "but it was hard to keep your composure. I just remember being stunned at how many people were there."

The crowd was so loud, ex-Trinity tight end Jordan Scoggins said, he didn't hear a single snap count the entire game.

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John F. Rhodes/Staff Photographe

The fans go whole-hog when it comes to supporting their teams.

Though the official attendance was announced at 46,339 -- believed to be the second-largest crowd in state history, behind the 1977 4A final between Plano and Port Neches-Groves -- numerous photographs show that the venue was nearly filled to its 65,675 capacity.

"Bruce Hardy, a dear friend of mine, runs Texas Stadium," said North Texas coach Todd Dodge, who led Carroll from 2000 to 2006. "He's headed up every event they've ever had. He told me, give or take 50 people, there were 61,000. There are pictures all over the place. It looks like a Cowboys game."

If the game had been staffed adequately, it probably would have been a sellout. But with traffic backed up to the highways, some fans didn't even make it into the parking lot.

"So many people I know told me they just turned around and went home," Trinity coach Steve Lineweaver said. "They didn't [anticipate] what the crowd was going to be like. It was electric."

"Most of my family and friends couldn't get in until halftime," said Scoggins, now a freshman at North Texas.

Those who made it inside were treated to a game that actually exceeded the hype, with Carroll scoring the go-ahead touchdown in the final minute on a short run by Dodge's son Riley.

The Dragons went on to claim their fourth championship in five seasons a month later, beating Austin Westlake at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Yet in some ways, even a victory of that magnitude -- the last of Dodge's sparkling tenure at Carroll -- paled in comparison to their historic battle with Trinity.

"It's a game all our kids will be talking about for a long, long time," Dodge said. "You know the age we live in now, the age of the Internet, there's so much more attention and hype.

"I don't doubt that it was the most anticipated [high school] game that's ever been. Anywhere. And it didn't disappoint. It had everything. When you have a memory like that, it sure is nice to come out on top."

* Editor's note: Texas' public high schools are divided into five classifications -- Class 5A being the largest, Class A being the smallest. Each of those classifications is divided into 32 districts, from which four teams advance to the postseason. Those four teams are ranked highest to lowest according to enrollment, with the two largest going into Division I and the two smallest going into Division II. From there, the teams compete in separate six-week, 64-team playoffs. In 2005, Trinity and Carroll were assigned to different flights, with Trinity winning the 5A Division I title and Carroll winning the 5A Division II title. Because of the enrollments in their respective districts, the two schools qualified for the same division in the following season. Confused? Don't worry -- you aren't alone. The system, designed to separate schools with mega enrollments from those closer to the cutoff between 5A and 4A, doesn't work quite as planned. In 2006, the so-called "big school" champion, Carroll in Division I, actually had fewer students than the "small school" champion, Cedar Hill in Division II.