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Saturday
March 20, 2010 Since 1922 |
Playoff traffic heats up for Stallworth
By Michael Pineda
Baytown Sun Published November 22, 2007 Holiday shoppers should expect heavy traffic Friday and Saturday and not just from other holiday shoppers.
A steady line of cars and buses are expected to hit town by mid-afternoon each day, coming from the east and the south.
They will be filled with football fans from the Golden Triangle and the Galveston area, here for a pair of Class 4A area-round playoff games at Stallworth Stadium.
Tom Ed Gooden, the Goose Creek schools athletic director, wouldn’t put a number on it, but it’s a safe bet that crowds of 10,000-plus will show up Friday to watch Lumberton play La Marque at 7:30 p.m. and again Saturday when Port Neches-Groves squares off against Lamar Consolidated at 7 p.m.
“I would imagine both games will draw a pretty good crowd,” Gooden said.
“Port Neches-Groves still holds the record for the largest playoff game attendance ever in Texas, 49,000 against Plano in 1977. I was there.
“And La Marque has a tad bit of tradition, just a little bit.”
La Marque, defending Class 4A champ and winner of five 4A state championships since 1995, is expected to bring between 5,000 and 7,000 fans to the game, a school district spokesman said Wednesday.
Lumberton had about that many at its bi-district game last week at Barbers Hill.
That’s 35-7 win over Smiley is it for Lumberton playoff tradition, since the Raiders are making their first playoff since the school north of Beaumont opened in 1966.
The Raiders, after coming close a couple of times before, bulled their way through the non-district and District 22-4A schedule for a 10-1 record.
The only Lumberton loss was a 31-24 setback to PN-G, which actually attracted 49,953 to the 1977 title game, which Plano won.
Two weeks earlier, PN-G set the Astrodome high school attendance record of 38,570 for a third-round playoff with Houston Kashmere.
The only other Astrodome high school crowd bigger was for a state championship double-header in 1999 that featured PN-G. Both Stephenville vs. PN-G in the Class 4A championship game and Garland vs. Katy in Class 5A were credited with an attendance of 39,102 that day, although witnesses will tell you the 4A crowd was bigger.
Those three PN-G games are among the six largest crowds ever recorded in Texas in the past 60 years.
The alma mater of Dallas Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips, PN-G won state titles in 1955 and 1975. This year, the Indians ran off seven straight wins after an 0-2 start, but were flattened by Dayton, 40-7, in the regular-season finale.
PN-G bounced back to beat Galena Park 33-0 in bi-district.
La Marque is 9-2, same as Lamar Consolidated.
Gooden says the two playoff matches at Stallworth this weekend were only two of several possibilities that were discussed with other schools’ officials last week.
“They called me,” he said. “We had a list of several that wanted to play here, and we were able to work it out where both of these agreed beforehand, so we didn’t have to take it down to the wire. That was good.”
Baytown’s location is a natural attraction for playoff games and adding the artificial turf two years ago didn’t hurt.
“There’s always the what-ifs about who wins (the week before),” Gooden said, “but all four of these schools wanted to play here.
“Lamar Consolidated played here last year. PN-G scrimmaged here (against Baytown Sterling in August). We haven’t seen Lumberton or La Marque since I’ve been here, but this is a pretty good place for them.”
A week ago, Baytown Lee hosted Pasadena Memorial in one playoff game at Stallworth and Beaumont West Brook played South Houston in another.
While local restaurants and merchants stand to profit from the playoff games, Gooden said the playoff games are not a huge money-maker for the school district.
“We have our same people that work during the regular season (ushers, security, press box workers), and then the rental of the facility. That’s kind of by the book,” he said. “Aramark runs the concessions.
“It’s not about getting rich or anything. The UIL gets 15 percent of every playoff gate and any return after that, goes to the (participating) schools.”
Baytown Sun Published November 22, 2007 Holiday shoppers should expect heavy traffic Friday and Saturday and not just from other holiday shoppers.
A steady line of cars and buses are expected to hit town by mid-afternoon each day, coming from the east and the south.
They will be filled with football fans from the Golden Triangle and the Galveston area, here for a pair of Class 4A area-round playoff games at Stallworth Stadium.
Tom Ed Gooden, the Goose Creek schools athletic director, wouldn’t put a number on it, but it’s a safe bet that crowds of 10,000-plus will show up Friday to watch Lumberton play La Marque at 7:30 p.m. and again Saturday when Port Neches-Groves squares off against Lamar Consolidated at 7 p.m.
“I would imagine both games will draw a pretty good crowd,” Gooden said.
“Port Neches-Groves still holds the record for the largest playoff game attendance ever in Texas, 49,000 against Plano in 1977. I was there.
“And La Marque has a tad bit of tradition, just a little bit.”
La Marque, defending Class 4A champ and winner of five 4A state championships since 1995, is expected to bring between 5,000 and 7,000 fans to the game, a school district spokesman said Wednesday.
Lumberton had about that many at its bi-district game last week at Barbers Hill.
That’s 35-7 win over Smiley is it for Lumberton playoff tradition, since the Raiders are making their first playoff since the school north of Beaumont opened in 1966.
The Raiders, after coming close a couple of times before, bulled their way through the non-district and District 22-4A schedule for a 10-1 record.
The only Lumberton loss was a 31-24 setback to PN-G, which actually attracted 49,953 to the 1977 title game, which Plano won.
Two weeks earlier, PN-G set the Astrodome high school attendance record of 38,570 for a third-round playoff with Houston Kashmere.
The only other Astrodome high school crowd bigger was for a state championship double-header in 1999 that featured PN-G. Both Stephenville vs. PN-G in the Class 4A championship game and Garland vs. Katy in Class 5A were credited with an attendance of 39,102 that day, although witnesses will tell you the 4A crowd was bigger.
Those three PN-G games are among the six largest crowds ever recorded in Texas in the past 60 years.
The alma mater of Dallas Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips, PN-G won state titles in 1955 and 1975. This year, the Indians ran off seven straight wins after an 0-2 start, but were flattened by Dayton, 40-7, in the regular-season finale.
PN-G bounced back to beat Galena Park 33-0 in bi-district.
La Marque is 9-2, same as Lamar Consolidated.
Gooden says the two playoff matches at Stallworth this weekend were only two of several possibilities that were discussed with other schools’ officials last week.
“They called me,” he said. “We had a list of several that wanted to play here, and we were able to work it out where both of these agreed beforehand, so we didn’t have to take it down to the wire. That was good.”
Baytown’s location is a natural attraction for playoff games and adding the artificial turf two years ago didn’t hurt.
“There’s always the what-ifs about who wins (the week before),” Gooden said, “but all four of these schools wanted to play here.
“Lamar Consolidated played here last year. PN-G scrimmaged here (against Baytown Sterling in August). We haven’t seen Lumberton or La Marque since I’ve been here, but this is a pretty good place for them.”
A week ago, Baytown Lee hosted Pasadena Memorial in one playoff game at Stallworth and Beaumont West Brook played South Houston in another.
While local restaurants and merchants stand to profit from the playoff games, Gooden said the playoff games are not a huge money-maker for the school district.
“We have our same people that work during the regular season (ushers, security, press box workers), and then the rental of the facility. That’s kind of by the book,” he said. “Aramark runs the concessions.
“It’s not about getting rich or anything. The UIL gets 15 percent of every playoff gate and any return after that, goes to the (participating) schools.”