Stu Lumsden, Baltimore

Fans have been going at each other for several weeks in anticipation of the game this week. It is not only for the coveted Ax, but it is for the district crown as well.

I would tell you to come and watch two of the states best runningbacks in D. J. Jones and Waymon James, but all tickets are gone except for 300 that will go on sale at 6:15 the night of the game. I expect the line to form early and for those tickets to sell out fast.

There is nothing like Texas high school football on Friday night and these great rivalry games makes it even better.

“There’s few things in this state that polarizes people as much as high school football,” said Travis Stewart, a staff writer for Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine and Web site. “Football in this state does more than just bring people into the stands. It divides cities. It brings people together, or apart.”
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When outsiders thought Texas football, they thought Mojo (the adopted slogan of the Permian team).

Most Texas football insiders, however, know that same spotlight could’ve been placed on any number of towns across the state.

Simply because football is an ingrained part of the state’s culture. In Texas, it’s religion, education, family and football. And not necessarily in that order.

This past summer, Stewart embarked on a long journey to shed some additional light on Texas’ football culture by uncovering the top high school rivalries in the state. He first pared the 20 best rivalries down to a top 10. Then he ranked them, worst to first.

Coming out on top was Marshall-Longview.

“I talked to a lot of players, coaches and just random fans from around towns all over the state and Marshall-Longview just seemed to be the most interesting,” Stewart said. “It was the juiciest.”

Not that the other rivalries weren’t.

I’m the same about Dave’s magazine with my oldest brother. We are always anticipating the arrival of the mag, and will call each other to see if either of us has already purchased it, then we share it after the one who bought it has read it.
I was All-District my junior year, and I was the same way, I couldn’t wait to see my name and/or photo in Dave Campbell before my Senior year. No photo, but my name was there. Good times!
The Longview game had and has a special place among rivalries for Marshall, but wasn’t the only one. When I played, we had a particularly nasty rivalry with Lufkin, so much so, that our team bus always had to be escorted all the way to Nacogdoches after we whipped the Panthers butts. That rivalry is now pretty much gone, as Lufkin and Marshall haven’t played each other since 2000. We also didn’t get along too well with Texarkana. After whipping their butts particularly bad one year, their big stud was looking for my fullback/linebacker brother at a basketball game, and when he couldn’t find him, forced a Marshall kid to give him our home phone number. He called our house and my brother answered the phone, and the guy told him if he ever saw his face he was gonna kick his ass. My brother asked where he was, and told him to wait right there. He got in his Chevy and drove the 72 miles to Texarkana in less than an hour, went into the gym and called the guy out. They walked outside, surrounded by kids from both towns, and my brother busted his jaw before the guy could get his jacket off, and he slid off the hood of a car onto the ground, out cold.
Marshall kids aren’t known for being mean or trouble makers, just country strong kids that don’t take any bull off idiots.

I played at Conroe High School in the mid-80′s, and football was king. Our big rivalry then was McCullough High School (now The Woodlands HS).

We were separated only by the San Jacinto River and a railroad trestle, but we were the redneck country hicks to their kids of the affluence.

Man, Friday nights in small town Texas during football season? There really is no other energy or excitement like it.

No. 10: Kimball vs. Carter
No. 9: Lufkin vs. Nacogdoches
No. 8: New Braunfels vs. Seguin
No. 7: Gordon vs. Strawn
No. 6: Donna vs. Weslaco
No. 5: Texarkana Texas High vs. Arkansas High
No. 4: Denison vs. Sherman
No. 3: Nederland vs. Port Neches-Groves
No. 2: Odessia Permian vs. Midland Lee
No. 1: Longview vs. Marshall

All the above are intense rivalries, but typical of Dave Campbell to only recognize one small town rivalry.

It is every kids dream who plays high school football in Texas to see his name appear in Dave Campbell . I know my chest swelled with pride when my senior year my name appeared in the 1976 edition. (You can do the math and figure out how old I am). I use to buy a copy of it every year until the cost got to be the same as a hard-back novel. Nowadays I just borrow someone’s copy and read through it.

A couple of addition rivalries to throw out there. Crockett (my high school) vs. Madisonville. Like Longview and Marshall, Crockett and Madisonville are relatively close to each other (39 miles), have almost always been in the same classification, and have been in the same district many times.

Fights (on and off the field), vandalism of vehicles and general bad blood exist between these two school. For a number of years, the two towns were not allowed to play because of the bad blood. Even today, during basketball season, Madisonville refuses to play in Crockett. Their games are played on a neutral court at Sam Houston State.

Another rivalry that has bad blood is Austin Reagan vs. Austin LBJ. This rivalry got a little extra boost this year.