ARLINGTON — For the teams competing in the Texas High School football state championship games and their fans, the trip to Arlington can be full of memories that can last a lifetime.

Three proud programs hoisted championship trophies on Saturday. Aledo and Galena Park North Shore each defended their 2018 championships and Austin Westlake won the second title in its proud history. Each championship story leaves a lifetime’s worth of memories.

Family Affair

Aledo’s 45-42 win over Fort Bend Marshall wasn’t just the school’s second straight. It’s the third in four years and the school’s ninth overall, making the Bearcats the first school to win nine 11-man state championships.

One family has had its hands on nearly all of those titles. A Bishop has quarterbacked Aledo in seven of those wins. Matt quarterbacked the teams in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Luke won titles in 2013 and 2014. And Jake quarterbacked the team two its most recent titles. As a multi-year champion, Jake can now compare the titles that he’s won.

“This is the best title,” Jake said. “It always feels great to win the state championship.”

It also feels good to continue the family tradition, one that he’s seen for a decade now.

“Jake was in kindergarten when we won in 2009,” coach Tim Buchanan said after Jake earned offensive MVP honors with his four-touchdown, 290-yard performance against Fort Bend Marshall.

The latest Bishop also relishes having won the school’s record-setting title, though the magnitude hadn’t set in immediately following the game. It will, though, when he’s back home. And probably each year when late December rolls around.

“I’m just happy that we are from Aledo and we have some state championships,” he said.

Game of a Lifetime

North Shore’s second straight title came in large part to a player who, up until the morning of the game didn’t figure to play a starring role. When he woke up Saturday morning, running back Roger Hagan figured his biggest contribution might be to give starter Zachary Evans a breather ever now and then. But when Evans was sent home, Hagan’s role changed.

Just as he did when Evans missed the first half of last week’s semifinal, Hagan took his spot next to Dematrius Davis and kept the Mustangs’ offense going. Hagan didn’t provide the same explosiveness that Evans provides, but the end result was the same. A 100-yard, 2 touchdown performance that drew praise from his coach and quarterback.

“We have complete confidence in him,” Davis said of Hagan. “We are just going to rely on the next guy and he’s a great player for us.”

It’s likely that Hagan will remember the day, as will some of the fans who came from near and far to watch. Fans such as Don Ruble, who came to the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Insiders Meet and Greet Saturday morning to talk football before heading into the stadium. He retired to Florida years ago but comes back each year to watch the championship games. Hagan’s coach, Jon Kay, won’t soon forget the memories that his running back made.

“Hagan is a kid who was a B team quarterback in 7th grade, a B team quarterback in 8th grade, and he competed with Dematrius,” Kay said. “He works his tail off. He pours his heart and soul into preparation, and when we looked at him this year and saw how he had developed physically, he’s earned the chance to play. For us, we trust him and he’s earned it.”

A Happy Heart

Another visitor to the meet and greet won’t soon forget the 2019 championships. Dr. Newton Hasson – Doc Hasson for short – spent his morning talking football in general but his beloved Westlake Chaps. Before retiring earlier in the year, Hasson had served as the Chaps’ team doctor since 1985.

He let us know that he’d gotten special permission from his doctors to come to Arlington. Hasson’s suffering from a condition that will require a heart transplant, and he’s on the list. To attend the game, he had to remove himself from the list.

“I told my doctor that missing this game would be worse for my heart that anything I’ll feel during the game,” Hasson said hours before the Chaps blanked Denton Guyer 24-0 to win the school’s first title since 1996.

Over tacos and coffee at Texas Live, Hasson recalled how the Chaps broke open a close game with three successive touchdowns to open the third quarter. Then he exclaimed Westlake would win on Saturday. Saturday’s game was never in doubt, especially after Guyer quarterback Eli Stowers left with an injury, but Hasson lived every play from his familiar spot on the Chaps sideline.

When he calls his doctor Monday to put his name back on the transplant list, he’ll do it with one more terrific Texas high school football memory.

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