By Tom Waddill
Install field turf and they will come.
The folks at Sam Houston State are finding that out as Bowers Stadium has suddenly become an attractive site for high school football playoff games again.
This week, Bowers Stadium is hosting two games. Three more are already confirmed for next week.
This Friday at 7:30 p.m., Groveton and Hull-Daisetta clash in a Class A bi-district game. On Saturday at 2 p.m., Lufkin and Klein Forest battle in a 5A bi-district contest.
Next week Friday, three playoff games at Bowers Stadium are already confirmed, according to SHSU’s Jason Barfield.
The winner of this week’s Klein Oak-College Park game will play the winner between Killeen Ellison and Leander on Nov. 23 at 2 p.m. Later that night, the winner of this week’s Mart-Hamilton game takes on the winner of the Corrigan-East Chambers game at either 7 or 7:30.
On Nov. 24 at 2 p.m., the winner of bi-district game between The Woodlands and Spring Westfield meets the winner of the Bryan-Round Rock Stony Point game.
Willis cuts coach loose after another winless season — Saying it was “time for a change,” Willis ISD Superintendent Brian Zemlicka reassigned head football coach Mack Malone days after the Wildkats completed their second consecutive 0-10 season.
Zemlicka told the Conroe Courier on Tuesday he would immediately launch a search for a new head coach. A 1987 Willis High School graduate, Malone is to serve as an administrative assistant at the Stubblefield Alternative School, Zemlicka said.
Malone, 40, was named the Wildkats’ head coach in May 2006 following an off-season incident involving former head coach Rick Cullum. Cullum, whose 2005 team lost its last six games to finish 1-9, left the program in the wake of the scandal that included the distribution of an inappropriate photograph on the school district’s e-mail system.
Hired by Cullum as defensive coordinator shortly before the incident surfaced, the WISD board of trustees named Malone as Cullum’s replacement. In addition to playing for the Wildkats, Malone was a member of the Willis coaching staff for four seasons, including the 2002 season when the Wildkats won a district championship under the guidance of head coach Stan Labay.
Zemlicka on Tuesday lauded the effort by Malone and the Wildkats, but acknowledged the long losing streak’s detrimental effect.
“I have the utmost respect for Mack and how he got the program through the past two years,” Zemlicka said. “Our young men learned what adversity is about, and they’re going to be incredible adults because of it. Nobody deserved more to win than these players.
“Football in Texas is big,” he added. “Teams that win and make the playoffs, the school and the community come together. When you’re not winning, it’s difficult to find that support. I’m not enjoying any of this, but it’s time to move on. It’s time for a change.”
Informed of his reassignment during a meeting Monday morning, Malone accepted his reassignment as “the nature of the business.” However, Malone felt he was not given sufficient time to turn the program around.
“I was in this for the long haul. I’ve been around Willis and we needed some continuity and longevity. That’s how you build a program.”
Zemlicka said he thought two years was enough time for Malone to revive the program.
“That he was from here gave him an advantage,” Zemlicka said.
