11-1-24 Burleson Centennial
The Scots host the Burleson Centennial Spartans this Friday in the final district game at Highlander Stadium.
While the Scots have already earned a playoff spot, they are now in a battle to win the district championship and secure the top playoff seed. Unlike Joshua and Cleburne, the Spartans are still playing for a playoff spot, so they will be fighting and scratching to leave the Park Cities with a win.
And Centennial is good. Their 4-4 record (2-2 in district) doesn’t reflect the scores of their previous two losses. The Spartans fell to Midlothian, 37-33, and to Red Oak, 41-39. Both of those games could have gone the other way, which would have put the Spartans in this game undefeated in district and challenging the Scots for the district championship.
The loud noise you’ll hear Friday evening south of Dallas will be Red Oak hosting Midlothian, both of which will be battling for a potential district title. If nothing else, it could set up next week’s HP game at Midlothian as the actual district championship game.
It is rare when a high school football game is overshadowed by the pre-game coin toss but that’s what happened last Friday in Cleburne.
When the captains met at midfield for the coin toss, each side brought its own honorary captain. For the Scots it was Highland Park Middle School coach Mike Trevino. For the Yellow Jackets it was offensive line coach Mason Williams. The two coaches had worked together on the staff at Fort Worth Polytechnic and became friends.
Williams, who was born in 1999 with one kidney, was doing just fine, until he wasn’t. In his mid-20s he needed dialysis to stay alive. At this point he was married and had a new baby daughter. The only way he could see her grow up was to get a kidney transplant, and the waiting list for that was excruciatingly long. Last season Williams did home dialysis after every practice and finished before heading to back to school the next morning. His fellow coaches knew what he was going through. His players did not.
A couple of years ago Williams was scouting a game between Granbury and Polytechnic and asked his old buddy Trevino if he wanted to tag along and see their old team. At the game Williams caught Trevino up to speed on his condition. His kidney was working at 10 percent and he needed a donor to survive. Trevino was shocked. He thought about his friend’s young wife and new daughter. He thought about his own granddaughter. Over the next few days he looked into becoming a donor.
He turned out to be a perfect match. Last Christmas Trevino gave Williams the gift of life.
Trevino told Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine that if he didn’t make it, his family would be OK and it’s what God wanted him to do. “Mason’s daughter will have a dad,” he said, “and Mason’s wife will have a husband.”
No matter how far the Scots go in the playoffs this season, nothing they do on the field can compete with what Coach Trevino has done for his friend. In the Texas high school football coaching brotherhood, Trevino’s selfless act has touched the hearts of thousands of coaches. Their brotherhood just got tighter and their understanding of the word “friendship” just got deeper.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a game ball with Coach Trevino’s name on it fell from the heavens Friday night.