Katy High School Football

Earlier this year and late in the summer, I was working on a Houston high school football story that ultimately was killed. It was pretty cool for me because I was creating pretty much the same work that I'd started with Coolidge and continued with Monterey Trail. This time, for an actual story and this time in my good ole hometown of Houston.

If you don't know anything about the small town of Katy 30 miles west of downtown Houston, let me school you. They do high school football very well. There are seven high schools in the suburb but only one stands as the crown jewel of the gridiron: The Katy Tigers. They had only been to the state finals twice between the years of 1959 and 1994 but soon went on a roll. 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2013. They took home the championship 7 times of those 13 years. Talk about Friday night lights. The program, the fan base and the support are unlike anything I've seen and trust me, I've been around a lot of high school football.

I spent a handful of days photographing the team at practice and during a 37-14 win against The Woodlands. Here are some highlights. 

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Way Back Wednesdays: Sacked...Almost

On October 20, 2006 my beloved Coolidge football team went up against perennial Turkey Bowl contender Dunbar High School. The game, preceded by much fanfare, was televised on ESPN and hyped as a match between two Washington DC powerhouses boasting loads of D-1 talent. Well, it didn't quite work out like that.

In one hell of an off-season before the 2006 campaign, a Coolidge assistant accepted a head coaching job at Ballou High (also in DC) and took four of the Colts top players along with him. The match-up that ESPN had scheduled included Dunbar's Arrelious Benn (Illinois/Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Nathan Bussey (Illinois/2011 NFL Draft) and Coolidge's Marvin Austin (UNC/2011 NFL Draft), Romale Tucker (Syracuse/Towson), Lamar Milstead (UVA), and Dwan Thornton. The game that was actually played was lacking Coolidge's all stars.

Coolidge brought out a team that didn't have the star power of the 2005 squad and still competed, but lost, to Dunbar. This is a shot of Coolidge freshman QB getting de-cleated shortly after firing a pass attempt.

Way Back Wednesdays: The Common Denominator

When I figured I'd take a shot at a career in photojournalism, I interned at a small newspaper in Washington DC during my last semester in college. The community oriented, bi-weekly paper was called The Common Denominator run by publisher Kathy Sinzinger. It was a small operation held together by her, maybe one or two staff writers, a couple of interns and contributions from political cartoonists and a couple of freelance photographers.

Although I had no idea what I was doing or how to cover a news event, it was a great experience. I didn't even know what a good news photo was supposed to look like because all I'd studied in my photo-j courses were Pulitzer prize winning photographs from war-torn countries and images of natural disasters. There was nothing like that going on in DC. Well maybe there was, but I wasn't covering it.

I don't remember what this particular story was about, but on April 16, 2005 I was assigned to photograph some students in a science lab at the recently re-opened McKinley Tech High School. I walked in feeling like a real photojournalist with my Canon Rebel XT and my 18-55mm kit lens. Spent about 30-40 minutes in science class and came away with this. Front page, baby. Too easy.

Seriously though, The Common Denominator and Kathy helped publish my first photo essay on boxers Lamont and Anthony Peterson and she introduced me to former head coach of Coolidge High School football, Jason Lane. And we all know how much I love Coolidge. So, shout out to community newspapers.

Time Machine Wednesdays...I mean Way Back Wednesdays

Last week I started Time Machine Wednesdays in which I would go back in my archive and find a picture from waaaaaaayyyyyy back in the early days of my illustrious photography career. In the 8 days since I've unfurled this guaranteed rating increasing series, I've already made two mistakes. One is that Time Machine Wednesdays lacks the alliteration needed for this to be remotely successful. The other mistake: today is Thursday. So I will attempt to fix both problems by now calling it Way Back Wednesdays and dating this entry as if I posted it yesterday. Enjoy!

This is the photo that started my foray into sports documentary work and my infatuation with Coolidge High School. On August 15, 2006, I took this picture in the Coolidge locker room. The previous day, I talked with then head coach Jason Lane about a photo project I wanted to do that involved documenting the team throughout the season. I showed up about 10 minutes late after getting lost and the first thing he said was, "I knew you were coming but I didn't know you were going to be 15." The gift and the curse of the baby face. I was actually 23 at the time and didn't know I would spend the next 4 football seasons at 6315 5th St. NW.

Shout out to (l-r) Greg "G-Dot" Bagley, Kobi Williams, Wayne Ouzts (sitting) and Alfred Williams.

McKinley Tech Football...and so it begins.

August is here and football practice on the local high school scene has started. For the past four football seasons, I'd been reporting live from 6315 5th St. NW aka Calvin Coolidge High School. It's like I graduated! Some things went down in March and former Coolidge coach Jason Lane is now leading the helmeted high-schoolers at McKinley Tech. Now I'm shooting them. Colt no more. Trainer for now. Shout out to the Maroon...or Burgundy...I should probably figure that out.

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Hello McKinley Technology High School!

The prep sports seasons are over and school is almost out for the summer. But of course the public high schools here as well as many around the country are competing in 7 on 7 passing leagues. Usually my football coverage consists of orange, orange and more orange. This post includes orange but the focus is on a new color. Burgundy...or maroon.

Coach Jason Lane stepped down as head coach of the Coolidge Colts after the 2009 football season. He was then replaced by Coach Natalie Randolph in March. The media storm has died down during the off-season but I'm sure it'll kick right back up in August because it sounds like a plot from Friday Night Lights.

For now, I'm introducing McKinley Tech. But first, the good ol' orange (I'm gonna make my way back eventually).

The 6th Time is the Charm

I couldn't wait for the football season to start at the end of August and just like that, it's over. For me, it began at a dusty field in Georgetown where The Model School for the Deaf played Maret. It ended in Annapolis at Navy's Stadium where Good Counsel finally beat DeMatha. I was able to squeeze in 12 games this season. It should have been 13, but since Coolidge isn't playing in the Turkey Bowl on Thanksgiving Day, I'll be in New Hampshire.

For the past 5 years, Good Counsel football has run into the buzz saw that is DeMatha football in the WCAC championship. For the past 5 years, Good Counsel has gone back to Olney, MD without a victory. This year, my first year shooting the WCAC championship, Good Counsel beats the odds. Read about it here. It was a emotional game for both sides and I was able to get some pretty good reactions. Shout out to Louis Young who had two huge interceptions and holds the trophy below.


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Wilson vs. Ballou DCIAA Football Semi Final

The Ballou Knights polished off the Wilson Tigers 43-7 to advance to the 2009 Turkey Bowl to take on HD Woodson in the DCIAA championship game. The game was pretty slow and Ballou scored, scored and scored again. Wilson proved to be no match but how did they beat Coolidge?

I saw some players preparing the old Gatorade shower on the coach bit except it was a All Sport (do they still make that) cooler with water in it. I tried to get in front of the action without getting on the field but did not succeed. The players drenched the coach and he tried to escape by running onto the field. The only problem was that Wilson just snapped the ball and was right in the middle of a play. Oops. Shout out to the Ballou marching band, coming soon...


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