bag-o-chips
09-07-2013, 02:25 AM
They demolished Poth in the Polish Bowl tonight 36-0
A shale star has landed in Falls City
Transplant Twine’s legend confirmed in stellar debut
By Lorne Chan STAFF WRITER
Billy Calzada / San Antonio Express-News
Already established as a star — with the YouTube highlights to prove it — running back Justin Twine has Falls City buzzing.
Picture
Billy Calzada / San Antonio Express-News
Justin Twine, who has family who works on the Eagle Ford Shale, rushed for 534 yards in a game for Hemphill in 2011.
FALLS CITY — Down U.S. Highway 181, in a town that revolves around God, football and oil — not necessarily in that order — word spread in January about a potential new resident.
The legend grew like a tall tale, except with YouTube highlights as evidence. The kid who rushed for more than 500 yards in a game. Someone who could play baseball or football at any college he wanted.
Possibly the greatest athlete to wear a jersey for Falls City, population 611.
Justin Twine arrived last Friday. He touched the ball 13 times. He scored five touchdowns and a 2-point conversion.
“Thank God for the Eagle Ford Shale,” Falls City coach Steve Marbach said.
While the shale has brought thousands of jobs to South Texas, most oil workers either don’t have families or choose not to uproot them.
When the families do move, they don’t usually bring 5-foot-11, 200-pound running backs who can run a 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds.
Twine rushed for 534 yards in a game as a sophomore quarterback at Hemphill in 2011, the third-highest single-game total in Texas high school history.
Twine finished the season with 2,478 rushing yards and 34 touchdowns, along with 16 passing TDs and three return TDs. Baylor offered him a
scholarship that summer.
He won’t take it, though.
Because football is his second sport.
The senior is a baseball player committed to TCU. He also is projected to be a high pick in next June’s MLB first-year player draft. He can throw a 92-mph fastball, but with his size and speed, he is seen as a middle infielder.
Perfect Game, a baseball scouting website, ranks him as the No. 19 prospect in the nation.
Until May, Twine had lived in Hemphill, a town of about 1,200 in deep southeast Texas, a couple miles from the Louisiana border. A ranch there was the only home he had ever known. He had a 1982 blue Chevy pickup and a pit bull named Chief.
But his mother, Mary, was working in Beaumont as a landman who traces land titles and deeds for oil companies. The two-hour commute to Hemphill was wearing her down. Justin’s older brother, Josh, has been working on the Eagle Ford Shale for four years. When his company had a job opening, Mary moved to Falls City and brought Justin as well.
“I didn’t know much about Falls City before,” Justin said. “I found out how much they love football here pretty quick.”
Falls City High School has 122 students, 71 of which are boys. Fifty-six of the 71 are on the football team.
There is no volleyball team because almost all of the girls participate in cheerleading, dance or band, and wouldn’t stand to miss a Friday night.
There are three wooden signs celebrating the football team on Highway 181. They are twice as large as the Chamber of Commerce’s “Welcome to Falls City” sign. The truck stop is called the Busy Beaver.
When Josh began mentioning that Justin may be moving to Falls City, the rumor had already spread on football message boards.
“Everybody in town knew something about him before I did,” Marbach said. “I Googled him and laughed. When I saw how good his highlights were, I figured someone had to be playing a joke on us.”
Before school started in August, Twine already was recognized by Falls City fans at the Walmart in nearby Floresville.
“I sat next to some fans who were in their 70s or 80s at the first game,” Mary said, “They knew Justin’s brother’s names. They knew Justin’s stats better than I did.”
It’s been a boom time for Falls City, a Polish-Catholic town where practice ends early Wednesdays because about three-quarters of the team heads down the street to Holy Trinity Catholic Church for confirmation classes.
On Friday mornings, the church holds a mass to pray for the football players.
They are families with names such as Urbanczyk, Wiatrek and Swierc, names Twine is still struggling to pronounce.
To bring him into the culture, some have created Polish roots and nicknamed him Justin Twinesky.
Twine, who is more a soft-spoken observer than vocal leader, has been equal parts amused and excited by the town. He doesn’t get most of the team’s inside jokes, but loves the rabid enthusiasm for football. He can’t wait for the Polish Bowl on Friday between Falls City and Poth, where the 1,000-seat Beaver Stadium will be well over capacity.
The biggest difference between Hemphill and Falls City?
“The traffic,” Twine said.
The section of Highway 181 that runs through town has been repaved a few times in the past five years as equipment trucks for oil companies are constantly passing through.
On Friday nights, the stadium lights are on. The other six nights, the Falls City sky is lit by fracking flares.
“A lot of our families have some land on the shale,” Falls City quarterback Dean Gaskamp said. “It may not be a huge check that we get, but it’s been big for all of us.”
It’s also a boom time for the football team. Competing in Class A Division II, the smallest classification for an 11-man football team in Texas, Falls City has a 58-11 record over the past five seasons.
The Beavers won their only state championship in 2010 and reached the state semifinals last season.
They never had a Division I athlete in that span.
In Falls City’s first game this season, a 34-28 victory against 2A Jourdanton, Twine scored 32 of the Beavers’ points. He had 10 carries for 202 yards and four touchdowns, two catches for 35 yards and a TD and a 2-point conversion. He also recorded seven tackles playing defense.
“He’s the fastest guy who’s ever played here,” said James Ratcliff, a 2007 graduate of Falls City. “The difference between now with Justin and 2010 is that in 2010, we weren’t expecting a state championship.”
Twine blushed about the attention. He doesn’t think he can be a folk hero yet, not after one game. When he moved from Hemphill, he didn’t want to bring any trophies with him. His mother brought along one commemorating his 534-yard game.
If Twine could have a night like that in Falls City, he might have a statue next to the oil wells along Highway 181.
“In a few weeks, kids are going to be running around in Justin’s No. 2 jersey,” Marbach said. “If he led us to a state title? Wow. Who knows?” lchan@express-news.net Twitter: @mysahighschools
A shale star has landed in Falls City
Transplant Twine’s legend confirmed in stellar debut
By Lorne Chan STAFF WRITER
Billy Calzada / San Antonio Express-News
Already established as a star — with the YouTube highlights to prove it — running back Justin Twine has Falls City buzzing.
Picture
Billy Calzada / San Antonio Express-News
Justin Twine, who has family who works on the Eagle Ford Shale, rushed for 534 yards in a game for Hemphill in 2011.
FALLS CITY — Down U.S. Highway 181, in a town that revolves around God, football and oil — not necessarily in that order — word spread in January about a potential new resident.
The legend grew like a tall tale, except with YouTube highlights as evidence. The kid who rushed for more than 500 yards in a game. Someone who could play baseball or football at any college he wanted.
Possibly the greatest athlete to wear a jersey for Falls City, population 611.
Justin Twine arrived last Friday. He touched the ball 13 times. He scored five touchdowns and a 2-point conversion.
“Thank God for the Eagle Ford Shale,” Falls City coach Steve Marbach said.
While the shale has brought thousands of jobs to South Texas, most oil workers either don’t have families or choose not to uproot them.
When the families do move, they don’t usually bring 5-foot-11, 200-pound running backs who can run a 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds.
Twine rushed for 534 yards in a game as a sophomore quarterback at Hemphill in 2011, the third-highest single-game total in Texas high school history.
Twine finished the season with 2,478 rushing yards and 34 touchdowns, along with 16 passing TDs and three return TDs. Baylor offered him a
scholarship that summer.
He won’t take it, though.
Because football is his second sport.
The senior is a baseball player committed to TCU. He also is projected to be a high pick in next June’s MLB first-year player draft. He can throw a 92-mph fastball, but with his size and speed, he is seen as a middle infielder.
Perfect Game, a baseball scouting website, ranks him as the No. 19 prospect in the nation.
Until May, Twine had lived in Hemphill, a town of about 1,200 in deep southeast Texas, a couple miles from the Louisiana border. A ranch there was the only home he had ever known. He had a 1982 blue Chevy pickup and a pit bull named Chief.
But his mother, Mary, was working in Beaumont as a landman who traces land titles and deeds for oil companies. The two-hour commute to Hemphill was wearing her down. Justin’s older brother, Josh, has been working on the Eagle Ford Shale for four years. When his company had a job opening, Mary moved to Falls City and brought Justin as well.
“I didn’t know much about Falls City before,” Justin said. “I found out how much they love football here pretty quick.”
Falls City High School has 122 students, 71 of which are boys. Fifty-six of the 71 are on the football team.
There is no volleyball team because almost all of the girls participate in cheerleading, dance or band, and wouldn’t stand to miss a Friday night.
There are three wooden signs celebrating the football team on Highway 181. They are twice as large as the Chamber of Commerce’s “Welcome to Falls City” sign. The truck stop is called the Busy Beaver.
When Josh began mentioning that Justin may be moving to Falls City, the rumor had already spread on football message boards.
“Everybody in town knew something about him before I did,” Marbach said. “I Googled him and laughed. When I saw how good his highlights were, I figured someone had to be playing a joke on us.”
Before school started in August, Twine already was recognized by Falls City fans at the Walmart in nearby Floresville.
“I sat next to some fans who were in their 70s or 80s at the first game,” Mary said, “They knew Justin’s brother’s names. They knew Justin’s stats better than I did.”
It’s been a boom time for Falls City, a Polish-Catholic town where practice ends early Wednesdays because about three-quarters of the team heads down the street to Holy Trinity Catholic Church for confirmation classes.
On Friday mornings, the church holds a mass to pray for the football players.
They are families with names such as Urbanczyk, Wiatrek and Swierc, names Twine is still struggling to pronounce.
To bring him into the culture, some have created Polish roots and nicknamed him Justin Twinesky.
Twine, who is more a soft-spoken observer than vocal leader, has been equal parts amused and excited by the town. He doesn’t get most of the team’s inside jokes, but loves the rabid enthusiasm for football. He can’t wait for the Polish Bowl on Friday between Falls City and Poth, where the 1,000-seat Beaver Stadium will be well over capacity.
The biggest difference between Hemphill and Falls City?
“The traffic,” Twine said.
The section of Highway 181 that runs through town has been repaved a few times in the past five years as equipment trucks for oil companies are constantly passing through.
On Friday nights, the stadium lights are on. The other six nights, the Falls City sky is lit by fracking flares.
“A lot of our families have some land on the shale,” Falls City quarterback Dean Gaskamp said. “It may not be a huge check that we get, but it’s been big for all of us.”
It’s also a boom time for the football team. Competing in Class A Division II, the smallest classification for an 11-man football team in Texas, Falls City has a 58-11 record over the past five seasons.
The Beavers won their only state championship in 2010 and reached the state semifinals last season.
They never had a Division I athlete in that span.
In Falls City’s first game this season, a 34-28 victory against 2A Jourdanton, Twine scored 32 of the Beavers’ points. He had 10 carries for 202 yards and four touchdowns, two catches for 35 yards and a TD and a 2-point conversion. He also recorded seven tackles playing defense.
“He’s the fastest guy who’s ever played here,” said James Ratcliff, a 2007 graduate of Falls City. “The difference between now with Justin and 2010 is that in 2010, we weren’t expecting a state championship.”
Twine blushed about the attention. He doesn’t think he can be a folk hero yet, not after one game. When he moved from Hemphill, he didn’t want to bring any trophies with him. His mother brought along one commemorating his 534-yard game.
If Twine could have a night like that in Falls City, he might have a statue next to the oil wells along Highway 181.
“In a few weeks, kids are going to be running around in Justin’s No. 2 jersey,” Marbach said. “If he led us to a state title? Wow. Who knows?” lchan@express-news.net Twitter: @mysahighschools