3afan
12-15-2006, 06:20 AM
saw this in the Killeen paper:
Celina's smalltown life threatened by growing population
Posted On: Friday, December 15, 2006
By Paul J. Weber
The Associated Press
CELINA – Sprawling development is doing what perhaps no high school team in Texas can: Catch Celina.
Only two more wins seperate Celina from a record eighth state title, which would also make the Bobcats the first school to win consecutive championships after moving up a classification.
But as the Bobcats approach yet another record – the school's 68-game winning streak set from 1998-2002 remains its most renowned benchmark – coach Butch Ford wonders if Celina's history of small-town football will soon be consumed by encroaching growth gobbling up the surrounding farmland.
"It's about to swallow us up," Ford said of the growth creeping north from the Dallas exurbs. "I keep wanting (Celina) to go farther north. I see myself as a small-town person."
So do most people in Celina, a rural outpost of mostly cow-grazed ranch land where supporters spray-paint "Go Bobcats!" on hay bales instead of signs and shoppers can still put groceries on family tabs.
Along the 15-mile drive on Highway 289 into Celina from Frisco, the road narrows from six lanes to two and strip malls and housing developments dissolve into pasture. The only symbol of excess is former Dallas Cowboys star Deion Sanders' massive 30,000-square foot mansion in Prosper that sits like a castle behind iron-wrought gates.
But Celina's seclusion is quickly eroding. This year was the first that Celina's school district experienced double-digit growth (10 percent). Voters also recently approved a $37 million new high school that can serve 1,500 students – a much larger campus than the 500 students Celina's stark, one-story high school across from its football stadium holds.
The school district anticipates so much growth that administrators hired a demographer last year to stay on top of the numbers. But perhaps the most stinging reality: In a little more than a decade, Celina ISD Superintendent Randy Reid said the city won't be a one-high school town any longer.
"It's overwhelming for some people who have lived here for a long time," Reid said. "The vast majority of our coaches and teachers grew up in Celina and this northern area, and they've always known this as a conglomeration of small town. It's hard to consider that getting overrun."
The numbers are already elevating in Ford's program. The Bobcats had about 120 players come out for football this season, up from an average of about 90 only a few years ago. Ford expects to have as many as 150 players by next season, numbers that threaten Celina's unique ability to have varsity-level coaches run its middle-school teams.
The growth evokes comparisons to Southlake Carroll, the state's other eminent football power that won state titles in Class 3A in 1992-93 before eventually growing to Class 5A.
Ford, who's been at Celina for 25 years and started as an assistant under G.A. Moore, said he wants the program to preserve its small-town way of playing football. To that end, he Ford puts an emphasis on continuity and admits that his successor when he decides to retire is already in place within the program.
"To me Celina is still the old way of doing things," Ford said. "I'm not knocking the Carrolls or the Planos. But Celina is the premier program."
Celina's smalltown life threatened by growing population
Posted On: Friday, December 15, 2006
By Paul J. Weber
The Associated Press
CELINA – Sprawling development is doing what perhaps no high school team in Texas can: Catch Celina.
Only two more wins seperate Celina from a record eighth state title, which would also make the Bobcats the first school to win consecutive championships after moving up a classification.
But as the Bobcats approach yet another record – the school's 68-game winning streak set from 1998-2002 remains its most renowned benchmark – coach Butch Ford wonders if Celina's history of small-town football will soon be consumed by encroaching growth gobbling up the surrounding farmland.
"It's about to swallow us up," Ford said of the growth creeping north from the Dallas exurbs. "I keep wanting (Celina) to go farther north. I see myself as a small-town person."
So do most people in Celina, a rural outpost of mostly cow-grazed ranch land where supporters spray-paint "Go Bobcats!" on hay bales instead of signs and shoppers can still put groceries on family tabs.
Along the 15-mile drive on Highway 289 into Celina from Frisco, the road narrows from six lanes to two and strip malls and housing developments dissolve into pasture. The only symbol of excess is former Dallas Cowboys star Deion Sanders' massive 30,000-square foot mansion in Prosper that sits like a castle behind iron-wrought gates.
But Celina's seclusion is quickly eroding. This year was the first that Celina's school district experienced double-digit growth (10 percent). Voters also recently approved a $37 million new high school that can serve 1,500 students – a much larger campus than the 500 students Celina's stark, one-story high school across from its football stadium holds.
The school district anticipates so much growth that administrators hired a demographer last year to stay on top of the numbers. But perhaps the most stinging reality: In a little more than a decade, Celina ISD Superintendent Randy Reid said the city won't be a one-high school town any longer.
"It's overwhelming for some people who have lived here for a long time," Reid said. "The vast majority of our coaches and teachers grew up in Celina and this northern area, and they've always known this as a conglomeration of small town. It's hard to consider that getting overrun."
The numbers are already elevating in Ford's program. The Bobcats had about 120 players come out for football this season, up from an average of about 90 only a few years ago. Ford expects to have as many as 150 players by next season, numbers that threaten Celina's unique ability to have varsity-level coaches run its middle-school teams.
The growth evokes comparisons to Southlake Carroll, the state's other eminent football power that won state titles in Class 3A in 1992-93 before eventually growing to Class 5A.
Ford, who's been at Celina for 25 years and started as an assistant under G.A. Moore, said he wants the program to preserve its small-town way of playing football. To that end, he Ford puts an emphasis on continuity and admits that his successor when he decides to retire is already in place within the program.
"To me Celina is still the old way of doing things," Ford said. "I'm not knocking the Carrolls or the Planos. But Celina is the premier program."