Madison Wants a Tough Schedule [Archive]

JR2004

01-25-2008, 02:43 PM

DISD pretty much gave them the go-ahead to go out and get whatever non-district schedule they wanted to get this time around. Unfortunately the coaches seem to be having a problem getting games. So far Lincoln is the only game set in stone for non-district and that's a game we get no matter what due to the neighborhood rivalry. Here's some other schools they've tried to contact for a game.

Pittsburg- Initially wanted to play and then decided they didn't want to. Some of our coaches seem to think not playing us stems from what happened in the Roosevelt-Gilmer game. Pittsburg also cancelled a basketball game this season against Roosevelt.

Sweetwater- Our coaches thought they had this game. This is one they really wanted to play.

Dallas Kimball- We're still pursuing this, but more than likely they won't agree as well.

Dallas Carter- I don't even know that Carter has as of yet to return a call. This is another one they would like to have on the schedule since Carter will be 4A for this realignment.

Abilene Wylie- This is the disappointing one to me as I would've liked to have seen this game on the schedule. Our coaches actually went and saw Wylie play this year and thought this would be a good game to play for the next two years. A message was left more than a month ago asking to play Wylie and the call was never returned.

I think they've also thought about La Vega as well, but I don't know that our coach has contacted them.

The district pays for games that are 80-120 miles away, but I think they would've helped kick in some more money if needed if we have to travel further than that. I'd still like to see Wylie and Sweetwater on the schedule, but it doesn't look like it'll happen. Too bad because both games would've been fun for the next two seasons.

Mace Griffin

01-25-2008, 03:27 PM

No offence but would schools like Wylie and Sweetwater want to make a trip to Dallas to play a team that hasnt proven to be a consistent strong program. You are talking about home and homes right?

Adidas410s

01-25-2008, 03:40 PM

Wylie has no incentive to travel 200 miles for a game in Dallas when they can play Frenship, WF schools, Aledo, Brownwood (maybe), etc and travel a shorter distance?

Also, inner city Dallas doesn't appeal too much to a school in West Texas...whether that's fair or not.

crzyjournalist03

01-25-2008, 03:47 PM

Originally posted by Mace Griffin
No offence but would schools like Wylie and Sweetwater want to make a trip to Dallas to play a team that hasnt proven to be a consistent strong program. You are talking about home and homes right?

that reminds me of a quote from Forney's head coach (Rush) my senior year of school. Going into a bye week, he was quoted as saying, "We have a pretty easy schedule coming up. We have a bye, and then we have Pinkston. So, basically, we have two byes." Fair or not, most Dallas schools (Madison included) have a stigma for being a bad team for many years. A couple of good years isn't going to change that stigma.

Unfortunately, there's probably a reason that Madison is calling the schools 200 miles away...they're most likely having a tough time booking any of the close schools to play them either.

JR2004

01-25-2008, 03:56 PM

Originally posted by Mace Griffin
No offence but would schools like Wylie and Sweetwater want to make a trip to Dallas to play a team that hasnt proven to be a consistent strong program. You are talking about home and homes right?

Neutral site and Madison would've been willing to take the longer drive to a neutral site if they had to.

Madison isn't just a basketball school anymore. We've gone 34-12 over the last 4 seasons.

Sweetwater has gone 40-11. Not a big difference overall. Had we been out in Region 1 I'd say we would have a few more wins in the playoffs than the 5 we have over the last four seasons. Three of the last four seasons we played our last game against the state champion or the runner-up.

The coaches are trying to load up the schedule because of the players they have coming through for at least the next four years or so. They're trying to take the program another step up the ladder and improving the non-district schedule is a good way to do it.

TarponFanInNorthTexas

01-25-2008, 04:01 PM

Back in like 1989 or 1990 (don't remember exact year) Waco High played Brownsville Pace in a non-district game, and the game was played @ Port Isabel.

I'm sure there would be a Rio Grande Valley 3A or 4A team that would be willing to do it at a neutral site closer to the RGV. Port Isabel has done it before when it played La Vernia a few years ago in non-district.

JR2004

01-25-2008, 04:03 PM

Originally posted by Adidas410s
Also, inner city Dallas doesn't appeal too much to a school in West Texas...whether that's fair or not.

It may not appeal due to stigmas attached to inner-city schools, but just like one of our coaches has said... "We don't have the kids at Madison that we once had. Those kids don't go to school here anymore." They take offense to what Roosevelt has done to DISD schools with that ending to the Gilmer game.

Madison has done a complete 180 in that respect. The troublemakers get booted and they get booted QUICKLY by our principal Ms. Willard. It's been a complete transformation that's taken place in just a 4-5 year span. The only differences in the two schools right now, besides an obvious difference in culture, is one has money and the other doesn't.

DU_stud04

01-25-2008, 04:03 PM

sweetwater plays basketball? :confused: :confused: :confused: i thought they only played football and track

JR2004

01-25-2008, 04:06 PM

Originally posted by DU_stud04
sweetwater plays basketball? :confused: :confused: :confused: i thought they only played football and track

Just a decade or so ago y'all were the 4A Region I representative down in Austin. :)

Sweetwater Red

01-25-2008, 04:08 PM

Originally posted by JR2004
Just a decade or so ago y'all were the 4A Region I representative down in Austin. :)

It will be another decade or three before we are again.:(

DU_stud04

01-25-2008, 04:15 PM

Originally posted by JR2004
Just a decade or so ago y'all were the 4A Region I representative down in Austin. :) and thats the last time i remember them down there or being that good... good team, derrick franklin, robert reed, ladon, ...i d name the whole team, cause they were all good that year. they sure knew how to put on a show, i think all but one of them could dunk it. i miss basketball like that in sweetwater..... yet alone the athletes and size they had.

runthequarter

01-25-2008, 04:23 PM

Many schools out west, not just 3A have lost athletes not just enrollment.

Black_Magic

01-25-2008, 04:54 PM

COntact Liberty Hill I know they were having trouble fielding a schedule. What about Celina? What about GIlmer & Tatum I know they are probally having trouble? I really Doubt Wylie is scared to play.

Black_Magic

01-25-2008, 04:55 PM

Originally posted by runthequarter
Many schools out west, not just 3A have lost athletes not just enrollment.

??

Panther One

01-25-2008, 05:44 PM

Originally posted by Black_Magic
COntact Liberty Hill I know they were having trouble fielding a schedule. What about Celina? What about GIlmer & Tatum I know they are probally having trouble? I really Doubt Wylie is scared to play.
Yeah, go ahead and add Madison to our growing list of possible neutral site opponents for the next two years. I guess we could meet in Waco.

sweetwater07

01-25-2008, 05:49 PM

i wouldn't mind seeing sweetwater play madison....i would just figure the two crowds would be a problem......quite different to say the least

JR2004

01-25-2008, 05:53 PM

Originally posted by sweetwater07
i would just figure the two crowds would be a problem......

How so?

wildstangs

01-25-2008, 05:53 PM

I think Sweetwater VS. Madison would have been very interesting. Would be cool to invite a team like Madison out to the Sammy Baugh Classic. Travel shouldn't have been a concern since we have traveled in the past to places like Borger and Amarillo.

3afan

01-25-2008, 06:00 PM

the 2 big things the Forney staff complained about when Madison & Pinkston were in the district were
1 - lack of competitiveness, or even teams, in most/many of the sports
2 - no fan base ... except for basketball they made $0 from the gates when playing these schools ... FHS played Pinkston one year & there were about 20 fans on the visitors side

3afan

01-25-2008, 06:02 PM

Originally posted by sweetwater07
....i would just figure the two crowds would be a problem......quite different to say the least

in all the Forney vs. "any DISD school" in any sports there were never problems with fans that I witnessed or heard about

NOTE to CrazyJ: W-H was not DISD :D

STANG RED

01-25-2008, 06:17 PM

I wouldnt mind seeing Madison on our schedule. But man that would be a tough 250 mile drive back home on a Friday night. It would really need to be a Saturday afternoon game I think, or meet at a neutral site maybe. But I hate to see neutral site games unless they are playoff games.
I dont know exactly where Madison is located, or if that is even the same area they play football in, but if its anything like the area Carter is in, it's not a good place to be after dark. I dont know, but maybe that is part of the problem with them trying to schedule some of these opponents. Its a shame if thats the case, but none the less, it may be very real.

injuredinmelee

01-25-2008, 06:22 PM

anyone know if the Abilene Opening weekend fotball schedule is set or do they have tentative teams etc? I am sure they will have something in a couple of weeks after the realignment next week and everyone gets their schedules finalized.

crzyjournalist03

01-25-2008, 06:22 PM

Originally posted by 3afan
NOTE to CrazyJ: W-H was not DISD :D

:D

Funny thing is, the house I grew up in was about 5 miles from W-H and I never had a problem in my life until I moved to Forney!

STANG RED

01-25-2008, 06:29 PM

Originally posted by injuredinmelee
anyone know if the Abilene Opening weekend fotball schedule is set or do they have tentative teams etc? I am sure they will have something in a couple of weeks after the realignment next week and everyone gets their schedules finalized.

Thats another thing. Its kindof hard for coaches to do much scheduling till they know realignment is going to do to them. Trying to outguess the UIL is a crap shoot at best. Heck you could end up with 5 or 8 or anywhere in between district opponents. And those may pretty well eat up your travel budget alone, without adding a school 200+ miles away.

JR2004

01-25-2008, 07:22 PM

Originally posted by STANG RED
I wouldnt mind seeing Madison on our schedule. But man that would be a tough 250 mile drive back home on a Friday night. It would really need to be a Saturday afternoon game I think, or meet at a neutral site maybe. But I hate to see neutral site games unless they are playoff games.
I dont know exactly where Madison is located, or if that is even the same area they play football in, but if its anything like the area Carter is in, it's not a good place to be after dark. I dont know, but maybe that is part of the problem with them trying to schedule some of these opponents. Its a shame if thats the case, but none the less, it may be very real.

They wouldn't play a home and home. They haven't asked for that with any of the teams they've attempted to schedule that are well outside of Dallas. They wanted a neutral site game. A Saturday game wouldn't have been a problem for us because we play several Saturday games each season. However Iam more than certain that if they had wanted to do a home and home that DISD would've made darn sure that y'all would've played Madison over at Kincaide Stadium which is located in the Jesse Owens Memorial Complex. It's near Carter, but on the other side of the highway.

Madison is right next to the Sate Fairgrounds. However we don't play home games anywhere near there. Our home stadium is about 10 miles away down in Pleasant Grove. I have yet to have seen one problem happen in a game played there. Our basketball games are played at Cobb Fieldhouse which is located right next to the state fair and we never had any problems with fans there either.

It's kind of an overblown stereotype about neighborhoods like where Madison is located. I feel just as comfortable driving (or walking for that matter) down the street in South Dallas as I do in the area I live in up around the west side of Plano. Bad things can happen to you anywhere.

trojan37

01-25-2008, 07:41 PM

Madison couldn't get past us the 1st round of the playoffs this year, and when they were undefeated last year we gave them a run for their money, even with all-state sprinter and RB Shawnbrey McNeil. Any of these teams that would play them would absolutely crush them. As far as crowd control, there would be none. In two years of playing them pretty much in their own back yard, we have had a bigger turnout at the game than Madison. Not much fan support for these kids from what I can tell.

JR2004

01-25-2008, 07:54 PM

Originally posted by trojan37
Madison couldn't get past us the 1st round of the playoffs this year, and when they were undefeated last year we gave them a run for their money, even with all-state sprinter and RB Shawnbrey McNeil. Any of these teams that would play them would absolutely crush them. As far as crowd control, there would be none. In two years of playing them pretty much in their own back yard, we have had a bigger turnout at the game than Madison. Not much fan support for these kids from what I can tell.

This past year we had 33 kids (out of the 39 total varsity players) who had never played or even suited up in a single playoff game or varsity game for that matter. 11 of the 22 starters that played against West this year were sophomores. We had exactly two seniors who contributed. Coach Wolf, apparently, was very complimentary of us after the season ended from what one West fan who uses this board has told me. Playing us in Mansfield wasn't in our backyard. The distance for each school wasn't that bad. It actually took our fans longer to get there due to Metroplex traffic.

I kinda felt that we had gotten a ranking we really didn't deserve in 2006. By the end of the game against y'all the first time around, Shawnbrey was playing in the secondary. He had never played defense before that game in the four years he suited up for Madison. We literally had no one left to put out there on defense. If we had lost another LB, he might've had to play there as well. We had several starters who didn't play in the 2006 game. Darndest rash of injuries to key players I've ever seen.

Our fan support is alright for a school our size that's in a district with 22 other schools. Not much can be done when your enrollment is in the 550 range and you have Lincoln 2 miles down the street.

trojan37

01-25-2008, 08:17 PM

There was a lot of size on that Madison team, not too mention a whole lot of 4.4 speed. Everyone from West thought you guys were going to walk all over us this year. It was great to get to play you guys 2 years in a row, because we won't be seeing you after realignment!:D

Matthew328

01-25-2008, 10:56 PM

Madison should try and call Liberty Hill, they couldn't even fill their slate last year...meeting in Waco wouldn't be too bad for either side....

I ams sure after realignment comes down someone will be needing a game

It's crazy a lot of schools already have their non-district schedules set

trojan37

01-25-2008, 11:10 PM

Although 4A, Waco is saying they have their non-district schedule for next year already, and one opponent is a former district foe from this year that is supposedly moving up to 5A.:thinking:

SpeedOption

01-26-2008, 12:42 AM

Cove might go back up.

cr180t

01-26-2008, 10:01 AM

most schedules are tenative and set already. They are backed up by larger or smaller schools. It is all a guess so far though

SintonFan_inAustin

01-26-2008, 11:43 AM

Sinton has scheduled a Waco team before, when they had problems finding teams. Best bet is look for teams that have hard time getting teams to play them.

Phantom Stang

01-26-2008, 02:37 PM

Originally posted by JR2004
Iam more than certain that if they had wanted to do a home and home that DISD would've made darn sure that y'all would've played Madison over at Kincaide Stadium which is located in the Jesse Owens Memorial Complex. It's near Carter, but on the other side of the highway.

I've been to Kincaide Stadium, and I'll affirm that it's a very nice place. Also, it's right on I20, so there needn't be any concern about driving through a "bad" neighborhood.

I know Madison is known for speed, but do they have much size up front? If so, this could be a good preparation game for Sweetwater to play. I'm recalling the Mustang's 2005 Semifinal loss to Tatum as I write this.

trojan37

01-26-2008, 04:20 PM

There offensive line this year was 275, 2 at 295 and 2 over 300, but not agile at all. We might have had 1 lineman over 250 on defense and we worked them all night. Size up front with speed to burn and they only put up 7 on us.

STANG RED

01-26-2008, 05:02 PM

Originally posted by trojan37
There offensive line this year was 275, 2 at 295 and 2 over 300, but not agile at all. We might have had 1 lineman over 250 on defense and we worked them all night. Size up front with speed to burn and they only put up 7 on us.

Sounds like many Lubbock Estacado teams I have seen down through the years. But on that same note, Abilene High had that same reputation through much of the 80s and 90s. But look at them now. Just takes the right coaching, and the right commitment by the rest of the school and community.

JR2004

01-26-2008, 05:12 PM

Originally posted by trojan37
There offensive line this year was 275, 2 at 295 and 2 over 300, but not agile at all. We might have had 1 lineman over 250 on defense and we worked them all night. Size up front with speed to burn and they only put up 7 on us.

Again you "worked" a group of sophomores. There was literally nothing left from the 06 team. Both of those tackles still have two years left and only one of those linemen are graduating. The QB behind that inexperienced line was even less experienced than they were. He was making his 6th start of the season. The last time Madison made the choice to go at it with a sophomore varsity they didn't come anywhere close to the playoffs.

These guys are ahead of schedule. As a Gilmer fan said here during the season when we got off to a rough start, he didn't know if their coach could have done much more than ours after losing an entire team to graduation. I was ecstatic that they made the playoffs, but I did expect them to go one and done. Maybe we'll have the rubber match in the playoffs at some point over the next couple of years. Or y'all could schedule a home and home with us. I always enjoyed going down to "The Hilton" in West. (That's what a longtime coach from Gatesville always called the stadium.) :)

Matthew328

01-26-2008, 09:38 PM

I rooted around and found a few openings...not sure if still accuarate

Lake Dallas (4A) Week 0
Bryan Rudder (New school) Needs games all weeks
Gainesville (3A) Week 1
Llano (3A) Week 1, 2, 3, 4
Palmer (2A) Week 1, 4, 5
Dayton (4A) Week 1,2,3
Cuero (3A) (no weeks specified)
Waco Connally (3A) Week 4,5
Brownsboro (3A) Week 0
Royse City (3A) Week 3
Liberty Hill (3A) Week 0, 1, 4