“I’ve got guys with houses that probably cost about $50,000,” he said. “We came through and they said, ‘that house is probably $300,000.’ I said, ‘No, no. Probably 2.3 (million).’
“But they’re just hungry kids. Hungry group of kids and they wanted to make Houston High School history.”
Thanks in large part to another terrific performance from his team’s junkyard dog defense, Houston did make history — while moving into some pretty exclusive real estate of its own.
The Mustangs advanced to their first BlueCross Bowl Class 6A state title game with a 28-0 victory over Brentwood at James C. Parker Stadium. It’s the 11th straight victory for Houston, which stood at 1-2 after the first three games of the year but will now face three-time defending champion Murfreesboro Oakland on Dec. 2 in Chattanooga.
Oakland (13-1) eliminated Bradley Central, 38-17. And it will be one more giant for the Mustangs to kill; after handing Germantown its first loss of the year in last week’s quarterfinals, they gave the Bruins their first defeat by pitching a shutout.
“To shut a team like them out, the defense just played so dang well,” said Thomas, who was the head coach in 2019 when Houston lost in the semifinals to Ravenwood.
“I told (the players) at the beginning of the game that they hadn’t seen our speed. Speed kills and we proved that tonight. Those guys flew to the football; they got after the quarterback and made plays.”
Two series stood out in particular.
Houston was leading 6-0 late in the first half courtesy of a 30-yard pass from Chandler Day to Andre Allen when Brentwood advanced to the Mustangs’ 4-yard line. Houston stiffened though and forced a turnover on downs which allowed it to into the locker room with the lead — and a needed morale boost.
Then, on the first drive of the second half, the Bruins marched into the red zone again, aided by three pass interference penalties on Houston. But Brentwood hurt its own cause with two false starts and once again ended up turning the ball over.
“You talk about coming through some adversity right there,” Thomas said.
Houston finally got a bit of breathing room with 25 seconds left in the third when Damon Sisa went in from the 2 to make the score 13-0. Then came the knockout punch.
On Brentwood’s first play after the kickoff, quarterback Baylor Hayes — who spent much of the game running for his life — was picked off by Allen. Two plays later, Sisa was in the end zone again and Day’s conversion run made it 21-0.
“At 13-nothing, we thought we had a little bit of breathing room,” Thomas said. “Then all of a sudden, we get the pick and score real quick to make it 21-nothing. Now we can be aggressive. Just go.”
It’s the second postseason shutout for Houston, which blanked Dickson County in the first round. They held Collierville to seven in the second round and gave up 10 against Germantown. More than good enough to make them Shelby County’s first BlueCross Bowl representative since 2020, when MUS lost in the Division 2-AAA final.
“It’s awesome,” said Thomas, whose Houston ties run deeper than anyone’s.
“This is my 19th year as a coach, sixth year as a head coach. I played for Houston. I’ve had the privilege of playing the game and coaching the game and never been past (the semifinals). I told them, ‘This is the group that’s going to take us there.’”
The area’s other two BlueCross Bowl hopefuls, meanwhile, had their seasons come to an end.
In Class 5A, Southwind’s most successful year in school history came ended as Page advanced with a hard-fought 10-7 victory.
It was the lowest-scoring output of the season for the Jaguars (13-1) and the Patriots offense had a lot to do with that, sacking Mr. Football finalist Kelvin Perkins five times in the first half alone. Nevertheless, they still had a chance after recovering a fumble deep in Page territory with under two minutes to go but couldn’t cash in.
In Class 2A, Fairley trailed by just 2 ... Click here to read full article
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