Of the 246 high schools in Texas that play Class 5A football, only Fort Bend Hightower still carries a "0" in its loss column heading into the final weekend of competition.
The Hightower Hurricanes (13-0) will try to cap their perfect season with a victory over the Allen Eagles (14-1) on Saturday night in the Division I championship game at Reliant Stadium in Houston.
To hear first-year Hurricanes coach Shane Hallmark describe it, he has done a good job staying out of the way during Hightower's march to success.
"I knew we'd have the players, and I knew we'd have the assistant coaches," said Hallmark, promoted from defensive coordinator last winter when Gene Johnson left for new Cypress Ranch. "These kids have been together a long time, a lot of seniors. They were confident they could reach this point."
Johnson is quick to amend Hallmark's assessment.
"Shane has done a monumental job," Johnson said. "You can't teach kids until they trust you, and his relationship with the kids speaks for itself."
Hightower, located in Missouri City, which is just southwest of Houston, began playing varsity football in 2000 and hasn't had a losing season. The Hurricanes fell into good fortune in 2005 when a freshman who transferred in to attend the school's special engineering academy turned out to be their future star.
Race For No. 1
We've reached the final week of the high school football season with several teams still vying for the ESPN RISE FAB 50 No. 1 spot and a mythical national championship.
No. 1 St. Thomas Aquinas vs. No. 10 Lakeland
No. 3 Allen vs. No. 15 Hightower
Johnson and his staff moved A.J. Highsmith to quarterback midway through that first season. He started the 10th game of 2005 and has been running the Hurricanes' offense ever since.
The son of former NFL running back Alonzo Highsmith, A.J. Highsmith has thrown for 1,968 yards, 27 touchdowns and only three interceptions this year. He passed for 484 yards in just the past two playoff wins, over Pearland and San Antonio Clark. One of six major college commits on the team, Highsmith is scheduled to follow his father to the University of Miami.
"A.J. has all the skills to make him a great high school quarterback," Hallmark said. "He's intelligent and studies the opposition and studies the offense."
Hightower's running attack is split between senior London Hamilton (93 carries for 718 yards and 10 TDs) and junior Jermaine Longino (96 carries for 585 yards and four TDs). Highsmith has chipped in 290 yards rushing, the most important of which probably was his one-yard touchdown run with 33 seconds to play to defeat previously unbeaten Galena Park North Shore 28-21 in the second round of the playoffs.
Hightower's eight-game regular season, adjusted on the run like many Houston-area schools because of Hurricane Ike, saw it win by an average of 32 points. The postseason win over North Shore has been one of two close calls during the playoffs. In the first round, junior Jake Kane kicked a 40-yard field goal with 5:54 to play to beat Cinco Ranch 24-21.
Hightower will be the third unbeaten opponent Allen has faced in the playoffs. The Eagles knocked off Odessa Permian in the third round then took down Euless Trinity, the defending Division I champion and the only school to beat Allen this season, in the Region I final.
Allen, like Hightower, is playing in its first state final. Eagles coach Tom Westerberg was on the Garland staff that won the 5A Division II title in 1999 over Katy.
"We talk to our kids a lot about '99 -- the emotion, the beginning of the game and excitement -- and try to prepare the kids for that," Westerberg said. "I don't know if you can. We'll experience it when we get out there."
Allen has reached the final after losing junior Matt Brown, its starting quarterback and leading rusher, to a shoulder injury during the second-round playoff win over Coppell. Junior Tucker Carter has stepped in and guided Allen past Permian, Trinity and Round Rock Stony Point. In the win over Stony Point, the Eagles were outgained 382 yards to 177 but grabbed the lead for good with 39 seconds to play on a 21-yard pass from Carter to senior wide receiver Dakarai Pecikonis.
"Everything that you've worked for is coming together here," Pecikonis said. "It's really exciting to try to go out there and get it done."
The Allen team will leave for Houston early Saturday morning, in time to get settled for a team lunch early that afternoon. Hightower is located about 30 minutes from Reliant Stadium, and the Hurricanes will ride over in charter buses.
Hallmark will be doing more than figuratively driving the bus.
"I think they'll be ready to turn it loose," he said.
Jeff Miller is a freelance writer and can be reached at miller.jeff55@gmail.com.