By Reace Downing
Plainview High School currently holds 52 state championships in golf, track, cross country, wrestling and baseball. Twenty-one of those state titles are held by the cross country team – the boys having four and the girls 17.
Of these 52 titles, none have been awarded to the football team.
That could change on Friday night when the Indians take on the Jones Longhorns in the Class 3A title game at Moore High School.
Previously, Plainview made it to semi-finals three times – in 1999, 2008 and 2013 – but had never made it to the state championship game. This season, Plainview has a 13-1 record, with the only loss being at Tuttle.
The playoff run means a lot to the seniors, but the farther it has gone, it has meant even more to one of them.
Parker Foster had been out all season with a back injury, but got to play in the semifinals and will now again in the championship game.
Foster broke his L5 in his back on both sides. Being slowly released to do more and more, he was finally allowed to practice with light contact as long as it didn’t cause pain and continued to work until he was fully released to play.
“At times it was hard [to continue working so hard to play again], but most of the time I understood it was God’s plan,” Foster said about his recovery.
“It’s awesome getting to come back and play and its even cooler that my first game back we made school history and now we are about to make school history again.”
This has been a very big year for Plainview sports with the cheer team and the football team reaching the state level.
Skylar McCullar, a junior member of Plainview cheer squad talked about the advancement of the football team and what it meant.
“It took a minute for me to process. It was so surreal to know that we were getting to go to state for the first time in history. I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Senior co-captain Katelyn Fore described semifinals as ‘electric.’
“As a cheerleader, the main thing you notice is the energy of the crowd,” Fore said.
“The semifinal was an incredible game to be at. It was freezing and it was raining, but the energy coming from the crowd was priceless. I hope we have that much drive and that much pride at the state game.”
Plainview football has progressed so much this season and it will be exciting to experience where all of the sweat, blood and tears takes them.
Good luck, boys!