Back on track: High school sports
Ray Swindle/Telegram file
Temple running back Samari Howard scores a touchdown during the Wildcats’ playoff game in December 2020 against Rockwall-Heath.
High school athletics keep towns connected BY JOSH WEAVER TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
Not long after Temple played Dallas Highland Park in the 2016 Class 5A Division I football state championship game, Amy ShawWilliams stood in one of the grand foyers of AT&T Stadium and got right to the heart of it all. “It doesn’t matter how far the team goes, win or lose, we are going to support the team. And I think (the players) see that and they see how much Temple loves them, and we’ll go to the ends of the Earth for them,” ShawWilliams, a 1991 Temple grad, said that winter afternoon. “Our heart bleeds blue.” That was the case for many that
particular Saturday in December, for many long before that, many today and many, many more in the future — even with the town’s evolving landscape — because roots are firmly planted. Temple residents live and breathe the deep, longstanding Wildcats traditions and they especially embrace their student-athletes through thick and thin, never resisting great lengths to show it. Around Temple it’s known as Wildcat Nation. At Belton High it’s Big Red. During its Class 3A football state title run in 2017, Rockdale had the initials “TFND” — which stood for Tiger Fight Never Dies — on its jerseys. It was a particularly stirring motto
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that year as the town rallied around one of the players after his father died. Following his final high school game in 2016, former Temple football standout Ta’Quon Graham — who in April was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons after a four-year career with the Texas Longhorns — described what Wildcat Nation represents. “It just means that we have a whole lot of support backing us win, lose or draw, and you can’t ask for anything more from a fan base to be there game in and game out,” Graham said. “I love our fan support … and it’s just a great town to live in and be in, and be a part of.” Surrounding communities —
from Troy to Salado over to Holland, Cameron and Buckholts and more — also have their own brand of fervor, which was necessary and needed during the pandemic, when portions of the 2020-21 athletic season were carried out with attendance restrictions. Support at home or on the road miles away certainly goes beyond the gridiron, too. School pride overflows from every venue. In August, mask requirements didn’t dampen the crowd at a Rogers’ season-opening volleyball match — a five-set comeback win for the Lady Eagles that was well-attended even by visiting Fairfield fans. June 27, 2021
