It Is THAT Time

SWEET! It is championship week in Abilene, Texas home of sixmancentral and yours truly. Abilene has a history of hosting the game or games as it now stands. Actually this will be the third year in a row that Shotwell Stadiium has hosted the Texas Six-Man State Championship games. Six-Man was split into two divisions in 2006. The games were held here at Shotwell that year as well before going to San Angelo in 2007 and a split venue of Lubbock and Wolfforth in 2008.

The four teams involved this weekend are hoping to add another State Championship trophy to their display cases. Richland Springs, competing in the D2 game Saturday night against Mötley County, happens to be here to defend the title they won last season. RS has won state in 2004, before the split into two divisions, then won the D1 titles in 2006 and 2007. After their enrollment numbers moved them into D2 they roared back and won the D2 title in 2010. Their opponent, the Mötley County Matadors own a state title from 2007 when they won the D2 title.

The participants in the D1 game Saturday afternoon are Throckmorton and Borden County. Yes, they both own state titles as well. In 2005, again before the split into two divisions, Throckmorton won their title by beating Valley 68-22. That game was played here at Shotwell as well. Borden County won a title back in 1997 and then won back to back titles in D2 in 2008 and 2009.

Here is a little more history of state titles in the ranks of Texas Six-Man football. The first State Championship game played on this level was in 1972 and was won by the O'Brine Bulldogs led by the legendary Coach C H Underwood. There have been 44 State Championship trophies awarded. An interesting fact is only 22 schools have won titles during that time due to multiple titles held by those teams. Here is that list.

Fort Hancock 5 titles 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1991
Richland Springs 4 titles 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2010
Borden County 3 titles 1997, 2008, and 2009
Cherokee 3 titles 1973, 1975, and 1978
Panther Creek 3 titles 1992, 1993, and 2000
Amherst 2 titles 1994 and 1995
Garden City 2 titles 2009 and 2010
Gordon 2 titles 1996 and 1999
Highland 2 titles 1982 and 1983
Jayton 2 titles 1984 and 1985
Marathon 2 titles 1974 and 1976
Milford 2 titles 1979 and 1980
Strawn 2 titles 2003 and 2008
Whitharral 2 titles 1981 and 2001
Calvert 1 title 2002
Lohn 1 title 1987
May 1 title 1977
Motley County 1 title 2007
Northside 1 title 2006
O'Brine 1 title 1972
Throckmorton 1 title 2005
Trinidad 1 title 1998

Is the math correct? 44 titles and 22 schools.

There are going to be two more trophies awarded this weekend. Which schools will add to their totals?

If you are in Abilene or even close to Abilene, if you are a huge fan of Six-Man or never have heard of the sport, you owe it to yourself to go and watch the finest Six-Man has to offer.

Savor the moment.