If the name Chad Morris sounds familiar, it should.
Morris was the head football coach at Bay City from 2000-03 and now is
leading the Lake Travis Cavaliers.
Lake Travis will meet
Pearland Dawson in the Class 4A Division I state semifinals at 2 p.m.
today at Kyle Field in College Station.
Morris’ success on the
gridiron has been extraordinary, posting a 166-25 overall record as
head coach with Lake Travis, Bay City, Stephenville and Elysian Fields.
“We have been extremely successful since 1998 when Celina beat
us in back-to-back years in the state finals,” Morris said Friday
afternoon. “But we’ve been very blessed to have a great staff that has
been together for quite some time, and the kids.
“We attribute that to them for putting in the work.”
Morris
and the Cavaliers are riding a 44-game win streak. Now in his second
season at Lake Travis, the streak started before he arrived. He is 30-0
leading up to the matchup with the Eagles.
“We don’t talk much
about the win streak, in fact we never mention it,” Morris said. “You
won’t hear it from us because this is sudden death and this is going to
be my seventh state semifinal appearance. So you might hear about it
from the media and TV, but we don’t talk about it much, mainly because
it is four quarters of football and it is about what you are going to
do today and not last week.”
He arrived in Bay City in 2000 and promptly guided the Blackcats to the 4A Division I title with a 24-2 win over Denton Ryan.
The Blackcats were back in the same place the following year with Morris, and were shutout by Ennis, 21-0, in the state final.
In his final year with Bay City, Morris again led them to the state final but lost to North Crowley,13-2.
“Those
are going back to some of my fondest days and some of the greatest
times in my life,” Morris said. “I met so many nice people from
Matagorda County and Brazoria County that to this day still remain
close friends of mine.
“I am actually excited about facing a
school from Brazoria County. I’ve known (Pearland head coach) Tony
Heath for a long time, and for us to be facing one of his former
coaches tells me the caliber of football being played over there. They
are extremely talented and are looking to make their mark in Texas high
school football.”
Morris and Dawson head coach Eric Wells know each other well and had numerous conversations this week.
“I
am so impressed with the way his kids play,” Morris said of Dawson. “In
such a short period of time, to see a program have this type of success
is something that is not a one-year wonder. They’ve got a program in
place, and I’m just excited to be in this against him as well.”
Lake Travis last lost a game on Sept. 7, 2007, when they dropped a 28-21 decision to Class 5A Austin Westlake.
“Even
at La Marque (and Pearland), with some of the great teams there — still
even to this day when we talk about it a little bit, a lot of things
have to happen your way to get to this point,” Wells said. “No matter
the talent of your team, or where you are in your program ... things
have to happen your way and you have to have the improvement during the
playoffs to have a real shot at it.
“That is the most exciting thing to see, these kids peaking at the right time.”
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