For Coaches, Teacher Meets Pupil in Title Tilt
Alvin Shadow Creek will make its first visit to AT&T Stadium on Saturday for the Class 5A Division I state championship game. (Photo: Nicole Cordeiro)
When Randy Allen and Brad Butler first stepped on to the same football field more than three decades ago, they were on the same sideline.
Butler was a two-time all-state quarterback at Brownwood when Allen was the head coach there during the late 1980s, winning a pair of district titles together.
Since then, Butler has followed in Allen’s coaching footsteps. Allen, of course, is the longtime head coach at Highland Park. Butler is in his first season at Alvin Shadow Creek.
With their teams sporting identical 15-0 records, the two coaches will square off on Saturday in the Class 5A Division I state championship game at AT&T Stadium.
While the Scots are aiming for a historic third consecutive state crown, the Sharks are in a much different spot. As the newest campus in Alvin ISD, just south of Houston, Shadow Creek is playing its first season of varsity football.
Yes, that means the Sharks have never lost a game. And neither has Butler, who’s in his first year as a head coach after spending almost 20 years as an assistant at various Houston-area programs.
Butler came to Shadow Creek when the school opened in 2016, and oversaw the transition to varsity football. For 12 years prior to that, he was an assistant coach at Manvel, which fell to the Scots in a 53-49 thriller in the championship game a year ago. Butler wasn’t involved in that game.
His players have shown remarkable poise and resilience during what’s supposed to be the program’s infancy. Shadow Creek has averaged 38.4 points per game this season and has won by an average margin of 23 points per game.
The Sharks surged past San Antonio Wagner 41-24 last week in the state semifinals. Their resume also includes two come-from-behind victories against powerhouse Richmond Foster.
Dual-threat quarterback Jamarian George leads the Shadow Creek offense. He rushed for three touchdowns in the win over Wagner.
HP has 831 wins in its history, while the Sharks have just 15. That discrepancy will mean little as each team chases history on Saturday.
