One of the things me and some of the guys talked about during our 30 year reunion a few months ago was that painful 1978-79 District 20-4A championship game showdown against state ranked Wheatley at Barnett Fieldhouse in which our state ranked Falcon squad lost on a slam dunk at the buzzer. We finished 32-5 that year but didn't make the Class 4A playoffs because of a brutal district that not only included those Jackie Carr coached Wildcats, but had future Cougars Michael Young at Yates, Clyde Drexler at Sterling, and Rob Williams at Milby.
Many of us Falcons believed that if that team which had future NCAA high jump Rickie Thompson on it had made the playoffs, they had the talent to go all the way to Austin.
I was pleased to read that my now 27-5 Jones Falcons have reclaimed the District 22-4A basketball title with a resounding 92-75 win Wednesday night over our longtime Wheatley Wildcat rivals to finish with a perfect 12-0 district mark The last time they won district was in the 2007-08 season, and they shared that title with guess who?
Now comes the Class 4A playoffs, and one thing that hasn't changed from my high school days is that the UIL's Region III (Southeast Texas) no matter what the classification is still a brutally competitive playoff route to navigate to get to the state championship game at the Erwin Center.
Galveston Ball, Wheatley, Yates, La Marque, Humble and Terry are just some of the state ranked teams the Falcons will have to go through to get another bus ride to Austin and potentially play for our third state basketball championship.
But congrats Falcons! Here's hoping you make a long run in this year's Region III-4A playoff and I get to see y'all hoisting the trophy in Austin again.
