ONE OF THE GREATEST TEAMS in the history of Texas high school football was honored on Monday as Dave Campbell’s Texas Football named the 1995 La Marque Cougars among the 10 greatest single season teams in the 100-year history of the University Interscholastic League.
Coached by Alan Weddell, the ‘95 Cougars finished 16-0 for the first time in school annuals and won the first of the program’s five state 4A titles with an emphatic 31-8 win over Denison at the Astrodome. The victory was the first of three straight state championships the Cougars recorded during a six-year run (1993-98) that saw them appear in the state title game.
“Hands down, this was the greatest Texas high school dynasty of the ‘90s,” said Mike Lockwood, who was a part of Coogs Sports Net, which covered La Marque football from 1993 to 2017.
The event also marked a reunion of Weddell’s coaching staff that eventually became a tree of future head coaches that included Tony Heath, who led Pearland to the state 6A, Division I title in 2010, Mark Kanipes, who served as an assistant under Heath before leading Santa Fe to a playoff appearance in 2018, former Galveston Ball High coach David Suggs and current Texas City head football coach/TCISD athletic director Leland Surovik.
“They had such an impact on our lives,” said Lisa Matranga. “These men were such role models for our community.”
The influence of the coaching staff has carried over numerous times in the form of the players who have moved on to bigger things after playing for the Coogs. One of those players was Lee Hutton, who is now one of the top lawyers in the state of Minnesota and was once a candidate to become the athletic director of the University of Minnesota, where he played collegiately.
“The best coaching staff in high school history,” said Hutton via Facebook. “Tradition was built and history was made. Thank you, coaches for everything.”
Having been denied a state title by Stephenville the previous two years, La Marque opened the 1995 regular season by holding its first six opponents without a touchdown; the first points the Cougars yielded was a safety in Week 6. Behind the vaunted “Black Out” defense that was anchored by All-State linebacker Roylin Bradley, La Marque allowed a mere 951 yards of offense during the regular season.
The Cougars rolled through the postseason, adding two more shutouts along the way before facing off against Corpus Christi-Calallen in the 4A, Region III semifinal. Played at Bobcat Stadium at then-Southwest Texas State University, the game was billed as a showdown between La Marque running back Derrick Foster and Calallen’s Wes Danaher, the latter who came into the contest as the state’s leading rusher.
Foster stole the show on the balmy afternoon in San Marcos, rushing 30 times for 361 yards and four touchdowns, including runs of 93, 85 and 64 yards in a 32-21 win that made the following week’s state title game almost anticlimactic.
La Marque’s 1995 state title placed the program on the map and launched it into a run that included state championships under Bryan Erwin in 2003 and 2006 and a state title visit under Darrell Jordan in 2010. From 1992-2012, the Cougars advanced to the regional finals in all but four seasons.
As long as there is a La Marque High School football team hitting the field, those players will always have the 1995 team as its foundation. While the program has struggled since its last regional final appearance, the expectations and pride that goes with wearing the blue and gold is owed to a group of young men and an elite coaching staff that made magic on Friday nights.
