Fort Worth ISD gets ready for another football season. ‘Everybody’s undefeated right now’
It will be an eventful Week 1 in Dallas-Fort Worth and for one school district, its ready for another football season.
Fort Worth ISD will showcase 14 games Thursday through Saturday, including nine on Friday.
“We spent the whole summer preparing for the year,” said Todd Vesely, Athletics Department executive director, in a press release. “We’re about to turn on the lights for the most exciting football athletic season that there is anywhere in the country.”
Thursday will see four games (7 p.m. kickoffs) with two in Fort Worth and two in the Dallas area.
South Hills meets Cleburne at Clark Stadium while Arlington Heights faces Springtown at Farrington Field. Western Hills and Dallas Molina will play at Sprague Field and Diamond Hill-Jarvis will play Dallas Conrad at Forester Field.
Diamond-Hill Jarvis beat Conrad to open last season, which snapped its long losing streak.
“Everybody’s undefeated right now,” said Dean Pritchett, assistant director of athletics. “The excitement of all the work they’ve put in. It’s very exciting.”
Friday night’s schedule includes Southwest vs. Frisco Lebanon Trail (7 p.m. Clark), North Side vs. Lake Worth (7 p.m. Farrington), Wyatt vs. Seagoville (7 p.m. Scarborough-Handley Field), Trimble Tech vs. Carrollton R.L. Turner (7 p.m. Standridge Stadium), Polytechnic vs. Dallas Hillcrest (7:30 p.m. Franklin Field), Dunbar vs. Dallas Kimball (7:30 p.m. Sprague), Paschal vs. Irving (7 p.m. Ellis Stadium), Benbrook at Nevada Community ( 7:30 p.m.) and Carter-Riverside at Castleberry (7:30 p.m.).
Eastern Hills travels to Carrollton’s Standridge Stadium to face Newman Smith at 10 a.m. Saturday.
“There’s nothing like it,” Vesely said. “Those football games are community events with lots of students involved. We’re looking forward to watching all those students in action, with the band, the cheerleaders, the drill teams, all the support organizations. There will be lots of recognizing of other athletes and other organizations at our football games.”
One storyline to watch in 2019 is Farrington Field, which enters its 80th season.
More on that story at a later date.
“When you walk up the ramp, you can almost hear and feel the history that comes from being inside that stadium,” Vesely said. “It’s an incredibly special place and a special experience to get to go to games or participate in games in some capacity there. We’re going to try to honor one of the great facilities that we have in the city.”
Southwest, Wyatt, Eastern Hills, Dunbar and Benbrook are coming off playoff appearances in 2018.
This story was originally published August 29, 2019 at 6:30 AM.
