Under the Helmet – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/10/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 10, 2005
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Friday Night in Texas to Saturday Afternoon in Ohio
“Gentlemen, the hopes and dreams of an entire town are resting on your shoulders. You may never matter more than you do right now. It’s time.”
That is what coach Gary Gains told his football team from Odessa Permian in the movie “Friday Night Lights.” That quote may seem a little ridiculous to some people, but Ohio State junior cornerback Ashton Youboty experienced Texas football first-hand.
Youboty played four years of football at Klein High School in a community located about 20 miles northwest of Houston. Youboty said the pressure in Klein was probably not quite as intense as in Odessa, but it was still a good football town.
“I’d say if Odessa Permian was a 10, then we were an eight,” Youboty said. “We had a school in our league though, The Woodlands, that would be considered a 10. It’s kind of like Massillon is up here.”
Youboty enjoyed “Friday Night Lights” and said football really is like that for a lot of cities in Texas.
Texas high school football has been portrayed in movies such as “Friday Night Lights” and “Varsity Blues,” so the rest of the country has gotten a chance to see how big of a deal it is.
Youboty said despite the national attention the state gets, some of his Buckeye teammates still are not buying into the hype that Texas high school football is a step above Ohio high school football.
“They always say if we played an all-star game, Ohio would win,” Youboty said. “I really can’t argue though, because there are a whole lot more of them.”
Youboty and Anthony Schlegel are the only two Buckeye starters from the Lone Star State this season, so it is understandable they have trouble expressing just how strongly they feel about Texas high school football.
It may not have been an all-star game but perennial powers Tyler (Texas) Lee and Cincinnati Colerain clashed last night in Columbus Crew Stadium. To some high school athletes, playing in a stadium that holds 22,500 fans may be a bit intimidating, but several stadiums in Texas are just as big.
Youboty and Schlegel both played in large venues during their high school careers. Youboty played at Klein Memorial Stadium, which holds 8,356. Schlegel played at Highlander Park, which holds 8,000. A high school stadium that holds 8,000 fans is commonplace in Texas.
Ohio may not have the quantity of large stadiums Texas does, but there a few that would register as a large place to play for anyone.
Youboty’s fellow defensive back Tyler Everett graduated from Canton McKinley High School and played in a stadium that holds 22,375. Just 10 miles down the road from where Everett played his high school ball, quarterback Justin Zwick was playing at Massillon Washington in a stadium that holds 16,392.
The largest crowd Youboty ever played in front of in high school was in a playoff game at the Astrodome. He did not exactly get to ease into large crowds in college either. His first collegiate start was at Michigan in 2003 in front of 112,118 fans. Making the first start of your career in front of that many people would be enough to intimidate some, but not Youboty.
“Once the ball kicks off I don’t pay attention to the crowd,” he said. “The only time you really realize the crowd is right before or right after the game.”
Youboty said he first heard about the Texas vs. Ohio State game when he enrolled early at Ohio State in the winter of 2003.
“I was really excited about it because it meant I got to go against my high school teammate,” Youboty said, referring to Texas linebacker Robert Killebrew “We are both really competitive and the winner of this game will have bragging rights for the next year.”
Youboty is glad to get the opportunity to play against Texas two years in a row, but the demand for tickets for the game in Austin in 2006 has gotten out of control for the Ohio State junior.
“Of course everyone in my family wants to go,” Youboty said. “And then on top of that, all my friends and people I have not even talked to for years are asking me for tickets.”
He only gets four tickets, so Youboty is going to have a tough decision to make when the Buckeyes head down to Austin next year for the rematch.
