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A battle over state lines kicked off the Mansfield ISD 2018-19 high school football season.
MISD football teams, bands, cheerleaders, drill teams and fans made the trip up north to celebrate the inaugural Border Brawl football competition on Aug. 31, in which five MISD teams faced five Oklahoma teams.
“This is something special for our school district and for our kids to experience,” said Legacy High School head coach Chris Melson. “It’s not just the football team. You got the bands, drill teams, cheerleaders, supporting staff… everybody gets to experience it.”
Border Brawl was brought to life by MISD Athletics Director Philip O’Neal and Superintendent Dr. Jim Vaszauskas.
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| Legacy High rush onto the field against Jenks. |
“I think it’s important for us to create experiences for them,” said O’Neal. “The connections and lessons they learn from going beyond their region will help them in college and in life.”
“Our kids have never gotten to do something like this,” said Daniel Maberry, head coach at Mansfield High School. “You get to see games on T.V. all the time where teams sometimes travel to Florida or Nevada to play some of the private schools, but these are two quality programs coming together to experience something they never have before.”
The Oklahoma competition included teams from Union, Jenks, Broken Arrow, Bixby and Sand Springs.
Even though the games took place hours away, there was no shortage of MISD fans. Hundreds of people filled the stands to show their support.
“To be here at the Border Brawl is just showing that Texas and Oklahoma can come together and make something like this possible,” said Brandon Jones, junior at Summit High School.
O’Neal said that apart from the competition, Mansfield ISD being able to come together as a unit was priceless.
“This is an opportunity for Mansfield ISD to be unified in their effort to come to Oklahoma and compete against the Tulsa-area schools as one,” he said. “The benefits of that go way beyond the sports field.”
The same schools will face each other again in the Border Brawl track meet, which will take place at the start of the 2019 track season.