We're 60 percent of the way through our Top 10 moments of the 2018-19 DFW sports season. This next one started out as a shared idea, but it's harder to ignore the significant of decades of history being broken.
Slidell Wins First State Crown in 76 Years
Not since 1943 has small rural town of Slidell, 22 miles northwest of Denton, celebrated a boys state championship. It had even been 64 years since the team had even been to the State Tournament. With a 26-8 record entering the playoffs and ranked sixth in the state by TABC, the team was certainly poised to make a run.
Having gone 12-0 in district play winning by an average of 38.8 points a game, including a three-in-four stretch of winning by 51 or more points, Slidell was definitely a threat come tourney time and end the drought.
Slidell opened the playoffs with a 20-point win over Ector, moving on to the Area Round. The run almost ended there against Saltillo as Slidell was outscored 14-5 in the fourth quarter, barely hanging on to win 44-42.
In the next two rounds, Slidell got past Eula (51-37) and Lipan (44-38) to punch its first trip to State since 1955. In the semis, Slidell and Oakwood went back and fourth trading leads - Slidell trailed by four after the first quarter; led by two at the half; trailed by one after three quarters. A 13-10 edge in the fourth pushed Slidell to the state title match against Jayton.
In the early-morning game, Slidell raced to a 13-5 lead after the first quarter. Jayton tried chipping away through the middle frames but could only get it down to four after the third quarter. With eight minutes left in the season and history on the line, Slidell doubled-up Jayton in the fourth quarter (18-9) to rewrite its history books and claim the 1A State Championship.
The wait is over: Slidell has won a boys basketball state championship for the first time since 1943.
The Greyhounds beat Jayton, 49-36, for the Class A title. Fans are crying, players are pumped. Very cool moment. pic.twitter.com/YQfiHMz7Kl
— Callie Caplan (@CallieCaplan) March 9, 2019
Slayton Pruett was named the Class A State Championship MVP after scoring 10 points, grabbing 21 rebounds and collecting five blocks.
We'll have moments Number 3, Number 2 and Number 1 next week.
PREVIOUS TOP 10 MOMENTS
Number 5: The Colony's Hook and Ladder Downs Lone Star
Number 6: Bobby Witt Jr. Takes All The Awards
Number 7: Adoette Vaughan Wins 4th Straight SPC Title
Number 8: Three From 9-6A Tabbed McDonald's All-Americans
Number 9: Segler Reassignment/RJ Hampton Goes Pro
Number 10: Flower Mound Volleyball's Run to State