If you are a Texas High Schooler in the Fall the prospect of Friday Night Lights Football games is a given. This is such a natural occurrence for so many, that the idea of a high school career without the possibility of watching your team throw the pigskin around home or away seems unfathomable. Yet, for the second smallest school in Texas this has been the case year after year after year.
By Evalice Arguello
The athletics program in Marathon is alive and well, there is no lack of drive and motivation, they just can’t round up enough players. The basketball team is 6-man, and they play their hearts out. Nearly 100 percent of the middle and high school student body participates in Athletics such as basketball, football, volleyball, and track and at every game and practice they play their hearts out, regardless of how outnumbered they are. The high-spiritedness of the athletics program is due in large part to the young, bright eyed coaches in Marathon. Jasmine and Jacob Garcia, the husband-and-wife duo fresh out of college who came back to teach and coach in their hometown.
The Garcia’s have devoted all their time and efforts into motivating and pushing their players to be the best they can be. In fact, they have done such an amazing job of bringing their players together that they noticed that after practices the students wouldn’t go home but practiced more. Except the group of 12 young coed athletes did not play any of the above listed sports offered at Marathon. On the 80 plus year old football field the students started organizing a weekly Friday night football game. With a total of 12 kids, ranging in ages from 12-17, the middle and high school students yelled out plays, tackled, and punted their night away, with no one to watch them but a few teachers leaving school late and of course their coaches, who caught onto the fun and decided to coach each team, very competitively. The husband-and-wife coaches would trash talk each other throughout the week, eagerly awaiting Friday night where they would prove who had the better team. Eventually, the entire school and community joined in the fun and the Superintendent invited the entire town of Marathon to enjoy their own small-town version of Friday Night Lights. On the eve of Halloween, elders who attended high school decades before gathered with family and friends to proudly watch the game, Garcia vs. Garcia. The principal gave NFL quality commentary over the loudspeaker and the scoreboard lights lit up the night as the Sun went down. The teachers decided to join in as cheerleaders and during halftime the very small school had dancing and singing. There was even a concession stand selling nachos and ice-cold coca colas. The event seemed so colloquial that a passerby might think they were witnessing just another regular Friday Night Lights in Texas.
Fun Fact: Six Man Teams in Texas were unable to win State Championships, but the 1968, 1969 and 1970 Marathon, Tx six-man team won the Regional Championship, the highest honor attainable and in 1972, after UIL sanctioned 6-man team state championships, Marathon went to five of them from 1973-1977, winning two of them.