TNG Timeline: North Shore Mustangs
Coach Kay building upon Aymond's success
If you missed our opening TNG Timeline release, see it here… Austin Westlake. The purpose of this feature is to help provide some historical context behind the Elo ratings referenced throughout the blog - methodology/primer here.
Next up, the winner of three of the last four state titles, the North Shore Mustangs.
In 2017, then freshman quarterback Dematrius Davis took over starting duties during the first round of the playoffs. North Shore’s stock skyrocketed in their subsequent performances and ELO rating once Davis settled in. We will most certainly be adding more milestones to the chart above over the next few years given another freshman just led the Mustangs to another state title, Kaleb Bailey.
Of course, North Shore’s story as a program started long before Davis and the class of 2020 led the program into its current golden age. The Mustangs first arrived on the scene with Coach Aymond in 1994 which ultimately culminated in the school’s first football state championship in 2003.
Picking up with the visual above starting in 2008, North Shore had just made a decision to switch its approach on offense from an I-formation, power option style scheme into a zone-read based shotgun approach. Running was still the strength, but North Shore had begun the process of putting its athletes into space. The traditionally stalwart Mustang 4-3 base defense would remain intact. While North Shore first sampled with the big attacking change in 2007 with dynamic quarterback Jeremiah McGinty, it wouldn’t fully take root until the 2010 season onwards.
The Mustang program rode through some stormy transition years from 2008 through 2014, but earned the fruits of their labor in the 2015 5A Division 1 state championship overtime victory against Austin Westlake which ended on a 4th down Mustang goal line stand.
Vindicated, North Shore soon after welcomed the most talented class in its considerably talented history, and three more state championship trophies have been added to the cabinet and counting.
The Mustangs are #2 in our Preseason Top 50.
Below are some video clips of the annotated moments in the chart above…
2015: North Shore gets their first ring under Coach Kay, 21-14 over Austin Westlake.
2017: Freshman QB Dematrius Davis gets his first start vs. Deer Park in the first round of the playoffs. The rest is history.
2018: A real argument as the greatest finish to a Texas high school football season we’ve ever seen. North Shore snatches victory from the jaws of defeat on a walk-off hail mary.
2019: The Rematch. The win column fared the same, North Shore 31-17.
2021: Their opponents exhaled when Davis finally graduated, only to see North Shore win a third ring in four years with a freshman at quarterback…
BONUS: Only because all fans of Texas high school football need to experience what 2003 North Shore was like. One of the greatest teams of all-time. Bobby Reid at quarterback, Coach Aymond’s son Bug roaming the secondary.
Great write up. I started going to NS in ‘94 as a kid just because my cousin was in the band. My family stuck around for the love of the game. You guys are doing a great job with this platform. Keep it up!
Just an awesome write up. Some of the best high school football read for any High School football fan.