The purpose of this feature is to help provide some historical context behind the Elo ratings referenced throughout the blog - methodology/primer here.
If you’ve missed the previous releases in our TNG Timeline series, those can be accessed here… Historical Superlatives. Next up, a program that needs no introduction, our preseason #9 ranked The Woodlands Highlanders
When we’re able to expand our database coverage further to capture the early 2000s, the Highlanders will have a couple more high spikes given the success enjoyed in what were some of the best seasons in program history. The 2003 season stands out in particular as potentially the absolute best they’ve had. The Woodlands had the misfortune of meeting one of the best high school football teams of the generation when they faced an undefeated North Shore for the state championship then.
The Woodlands High School opened in its current form in August 1996, but it wasn’t the typical new school opening given the previous McCullough High School had served the community since 1976. McCullough continued to serve as The Woodlands’ 9th and 10th grade campus until 2005 when College Park High School was built as the area’s second high school. The McCullough campus continues to serve as a junior high today.
Football wise, The Woodlands enjoyed the long tenure of head coach Weldon Willig until his coaching retirement in 2004. Mark Schmid, a graduate of McCullough High School and former assistant to Willig, took over the program from 2004 through his resignation in January 2018. Jim Rapp, hired to replace Schmid, was another long time assistant coach in The Woodlands. This program has only ever been led by men with deep ties to the area.
The coaching continuity has served to make The Woodlands one of the most consistently good football programs in the Houston area. Only programs like Katy and North Shore can claim to enjoy anything similar in the area currently. While The Woodlands hasn’t established the state championship pedigree of those two programs, it has achieved state runners-up finishes in 2003 and 2016 and is generally in the state top 25 discussion every season. Even given the presence of College Park and the overall growth of the surrounding area, The Woodlands is the kind of community capable of producing a football program on par with any in the state.
In Rapp’s first few seasons, the Highlanders endured their roughest patch in several years which culminated in College Park winning its first ever district championship in 2020. However, there was an upturn in fortunes for the Highlanders during the 2021 season with the emergence of talented young quarterback Mabry Mettauer. If The Woodlands fields a solid defense around what should be one of the better offenses in the state, they could make a further leap this season and mount a challenge in the Region 2 playoff bracket.
The Woodlands enters 2022 as our #9 rated team: TNG Preseason Top 50
See below for videos corresponding to the chart annotations above:
RB Daniel Lasco Profile:
2016: A great season ended by Lake Travis 41-13 in the State Championship.
2018: HC Mark Schmid steps down after 14 seasons as head coach.
2021: Sophomore QB Mabrey Mettauer points The Woodlands back in the right direction after four seasons of heading South in terms of elo (see Timeline above).
Fantastic write up! I really like the delve into the past of The Woodlands HS program!