Schmid leading Bearkats to title game
Former star QB at The Woodlands known for speed, playmaking skill
The breathtaking scene seemed straight out of a television offering like “Friday Night Lights.” The revered Texas high school football coach, always in control, abruptly pressed into the dazing duty of delivering a baby — this time on the side of the road in a football-loving Texas suburb.
This was no TV show, however. This was all too real to Mark Schmid and his wife, Sheryl, in the wee hours of March 26, 1999.
“Life,” Mark recalled with a chuckle, “was happening.”
The Schmids figured out at that moment, perhaps it was best to simply buckle in — figuratively speaking — and enjoy the rapid ride with their youngest child, now a quarterback tasked with leading Sam Houston to its first undisputed national title in football.
Bearkats junior Eric Schmid, best known for his speed, was born in a 1997 Toyota Camry along The Woodlands Parkway, near the Lake Woodlands bridge.
“I delivered Eric in the front seat of our car,” Mark said of the future recordsetting The Woodlands quarterback. “We had left
home for the hospital, and Sheryl made me pull over. She said, ‘It’s happening right now.’ That’s the most frightened I’ve been in my life, to know all of that was happening and no medical personnel was around.
“But my wife was awesome — she became the coach at that moment.”
Despite the unnerving birthplace, Sheryl and Eric were just fine in the aftermath of that memorable moment (putting it lightly) among the pine trees to the west of Interstate 45. Twenty-two years later, Eric has led Sam Houston to a 9-0 record in the Piney Woods and a berth in the FCS national championship game at 1 p.m. Sunday against South Dakota State (8-1) in Frisco.
“The kid is amazing,” Sam Houston running back Noah Smith said of his quarterback, who has a knack for coming through in the clutch. “He just makes plays week after week.”
The Schmid’s football story indeed is a Texassized, real life fairy tale, even if a national title is not added by Sunday evening.
“Eric played for a state championship in high school, now he’s getting to play for a national championship in college,” Mark said. “This has been a special time.”
Mark met Sheryl Davidson when the two were students at McCullough High School in The Woodlands — before The Woodlands High School opened — a little more than 40 years ago. He was an all-district linebacker; she was a track star.
“Sheryl was a phenomenal athlete in high school — she ran the 100 meters, the 200 meters and sprint relay,” Mark said. “She competed in the long jump and the high jump. When people talk about Eric’s speed, I tell them he didn’t get it from me, he got it from his mom. That’s truly where it came from.”
Eric, who led The Woodlands to the 2016 Class 6A Division I state title game, a loss to Lake Travis, was clocked at 4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash at a Sam Houston football camp while in high school. His hustle and elusiveness have been big reasons why the Bearkats are in position to win a national title, vanquishing FCS powers North Dakota State and James Madison the past two weeks in the playoffs.
“I’ve never had a quarterback who can put his foot in the ground and go north and south, and we have that with Eric,” Sam Houston coach K.C. Keeler said. “He can also throw the ball so well on the run and create so many plays. You don’t want to pull him back — you want him to go.”
Mark, a longtime The Woodlands assistant, served as the Highlanders’ coach from 2004-17, mentoring his son. In yet another twist of Eric’s upbringing, the Schmids moved to Washington-on-the-Brazos in 2010.
The move to 62 scenic acres 62 miles from The Woodlands was in large part so Eric’s older sister, Zoe, could compete in rodeo events while attending Brenham. Meanwhile, Mark kept coaching at The Woodlands in the Conroe school district and Eric stayed enrolled in the district.
“I’d travel back and forth with my dad,” Eric said. “I loved it, honestly. The (country home) was a getaway. … I have a really good relationship with my parents, and I love the outdoors. I love going fishing and hunting, and it’s a great area for that.”
The 75-minute drives home from The Woodlands to Washington-on-theBrazos provided an opportunity to talk life and football, too, for the inseparable father and son.
“Always a great time to catch up on the day,” said Mark, now coach at Oak Ridge, across I-45 from The Woodlands. “And when Eric started playing football for me at The Woodlands, those rides were when he got into all of my thought processes in terms of coaching.
“I found that became invaluable by the time he was a senior — I felt like he was another coach on the field.”
One who’s become a quarterback with a chance to make Sam Houston history.
“We’re ready for this moment,” Eric said.