All-star event fills many different needs
The Bayou Bowl is something different for everyone.
For many players it’s about meeting new people from schools around Houston, and for others it’s one last chance to play football.
But for every all-star player who was selected, it’s an honor they won’t soon forget.
“It’s a good feeling,” said Curtis Melrose, a wide receiver from Heights. “A lot of people don’t get a chance to play after their season is over.”
Unfortunately, Melrose couldn’t give the West a late lead.
His two-point catch, which would have given his team a one-point lead with 35 seconds left, looked good on instant replay, but officials, without the advantage of the local TV broadcast, ruled him out of bounds, and the East hung on for a 37-36 victory Saturday night at Stallworth Stadium in Baytown.
Clear Creek quarterback Sam Mathews, a Harding signee, led the East’s first win by rushing for four touchdowns.
One last game
Melrose hadn’t heard about the Bayou Bowl, which is in its 15th season, before his coach, Stephen Dixon, approached him about playing.
After doing a little research, he quickly agreed.
“I had never heard of it before, but I’m glad he put me up in here so I could play in this game,” Melrose said.
Melrose was part of the massive, 101-member Houston ISD signing class in February, inking with Grandview in Des Moines, Iowa, but then the straight-A student, who graduated with a sparkling 4.04 GPA, was accepted into his dream school, Howard University, in March.
Now he’s ready to pursue his dream of becoming a surgeon.
But first he was able to enjoy one last activityfilled week of high school football with some of the city’s best players.
“This week was real crazy,” Melrose said. “We always had something to do, with all my brothers here, and it’s been nice, being in the hotel with them, going out to eat, movies, games — it’s been great.”
Working off the rust
For fellow Heights teammate Josh Reed, this week was therapeutic.
The linebacker was halfway through a breakout senior campaign when he landed awkwardly trying to make a play against Lamar and broke his left foot.
The Bayou Bowl was his first chance to return to the gridiron.
“(The injury) was tough,” said Reed, whose block freed Katy’s KeShon Rowe for the West’s first score on a 93-yard kick return. “It hit me real hard because it was my senior year. I had goals, I was trying to break records, and I was on the road to probably being the leading tackler in my school’s history, and it all went down the drain.”
For him, this is a chance to show his future coaches at Blinn College that he’s back.
“I wanted to show them I’m the same as I was before — but better,” he said.
He also rediscovered his love of the game after more than eight months of grueling rehabilitation.
“My new teammates gave me the feeling back,” Reed said. “We didn’t have that much time together, but that little time we had brought back that feeling of family, and being with my football team. That made me feel good.”
‘It’s a real big deal’
Like his new West teammates, Bush defensive end/tight end Jeremiah Green wasn’t familiar with the Bayou Bowl.
“It’s a real big deal,” Green said. “It’s a chance to put on for your school, your city, where you’re from, and make a name for yourself before college.”
Green is going Division I. He expects to play tight end, and maybe some more defensive end, at Alcorn State.
“It’s going to be great making that transition (to college),” he said. “I’ve got a lot of love from people at home, and people in Mississippi, telling me I’m going to go make an impact my freshman year.”
But first — one last chance to shine in high school.
“It’s been chaotic, but fun,” Green said. “Everybody’s been tired lately because we’ve had two-adays, three-a-days and whatnot, but I got to bond with a lot of guys, like Joshua, so it’s been great.”