It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I feel an Andy Williams Christmas Special coming on.  (For those of you too young to remember Andy Williams, he was one of the greatest influences in my young life.  Wanting to be like Andy and have a gorgeous young French wife, I developed a penchant for white double-knit pants and white patent-leather shoes.  It's absolute true, and you can ask my hot young French wife to verify it!)

Andy Williams was (and still is) known for a holiday song that has become a classic and staple for the Christmas season: "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!"

I love that song, mainly because it perfectly sums up my feelings about this time of the year.  Although, my reasons may be slightly different than ol' Andy's...

On Saturday afternoon, I was privileged to sit in Waco ISD Stadium and watch an excellent, competitive high school football game.  The Stony Point Tigers and Euless Trinity Trojans squared off for the right to play in the Class 5A Division 1 State Championship at the Alamodome this Saturday.

I was biased toward Stony Point; they were my personal ticket to the Alamodome's broadcast booth if they won.  But, alas, it was not to be.  Still it was perhaps the most entertaining and competitive game I personally witnessed all season long.  Trinity held off Stony Point for a 35-28 win, but not before the Tigers had two late opportunities to post a game-tying touchdown.

It's exactly that kind of game at this time of year that really makes December so special to me.

Both teams traveled considerable distances to play the game, yet both sides of the stadium were standing room only.  The hosts (Waco ISD) rolled out the red carpet--even for media types--and put on a fine show.

Plus, I got to visit for a fair amount of time with Stony Point assistant coach Tom Collins (no, I didn't even mention it...) who happened to have been an assistant defensive coach on the 1994 Tyler John Tyler team that won the wacky playoff shootout against Plano East.  Collins had some interesting stories and insights about that game.

Craig Chessher, Stony Point's head coach who was previously David Aymond's assistant at North Shore, was a pleasure to watch as he directed his team to their second consecutive 13-2 season.  Chessher has been added to my list of the current 'really good' head football coaches in Texas.  (I always hesitate to use the term 'great', because greatness is hard to define and takes longer to measure.)

He came to Stony Point four years ago and inherited a program that was almost on life support before it got going.  Stony Point played it's first varsity season in 2000 and in their first six seasons won nine games.  Total.

Enter Chessher. In his first season, the Tigers went 3-7.  But he has followed that season with seasons of 9-3, 13-2 and 13-2.  They've won three consecutive district championships and now have played in back-to-back state semifinals.  Stony Point is a juggernaut in the making.

Consider this: both QBs and the leading rusher, RB Sam Kelley, were just juniors this season.  The core offensive unit returns for 2010.  Will the third time be the charm?  We'll see.  I know this much: it'll be easy to root for a man like Chessher, who is as concerned with the character of the young men his program produces as the number of wins they rack up each year.

I'm privileged to have met Chessher and Collins in 2009.  They are the types of people that you run into on a regular basis covering high school athletics in Texas.  Good people.  And part of the reason that this IS the most wonderful time of the year.