Houston middle schoolers make U.S. Army Game

Five Houston athletes were selected from thousands of nominations to participate in the inaugural Football University, U.S. Army All-American Bowl for 7th grade players. The bowl game was part of the high school senior U.S. Army All-American event, which was attended by more than 40,000 fans and broadcast live on NBC on Jan 3. The 7th grade game was held at the Alamodome on January 4th and broadcast live over the internet. The five Houston area athletes were Lewis Allen, Tony Combs, Eddie Goodman, Don Henderson and Christopher Zook. Each of these athletes have one thing in common, they all play in the Houston Select Football League (HSFL). The HSFL is a full contact, spring, select football league for 7th and 8th grade athletes. "The fact that five of the 24 West players, selected from all over the country, are from the HSFL is a testament to the incredible talent we have in this league," said Christopher Zook, Sr., president of the HSFL. "We are very proud of these young men for receiving this honor. They played hard and conducted themselves as gentlemen. They represented the HSFL, and the city of Houston, very well." The athletes participated in the same type of events experienced by the high school senior All-Americans, as well as the 500 top underclassmen in the country that were invited to participate in the U.S. Army National Combine. Not only did the players get to play in a great venue, but they had tremendous exposure to programming that would help them on and off the field. The players had the pleasure of hearing from fantastic speakers dealing with issues ranging from strength training, character development, nutrition and athletic improvement. They interacted with numerous former NFL players and had specific sessions with Vince Papale (the inspiration for the movie "Invincible"), Ken "The Sugarland Express" Hall (all time leading rusher in Texas HS football history), Coaches Boone and Yoast ("Remember the Titans"), NFL Hall of Fame member Ken Houston and many others. All five of the HSFL athletes played nearly the entire game, distinguishing themselves on both offense and defense. Don Henderson scored a touchdown. Christopher Zook caught a pass, made several tackles and laid a vicious block on an East defender during a punt return that ignited the West team. Eddie Goodman gained substantial yards on offense and special teams. Lewis Allen and Tony Combs were anchors on defense and played a significant role in the successful ground attack of the West team. At the skills competition, the performance of the HSFL players stood out compared to their peers in the various tests and drills that were conducted. Specifically, Don Henderson, Eddie Goodman and Christopher Zook ran the three fastest 40 yard times on the West 7th grade team. The athletes truly created memories that will last a lifetime and got a glimpse of what they can accomplish if they apply themselves both on and off the field.