State Voyage
Countdown to State: Kirk Martin’s journey from Quitaque to a State Championship game
Josh Koch
Dec 19, 2017, 9:38 am
Originally appeared on Vype.com.
HOUSTON – Kirk Martin’s love for Texas high school football started in the small West Texas town of Quitaque.
With a population of 601 and just down the road from Turkey, Texas, in between the two towns was Valley High School—a Class 1A program, which Martin watched and helped out with while growing up and eventually played for from 1985-1988.
“I was a football junkie,” Martin said. “I was a football manager when I was in the fifth grade. I rode the yellow dogs and all that stuff. I had an older brother; he was a manager in seventh grade so I was in fifth grade. I went to all the games; I’ve seen so many great games.”
The chase for a state championship from his childhood has carried over into his career.
Martin’s journey has taken him to almost every corner of Texas, including stops in El Paso, Alvin, Odessa—at Permian working for T.J. Mills—Giddings, Alpine—his first head coaching job in 2004—and then Manvel.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” wife of 23 years Caren said about being on this journey with Kirk. “When we first got married he was teaching at a junior high and coaching at a high school. Then we got to move all over Texas. He was an assistant for a while, a coordinator.
“Before we moved to Manvel the longest we lived anywhere was four years and that’s when he was at Alvin High School. The shortest we lived anywhere was eight months. He was the offensive coordinator at Giddings and then he got his first head coaching job at Alpine. We loved living in Alpine. It was in the middle of nowhere but we had so much fun being out there and it was a great place to raise kids. I thought we’d stay there but the job came open and we prayed (about it).”
Along the way there was always success.
At Alvin, Martin was the offensive coordinator when the program last won a District Championship in 1996. At Giddings, Martin helped guide the team to a win against La Grange for the first time in 12 years.
With all of this on his resume, Martin got a chance to build a program from the ground up with Manvel opening.
Since starting to compete in 2008, Manvel has made the playoffs in eight of 10 years, had 10-plus win seasons for eight-straight seasons and made it to the state quarterfinals seven times.
In 2011, the Mavericks made a run to the 5A Division II State Championship game against Aledo. This was Martin’s first chance to capture that title.
Aledo won the game 49-28.
“We’ve been there before and I didn’t know if I’d ever be back again,” Martin said. “Our oldest son (Koda) was a sophomore when we went in 2011 and we didn’t win it. Everybody kept telling me don’t forget to enjoy it. Enjoy the moment, savor the flavor and all that stuff and there was so many different community pep rallies and hoopla stuff and I don’t know if we were as focused as we needed to be. I think the bigness of it really affected us.
“We played tight in the first quarter and for the first half. Offensively we weren’t ourselves. We dropped a bunch of balls and did some things that were uncharacteristic of our football team. I’ve always said if we get to do it again I’m going to make sure our kids are really focused and aren’t worried about the moment.”
That chance for Manvel and Martin comes on Friday against defending state champion Highland Park at AT&T Stadium.
A day after clinching the spot in the title game with a 35-10 win against Angleton, Martin was at home getting ready for the day when something happened that brought him to tears.
“My son (London Harris) that’s at Texas State won state in track and he’s got a state ring,” Martin said. “It was underneath a towel by my sink and Saturday morning I got up early, took a shower and I went over was brushing my teeth and I picked that hand towel up and there was that state ring with that Manvel ‘M’ on the front of it.
“Honestly I just started crying. I was just like it was almost like it was put there for me I just started balling. I was like this thing may actually happen.”
If it does happen it will mark the first-ever football state championship for Manvel High School.
On top of that it would fulfill the dream of the kid from Quintaque, Texas who has lived and breathed Texas high school football.
“I’m so focused right now,” Martin said. “We’ve got to do this.”
C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson found themselves in the same spot when they met in Week 2 last season.
Both quarterbacks were top-five draft picks, lost their season openers and seemed to be facing a steep learning curve.
Richardson won Round 1 in Houston, although he didn't finish the game.
Stroud took Round 2 in Indianapolis with the injured Richardson watching from the sideline as Texans clinched the AFC South title and Stroud locked up his runaway selection as NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
On Sunday, each QB begins his second pro season — with a lot still to prove.
“I’m excited. First official game back with my guys and my teammates,” said Richardson, who had season-ending shoulder surgery last October. "I want to win. So, whatever I’ve got to do to do that, I’m going to do it.”
Winning a season opener certainly would be a welcome change for a franchise that last started 1-0 in 2013. The 10-game winless streak is easily the NFL's longest active streak.
But that's just a start for Richardson.
He needs to improve his accuracy after completing a pedestrian 59.5% of his throws in 2023 and must demonstrate he can finish games. He missed 13 last season and only finished one of his four starts because of an assortment of injuries, including the concussion that knocked him out of that Week 2 matchup at Houston after he ran for two scores.
Stroud, meanwhile, is coming off one of the most successful rookie seasons in NFL history.
He became just the third player in a half-century to lead the league in yards passing per game (273.9) and touchdown-to-interception ratio (4.6 to 1), won a playoff game and made hist first Pro Bowl appearance.
How can he improve on a season like that? By showing last season was a building block — not a fluke. He has a stronger supporting cast, too, with Joe Mixon, a four-time 1,000-yard rusher, and Stefon Diggs, who has four straight 100-catch seasons, now in the mix.
The long journey begins Sunday in Indianapolis.
“I want to just start fast,” Stroud said. “It doesn't have to do with a certain game, just in general this season. Last year, we started off really slow and just kind of had to build our way back. It's not an easy thing to do, so I would say this year we want to start fast.”
Houston receiver Nico Collins had two of his biggest games last season against Indy — catching seven passes for 146 yards and one TD in the Week 2 matchup only to outperform those numbers with a 195-yard day that included a 75-yard TD catch in Week 18.
He could play an even bigger role this time with Indy's young secondary trying to match up not only with Collins but also Diggs, Mixon and tight end Dalton Schultz.
“Nico is a playmaker,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “Every time I see him, he’s a true playmaker. So, you just have to get Nico the ball in any way, shape or fashion. Just find a way to get him the ball just to see how explosive and how dynamic he is.”
Injuries and a contract dispute prevented Jonathan Taylor from replicating the form he used to win the 2021 NFL rushing title. Starting against the Texans could be just what he needs.
In six games against Houston, Taylor has rushed for seven TDs and 135.2 yards per game — his highest average against any team he's faced multiple times. And in that rematch with Houston in Week 18, he finished with 30 carries for 188 yards, the NFL's highest single-game total all season.
Houston defensive end Will Anderson, last season’s AP Defensive Rookie of the Year, will play Sunday after recovering from an ankle injury that limited his training camp snaps.
The No. 3 overall pick in 2023 had 45 tackles, 10 for loss, and 7 1/2 sacks as a rookie. He expects to be even better this season.
“I’m way more comfortable,” he said. “Just going into Year 2 knowing the scheme better, knowing what to expect a little bit more and knowing what’s going to happen gives you more confidence.”
The Colts lost their 2023 sacks leader, Samson Ebukam, with a torn Achilles tendon during training. But they may have the perfect replacement.
Laiatu Latu was the first defensive player taken in April's draft, at No. 15 overall, and he's shown coaches that the moves he used to record 23 1/2 sacks over his last two college seasons can work in the NFL.
“We know that there’s going to be a learning curve there," defensive coordinator Gus Bradley said. "We know there are going to be plays that we’re going to come in and say there were some good plays, and there were plays he wishes he had back — we understand that. But just his overall mentality and skill set, we’re very excited to see.”