KILLEEN, Texas — The Ellison Eagles season continues as they punched their ticket to San Antonio after a thriller win over Fort Bend Marshall.
"We know what to expect. We know how it's going to be, how the atmosphere is going to be. We're going to enjoy the moment, but we're also going to take it serious how it's supposed to be taken," senior Kristopher White said.
It's a STATE of mind: The Ellison Eagles are returning to the state tournament after a dramatic victory Saturday afternoon over Fort Bend Marshall in the Class 5A Region III tournament. #WeAreKISD
— KISD Sports (@KilleenISD_) March 2, 2024
Read all about it➡️https://t.co/rAIqBCu7TC pic.twitter.com/up3ncDIWOz
"Probably second half of the district, the kids was talking state, state, state and they were playing like they had a goal in mind and they were trying to get to that goal. So, maybe the second half of the district, I started saying, you know, this group could really go to state," head coach Alberto Jones said.
The Eagles have reached this far before. In fact, they did it last year, but after falling short last season, Ellison looks to finish their story.
"The job's not finished," junior JoJo McIver said. "We came here last year, we didn't get the job done. We got a little excited. We got to just come in, focused on both games, make sure we're locked in even on the off day that we got down there and just come out and compete," McIver said.
"We got some dogs. We got some guys that witness that, you know...same mentality really just come in, try to come up on top and bring it back for Killeen," White said.
Their path to the championship game is blocked by a Veterans Memorial team that is 40-1. But at this stage, you got to go through the best to be the best.
"I always tell my guys don't worry about records because you got to put a lot into it with the records. You go the strength of schedule. What district were you in? What tournaments did you go to? You know, there's a whole lot of stuff that kind of goes into that. So sometimes records are misleading. Not that theirs is misleading, but they're saying you can't really just go off of records," Jones said.
"The word for the weekend is just gonna be execute. A lot of good teams down there. A lot of experienced teams. So we just gotta come out and be us to the best of our ability and we gotta see what happens when we do that," McIver said.
The game is set between the Eagles and the Patriots as it all goes down on Thursday, March 7th, at the Alamo dome.