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There’s an English proverb that says the third time’s the charm, but in the case of the Hitchcock Bulldogs boys basketball team, it took a fourth to finally capture the elusive state championship.
The Bulldogs, coached by former player and 2001 graduate Chris Jordan-Foster, defeated the Childress Bobcats 68-45 in the University Interscholastic League (UIL) Class 3A title game at the Alamodome in San Antonio on Saturday.
The triumph avenges Hitchcock’s unsuccessful trips to state in 2003, 2004 and last year.
“We’re back, and we got it done this time,” a stoic Jordan-Foster told Houston’s lone major publication postgame. “I might not seem excited, but I am … Just being from Hitchcock, playing at Hitchcock and now coaching and having one of my old high school coaches on my staff, it’s a surreal feeling.”
Houston Daily reported last March that then-sophomore Damien McDaniel said before the Bulldogs’ heartbreaking 53-49 loss to San Antonio Cole, Shaquille O'Neal's alma mater, he didn’t want to leave the Alamo City minus the trophy.
A year later, the junior racked up a program-high 19 points, six rebounds and five assists to earn game Most Valuable Player (MVP) honors, per the UIL’s Twitter account.
According to McDaniel, the win was for his teammates who’ll graduate from the southern Galveston County school in about three months.
“I’d do anything for them, and this was one of our goals,” he said.
Per MaxPreps, Hitchcock ended its 2022-2023 campaign on an unbroken winning streak of 22 games.
The website reported that the Bulldogs compiled a 31-7 overall record that included a 14-0 barnstorm through district play.
They’re the first Houston-area program since the 2015-2016 Cypress Falls squad to succeed in basketball at state.
The Hitchcock Independent School District (HISD) had asked the residents of the city of nearly 7,400 some 40 miles south of Houston to line the streets to welcome the team home.