Shotwell Showdown: A maze of fans, and burgers so good the police show up


There's no mistaking it — it's officially football season in West Texas.

Though the high school season technically began Aug. 31, the crowd that packed Shotwell Stadium on Friday night really got into the football spirit for the annual game between Cooper and Abilene high schools, billed as the Shotwell Showdown.

Almost every car traveling east on E.S. 11th Street at 6 p.m. took the unmarked turnoff to the stadium an hour and a half before the game. By 7 p.m., the lines of cars waiting to turn in to the stadium from both directions were as long as the football field that would be played on later.

"This is probably the biggest game," said Royal Villarreal, a Cooper graduate who was grilling hot dogs and hamburgers on a smoker by an entrance to the north parking lot.

He and his wife, Sandra, an Abilene graduate, served burgers to friends and family for the better part of the afternoon and evening.

An Abilene police officer approached the smoker to speak to Villarreal. He was given a burger.

"Hamburgers so good the police show up!" Villarreal said.

In the south parking lot, loud rap and Tejano music filled the air, whirling with the smoke from four or five grills. Children played a pickup game of football behind the lot, likely emulating the game they were about to watch.

As the 7:30 p.m. kickoff approached, the steady traffic inside the stadium became unmanageable. It was a madhouse.

Let the Shotwell Showdown begin!


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