The high school football team in Canadian gave the town a lot to be proud of this season with another run to the state championship game.
But another lesser-known team also did very well at their UIL competition, which showed off their brains. Six 2nd-graders competed in the chess challenge. Many had never played the game before, but showed an interest in learning, so their teacher, Esmerelda Shields, put out a call for volunteers to work with the boys.
Creed Green, the district's technology services specialist, stepped up, and started working with the kids just a month before the district meet in November.
"We started simply, how to set up a game, how the pieces move, and by the end of the second week, they were strategizing and playing together, and they really loved it," Green said.
Hemphill County Sheriff's Deputy Pedro Sanchez, Jr. also volunteered to help the boys and he was amazed at how quickly it clicked.
“I was playing one of the boys, and he started beating me. I was, like, 'Oh wow! What's going on? Let me look again!' He did really well. They picked it up real quick," Sanchez said.
The boys practiced for an hour and a half, four days a week, for about a month, and their results were impressive. Trell Vernon placed 1st, Hagen Rash finished 3rd, Emmanuel Cardenas took 4th, and Blaze Mills came in 6th. Two students competed with the 3rd-grade team because they were short-handed, and Parker Burrus placed 2nd and Cason Bundy finished 4th.
Green says the boys are already looking forward to competing again next year.