By Jerry Hill

Tribune-Herald assistant sports editor

Art Briles and Branndon Stewart have both been down different roads in the last 15 years.

But the path to Stephenville’s first state championship in 1993 — the one they walked together — is still burned in their memories.

“They’re all amazing, but the first one’s always special,” said Briles, who won three more state championships at Stephenville before leading Houston to four bowl games in five years and then taking the job at Baylor in November.

“At the time, we were kind of an unknown. We were still in the process of building a program. That was the culmination of five hard years of determination and effort of those kids that started in seventh grade with us.”

Briles and Stewart will walk down the same path again tonight, when they are inducted into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame during the 6 p.m. banquet at the Ferrell Center.

“Honestly, I was kind of in disbelief,” Briles said of his election into the Hall of Fame. “I was like, ‘Are you serious? You sure you got the right guy?’ If you look at the list of people who have been inducted, it’s mind-boggling.”

In 1988, when Briles first arrived at Stephenville, Stewart was one of those seventh-graders that watched as the Yellowjackets ended a 27-game losing streak to Brownwood and finished 4-5-1.

“Stephenville hadn’t been very good in a long time,” Stewart said. “And I just remember him immediately making a positive impact. You’re either going to work hard and win games and be a good player, or you’re going to be doing something else.”

As a junior, Stewart earned all-area honors, passing for 1,750 yards and 12 touchdowns and leading the Yellowjackets to a 10-4 record and the state quarterfinals.

But he definitely saved his best for last. During that magical 16-0 season in ’93, Stewart accounted for 4,704 yards and 47 touchdowns to earn all-American and Class 4A player of the year honors in Texas.

“I knew from the get-go that he was going to be a great player. Just because of his physical presence,” Briles said of the 6-foot-2, 200-pound quarterback. “He had a quick release, dynamic arm, great intelligence. He was a big, strong guy with a tremendous amount of will and determination, and had the talent to go with it. When you’ve got that combination, you’ve got a chance to be a great player. And he was a great player.”

Gridiron heroics

Stewart engineered an incredible comeback in the semifinals, hitting receiver Jason Bragg with a 50-yard touchdown pass and then completing the two-point conversion pass in a 22-21 win over defending state champion Waxahachie at Baylor’s Floyd Casey Stadium.

And then in a 26-13 win over La Marque in the championship, Stewart passed for 205 yards and one touchdown and added 94 yards and two TDs rushing.

“He had a tremendous state championship game,” Briles said, “and that was on TV. So that really helped him in the recruiting.”

As one of the top-rated quarterbacks in the nation, Stewart signed with Tennessee in the same recruiting class with a guy named Peyton Manning. Although both played as true freshmen, Stewart opted to transfer the next year and started off and on for three years at Texas A&M.

Again, Stewart saved his best for last.

Despite going out in the first quarter with a hyperextended knee, he returned to throw for 320 yards and three TDs and pile up 452 yards total offense as the Aggies stunned then-No. 2 Kansas State, 36-33, in a double-overtime thriller in the Big 12 championship game.

“Anytime I run into A&M graduates, they always remember that game,” said Stewart, who still ranks among A&M’s all-time leaders with 4,325 yards and 26 touchdown passes. “And to be a part of something like that, what more could you ask for? I could care less that I didn’t start in four or five games.”

A different path

Although current A&M coach and then-Green Bay Packers head man Mike Sherman called to see if he was interested in the NFL, Stewart’s football career ended on that positive note. After several years in the high-tech industry, he now serves as director of marketing for Boundless Network in Austin.

“There’s some guys that I played with that are still playing in the NFL,” Stewart said. “But I’m not sure how much they’re enjoying it. When I was done after the Sugar Bowl, I don’t think I ever went back to the weight room.”

Briles was 136-28-2 in 12 seasons at Stephenville and won 167 games overall in his high school coaching career before moving to the college ranks as an assistant at Texas Tech in 2000. Taking over a Houston program that was winless just two years before he arrived, Briles posted a 34-28 record in five seasons with the Cougars.

“I think he has an impact on anybody that’s around him very much: players, coaches or friends,” said Stewart, who plans to root for Baylor “the other 364 days of the year” when the Bears aren’t playing A&M.

“He’s a unique guy. He just kind of sticks with what he knows to be right. He’s a good influence and a good mentor for a lot of people. Moreso than being a coach, he’s just a really solid guy. And there’s not a whole lot of those guys around. I just know that I can trust Coach Briles, and he’s never let me down. That’s why so many coaches want to work for him. He’s just a great guy.”

jhill@wacotrib.com

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