Pasadena Citizen - Sports
Thanks for the show, Bo
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| After 53 touchdowns and 4,823 yards during his Memorial football career, Bo Snelson could be seeing the curtain come down on his tremendous high school career Saturday afternoon. |
Just in case this is the end of the road for Memorial High School’s freight train in cleats, thanks for the show Bo.
The Mavericks are a 14-point underdog in their state playoff game with Beaumont West Brook Saturday afternoon and should that hold true, the fabulous and fun high school football career of Bo Snelson will be over.
The curtain will come down on a young man who has wowed us with his talents on the football field like no other PISD player has in perhaps a generation or two. In all my years as a sportswriter, I’ve never seen a high school football player quite like Bo Snelson.
Despite a lack of good size that’s supposed to be a prerequisite for a bruising running back at the Class 5A level, pound for pound there has not been a better running back in the state the last two seasons.
But what he lacks in physical stature, his powerful source of energy and drive comes from within. But for those who have been watching high school ball in Pasadena for quite some time, they’re not a bit surprised by Bo’s tenacity and passion for football.
For you see, he is playing the game just as his old man did. Longtimers have told me that Memorial head coach John Snelson was the same way when he played at Sam Rayburn. A true chip off the old block, this chip has been a source of frustration and longer-than-usual meetings by opposing coaching staffs.
Seldom have those meetings helped. Going into tomorrow’s game Bo has scored 55 touchdowns, rushed for 4,823 yards and left 322 bruises on opposing players who dared to take on Memorial’s 5-foot-10 ballcarrier during his three-year varsity career.
“To me, he’s the epitome of a student-athlete. You’re not going to find more of a competitor on the field. Everything he does, he’s a competitor,” Pasadena schools Athletic Director Mike Stephens said. “He’s got something that I wish every kid in the world had and that’s his family. From the mom, dad, sisters, grandmothers and aunts, that’s a family unit that’s going to produce children like that.”
When folks look back on Bo’s outstanding high school career, they’ll recall the November to remember of 2007.
It started with Bo’s greatest game and so far Memorial’s greatest moment when the program nabbed its first-ever state playoff victory. En route to a 35-10 win over Baytown Lee, Bo rushed for five touchdowns and 255 yards. He followed that up with a four-touchdown, 186-yard performance against Brazoswood.
Stephens, who was Dobie’s head football coach from 1999 through the 2003 seasons, appreciates the effort Bo displays on the field.
“You can just tell he answers the bell. There’s nobody out there that he doesn’t think he can run over, run around, tackle or cover,” Stephens said.
From spin moves at just the precise moment to cut-on-a-dime moves to outrace-ya-to-the-end zone moves, Bo has garnered his yardage in an assortment of ways, all to the delight of anyone who watches this young man play high school football for 48 minutes.
And it has all come with his feet still on the ground. In all my interviews with coach Snelson, I don’t think he’s brought up anything his son accomplished in a game unless it was a pivotal moment in a contest or I bring up the question.
He gives defenders who hold him to no gain a hand as he helps them off the ground, elementary school kids shout out Bo’s name as he runs off the field and you’ll find a healthy supply of Memorial students at the 50-yard line having a blast on a weekend night. That’s what it has meant to have Bo play for Memorial the last three seasons.
In the new pressbox at Newcomb Field, there’s a framed picture on the back wall that captured Memorial’s exciting postseason run last fall. Taken from the back of the end zone, it shows Bo scoring a touchdown against eventual state champion Katy and the Memorial sidelines in the background just erupting in euphoria.
That picture, that moment, says it all in terms of what Bo Snelson has meant specifically to Memorial and the local football scene in general.
If tomorrow is meant to be your final game Bo, a heartfelt thanks for your passion to the game.
Thanks for the show, Bo.
The Mavericks are a 14-point underdog in their state playoff game with Beaumont West Brook Saturday afternoon and should that hold true, the fabulous and fun high school football career of Bo Snelson will be over.
The curtain will come down on a young man who has wowed us with his talents on the football field like no other PISD player has in perhaps a generation or two. In all my years as a sportswriter, I’ve never seen a high school football player quite like Bo Snelson.
Despite a lack of good size that’s supposed to be a prerequisite for a bruising running back at the Class 5A level, pound for pound there has not been a better running back in the state the last two seasons.
But what he lacks in physical stature, his powerful source of energy and drive comes from within. But for those who have been watching high school ball in Pasadena for quite some time, they’re not a bit surprised by Bo’s tenacity and passion for football.
For you see, he is playing the game just as his old man did. Longtimers have told me that Memorial head coach John Snelson was the same way when he played at Sam Rayburn. A true chip off the old block, this chip has been a source of frustration and longer-than-usual meetings by opposing coaching staffs.
Seldom have those meetings helped. Going into tomorrow’s game Bo has scored 55 touchdowns, rushed for 4,823 yards and left 322 bruises on opposing players who dared to take on Memorial’s 5-foot-10 ballcarrier during his three-year varsity career.
“To me, he’s the epitome of a student-athlete. You’re not going to find more of a competitor on the field. Everything he does, he’s a competitor,” Pasadena schools Athletic Director Mike Stephens said. “He’s got something that I wish every kid in the world had and that’s his family. From the mom, dad, sisters, grandmothers and aunts, that’s a family unit that’s going to produce children like that.”
When folks look back on Bo’s outstanding high school career, they’ll recall the November to remember of 2007.
It started with Bo’s greatest game and so far Memorial’s greatest moment when the program nabbed its first-ever state playoff victory. En route to a 35-10 win over Baytown Lee, Bo rushed for five touchdowns and 255 yards. He followed that up with a four-touchdown, 186-yard performance against Brazoswood.
Stephens, who was Dobie’s head football coach from 1999 through the 2003 seasons, appreciates the effort Bo displays on the field.
“You can just tell he answers the bell. There’s nobody out there that he doesn’t think he can run over, run around, tackle or cover,” Stephens said.
From spin moves at just the precise moment to cut-on-a-dime moves to outrace-ya-to-the-end zone moves, Bo has garnered his yardage in an assortment of ways, all to the delight of anyone who watches this young man play high school football for 48 minutes.
And it has all come with his feet still on the ground. In all my interviews with coach Snelson, I don’t think he’s brought up anything his son accomplished in a game unless it was a pivotal moment in a contest or I bring up the question.
He gives defenders who hold him to no gain a hand as he helps them off the ground, elementary school kids shout out Bo’s name as he runs off the field and you’ll find a healthy supply of Memorial students at the 50-yard line having a blast on a weekend night. That’s what it has meant to have Bo play for Memorial the last three seasons.
In the new pressbox at Newcomb Field, there’s a framed picture on the back wall that captured Memorial’s exciting postseason run last fall. Taken from the back of the end zone, it shows Bo scoring a touchdown against eventual state champion Katy and the Memorial sidelines in the background just erupting in euphoria.
That picture, that moment, says it all in terms of what Bo Snelson has meant specifically to Memorial and the local football scene in general.
If tomorrow is meant to be your final game Bo, a heartfelt thanks for your passion to the game.
Thanks for the show, Bo.
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