Longview + Marshall to Play in Battle on the Border Showcase in September

A two-day, 10-team high school football showcase in mid-September will include two East Texas schools.

The 2013 Battle on the Border High School Football Showcase will feature two games Friday, Sept. 13 and three games Saturday, Sept. 14. Independence Stadium will host all five games.

Marshall plays Bossier City Parkway at 5 p.m. Sept. 14 in the day's second game. Longview faces Olive Branch (Miss.) at 7:30 p.m.

Marshall finished 2-8 in 2012. Marshall graduate Clint Harper was recently hired as the Mavericks' new head coach, replacing Alex Richters, who went 3-17 in two seasons. Parkway will feature quarterback Brandon Harris, who already holds offers from Arkansas, Arizona State, and Louisiana Tech.

Longview went 9-4 with a Class 5A Division II Region II semifinal appearance this past fall. The Lobos graduated several key starters, especially on defense, but return a promising group of juniors and sophomores, including TCU-bound junior defensive tackle Zaycoven Henderson, junior receiver Dorian Leonard, junior safeties Stephan Maxey and Travin Howard, sophomore quarterback Dezmond Chumley, and sophomore tailback J'Mycal Hasty. Olive Branch went 11-2 in in the fall, one year after going undefeated with a Class 6A Mississippi state championship.

The other three games feature perennial Louisiana state powers. Lafayette St. Thomas More has gone 32-7 during the last three seasons, reaching the Class 5A state semifinals in 2010 before losing to Acadiana to finish 13-1. Shreveport Calvary Baptist has gone 31-9 in the last three seasons, including an 11-3 finish and Class 2A state semifinal appearance 2011.

Bastrop three-peated as Class 4A state champion from 2005-07. Shreveport Byrd, which went 8-3 in 2012, finished 12-1 with a Class 5A state semifinal appearance in 2011. Acadiana has gone 8-3 each of the last two seasons after an 11-4 season that ended in a 5A state championship in 2010. Monroe Neville has won 13 or more games three times in the last four years, winning the 2009 and 2011 Class 4A state championships and reaching the 2012 state title game.

2013 Battle on the Border High School Football Showcase

• Lafayette (La.) St. Thomas More vs. Shreveport Calvary Baptist, 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13
• Bastrop (La.) vs. Shreveport Byrd, 8:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13
• Acadiana (La.) vs. Monroe (La.) Neville, 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14
• Marshall vs. Bossier City Parkway, 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14
• Longview vs. Olive Branch (Miss.), 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14