Westlake High celebrates Saints win

WESTLAKE, Texas (KXAN) - In his post Super Bowl game news conference, victorious New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees tugged at his own roots.

"Obviously, so many of those messages coming from, you know, former coaches, high school friends, you know, high school teammates that I won a state championship with," Brees said, discussing well wishes he received leading up to the game.

The comments, along with the one-time Westlake quarterback's exploits in Miami Sunday night, were well-received by this year's Westlake QB, Tanner Price.

"It's really neat to be able to go to the school where one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time went to high school and played there," said Price. "So it's really cool to be a part of that tradition and legacy."

Pride came to mind as coach Mark Hurst reflected on Brees' victory.

"Pride in knowing him, knowing of him, being part of him and that fact that you went to school where he did," he said.

Hurst is track coach at Westlake now, but when Brees led the football team to the state 5-A championship in 1996, he was the defensive back coach and he's the only coach left on the staff from that magnificent season.

"It was tough playing against him in scrimmages," Hurst said. "Our guys were good but he picked us apart."

The entire student body was in on the celebration this year. The Student Council sold t-shirts with Brees' number "9" on the back and a new saying on the front, "Once a chap, always a chap."

The sale raised some $8,000 for the Brees Dream Foundation, established by the Saints quarterback to back research aimed at curing Cancer and to provide opportunities for children in need.

Outside the school, an electronic marquee tied the proverbial ribbon around the day, proclaiming: "Way to go Drew!"