Texas football commits in action, Oct. 10-11

The 2019 Texas high school football regular season is now halfway done. Eight Texas Longhorn commits had a bye last week, eight who played were able to help their teams maintain an unbeaten record, a 2020 commit helped his team knock off a state-ranked foe, and a 2021 commit came up short against a ranked team but earned plaudits despite the defeat.

This week’s big game involving a UT commit is annually one of the state’s most anticipated rivalry games, period: Lake Travis versus Austin Westlake. 2020 QB Hudson Card will aim to lead his Lake Travis Cavaliers to a win over the Westlake Chaparrals in his senior year after losing handily to them as a junior in 2018.

2021 QB Jalen Milroe, fresh off a 405-yard passing performance against Katy, will lead his Tompkins team against a second straight undefeated team.

2020 RB Bijan Robinson broke two conference rushing records in his team’s last game, and a number of Arizona’s state rushing records are within reach if he can lead his team to a long enough playoff run.

2020 DE Van Fillinger and his Corner Canyon High School team continue to be Utah’s top-ranked squad, but they’ll face another highly-ranked opponent who will seek to deny them a second straight undefeated season.

Houston-area commits 2020 DB Xavion Alford and 2021 LB Derrick Harris have yet to lose a game in 2019, and if both continue on their current track their teams could be on course to meet in the third round of the playoffs.

2020 QB Ja’Quinden Jackson’s Duncanville team met 2021 WR Quaydarius Davis’s Dallas Skyline team last week, and this weekend will also feature a game with Longhorn commits on both sidelines, as 2020 RB Ty Jordan’s West Mesquite Wranglers will travel to east Texas to play 2020 DB Kitan Crawford’s Tyler John Tyler Lions.

At this point in the season every game matters for district standings and playoff qualification; at least one commit could see his team all but wrap up a playoff spot this week, while others would come close to playing themselves out of the postseason with a loss.

It should be a great weekend of football, and if you’re driving up to Dallas to catch the Red River Showdown on Saturday morning, try getting to the area soon enough to take in one of the eight games involving UT commits that will take place in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on Friday night. I’ll have the usual breakdown of last week’s action below and some details on this week’s schedule. As always, the start times listed are for each location’s local time zone.

———

2020 QB Hudson Card (Lake Travis)
2021 TE Lake McRee (Lake Travis) - injured, out for season

Last week: Card completed 8 of 8 passes for 164 yards and 2 TDs, and had 3 carries for 18 yards and 1 TD in a 59-7 win over Kyle Lehman.
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:30, vs. Austin Westlake
Notes: Card had a perfect passing night last week in another lopsided Lake Travis win over a completely overmatched district opponent, completing all 8 of his pass attempts in a 52-point win over Lehman, a team Lake Travis had won all previous matchups against by an average margin of 55 points.

The Cavaliers have won five straight games and are 4-0 in district play. In those four district games Hudson Card has attempted 62 passes, resulting in more touchdowns (10) than incompletions (8), and the Cavaliers have outscored those four foes 223-17.

If you’re looking for drama in a football game, best to avoid watching Lake Travis play. Since the start of the 2018 season the Cavaliers have not had a single game, win or loss, decided by less than 16 points, and only two have had margins of less than 21 points.

On Friday night Lake Travis will host archrival Austin Westlake in a battle of ranked teams that will decide bragging rights and likely district championship hardware but won’t affect either team’s playoff seeding, as due to the enrollment figures of District 25-6A’s schools Lake Travis is certain to be in the 6A Division I playoff bracket and Westlake is all but certain to be in the 6A Division II bracket. Westlake is ranked 6th in Class 6A, while Lake Travis moved up one spot to 15th in this week’s rankings.

Lake Travis owned this rivalry for most of a decade, beating Westlake ten straight times between 2008 and 2016 (the teams met in the regular season and again in the playoffs in 2016), but Westlake has won in each of the past two years, including by a 44-14 score in 2018.

2020 QB Ja’Quinden Jackson (Duncanville)

Last week: Completed 9 of 12 passes for 170 yards and 5 TDs, and had 3 carries for 26 yards and lost one fumble in a 61-0 win over Dallas Skyline.
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:30, vs. Lake Highlands
Notes: Jackson tossed five TDs in the first half last week against Skyline, as the Duncanville Panthers got off to a 41-0 halftime lead. Jackson was under center for Duncanville’s first series of the second half, which resulted in a punt, then he sat out the rest of the game.

Duncanville scored touchdowns on six of its seven possessions of the first half, with their one non-scoring drive coming early in the 2nd quarter when Jackson fumbled on a play that began at the Skyline 20-yard line. Duncanville’s defense held Skyline to 107 total yards, and the Raiders’ possessions in the game ended with nine punts, an interception, two turnovers on downs, and the end of the 2nd quarter.

The Panthers are 5-0 for the season and 2-0 in district play, and they have outscored their 2019 opposition 221-20. They remain the state’s top-ranked team and the #4 team in USA Today’s Super 25 Football Expert rankings.

Having blasted Skyline by a 61-0 score, Duncanville will next take on 3-2 Lake Highlands, a team that lost to Skyline 41-14 two weeks ago. Duncanville beat Lake Highlands 76-0 when the teams played in 2018.

2021 QB Jalen Milroe (Katy Tompkins)

Last week: Completed 19 of 28 passes for 405 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT, and had 7 carries for -14 yards in a 35-30 loss to Katy.
This week: Thursday, October 10 at 7:00, at Katy Mayde Creek
Notes: Jalen Milroe put up some huge passing numbers last week in Tompkins’ tilt with Katy, the #2 team in Class 6A, but it wasn’t quite enough to end the Tigers’ 67-game winning streak in district games, as Katy prevailed 35-30.

Tompkins had lost all five previous meetings with Katy and had never lost by a margin of less than 35 points, so despite the defeat Tompkins showed itself to be a legitimate challenger to Katy’s dominance in that district, and their 2020 game should be a must-see.

Tompkins took a 10-7 lead with 5:03 left in the 2nd quarter, but Katy took back the lead on a 16-yard TD run by senior running back Ron Hoff with 1:33 left in the first half. Tompkins fumbled to start the opening possession of the 3rd quarter, and Katy capitalized with a TD barely two minutes into the second half to lead 21-10. Tompkins was forced to punt on its ensuing possession and Katy senior receiver Jordan Patrick returned it for a 58 yard TD. Patrick scored again five minutes later on a 65-yard reception to push Katy’s lead to 35-10 with 3:09 left in the 3rd quarter.

Milroe tossed three TDs afterward as Tompkins mounted a fierce but ultimately futile comeback. He connected with senior receiver Gabe Atkin for a 73-yard TD with 2:17 left in the 3rd quarter to cut the deficit to 35-17. Atkin finished the game with 9 receptions for 297 yards. Milroe threw two more TDs in the 4th quarter, the second of which also went to Atkin and made the score 35-30 with 1:27 left in regulation. But Katy recovered the ensuing onside kick to secure the win.

The loss was Tompkins’ first this season after a 5-0 start, and Milroe also threw his first interception of the season. The Tompkins Falcons are now 1-1 in district play, and despite the loss their performance against Katy sufficiently impressed the staff at Dave Campbell’s Texas Football that they entered the Class 6A rankings at #24 this week. They will face another unbeaten team tonight when they take on Mayde Creek, which is 5-0 for the season but has played only one team with a winning record and two teams that are winless. Tompkins beat Mayde Creek 49-28 in the teams’ 2018 matchup.

2020 RB Ty Jordan (West Mesquite)

Last week: Bye
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:00, at Tyler John Tyler
Notes: For the second time in four weeks, Ty Jordan will get to play against a future teammate, as his West Mesquite Wranglers will travel to play Kitan Crawford and the Tyler John Tyler Lions on Friday night. West Mesquite is 1-4 for the season but 1-0 in district play, and is coming off its bye week.

Like West Mesquite, John Tyler began its season 0-4, but has since won its first two district games, including a 48-7 win over Wylie East last week. West Mesquite had beaten that same Wylie East team 37-14 the week before. John Tyler beat West Mesquite 29-22 in the 2018 season, despite Ty Jordan rushing for 182 yards and 2 TDs.

2020 RB Bijan Robinson (Salpointe Catholic - Tucson, Arizona)

Last week: Had 9 carries for 133 yards and 4 TDs, caught 3 passes for 62 yards and 1 TD, and returned two kickoffs for 104 yards in a 58-13 win over Sahuaro.
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:00, vs. Casa Grande
Notes: Robinson scored five total touchdowns in the first half in helping Salpointe Catholic build a 51-7 halftime lead against previously unbeaten Sahuaro last week, and in the 2nd quarter he broke Arizona’s Conference 4A career rushing yardage record, giving him the most rushing yards of anyone in 4A and above (Arizona has made a number of changes to its conference structure over the years, but 5A was its highest level from at least 1959 until 2016 when Conference 6A was created).

Robinson also broke a tie with Ka’Deem Carey to become 4A’s all-time leader in rushing TDs with 86, though he is still 24 TDs shy of Casey Jahn’s state record. Jahn, who played at 2A’s Northwest Christian and later in college at Northern Arizona, also holds the state’s records for career rushing yardage (7,544) and total touchdowns (112). With four regular season games left and potentially three playoff games afterward, Robinson has a maximum of seven games remaining to try and break those records. He has 96 total TDs in his career, and with just eight more he will pass former Texas A&M and current Arizona Cardinals receiver Christian Kirk for the 4A career TDs record, and he needs 16 more to tie Jahn’s state record (at his current scoring pace he may do that before the end of the regular season). For Robinson to leave Salpointe Catholic as Arizona’s all-time rushing yards leader he will have to lead the Lancers to the state championship game and average 231 yards per game.

The Lancers are 5-0 for the season and are the top-ranked team in 4A and #2 in this week’s updated Open Division playoff ratings. Their four remaining regular season games will come against schools currently rated #3, #14, #22, and #46 out of the 47 teams in Conference 4A. This week’s opponent is #14 Casa Grande, which is 4-2 for the season and led by sophomore quarterback Angel Flores, who the Arizona Republic named as one of the state’s top 25 recruits from the 2022 class back in March. Flores, who is reported to be 6’2” and 220 pounds, has completed just under 70% of his passes this season and accounted for 16 total TDs while throwing just one interception through the team’s first six games.

Robinson rushed for 250 yards and 4 TDs on just nine carries when Salpointe Catholic played Casa Grande in 2018, as the Lancers won 51-28.

2021 WR Quaydarius Davis (Dallas Skyline)

Last week: Caught 2 passes for 2 yards in a 61-0 loss to Duncanville.
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:30, at Dallas W.T. White
Notes: It wasn’t a good night for Davis or anyone else on Skyline’s offense last week as the Raiders were manhandled by Class 6A’s top-ranked Duncanville Panthers. As stated earlier in the notes on Ja’Quinden Jackson, Skyline was held to just 107 total yards. Davis didn’t record his first catch until Skyline’s fourth possession, at which point the Raiders trailed 20-0 in the 1st quarter. That catch gained 3 yards. His second reception, which came on Skyline’s first drive of the 3rd quarter, resulted in a loss of one yard.

The loss left Skyline with a 2-3 overall record and a 1-1 mark in district play. The Raiders will look to bounce back on Friday against a 3-2 W.T. White team. White’s three wins include a one-point victory over a 5A Division II team, and two wins over 6A teams with a combined record of 2-9.

Skyline and W.T. White are the only two Class 6A schools in Dallas ISD, and Skyline has beaten White in football at least 15 straight times, with only one of their last 13 matchups being decided by less than 30 points. Skyline won their 2018 game 43-6.

2020 WR Quentin Johnston (Temple)

Last week: Caught 2 passes for 87 yards and a TD in a 66-34 win over Belton.
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:30, vs. Killeen
Notes: Johnston’s TD catch came late in the 1st quarter of Temple’s district game against Belton last week, and it gave the Wildcats a 17-14 lead. The game was close for much of the first half, and Temple led 31-28 following a Belton TD with 3:34 left in the 2nd quarter. But a Temple blitzkrieg to end the first half - which began with a quick TD pass, then saw an interception that set up a short TD run, and a quick 3-and-out and punt by Belton that set up Temple’s third TD in the span of just over two minutes - allowed the Wildcats to go into halftime with a 52-28 lead.

Temple scored on a two-play, 75-yard drive on its first possession of the 3rd quarter to extend its lead to 59-28 and all but put the game out of reach. Temple improved to 4-1 and is now 3-0 in district play.

The win was Temple’s seventh straight over Belton in the latest meeting of a rivalry that’s well over a century old. The two schools - whose current campuses are less than 10 miles apart - played each other in football for the first time in 1907 and had a fierce (and sometimes violent) rivalry for most of three decades, though due to various factors they later went 62 years without playing each other before being aligned in the same district in 1996.

On Friday the Wildcats take on Killeen, which is 1-5 for the season and 1-3 in district play. Despite their struggles the Killeen Kangaroos do have some players Temple will have to game plan for, most notably senior defensive tackle Ta’Shoyn Johnson, a North Texas commit, and junior running back Kadarius Marshall, who was the Offensive Newcomer of the Year for District 12-6A as a sophomore and scored 12 TDs while averaging 181 yards from scrimmage in Killeen’s first five games of this season.

Temple beat Killeen 35-13 in the teams’ 2018 game.

2020 WR Troy Omeire (Fort Bend Austin)

Last week: Caught 11 passes for 110 yards and a TD, and had 2 carries for 2 yards in a 48-7 loss to Fort Bend Ridge Point.
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:00, at Fort Bend Travis
Notes: Fort Bend Austin fell to 1-4 for the season and 1-1 in district play following their blowout loss to Ridge Point last week. Austin’s four losses have come against teams with a combined record of 17-5, while their lone victory came at the expense of 1-4 Fort Bend Dulles.

Troy Omeire caught a 13-yard TD pass with 6:43 left in the 2nd quarter, which made the score 27-7 in favor of Ridge Point and turned out to be Austin’s only points of the game. Austin was assessed 9 penalties and committed 4 turnovers.

Things won’t be any easier for Austin on Friday when they take on undefeated Fort Bend Travis, which has earned four of its five wins against teams currently sporting a winning record. Austin has lost 10 of its 11 all-time meetings with Travis, including the past five straight, with last year’s score being 56-22.

2021 OL Hayden Conner (Katy Taylor)

Last week: Team beat Katy Seven Lakes 45-10.
This week: Thursday, October 10 at 6:00, at Katy Cinco Ranch
Notes: Katy Taylor improved to 4-2 for the season and 2-0 in district play with its win over Seven Lakes last week. Seven Lakes scored the game’s first and last points, but Taylor scored the 45 points that came in between. Taylor led 24-7 going into the 4th quarter, then put the game out of reach with three TDs in the span of 2:21 to make the score 45-7 with 9:01 left in regulation.

The Taylor Mustangs should be able to all but wrap up a playoff spot if they beat winless Cinco Ranch tonight. That would give them a 3-0 district record with their last three games coming against Tompkins, Mayde Creek, and Katy, a trio with a combined overall record of 15-1. Barring any upsets, Taylor should finish at worst in 4th place in District 19-6A and would be in the 6A Division II playoff bracket.

Taylor beat Cinco Ranch 33-17 a year ago.

2020 OL Jaylen Garth (Port Neches-Groves) - injured, out for season

Last week: Team beat Vidor 18-10.
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:30, vs. Crosby
Notes: Even without the services of the injured Garth this season, the Port Neches-Groves Indians are 4-1 and ranked #7 in Class 5A Division II.

2020 OL Andrej Karic (Southlake Carroll)

Last week: Team beat Denton Guyer 46-34
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:00, vs. Trophy Club Byron Nelson
Notes: Carroll beat Denton Guyer last week in a district matchup between the #7 and #8 teams in Class 6A. Guyer led 14-0 going into the 2nd quarter, courtesy of two TD passes from junior QB Eli Stowers (a Texas A&M commit) to senior WR Seth Meador (an Air Force commit). Carroll put 25 points on the board in the 2nd quarter and took its first lead of the game following a 9-yard pass from sophomore QB Quinn Ewers to senior tight end Blake Smith (a Texas A&M commit) with six seconds left in the half, which made the score 25-21 in Carroll’s favor.

Carroll pushed its lead to 39-21 with a 20-yard TD run by Ewers with 5:13 left in the 4th quarter, but Guyer made the game interesting in its final minutes. Two plays after Ewers’s TD run made the score 39-21, Stowers connected with fellow junior Deuce Harmon for a 36-yard TD to cut the deficit to 39-28. Then a Ewers fumble at midfield on Carroll’s ensuing possession set up a 41-yard TD run by Stowers that brought Guyer to within five points at 39-34 with 3:11 left in regulation following a failed two-point conversion.

But Ewers atoned for his earlier fumble with a 70-yard TD run with 2:18 left in the game that gave Carroll a 12-point cushion, and Stowers was intercepted on Guyer’s last drive to essentially end the game. Ewers, who recently received a Texas offer, finished the game with 333 yards and 4 TDs passing, and another 117 yards and 2 TDs rushing on 9 carries.

Carroll is now 5-0 for the season and 2-0 in district play, and the Dragons moved up one spot to #7 in this week’s Class 6A rankings. They also cracked the USA Today Super 25 rankings for the first time this season, coming in at #23.

On Friday they will face winless Byron Nelson, whose 0-5 record may be a bit deceptive, as three of their losses were by four points or less and came against teams with a combined record of 13-2. Still, there’s no reason Carroll shouldn’t win big on Friday, as the Dragons have played five schools that reached the playoffs in 2018 and rolled over each of them. Carroll has won its three previous games against Byron Nelson by an average margin of 29 points, including a 41-17 win in 2018.

2020 OL Jake Majors (Prosper)

Last week: Bye
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:00, at Dallas Jesuit
Notes: Prosper is 5-0 and has outscored its 2019 opponents by an average of 33 points. The Eagles come off their bye week with a 2-0 record in district play and will face Dallas Jesuit, which lost its first two games of this season against Arlington and DeSoto - the current #20 and #11 teams in Class 6A, respectively - then won its next three straight games and is also 2-0 in district. Prosper beat Jesuit 30-28 when the teams played in 2018.

2020 OL Logan Parr (San Antonio O’Connor)

Last week: Bye
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:30, at San Antonio Brandeis
Notes: O’Connor has won four straight games since dropping its season-opener against Cibolo Steele and is 4-0 in district play. Coming off their bye week, the O’Connor Panthers will play undefeated Brandeis on Friday night. The two teams are tied for first place in District 28-6A.

Brandeis has outscored its first four district foes by an average of 36.5 points and is likewise coming off its bye week. In the Brandeis Broncos’ last game they won 51-16 over a Brennan team that regularly contends for the district title, and that win gave Brandeis its first-ever victory over Brennan.

Brandeis is #23 in this week’s 6A rankings. O’Connor beat Brandeis 30-28 in 2018 and has not lost a district game since 2015. O’Connor has lost only five district games since the start of the 2012 season, and Brandeis was responsible for three of those losses, most recently in 2014.

2020 DT Vernon Broughton (Cypress Ridge)

Last week: Bye
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:00, at Cypress Creek
Notes: The Cypress Ridge Rams are 4-1 at the half-way point of their season and 2-1 in district play. On Friday they face a Cypress Creek team that opened the season with three straight losses but has since won three straight and is 3-1 in district play. This game will likely be an important one for playoff consideration. Cypress Creek beat Cypress Ridge 37-7 in 2018 and has won four of the last five games between the schools.

2020 DE Van Fillinger (Corner Canyon - Draper, Utah)

Last week: Credited with 5 tackles and 1 tackle for loss in a 48-7 win over Saratoga Springs Westlake.
This week: Thursday, October 10 at 7:00, vs. Lehi Skyridge
Notes: Fillinger’s Corner Canyon team remained unbeaten and won its 20th straight game last week in a blowout over Westlake, which dropped to 1-7 for the season. Corner Canyon scored all 48 of its points in the first half.

The Chargers remain #1 in the Deseret News’ top 25 statewide football rankings, as they have been for four weeks, and they’ve previously beaten the teams currently ranked #3, #4, #6, #8, and #10, including Utah’s 2018 state champions in Class 6A and Class 4A. They play their last two games of the 2019 regular season campaign against two solid teams, with tonight’s opponent being Skyridge, the Deseret News’ #2 team.

Corner Canyon beat Skyridge 31-14 in the 2018 Class 5A state championship, one year after Skyridge had beaten Corner Canyon in the 5A state semifinals by a 34-33 score. That 2017 playoff defeat to Skyridge is the most recent loss the Chargers have suffered.

Both schools have seamlessly made the transition from 5A to 6A this season. Skyridge is 6-1 and is coming off a 22-21 win last week over defending 6A champion Lone Peak, who Corner Canyon had beaten 21-17 the week before following a miraculous last-minute comeback after trailing by 10 points. Skyridge’s only loss this season was a 28-27 defeat to Pleasant Grove on September 27, which came one week after Corner Canyon had beaten that same Pleasant Grove team 47-14.

2020 DE Princely Umanmielen (Manor)

Last week: Bye
This week: Thursday, October 10 at 7:00, at Leander Rouse
Notes: Manor is 3-2 this season and 1-0 in district play, having won its last three games after opening the season with two losses by a combined seven points. The Mustangs are coming off their bye week and tonight will face a winless Rouse team that has scored just 38 points in its first six games of 2019. Manor beat Rouse 37-3 in 2018.

2020 LB Prince Dorbah (Highland Park)

Last week: Bye
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:30, vs. Mansfield Legacy
Notes: Coming off its bye week, Highland Park is 4-1 and 2-0 in district play, and is ranked #4 in Class 5A Division I, with their lone defeat coming on September 13 to current #1 Frisco Lone Star. The Scots responded to that loss by beating their first two district opponents 128-0.

Highland Park will go for a 3-0 start in district on Friday night when it takes on Mansfield Legacy, a team that is 0-5 and has been outscored 207-23. The Scots beat Legacy 28-7 a year ago. The game likely won’t be a close one but fans in attendance will get to see some future D1 talent on Legacy’s defense, which includes senior defensive back Malachi Mitchell, a Kansas State commit, and junior defensive end David Abiara, who reportedly has been offered by six Big 12 programs.

2021 LB Derrick Harris (New Caney)

Last week: Made 6 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, and returned an interception for a TD in a 63-6 win over Galena Park.
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:00, at Port Arthur Memorial
Notes: New Caney remained unbeaten in 2019 with a thrashing of lowly Galena Park last week. New Caney’s defense forced four turnovers and limited Galena Park to 135 total yards and 5 first downs.

Derrick Harris had a pick-six midway through the 1st quarter that gave New Caney a 21-0 lead. Senior QB Zion Childress, a UTSA wide receiver commit, rushed for two TDs in the 1st quarter and another less than two minutes into the 2nd quarter, and finished the game with 5 carries for 143 yards, along with 174 yards and a TD through the air. Childress has accounted for 1,646 total yards and 18 total TDs through five games.

The Eagles led Galena Park 42-0 at halftime, and ended the game with 438 rushing yards as a team. On Friday night they will make the 100-mile trip east to take on Port Arthur Memorial, which is 3-2 overall and 2-0 in district play. The two teams’ only common opponent is Galena Park, who New Caney beat 63-6 last week, and who Memorial beat 27-8 the week before. New Caney beat Memorial 38-21 last season.

A win over Memorial would go a long way toward putting the Eagles in position to reach the postseason for a fifth straight season, which would become the longest such streak in school history.

2020 DB Xavion Alford (Alvin Shadow Creek)

Last week: Team beat Texas City 34-0.
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:00, at Galveston Ball
Notes: Shadow Creek remained unbeaten for the season with a shutout win over Texas City, which dropped to 0-5. Shadow Creek got off to a slow start and only led 7-0 at halftime, but the Sharks asserted themselves in the second half, outscoring Texas City 27-0 in the final two quarters. According to the game’s MaxPreps box score, Shadow Creek outgained Texas City 453-63.

I don’t know if Xavion Alford is injured or if this is a reflection of teams avoiding his side of the field, but he has not been credited with any stats by the team’s MaxPreps page since their season-opening win over Humble Summer Creek. He is slated to graduate in December and enroll at Texas in January.

Shadow Creek retains the #2 spot in the rankings for Class 5A Division I and will next face Galveston Ball. Ball is 3-2 overall but 0-2 in district play; the Tornadoes’ three wins all came against 4A schools and by a combined score of 29-12, while their two district losses were by a total margin of 62. Shadow Creek beat Ball 59-16 in 2018.

If Shadow Creek and New Caney both win their districts then Xavion Alford and Derrick Harris could potentially face each other in the third round of the playoffs.

2020 DB Kitan Crawford (Tyler John Tyler)

Last week: Had 9 carries for 75 yards, caught 2 passes for 60 yards and 1 TD, made 2 tackles, and returned an interception for a TD in a 48-7 win over Wylie East.
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:00, vs. West Mesquite
Notes: The John Tyler Lions gained 499 total yards against Wylie East last week, winning their second consecutive game after a 0-4 start and starting district play off 2-0.

Kitan Crawford found the end zone twice, scoring on a 52-yard reception with 3:56 left in the 2nd quarter to give the Lions a 21-0 lead, and later capping off the game’s scoring with a 56-yard pick-six with 7:54 left in the 4th quarter that made the score 48-7. John Tyler led 41-0 before Wylie East scored its only points of the game on a TD pass with 1:58 left in the 3rd quarter.

On Friday, Crawford and the Lions will try to keep their nascent winning streak going when they face Ty Jordan and the West Mesquite Wranglers in a battle between two teams trying to maintain some positive momentum after an 0-4 start to the season. As stated in the notes on Ty Jordan, John Tyler beat West Mesquite 29-22 in last year’s meeting.

2020 DB Joshua Eaton (Aldine MacArthur)

Last week: Team beat Aldine Eisenhower 32-29.
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:00, at Aldine High
Notes: MacArthur improved to 2-3 overall and got its first district win last week in a rivalry game against Eisenhower. Eisenhower led 14-6 late in the first half, but MacArthur running back Darius Gatson scored on a 62-yard TD run as time expired in the 2nd quarter to cut the deficit to 14-12 going into halftime.

After MacArthur recovered an onside kick to start the 3rd quarter, Joshua Eaton’s brother Taylor Eaton caught a TD pass to give MacArthur its first lead at 19-14. Eisenhower would take back the lead at 20-19 on a punt return TD midway through the quarter, but MacArthur took back the lead following a TD run a few minutes later to go ahead 26-20, and never trailed again.

MacArthur added a TD in the opening minutes of the 4th quarter and was ahead by as much as 32-20, but Eisenhower returned the ensuing PAT attempt for two points to get within 32-22. Eisenhower scored once more with 3:40 left in regulation to make the score 32-29, but MacArthur kept them from scoring again.

On Friday the Generals will face Aldine High, a program that has won just two games since the start of the 2016 season, and seven games since the start of the 2013 season. With a win over Aldine the MacArthur Generals would be assured of their best season record since 2013.

MacArthur has won five of its past six games against Aldine, including a 25-23 win in 2018 that gave the Generals their lone victory of that season.

2020 DB Ethan Pouncey (Winter Park, Florida) - injured, out for season

Last week: Team beat Orlando Lake Nona 35-0.
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:00, at Oviedo

2020 DB Jerrin Thompson (Lufkin)

Last week: Team beat Magnolia 24-18.
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:30, vs. College Station
Notes: According to a brief recap in The Courier, Lufkin trailed late against Magnolia after the latter scored a TD to go ahead 18-12 with 5:30 left in regulation, but two Lufkin scores in the game’s final minutes put Lufkin back on top and ensured a Panthers win.

Lufkin has won four straight games since a season-opening defeat to Longview, and is now 2-0 in district play. The Panthers remain in the #5 spot in this week’s Class 5A Division I rankings. They could get a good challenge on Friday night when they face 4-1 College Station, whose only loss was a 52-14 defeat in the season’s opening week against Richmond Foster, currently the #7 team in 5A Division I.

College Station is a relatively new school and is playing in just its sixth varsity football season, and the Cougars have reached the playoffs in all five previous seasons and won the 5A Division II state championship in 2017. Lufkin beat College Station 35-3 in their 2018 matchup.

2021 ATH Billy Bowman (Denton Ryan)
2021 ATH Ja’Tavion Sanders (Denton Ryan)

Last week: Bowman caught one pass for a 55-yard TD and returned a punt for a TD, and Sanders caught one pass for a 25-yard TD in a 68-0 win over Carrollton Newman Smith.
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:00, vs. Colleyville Heritage
Notes: Denton Ryan remained unbeaten after making quick work of a hapless Newman Smith team, as their first seven possessions resulted in 45 points, and none of them lasted longer than four plays.

Ja’Tavion Sanders’s TD catch came with 9:05 left in the 1st quarter and gave Ryan a 14-0 lead. With 9:18 left in the 2nd quarter, Billy Bowman caught a 55-yard TD pass to make the score 38-0, and two minutes later he housed a 61-yard punt return to give Ryan a 52-0 advantage. Ryan led 61-0 at halftime and limited Newman Smith to 107 total yards in the game.

Ryan is now 5-0 overall and 2-0 in district play, and remains the #3 team in Class 5A Division I. The Raiders have averaged an astounding 46 points per game...in the first half alone! They should get a better challenge on Friday night against perennial playoff team Colleyville Heritage, which is 3-2 this season but whose losses both came against 6A teams that are undefeated and currently state-ranked. Heritage won both of its first two district games - against Carrollton schools Creekview and Newman Smith - by a combined score of 114-0.

Ryan beat Heritage 45-30 when the teams played in 2018.

2021 ATH Juan Davis (Everman)

Last week: Bye
This week: Friday, October 11 at 7:30, at Midlothian
Notes: The Everman Bulldogs are coming off their bye week with a 1-4 record through the first half of their season, and are 1-2 in district play. The school has missed the playoffs just once in its previous 20 seasons, but a loss on Friday to Midlothian would not help their chances of qualifying for this year’s postseason.

Midlothian began the season 4-0 but has since lost two straight games, though the Panthers took Aledo, the #1 team in Class 5A Division II, to overtime last week before falling 34-28. Aledo had beaten Everman 42-13 the previous week. Midlothian beat Everman 27-6 last season.

2020 ATH Jaden Hullaby (Mansfield Timberview)

Last week: Bye
This week: Thursday, October 10 at 7:00, vs. Dallas Samuell
Notes: The Timberview Wolves are 3-2 and 2-0 in district play, and have won three straight games since an 0-2 start against a pair of state-ranked foes. Jaden Hullaby has spent most of the season playing QB for Timberview and helped key a rushing attack that is averaging 304 yards per game.

The Wolves had a bye last week and will go into the second half of their regular season schedule with a district bout with Samuell tonight. Samuell is 2-3 for the season and 1-1 in district play, but hasn’t come close to beating any team that’s likely to reach the playoffs. Timberview beat Samuell 47-8 in 2018.