Big school storylines

By Greg Tepper // TexasFootball.com

After a sensational Week Zero, you’d understand if Week One didn’t quite live up to its predecessor, right? Talk about a tough act to follow.

Well, Week One lived up, and then some. What a week.

So let’s recap, shall we? We’ll start with the Five Most Notable Results (not including Calallen’s win over Gregory-Portland, which I covered on Saturday).

Cedar Hill 24, Denton Guyer 21

About a month ago, at the THSCA Convention and Coaching School in Fort Worth, we had Cedar Hill coach Joey McGuire on our podcast. One of the questions we had to ask him was about his brutal non-district schedule: Allen, Denton Guyer, DeSoto. He gave a polite, boring answer as coaches are wont to do: something along the lines of how it will cause them to be battle-tested come district play and playoffs. Well, through two games, Cedar Hill’s 1-1 with an impressive win over Denton Guyer on Monday night at the Kirk Herbstreit Football Kickoff Classic at Cowboys Stadium. In a slugfest that went to halftime tied at 7, Cedar Hill dominated the time of possession, getting big plays from Laquvionte Gonzalez (remember that name) and some important stops down the stretch to finish off the victory. Denton Guyer falls to 1-1 on the year, but if the “battle-tested” thing is true, both of these teams will benefit from what was ultimately a well-fought, equally matched game between two of the Metroplex’s truly great teams.

Kerrville Tivy 48, San Antonio Madison 7

Let’s just offer everybody, right now, absolution of their sins if they thought that Tivy was going to take a step backwards this year. It’s understandable, right? You don’t lose a guy of the caliber of Johnny Manziel and just keep on keepin’ on. He’s the Texas High School Football Player of the Year! He’s irreplaceable, right? Ri-right? But here’s the secret that Tivy’s been keeping: they can play some defense, too. After holding San Antonio Madison -- a team that scored 28 on defending 5A Division I champ Cibolo Steele in a losing effort in Week Zero -- to just seven points, Tivy is now 2-0 and allowing 3.5 points per game. They allowed the potent Madison offense just 256 yards all night; quite an accomplishment against Jim Streety’s squad. Well, it’s a good thing, too, since the offense has struggled so much. What’s that? New QB Parks McNeil is 41-63 for 800 yards and 8 touchdowns to go along with 249 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns through two games? Well then. As an aside, how odd is it that Madison is 0-2? Granted, that’s a really strong 0-2, but still odd to see.

Lake Travis 43, Pflugerville Hendrickson 14

Hendrickson is an outstanding football team. I am totally, completely convinced of that. After a 28-26 win over Vista Ridge in the opener, in which running back Daje Johnson went berserker, you have to consider Hendrickson a “team to watch in 2011.” And Lake Travis, quite simply, brushed them aside. The LT offense did what it always did: work with ruthless efficiency. The scary part is that this came with a backup QB (Baker Mayfield, who threw for 256 yards and 5 touchdown and rushed for another score in relief of the banged-up Colin Lagasse), a receiving corps missing its best player (Griffin Gilbert sat out with a groin injury), a missing tackle (Ty Anderson missed the game with an ankle injury) and a backup running back (Shaun Nixon sat with a toe injury). And still rolled. The reason this LT team is extra-dangerous is that its defense is clicking. That’s two domintaing wins over two very good teams (a 35-7 win over Westlake in Week Zero) for the four-time defending champs. The Cavs sent a message Friday night. “Hey Aledo,” Lake Travis said, “we ready.”

Harlingen 72, Corpus Christi Carroll 0

Oh, stop it, Harlingen. Stop showing off. We get it: you’re the Valley’s best chance at a legitimate state title contender in some years. But you don’t have to show it by beating up on poor Corpus Christi Carroll. It’s even more dominating when you dive into the numbers: Harlingen led 34-0 after the first quarter, pulled most of its starters, led 58-0 at halftime, pulled most of its second-stringers, and won 72-0. This isn’t to pick on Carroll; the Tigers, in fact, figure to be a threat to win District 28-5A, despite this loss. But wow, is Harlingen trying to tell us something. If there’s a player of the game -- and really, there’s not, since all the yardage got spread out so widely -- it’s probably QB Kevin Ledesma, who threw for 177 yards on 9-of-10 passing and a touchdown, plus ran for 125 yards and three scores. It’s been a while since the Valley had a real contender, but unless someone figures out how to stop the Cardinals, they’ll have another one this year.

Arlington Bowie 36, Edna Karr (La.) 6

I’ll admit, I don’t know a ton about Edna Karr, a school from Louisiana. A quick Google search reveals that they’re the defending 4A state runner-up in Louisiana. Well, um, Arlington Bowie would like a word about that. Bowie once again flexed its offensive muscles in a 36-6 dominating win over Karr in the opening game of the Kirk Herbstreit National Kickoff Classic at Cowboys Stadium on Monday, but that’s not what I’m most impressed with. Sure, every week, you can point to RB Russell Hansbrough (172 yards and two touchdowns) or QB Kolby Listenbee (a strangely quiet 65 yards rushing and 28 yards passing) and say “they’ve got the firepower to win it all.” But it was the Volunteer defense that really caught my eye in this one, using two goal-line stands to spark the defense. LB Jaquiarious Jackson, aside from rushing for two scores, picked off a pass, one of six turnovers for the Vols. That’s impressive regardless of the opponent, and it’s especially impressive against a defending state runner-up from another state.

A couple more 5A/4A thoughts…

-SA Wagner 21, RR Stony Point 13. I spent a bunch of airtime on the DCTF Radio Hour last Tuesday saying that Stony Point needed to prove something to me after its close call against a team from Mexico. Instead, it was Wagner that did the proving, scoring its second impressive win in two weeks (beating Reagan the week before). My questions about Stony Point persist.

-Euless Trinity 34, Abilene 17. The beat goes on for the Trojans, who are as dangerous as ever this year. Amazing to say that with Brandon Carter in college.

-It won’t gain headlines, but Copperas Cove’s 41-31 win over Waco is big for the Bulldawgs. After a demoralizing loss to Southlake Carroll in Week Zero, this was an excellent bounce back to avoid the dreaded hangover effect.

-I caught the first half of Coppell’s 38-24 win over Arlington on Friday night, but when I left, it was 24-14. Never doubt the ability of coach Joe McBride to rally his troops. Or put the fear of God into them. Whatever happened, it worked.

-Aledo 50, Weatherford 7. Johnathan Gray: 15 carries, 336 yards, 5 touchdowns. “Hey Lake Travis,” Aledo said, “we ready, too.”

-La Marque 75, Houston Wheatley 6. Don’t make Tim Wright angry. You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.

-DeSoto 63, Oklahoma City Fredrick Douglass 0. This boat is real.

-Greg Tepper’s Unexpectedly Awesome Game of the Week: Clint Horizon 21, El Paso High 20 in overtime. El Paso High gets the ball first, scores a touchdown on a 1-yard touchdown run by QB Samuel Ruybe, kicks the extra point. Horizon gets the ball, scores on a 3-yard touchdown run by QB Patrick Rossy. And what does Horizon coach David Telas say? You don’t play to tie the game, that’s what! Rossy runs in the two-point conversion and Horizon wins a thriller. Fortes fortuna adiuvat, friends.