Five from Friday

By Greg Tepper // TexasFootball.com

I certainly understand if a large portion of you are in a bit of a sports malaise courtesy of the St. Louis Cardinals, but last night was an awesome night of high school football across the state!

So let’s begin the tall task of recapping it all by rolling with my Five Thoughts from last night.

1) We’ll get to the playoff implications of everything that happened in 5A starting on Monday, but we absolutely have to touch on two of the state’s undefeated and state-ranked teams suffering their first losses last night. Port Arthur Memorial had looked borderline untouchable through its first eight games, but last night, the Titans ran into La Porte…or, more accurately, they ran into RB/DB Keith Whitely. The two-way player shined by running for 201 yards and two touchdowns while also returning an interception for a touchdown to lead the way for La Porte’s 24-20 win over PA Memorial. Meanwhile, a little farther north, it was Leander becoming the first team to contain the Ben Johnson Experience by beating Round Rock Westwood 14-7. Leander is a team that I saw get destroyed by DeSoto in Week Zero, but the Lions have truly grown since then, and they’ll be a tough out once the playoffs roll around.

2) Class 4A was full of thrills last night -- including La Marque handing Pearland Dawson its first loss of the year, Hewitt Midway having a surprisingly easy time upsetting Stephenville, and Highland Park needing overtime to get past Rockwall-Heath. But perhaps the most notable results in 4A last night were two relatively comfortable non-upsets. Lake Travis, the nearly undisputed No. 1 team in 4A, rolled to 9-0 with a 57-0 win over Marble Falls, while Cedar Park beat a better-than-you-think Dripping Springs squad, 35-14. Why do I bring this up? Because next week, ladies and gentlemen, the stage is set for one of the best games of the year, as 8-1 Cedar Park takes on 9-0 Lake Travis for the District 25-4A crown. Get your tickets now. Actually, don’t; save one for me.

3) I know, I know: you’re sick of hearing me talk about District 16-3A. But I promise, this will be the last time it’s mentioned in my Five Thoughts. Last night was the final installment of the Terrific Trifecta, with Gilmer taking on Henderson (the others: Carthage’s win over Henderson, and Gilmer’s win over Carthage). Gilmer pulled out the win, 35-20, and that really got me thinking: is there a team more battle-tested in the state than Gilmer? They have now beaten three reigning state champions in Carthage, Henderson and 2A Daingerfield (who, by the way, upset New Boston in a thriller last night). And they’ve done it without star QB Luke Turner, who’s expected back from a broken ankle in a few weeks, instead going to Jordan Traylor. Gilmer, you could argue, is the best team in 3A. But I think all three of these teams from District 16-3A -- it’s set now, with Spring Hill’s upset of Pittsburg knocking the Pirates out of contention -- have a chance to make some noise.

4) There was a bit of history made last night in Aubrey, and it wasn’t G.A. Moore-related. Whitesboro beat Aubrey last night, 20-15. The win clinched a playoff berth for the Bearcats. All of this sounds pretty ho-hum, right? It is…until you consider that Whitesboro had never made the playoffs. That’s right: the Bearcats had the unenviable title of Longest Playoff Drought in Texas, never making the playoffs in program history after the program’s birth in 1936. That’s an  84-year drought! Congratulations to the Bearcats, and now the record for playoff futility gets passed on to 1A Savoy, who has not made the playoffs since 1942.

5) My college football picks for the day, from most confident to least confident: Texas Tech over Iowa State, Texas over Kansas, Texas A&M over Missouri, Southern Miss over UTEP, Arkansas State over North Texas, Oklahoma State over Baylor and SMU over Tulsa. Enjoy the football, folks.