5A/4A Recap

By Greg Tepper // TexasFootball.com

Let’s do a very quick bit of math. There are 32 districts in each of Class 5A and Class 4A; that’s 64 districts. Four teams from each district make the playoffs; that’s 256 playoff teams.

That’s a lot to cover, and we’ll tackle it throughout the week. In fact -- and here’s a little tease for you -- I’m planning on writing a piece for Wednesday summing up the playoff situation in each of the 64 districts in 5A and 4A.

But until then, we’ve got a weekend of action to recap! As always, we’ll start with the Five Most Significant Results (not including Cedar Park over Dripping Springs, La Porte over Port Arthur Memorial and Leander over Round Rock Westwood, which I touched on Saturday morning).

Cibolo Steele 35, SA Wagner 0
It’s easy to get caught up in Cibolo Steele’s offense. And why not? When you look at guys like QB Tommy Armstrong (who has really matured into one of the better signal-callers in the state) and RBs Jordan Stearns and Justin Stockton (one of the better one-two running punches in the state), you can get starstruck. But the reason that Steele is going to finish 10-0, and the reason it beat a tough San Antonio Wagner team, and the reason it is a legitimate threat to win another state championship is its defense. Just look at what it did against Wagner: 111 total yards, including just seven first downs. It marked the fourth time that the Knights have held an opponent under 7 points. Erik Huhn is turning into one of the state’s premier ball hawks -- he now has six interceptions on the season -- and when you combine that defense with the exceptional Knights offense, well, you understand what makes them so dangerous in the playoffs. Just like last year, despite graduating important pieces.

EP Del Valle 34, EP Riverside 14
One thing we’ve said routinely in every one our outlets -- radio, TV, web site, social media, etc. -- all year is that El Paso is as deep in talent as it has been in quite a while. And this battle -- a de facto 2-4A championship game -- pitted two of the best teams out West against one another, and it did not disappoint. This game was close at halftime -- tied, actually, at 14 -- but from there, Del Valle hit the jets. The Conquistadores (still one of my favorite mascots) got a huge night from RB Hector Olivares, who ran for 166 yards and two scores, and two more rushing scores from RB Frank Valdespino. The defense, for the most part, shut down Riverside’s talented dual-threat QB Brian Hinojo, handing Riverside its first district loss and clinching the district title. But here’s the thing: both of these teams are going to be tough outs in the playoffs. Forget matchups with District 1-4A; it’s time to start looking at who these teams might play in the third or fourth round. They’re that dangerous, and a product of -- you guessed it -- a superbly deep El Paso football scene.

Pflugerville 42, Round Rock 41 (OT)
We knew District 16-5A would be entertaining. With teams like Stony Point, Georgetown, Leander, Round Rock, RR Westwood…I mean, there’s a ton of talent there. But I don’t think anyone could have foreseen such a dramatic ending to the playoff race as we saw on Friday night in Round Rock. In a game that featured 992 yards of total offense, it came down to Pflugerville stopping the Dragons’ two-point conversion try in overtime that sealed the win for the Panthers. But it wasn’t just a win that Pflugerville locked up; it was a playoff spot. And it wasn’t just a playoff spot; it was the last playoff spot in the district. The win knocked Georgetown and Stony Point out of playoff contention. So think about that: Stony Point, a team that has made the state semifinals every year since 2008, won’t be in the playoffs this season. It’s a bit win for Pflugerville, and with offensive weapons like RB Adrian Dilworth (128 yards, 2 touchdowns) and QB Brandon Woodward (two touchdowns in the second half), they’re a force to be reckoned with out of 16-5A.

Hewitt Midway 51, Stephenville 20
As most of you loyal TexasFootball.com readers know, I ride shotgun with the great Roger Emrich on the Texas State Network’s high school scoreboard show every Friday night. And with the fast pace of the show, I’ll occasionally be blindsided by a score. This was one of those, and when the Rog Mahal read this one to me, I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind: “Well, I think the other shoe dropped for Stephenville.” The Yellowjackets haven’t been bit by the injury bug; they’ve been devoured. It seems like every important piece they have, including RB Aiavion Edwards (the most important piece), has been hurt at some point. But give Midway credit: this is still an extraordinarily dangerous team, especially when QB Jordan Darling is playing like he is. In this one, Darling threw for four second-half touchdowns and finished 17-for-24 for 326 yards and a rush TD. When you factor in the type of weapons he has, including Courtney Washington (8 catches, 187 yards) and Hunter Jarmon (8 catches, 103 yards, two touchdowns), you see why I think Midway’s dangerous. But for Stephenville…it all depends on how long they can last without so many of their important pieces. This game wasn’t that important --the Yellowjackets are already in the playoffs -- but it could be telling for the future.

La Marque 35, Pearland Dawson 28
Let’s start with this: there weren’t really any playoff implications in this one. Both Dawson and La Marque are playoff bound and, considering their enrollments, are definitely heading to different divisions in the playoffs. But that didn’t stop these two Top 25 teams from getting after it and giving us one of the better games in the state. La Marque jumped out to a 21-0 lead, only to see Dawson tie it up with QB Garry Kimble’s second touchdown pass of the game with 1:34 left in the third quarter. From there, you could just tell this would come down to who had the ball last. La Marque got a touchdown run from QB Emanuell Williams -- his third rushing score of the game, and fifth total score that game -- with two minutes left to help pull off the big win, handing Dawson its first loss of the game. But you can tell why both of these teams are going to be tough outs in the playoffs: great weapons (Kimble for Dawson, Williams for La Marque), at times suffocating defenses (with all the scoring, the teams still combined to force six turnovers) and, now, a battle-tested resume.

Some more scattershooting 5A/4A thoughts…
-Wolfforth Frenship 29, Canyon Randall 28. What a thriller out west. Randall takes an 11-point lead late, but loses QB Collin Bowen to a collarbone injury. Frenship rallies to take the lead on a 38-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Frenship DE Kyle Rutherford, and Randall misses a game-winning field goal with 2 seconds left. Both of these teams are dangerous, but Frenship’s got a chance to win a title. They’re awesome.
-Denton Ryan 49, Wichita Falls 13. That Raiders defense flexed its muscles, and could be peaking at the right time.
-Highland Park 31, Rockwall-Heath 30 in overtime. The Scots escape with their unblemished record intact, but I imagine Heath got a big confidence boost heading into the playoffs after this one.
-Texas High 48, Sulphur Springs 38. One of the more surprising results of the night, and you’ve got to love the fight that Texas High is showing late in the season. Sulphur Springs needs to find a defense.
-Abilene 62, Abilene Cooper 6. What an absolutely dominating performance by the Eagles, the team that has now demanded to be known as the best team in District 3-5A. 643 total yards for Abilene, including 349 yards passing from QB Evin Abbe and another 145 yards rushing from Paxton Grayer. Meanwhile, Cooper gets held to a paltry 229 yards, and super-QB Clayton Nicholas is picked off four times by a relentless Eagles defense. Yowza. Fear the Eagles.
-Converse Judson 62, San Marcos 22. Jim Rackley’s teams don’t know the meaning of “hangover effect.”
-Sachse 42, South Garland 38. I watched the first half of this one at Homer B. Johnson Stadium in Garland, and Sachse’s got the weapons to make some noise, including a tough-running RB named Billy Cole. And now, they have their first playoff berth in school history. Congratulations to coach Red Behrens and company.
-Harker Heights 23, A&M Consolidated 20. District 12-5A just got messy.
-Longview 45, Tyler Lee 9. Wait for it…
-DeSoto 41, Mesquite 16. OK…NOW the stage is set.
-SA Churchill 21, SA Roosevelt 18. Churchill clinches a playoff spot behind another nice night from QB William Huguley.
-Brazoswood 35, Alvin 14. Brazoswood enters “good but not guaranteed” position, while Alvin enters “bad but not guaranteed” position.
-Greg Tepper’s Unexpectedly Awesome Game of the Week: Everman 35, Cleburne 34 in overtime. In a game with huge playoff implications in District 7-4A, Cleburne clawed back from a late 8-point deficit to tie the game on a 38-yard touchdown run by RB Andy Anderson on 4th and 1, and a two-point conversion from QB Quade Coward to German Hernandez. Everman missed a 32-yard field goal with 18 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime. While there, Cleburne got the ball and scored on Coward’s touchdown run…but the extra point sailed wide. Everman got the ball on their rebuttal, scored on Devin Walker’s TD run and split the uprights on an extra point to win it. What a game.