DeSoto-Steele, Lone Star Football Festival highlight Slovacek's I-35 Showdowns of the Week

Slovacek's logoTo honor the loyal football fans that travel great distances to support their favorite team, DCTF and our friends from Slovacek’s in West, Texas are proud to present The Slovacek’s I-35 Showdowns of the Week: Lone Star Football Festival All day Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington For the fifth straight year, the Lone Star Conference is playing host to the Lone Star Football Festival – one of the premier events in all of NCAA Division II football. This year’s slate features a triple-header, starting at 11:00 a.m. Saturday. In the opener, Midwestern State faces off with Eastern New Mexico in a showdown of 2-0 teams and a rematch from last year’s festival (a 42-17 MSU win). Midwestern State is led by sophomore quarterback Hagen Hutchinson, who spearheaded Stamford’s march to a 1A state title in 2012. He’ll be looking to avoid ENMU senior linebacker Keyon Hollis, a Cy Creek product who has three sacks in the Greyhounds’ first two games. At 3:30 p.m., Tarleton State (0-1) will look to bounce back from a heart-breaking loss to Findlay (Ohio) to open the season, while West Texas A&M (1-1) aims to build on the momentum from last week’s thrilling victory over 2^nd-ranked Colorado State-Pubelo. Both teams feature senior receivers that are off to big starts this season – Tarleton’s Le’Nard Meyers took in seven passes for 139 yards and a score last week against Findlay while WTAMU’s Jarrian Rhone has 19 receptions through two weeks. In the nightcap, Angelo State (2-0) takes on Bacone (0-2), an NAIA school that is the only team from outside the Lone Star Conference to participate in this year’s festival. The ASU offense is averaging 50 points per game, led by senior quarterback Kyle Washington and his favorite targets – senior Donovan Thompson and sophomore Taion Smith. That trio has accounted for 10 total touchdowns in the Rams’ first two games. Cibolo Steele (3-0) vs. DeSoto (1-2) 7:00 p.m. Thursday at Crusader Stadium in Belton Central Texas has always been a popular meeting spot for teams from different regions meeting up for either non-district or playoff games. Mary Hardin-Baylor’s Crusader Stadium, one of the finest Division III facilities around, joins the list of stadiums capable of hosting big games as it plays host to Cibolo Steele and DeSoto this Thursday. Coming into the season, DCTF had DeSoto as the #1 team in our preseason 6A poll. There was a thought that this might finally be the Eagles’ year. Then they quickly fell to 0-2, giving up a combined 93 points in losses to Arlington Martin and IMG Academy. Cibolo Steele, looking to become the first San Antonio-area school to win a state title since their own championship in 2010, has started the year 3-0 and moved up to #4 in DCTF’s latest 6A rankings. DeSoto’s road to redemption, which runs through Belton this week, started with a 38-9 trouncing of Dallas South Oak Cliff last week. Quarterback Tristen Wallace, plagued by inaccuracy and turnovers in the first two games, completed more than 80% of his attempts against SOC while accounting for three total touchdowns. On defense, the Eagles had given up more than 400 yards per game in the first two weeks, tightened the screws- allowing just 141 total yards and less than two yards per rush. That DeSoto defense will be tested against a Steele offense that has yet to score any fewer than 45 points in the Knights’ three season-opening victories. In last week’s 52-27 win over San Antonio O’Connor, junior tailback Travell Lumpkin ran for 131 yards and four scores. A stout defensive line, led by Mark Jackson and Josh Croslen, will look to dominate the line of scrimmage to limit DeSoto’s versatile offensive athletes from getting going.