Tepper's Thursday HS games to watch — Week 5

[caption id="attachment_18936" align="alignleft" width="300"]Photo by Jerome Hicks Photo by Jerome Hicks[/caption] Week 5 of the Texas high school football season kicks off tonight with a large slate of Thursday night games across the Lone Star State. Here are a few you should definitely keep your eye on. Odessa Permian (4-0) at Lubbock Coronado (2-2) Is this the year that MOJO Magic is back in earnest? The Panthers have been outstanding so far this season, specifically because the offense has been off-the-charts good: 61 points per game behind RB Brandon Bailey. Coronado has already made great strides from last year, and QB Qua Gray and RB Jeffery McCutcheon are hard to stop, but are they ready for what will be their biggest challenge to date? Tepper’s pick: PermianDenton Guyer (2-1) at Keller (3-0) We’ll get our answer to one very important question tonight: is Keller for real? Yes, the Indians are 3-0, but they haven’t exactly run through a murderer’s row of non-district opponents. But tonight’s District 5-6A opener gives them the biggest test they’ll get all year — Shawn Robinson and the explosive Denton Guyer Wildcats. The key to this one: the running game of Keller’s Tyler Tutt, averaging nearly 10 yards per carry. If Guyer’s defense, which has been up and down, can’t slow down Tutt, the Indians could be poised for a season-making win. Tepper’s pick: GuyerMontgomery (3-0) at Spring Westfield (3-0) The Houston team with the best résumé in town gets it fired up again tonight, as Spring Westfield — with wins over Manvel and Galena Park North Shore under its belt — takes on a feisty Montgomery team in the District 15-6A opener. Montgomery’s defense has been stifling all season — 8 points allowed per game, with junior DE Cameron McLeod doing the bulk of the damage — and should provide a tough test for QB Dillon Sterling-Cole and the Mustangs offense. That said, I’m not sure the Bears have the firepower to keep up with Westfield. Tepper’s pick: WestfieldWaxahachie (3-1) at Mansfield Lake Ridge (4-0) Will the real Waxahachie please stand up? So the Indians score a huge win over rival Ennis, but lose star QB Jordan Kitna in the process. OK, that stinks, the offense will take a step back, right? Instead, they go and hang 66 on Mansfield Legacy thanks to a huge game from RB Kenedy Snell…and lose 73-66, because they allowed 704 yards of total offense! That’s a bad omen, especially when facing QB Jett Duffey, RB Duke Carter and the sizzling Lake Ridge attack. Tepper’s pick: Lake Ridge