Friday Night Five: Crazy rivalry games, Shiner makes a statement, and Manvel lurks

Screen Shot 2015-10-10 at 12.54.45 AMWhen we get this far into district play around the state, the surprises usually die down. Usually. Friday night, there were still a handful of supremely intriguing results from which to draw some conclusions. Holy cow, District 25-5A. We won’t know for sure until the playoffs arrive if our collective hype around 25-5A is justified, but we at least know now that both Vandegrift and Vista Ridge can score points in buckets. We knew it about Vandegrift after last year’s state semifinal run, but here comes Vista Ridge to add some fireworks yet again. Last year, Vandegrift and Vista Ridge had to be decided in an overtime shootout, and while it didn’t take that long this year, there was even more scoring. Vandegrift, once trailing 42-14, came back to win 63-55. Defense remains an issue for the Vipers, Vista Ridge is even better a year later, and the district gets really fun next week when Vandegrift takes on Cedar Park. Buckle up. Shiner makes a statement. It turns out there’s a defense in 2A up to the task of slowing down Refugio. Shiner knocked off the Bobcats 30-19. Based on the last few seasons, the easy pick here was Refugio, but there were a few people who saw the Comanche defense rising up to the challenge. Regardless, it’s time to seriously consider Shiner a top contender for a spot in Houston in December. Rivalry night featured some interesting results. If you’re a neutral who picked all of these rivalry winners earlier this week, we may have a job for you. Marshall snapped a long rut against Longview with a 28-25 win. John Tyler entered the night with a sub-.500 record and beat Lufkin 41-38. Brownwood got nasty, blowing out a reeling Stephenville team, 33-6. And Carthage rose from the land of the written-offs to beat Henderson 35-15. None of those were easy calls, and the winners may have just hit a critical turning point in their seasons. Maybe the preseason hype around Manvel was justified.  Manvel dispatched Pearland Dawson 49-31, and after an opening loss to Spring Westfield had many around the state doubting their state championship chops, the Mavericks have reeled off five straight wins. Three were blowouts, and the other two were solid wins over Galena Park North Shore and Dawson. Look closely and that team so many saw before 2015 kicked off is still there, and seemingly getting better each week. Insane stat lines alert. Navasota QB Shelton Eppler was pretty good Friday night. He completed 22 of 23 passes for 543 yards and a ridiculous 8 touchdowns in a 70-6 win over Sterling. As usual, Tren’Davian Dickson was his top target, snagging 8 passes for 221 yards and 2 touchdowns. And speaking of guys used to having ridiculous nights, La Grange running back J.K. Dobbins ran for 343 yards and 4 touchdowns in a 51-13 win over Smithville.