Friday Night Five: Embrace the chaos of a wild Week 1

[caption id="attachment_24824" align="alignright" width="350"]Photo by Mary Scott McNabb Converse Judson QB Julon Williams (Photo by Mary Scott McNabb)[/caption] As is the tradition, I’m going to attempt to spotlight five results or themes from Friday nights this season, but I have to be honest, this might be the craziest opening Friday I’ve ever seen. So this might be tricky. I divided these up into five categories after going through all the scores. Now We Know Let’s start with the biggest games between the highest-ranked (or highest profile) teams in the state across a number of divisions. Obviously, Westlake stole the show with a gutsy win over Katy. But a three point result also means we know both teams are probably pretty strong, and could wind up meeting each other down the road. That’s the theme with this group of scores. We weren’t entirely sure how these would shake out, and in a few cases, we picked the wrong winners. That said, these were all measuring stick games, and we learned a little more about each of the teams without finding any reason for major concern in the results. Colleyville Heritage is for real at 5A, and the close result against Aledo sets the stage for big seasons by both. Denton Ryan comfortably topped Lancaster, but the Tigers acquitted themselves well. Manvel will be a force at 5A, and Crosby clearly still has some mojo. Lake Travis is the biggest surprise on the list, but Judson is a top tier team that came to play. A rematch would be a blast. Lufkin vs. Longview could have gone either way, and we’d probably say the same if they played 10 weeks from now. Tepper told you on Wednesday's DCTF Live that Edinburg Vela vs. Victoria East could be a wild one, and he might have undersold it. How about Permian going all the way to Austin to nip Vandegrift? Calallen’s much-hyped year got off to a clean, if not pedestrian, start. Oh, and Cameron Yoe looked like Cameron Yoe with a nice win over Bellville. Ho-hum. Austin Westlake 32, Katy 29Aledo 41, Colleyville Heritage 36Denton Ryan 35, Lancaster 23Manvel 35, Crosby 21Converse Judson 35, Lake Travis 28Lufkin 35, Longview 24Edinburg Vela 63, Victoria East 62Odessa Permian 21, Austin Vandegrift 20CC Calallen 20, Mercedes 7Cameron Yoe 33, Bellville 10Texas vs. the World Ah yes, the Texan pride series. Allen and Euless Trinity took care of business, but Southlake Carroll and Shoemaker struggled. (Meanwhile, former Allen head coach Tom Westerberg got his Barbers Hill era off to a nice start with a 40-6 win over Vidor.) Allen 25, Hoover, Ala. 7 Euless Trinity 39, Broken Arrow, Okla. 16Tulsa Union 21, Southlake Carroll 10Nuevo Leon 23, Killeen Shoemaker 14Time to Pump the Brakes These scores stopped us flat in our tracks. Last year’s 4A DII runner-up, Celina struggled mightily against Princeton. Abilene got whalloped by a San Angelo Central team that might be even better than the one that made a nice playoff run last year. Mineola, a team we picked to reach the state title game, fell flat against a very good Van squad. Navasota fared even worse, losing to a talented, but lower division Franklin group. Marshall, a big school East Texas darling a year ago, took all it could handle from high-flying Tyler Lee. And we may need to slow down the chatter about Schertz Clemens being a major player in 6A Region IV after falling to Round Rock. The Dragons, meanwhile, leapfrogged their foes as a team that may be ready to knock on the door of 6A’s upper tiers. Canadian’s 38-35 loss to Bushland might qualify for this group, but Bushland’s a much bigger school and it was a close game so we’ll give the Wildcats a pass. Especially after all the personnel turnover. Princeton 42, Celina 27San Angelo Central 63, Abilene 26Van 41, Mineola 21Franklin 38, Navasota 22Tyler Lee 34, Marshall 7Round Rock 41, Schertz Clemens 35Business As Usual Nothing to see here. Just teams with high expectations that went out and rolled. West Orange-Stark 42, Nederland 0Brock 52, Stamford 0Iraan 35, Crane 8Cedar Park 43, Waco Midway 13Refugio 59, Hebbronville 13Shiner 34, Goliad 13Denton Guyer 55, Mansfield Lake Ridge 35De Soto 47, Dallas Jesuit 13Newton 27, Kirbyville 0Bittersweet Night for Farmersville All right, this one’s a little off the radar, but we’ve spent a lot of time with Farmersville in the last two months compared to most teams. We’ve been shooting a documentary that we’re excited to debut next month, and went to shoot our last bits of footage on Friday night. We were greeted with the sad news that Famersville head coach Sammy Burnett’s mother died earlier this week. Coach Burnett has been a tremendous friend to DCTF during the filming process, and I think I speak for everyone here who’s met him when I say we’re truly lucky to have shared the time. The Farmers beat Cooper 30-8 to open the season, a moment of relief for Burnett, who said afterward his only goal now is to get through the weekend. Our thoughts are with him, his family, and the Fighting Farmers.