One must-see Week 4 game in every 11-man classification

[caption id="attachment_25428" align="alignright" width="350"]Photo by Carlos Barron Cedar Ridge RB CJ Rittenhouse (Photo by Carlos Barron)[/caption] It’s time to decide the most exciting matchups in each 11-man classification. Week 4 continues district play for some, starts district play for others and gives another chance to improve before district play begins to all the rest. Here are the marquee games. Class 6A: Round Rock Cedar Ridge at Temple One of the most complete teams in Class 6A plays in the Austin-area. No, I’m not talking about Westlake or Lake Travis. Round Rock Cedar Ridge is quietly becoming the third-best big school in Austin and 2016 is only adding proof. The Raiders outscored their first three opponents 131-10. Temple is a state-ranked Class 5A program hoping to rebound from last week’s upset loss to Waco Midway. Class 5A: Frisco Lone Star at Denton Ryan The favorite to win the Class 5A Division I title against a team that played for the DII title in 2015. Denton Ryan is taking on quality competition in non-district and that continues at home against Frisco Lone Star and quarterback Jason Shelley. Ryan’s offense struggled early in wins against Lancaster, Mesquite Poteet and Wylie East. Lone Star’s offensive talent puts pressure on Ryan to start quick and play its best game of the season. Lone Star must find a way to combat Ryan’s advantage on the offensive and defensive lines. Class 4A: Gilmer at Carthage East Texas football is hard to beat and two of the premier programs clash tonight in a non-district showdown between two teams with state championship pedigree. Carthage enters the game 2-0 after the opening game of the season was called for lightning with quarterback Kason Davis leading the charge. Gilmer is also led by its quarterback Poppy Brown. Each offense is capable of points. The defense that can create a few turnovers and get stops at opportune times walks out of Week 4 with a perfect record and a ton of momentum. Class 3A: Stratford at Canadian Stratford has a chance for revenge against Canadian in Week 4. Canadian is the only team to beat Stratford in the past two seasons, but it is Canadian that enters the game with two losses. The Wildcats shouldn’t hold much shame since both came to Class 4A programs, but it still feels weird to see Canadian with a losing record after three weeks. It won’t be easy to right the ship against a quality Stratford opponent that could win Class 2A Division I now that Canadian will be out of the playoff picture due to realignment. Class 2A: Albany at Anson This is one of the most intriguing contests of the week. Albany remains one of the few programs with a shot to knock Bremond off its perch later this year. Sitting at 3-0 with two wins against schools in larger classifications, Albany only jumps up a division this week to take on unbeaten Anson. A win for Anson serves notice to Class 2A Division I. A win for Albany reminds DII that it’s a contender. Class 2A is loaded with action in Week 4 as Mason/Iraan and Garrison/Alto are also intriguing.

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