Matt Stepp’s Ten Thoughts From Week 5

[caption id="attachment_25800" align="alignright" width="350"]Photo by Bobby Thomas Photo by Bobby Thomas[/caption] Amarillo Caprock’s Historic Win It had been thirty years since the Caprock Longhorns has knocked off crosstown powerhouse Amarillo High, but the Longhorns got the weekend kicked off in a big way as they remained unbeaten with a 38-30 win over the Sandies. Caprock's high-flying spread attack built up a 38-14 lead and they were able to hang on late to get the huge win to open 3-5A action, led by QB Zac Encinas, who had a huge night. Caprock, who has never won a playoff game, has to count Thursday’s win as maybe the biggest in school history, but they’ve got plenty more big games left to play in a very tough district. DeSoto D Serves Notice There were plenty of storylines from Friday’s Battle of Belt Line as DeSoto remained undefeated with a 33-18 win over Cedar Hill.  From the battle of highly-ranked QB’s, to all the skill kids for both sides, the neighborhood rivalry and a sellout crowd, DeSoto’s defense was the show stopper. The Eagles defense, especially in the red zone, was lights out stopping Cedar Hill on downs three times and it would have been a fourth, but the Eagles were called for being in the neutral zone and CHHS converted. DeSoto’s offense appears to be still finding their way, but the defense is in playoff form with speed at all three levels, and most importantly, they play with a nasty intensity that you like to see from an elite defensive group. Steele Still Alamo City’s Best A lot of experts thought this might be the year that Judson breaks through and knocks Steele from their perch as the best team in San Antonio. It didn’t happen Friday as the Knights, who were without QB Xavier Martin, totally dominated the Rockets 30-9.  QB Cody Massey, in his first-ever start, looked like a composed veteran, throwing for 181 yards and two touchdowns. The much maligned Steele defense put together their best effort of the season, holding Judson to just nine points and picking off three passes. Steele will undoubtedly be very cautious with Martin, who has an injury history. It’s likely we don’t see the Tech commit for a couple of weeks, but Massey has shown he’s more than capable of steering the ship during district play. Valley Rivalry Game Winners Two of the Valley’s biggest rivalry games took place this Friday. In Harlingen, it was the “Bird Bowl." In what was also Fox Sports Southwest’s DQ Big Game of the Week, Harlingen knocked off younger brother and previously unbeaten Harlingen South 23-16.  The Cardinals have seen their share of early struggles, but don’t be surprised if Coach Gomez’s squad starts to turn things up in district play. While just a few miles west on Interstate 2, the Tinaco Bowl took place in Weslaco and it was Weslaco East securing a win over Weslaco, ending a WHS four-year winning streak in a 24-7 victory. East’s punishing ground game was huge, but the Wildcats defense containing Weslaco’s Slot-T was massive, as well. Both of these rivalry games are part of a loaded District 32-6A that also features San Benito and Los Fresnos. [caption id="attachment_25767" align="alignleft" width="350"]Rockwall Quarterback Matt Jones realeases a pass on the run. Photo by Mark Martin Rockwall QB Matt Jones (Photo by Mark Martin)[/caption] District 11-6A Craziness We knew going into the season that 11-6A would be a highly competitive district, and through two weeks of district play it’s certainly proven to be that. In Week 1, winless Rockwall went to Tyler and knocked off unbeaten John Tyler while North Mesquite won a thriller over Mesquite. Last week, in a rivalry game, Rockwall-Heath – despite a better record – was a big underdog to rival Rockwall High and what did Heath do? The Hawks turned around and knocked Rockwall off to take a big step towards a playoff spot along with fellow unbeaten Longview. After that there’s four teams currently sitting on 1-1 records as John Tyler, Horn, North Mesquite and Rockwall all are all jumbled up. The games this week that will hold a lot of intrigue are Rockwall at Longview and North Mesquite at Rockwall-Heath. Spring Westfield On the Board During the week we discussed 0-3 teams that we still felt really good about, and Westfield was at the top of that list. The Mustangs played a brutal non-district slate that included Galena Park North Shore, Euless Trinity and Houston Lamar, so it's not like they lost to weak sisters. Westfield opened up district play Friday with an emphatic 46-13 win over a Spring squad that many felt was best equipped to challenge the Mustangs for the district crown. A message was sent Friday and that message is that despite the slow start, Westfield will be a definite contender in what looks to be a wide open Class 6A Division I Region II race. West Mesquite's Incredible Rally West Mesquite pulled off one of the great comebacks in recent memory last Friday night in their win over Lovejoy. Trailing 37-6 with less than nine minutes remaining, the Wranglers rattled off 40 straight points to pull away for a stunning 46-37 win to improve to 2-0 in 15-5A. It was a total team effort as five different players scored touchdowns in the WMHS onslaught in the third and fourth quarters. It’s not often you see a team get dominated in such a big way – and then in the blink of an eye – the tables turn. A definite testament to Coach Jeff Neill’s squad and their resilience. Bonham Losing Streak Ends Bonham saw their 25-game nightmare of a losing streak come to an end on Friday as the Purple Warriors knocked off Lone Oak 48-35. The last time Bonham won a game was the first round of the 2013 playoffs when they defeated Dallas Madison. HC Tony Johnson took over at the start of the 2015 season and had yet to taste victory as HC at Bonham, so the win was especially sweet for Coach Johnson and his staff. West Orange-Stark “Allows” Points Well the shutout streak ended as West Orange-Stark “only” beat Silsbee 51-2 on Friday. The Mustangs were sloppy with four first half turnovers and the offense contributed to the two points allowed as a holding call in the end zone gave Silsbee their only two points of the night. The Mustangs woke up with 37 second half points and cruised. Their incredible defense has now gone half the season and allowed just two solitary points. Just incredible, the streak will get a big test this week as they play Kennedale in a neutral site game in Nacogdoches. Van Horn STUNS Seagraves How about the mighty Eagles from far West Texas?? In case you didn’t know this, Van Horn is the westernmost town in the Central Time Zone (fun fact) and they came into Friday’s game with state-ranked Seagraves a paltry 1-3. Seagraves on the other hand was unbeaten, and once again they have the look of a regional contender, yet Van Horn’s scrappy bunch led by HC Brian Gipson never once doubted they could pull off the upset. If you take a closer look at Van Horn’s three losses, they dropped a one-point decision to 3A Kermit, had a loss to 3A Alpine and a decent Anthony squad who is 4-1. Maybe we should start looking at Van Horn as a possible sleeper in far West Texas?