Friday night's must-see 11-man action around the state

[caption id="attachment_26156" align="alignright" width="350"]9-1-2016 (879) Photo by Samuel De Leon[/caption] We’ve officially reached the heart of the Texas high school football season. With most teams in state at least beginning district play in Week 7, there are viewing options across the state. Here are the games I’d attend if I wasn’t stuck in a press box. Class 6A: Westlake at Lake Travis Okay, so I’ll be at this one. That’s called putting your credential where your mouth is, folks. Lake Travis has owned Westlake in recent memory, including a 21-point win over the Chaparrals in 2015 when both teams ended up reaching a state championship game. The two rivals moved districts and wound up in Region IV, making each a contender for another state title. Viewers get to watch over 20 future FBS football players on the field at one time, which is a rarity in the Austin area. Westlake quarterback Sam Ehlinger returned last week from injury, playing well in his only half of action since helping his team beat Katy. Lake Travis scored a signature win by beating Cibolo Steele in overtime a week removed from a loss to Converse Judson. Class 5A: Fort Bend Marshall at Manvel Manvel was supposed to be a quality football team entering 2015, but through more than half of the season the Mavericks have proven to be a state title contender. Entering 5-0, Manvel has already knocked off Crosby, North Shore and Pearland. No other Class 5A team, including Denton Ryan, has that kind of resumé going into Week 7. Fort Bend Marshall is no slouch, also entering the game at 5-0. Class 4A: Liberty Hill at Waco La Vega These two programs met in a dog fight to determine the 2015 Region IV championship in Class 4A DI. After 48 minutes of regulation, the game entered overtime notched at zero. Somehow, La Vega completely shut down Liberty Hill’s Slot-T offense to take a 6-0 victory into the state semifinals. La Vega eventually won a state championship and are off to a 5-0 start thanks in large part to quarterback Jamal Williams, a plethora of speed options and a suffocating defense. Liberty Hill beat a Class 6A program last week, but hasn’t looked like the team that almost beat La Vega last season. Now a district game, the Panthers hope an upset win starts a run. Class 3A: Crockett at Newton Last year’s game was a classic when Newton won by three points. Both teams come into this contest at 5-0 and eager to show the state that a Class 3A DII title goes through Region II. Crockett and Newton are top contenders for the regional championship and a state title. Newton is currently our No. 1 ranked team in the division, while Crockett checks in at No. 9 entering the contest. With both teams coming off an idle week to provide extra preparation, each team should be ready for its best performance of the season. Class 2A: Memphis at Wellington Expect all kinds of fireworks on offense in this matchup. David Dickson will lead the ground game for Memphis, which enters the game at 4-1 and coming off its first loss of the season. Wellington dropped down from Division I after the last realignment and looks like a team that could challenge Bremond down the road. The Rockets defense allowed 21 or more points in each of their first three wins, but improved over in the last two wins to allow 20 combined. Memphis will provide a test for Wellington’s defense.

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