Matt Stepp’s 10 thoughts from the Texas high school football Week 8

Record setting rushers It was a monster weekend for rushing performances across the state, but there was no place where that was more evident than in North Texas. On Thursday night, a near 20-year UIL State rushing record fell as McKinney running back Matt Gadek ran for 599 yards and six touchdowns in McKinney’s 63-50 win over Plano East. Gadek’s mark breaks the UIL single-game rushing record set back in 1998 by Somerville’s Daryl Ellis. Gadek also broke the McKinney High career rushing record in the game as well. His record was almost broken in less than 24 hours on Friday night after Wichita Falls Hirschi’s Daimarqua Foster threw up 580 yards rushing and five touchdowns as the Huskies knocked off Decatur, 69-36. There were simply amazing individual numbers put up this weekend. Denton Braswell's first win Congrats to Denton Braswell and head coach Cody Moore as the Bengals got their first win in program history on Thursday night defeating Wichita Falls High. Braswell lost its first 16 games and honestly none of the games had been close, but there was improvement this year and you could feel things starting to turn at Denton ISD’s newest high school. Braswell still has work to do to emerge as a playoff team, but a strong finish to 2017 could build the foundation for a playoff push in 2018. Cedar Park’s heart If anyone had any doubts about the championship pedigree and mettle of the Cedar Park Timberwolves, that was put to rest Friday night in an epic 28-27 win over Georgetown. Cedar Park dug itself quite a hole falling behind, 27-7, at the half to a good Georgetown squad that was 5-1. Even more troubling was star quarterback Mak Sexton, who piloted CPHS to a state title as a sophomore, went down in the first half with a broken femur – Yes, a broken femur. CPHS took a quarter to mentally and emotionally bounce back, but the second half belonged to head coach Carl Abseck’s team as wide receiver turned backup quarterback Ryan Fiala stepped in and guided Cedar Park to the comeback throwing for 182 yards including a three-yard touchdown pass to Drew McDaniel with 37 seconds left to lift the Timberwolves to the win. It remains to be seen the long-term effects of Sexton’s injury and how it effects Cedar Park’s hopes of a run to state, but there’s no doubting the championship heart of Cedar Park. Big doings in Brownsville In most years, football in Brownsville is an after-thought in the Valley. But 2017 is proving to be different as Brownsville ISD boasts three really solid teams this year. We start in the Valley’s toughest district, 32-6A, where surprising Brownsville Hanna stunned Los Fresnos 10-7 to improve to 4-0 in district play and put the team right in the district title chase. Then on Saturday night, district supremacy was on the line as Brownsville Veterans Memorial and unbeaten Brownsville Lopez met at Sams Stadium. In front of a large crowd, Veterans Memorial asserted its claim to the 32-5A district title with a convincing 35-21 win. Tomball-Brenham wildness One of the state’s wildest endings took place in District 18-5A as Tomball and Brenham hooked up in a classic. The two teams who are right in the thick of the playoff chase were tied at 28 at the end of regulation. During its overtime series, Tomball made a field goal to go up 31-28. Brenham got the ball second and faced a 4th-and-4 situation. As the Cubs were lining up for a 37-yard field goal to send it to a second overtime, Tomball called a timeout to ice the kicker, but there was a problem. Tomball did not have any timeouts remaining. The officials called a delay of game penalty on Tomball, giving a first down to Brenham. Two plays later, Weldon Patterson scored a touchdown for Brenham to win a thriller, 34-31. The loss is very damaging to Tomball’s playoff hopes in what looks to be a very balanced district.  We’ll see if the team can find a way to bounce back next week.

Photo by Jay Stevens Lufkin’s statement If you want a sleeper team to keep an eye on, Lufkin might be a good team to monitor. The Panthers started the season a bit slow losing to Longview, but a couple of weeks ago they gave The Woodlands all it wanted at home and this past week, the Panthers made as big of a statement as they’ve made in several years and ripped past West Brook 50-7. The win is also big for Lufkin because it means the Panthers have the inside track to host a bi-district playoff game. West Rusk defense One of the top defenses in the state that’s managing to fly under the radar is West Rusk. The unbeaten Raiders pitched a shutout in their last three games, are state ranked and off to a 6-0 start. This week’s victim was Arp in a 24-0 win. The last time West Rusk allowed points was the fourth quarter of a 40-23 win over New Diana on September 22. In fact, West Rusk’s defense has four total shutouts on the year and in six games has allowed just 31 points. The team will try to keep their nine-quarter scoreless streak alive next week when they take on Waskom. Mart’s domination At first glance, you might think the Mart Panthers ran up the score on Axtell in a 90-0 win. But a deeper look inside the numbers shows that the game was just a perfect storm. Mart only ran 14 plays on the night scoring touchdowns on seven of its 14 plays. The Panthers also scored six touchdowns on defense and special teams with a running clock in the second half. Showdown Friday Talk about some big-time showdowns in Class 6A this week. We’ve got them all across the state. We start out west in the Little Southwest Conference as the district title is on the line with unbeaten Odessa Permian visiting the Concho Valley to take on fellow unbeaten San Angelo Central. If the game is anything like the matchup two years ago, San Angelo Stadium will be filled to capacity of about 20,000.  In the DFW area, it will be a grudge match between two teams who have seen their rivalry increase in notoriety the past two years as unbeaten Duncanville, under third-year head coach Reginald Sample, visits defending state champion and unbeaten DeSoto, who currently holds the state’s second longest winning streak at 23 games. Expect a raucous atmosphere Friday night at Eagle Stadium in DeSoto.  Down in the Alamo City unbeaten Schertz Clemens, fresh off an upset of fellow unbeaten Smithson Valley last week, will look to do it again this week as it hosts the No. 1 team in the state in undefeated Converse Judson.