Matt Stepp’s 10 thoughts from the Texas high school football regional semifinals

Allen and Katy on a collision course? Are we finally going to get the mega-showdown between the two giants in Class 6A? It appears we may be headed that way after Allen and Katy were both very impressive Friday night with convincing wins over quality teams. Allen survived an early charge from Arlington Martin and pulled away late for a 48-25 win. The Eagles led 21-16 at the half but their depth and talent just wore the Warriors down outscoring Martin 27-9 in the second half to cruise to the regional finals. You may be hard-pressed to find a more impressive effort than what Katy put forth at NRG Stadium as the Tigers demolished a red hot Humble Atascocita squad 44-0. Katy’s defense has been flat out fantastic the past two weeks allowing just seven points and Friday night it forced five turnovers including a pick six to roll to a win over an Atascocita squad that had rattled off ten straight wins. Atascocita finished the night with just 144 yards of offense and eight first downs. There’s still some tough games on the horizon for both teams, but three rounds in an Allen-Katy showdown could finally become a reality and we’ll see if the magical 60,000 attendance mark can be reached if it happens. Temple and Aledo survive and advance There’s the old saying in the playoffs, survive and advance. For 5A powers Aledo and Temple, that was this case this weekend. Both teams had third round rematches with opponents whom they handled in 2016 with relative ease, but things were much tougher in 2017. Temple slipped past Port Arthur Memorial, 33-29, on a one-yard run with under minute left in the game. The Wildcats trailed for much of the second half but found a way late to pull it off. That was after Memorial kicked a field goal with 54 seconds left to take a 29-26 lead. Aledo had to play a dangerous Abilene Cooper squad at Shotwell Stadium and the Bearcats held on against a late Abilene Cooper rally for a 34-31 win. Melissa breaks through A year ago, Melissa played Gilmer in the third round of the playoffs and the Cardinals were absolutely destroyed in a 55-6 loss. Going into the game, I thought this year’s game would be closer than I thought but I didn’t have the guts to take Melissa even though the team looked really good on paper and Gilmer has had its share of struggles. Early on it looked like Gilmer may run away with as the Buckeyes took a 14-0 lead at halftime. But Melissa stayed the course and RB Ja’Bray Young took over with four second-half touchdown runs to lead the Cardinals to a massive 35-23 win. Young finished with 158 yards rushing as the Cardinals advance to the regional finals where they will take on unbeaten Texarkana Pleasant Grove.