Cibolo Steele (3-0) at Midland Legacy (2-1): It’s a fascinating San Antonio vs Permian Basin matchup that is born out of necessity as these two regional powers were put into six team districts and forced to scramble to fill the non-district slate. Steele has an impressive resume with wins over San Antonio Brennan, Lake Travis and Hutto to their credit. The Knights had their best performance of the young season last week rolling past Hutto 49-16. Sophomore QB Chad Warner continues to get better each week and the Steele defense, most notably the secondary continues to make play after play. They’ll have a huge test this week going against four-star QB Marcos Davila and an explosive Midland Legacy attack. Legacy bounced back from their loss to Amarillo Tascosa with a dominant 56-20 win over Abilene High on the road. Davila threw for 357 yards and five touchdowns in just over a half of football. Expect a lot of points and a lot of big plays in this one as both teams bring a lot of talent to the table. Because of the long road trip, homefield advantage will play a role in this one and that goes to Midland Legacy, who I am taking to pull the upset. Stepp’s Pick: Midland Legacy by 3
Killeen Harker Heights (3-0) at Odessa Permian (3-0): It’s a battle of unbeatens at historic Ratliff Stadium as Harker Heights makes the long road trip from Central Texas to take on Odessa Permian. Harker Heights knocked off Round Rock Cedar Ridge 27-20 last week, as Aimeer Washington found the end zone twice to take some of the offensive pressure off star RB Re’Shaun Sanford. Odessa Permian went on the road last week to Amarillo and played a very good Tascosa squad and after trailing 12-0 in the second half MOJO got going late and pulled out an improbable 13-12 win. Rodney Hall’s five-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Quan Richardson for the go-ahead score with 1:30 to play gave Permian their only lead of the night and the victory. Permian’s defense was outstanding keeping the Panthers in the game long enough for the offense to get going. This is a pick’em game where homefield is big, Harker Heights isn’t used to the long road trips and they are walking into a hostile environment out in Odessa. Stepp’s Pick: Odessa Permian by 6