Prosper (12-1) vs. Lewisville (12-1), 2 p.m. Saturday at McKinney’s McKinney ISD Stadium: Prosper and Lewisville have both been considered “good” teams in DFW the past few seasons, but it appears both have moved into the elite tier this season winning twelve of their first thirteen games. Prosper last week took down previously unbeaten North Crowley in a 35-21 slugfest, a key third quarter goal line stand when they led by just seven points was the difference for the Eagles along with QB Harrison Rosar who had a monster night throwing for 299 yards and five touchdowns. Lewisville blasted an overmatched Keller squad, taking the Indians down 43-3 with a dominant defensive effort. The Fighting Farmers, who are in the regional final for the first time since 1996 (when current HC Michael Odle was the QB), dominated on defense holding Keller to just 203 yards of offense. QB Ethan Terrell and RB Viron Ellison combined to run for 235 yards and four touchdowns as LHS outscored Keller 29-0 in the second half. Expect this game to be an absolute slugfest, two of the best defensive units in the DFW area (not named Duncanville) will slug it out. The very slight lean in this one is with Prosper, but this is really a coin flip game. Stepp’s Pick: Prosper by 2
Galena Park North Shore (13-0) vs. Humble Atascocita (11-2), 7 p.m. Friday at New Caney’s Randall Reed Stadium: It’s a 21-6A rematch in the Houston area as North Shore, who has won the region four straight years, takes on the team they’ve tormented the most during this run in Humble Atascocita. North Shore has won five straight over Atascocita, including wins in the playoffs in 2019 and 2021 and a three-point win in Week 9. If you are an Atascocita fan, you’ve got to feel good about things because AHS dominated pretty much every statistical category in that 16-13 regular season loss. North Shore has shown some vulnerability of late as the defense has allowed 28 and 34 points the last two weeks respectively. To be fair, in last week’s 49-28 win over Katy Cinco Ranch, the Mustangs defense did notch ten sacks, but the point totals have to be concerning. What isn’t concerning is the North Shore ground game as Rashaad Johnson and D’Andre Hardeman combined for 327 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Atascocita pulled away late for a 46-24 win over Fort Bend Ridge Point as QB Zion Brown accounted for 357 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while sophomore RB Tory Blaylock ran for 200 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Eagles. North Shore just hasn’t had the same dominance they had early in the year when they had a healthy Kaleb Bailey at QB and it’s really tough to beat a team twice in the same season, especially when the two teams appear as evenly matched as these two are. This may be the game that Atascocita breaks the skid and ends North Shore’s dominance in the Houston area, I’m going Atascocita in the upset. Stepp’s Pick: Humble Atascocita by 3