2012 HS Weekly: Week Zero
Tis the season. And once more, I’m going to try my darndest to keep tabs on just enough football to skate by until the playoffs are upon us. Here’s what the first week of games looks like for the teams ranked by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football.
1. Dallas Skyline The Woodlands W 42-28 1-0 2. Lake Travis @ Converse Judson W 47-13 1-0 3. Southlake Carroll @ Allen L 0-24 0-1 4. Katy Klein W 48-7 1-0 5. Euless Trinity @ Bellevue (WA) L 24-31ot 0-1 6. Allen Southlake Carroll W 24-0 1-0 7. Cibolo Steele @ SA Madison W 41-21 1-0 8. DeSoto @ Arlington Martin W 47-13 1-0 9. Longview Coppell L 8-41 0-1 10. Arlington Martin DeSoto L 13-47 0-1 11. Manvel @ Spring W 35-21 1-0 12. The Woodlands @ Dallas Skyline L 28-42 0-1 13. Hewitt Midway @ Bryan W 34-7 1-0 14. Abilene @ Hebron W 13-10 1-0 15. Pearland @ Houston Madison W 33-3 1-0 16. Spring Dekaney Strake Jesuit W 41-0 1-0 17. SA Madison Cibolo Steele L 21-41 0-1 18. Cedar Hill @ Denton Guyer W 54-28 1-0 19. Converse Judson Lake Travis L 13-47 0-1 20. Mansfield @ Arlington Bowie L 43-59 0-1
I watched most of the Trinity-Bellevue game online. The Trojans definitely seem a bit thinner behind the lines than they have in years past. And this loss essentially came due to the starting QB getting his bell rung on a sack near the end of regulation, forcing the backup to come in for OT. Said backup then threw an INT that ended the game. Ah well. I didn’t expect Trinity to be 3-0 after a tough opening schedule. Hopefully, they can finish in the plus during non-district games.
Allen’s opening game in their new stadium was impressive. We’ll see next week whether they were really that good or if the adrenaline was carrying them over the defending champs. Either way, I’ll go out on a fairly sturdy limb and suggest that Region One could simply come down to an Allen vs Skyline game in the playoffs.
The other big game this week included an impressive 4th quarter comeback by Skyline against The Woodlands. Looks like those kids from Dallas are for real this season. For all my quibbles with DCTF’s rankings, I had no problem viewing Skyline as the best team going into this season vs the AP’s choice of Southlake Carroll.
And for all of the big-ticket games on tap for Week Zero, I find the Cedar Hill win over the #1 4A school to be pretty impressive among the down-ballot teams. It still feels like Region One isn’t quite the beast it’s been in the past. But there are still some beastly teams from Region One still capable of ending the season with a championship. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Cedar Hill ranked above Trinity next week with a win like the one they opened with and I still expect to see some great matchups in that bracket by the time the playoffs start.
Cibolo Steele is, once again, the only bright spot in San Antonio-area football. Expect them to be the only team from the region in the Top 20 next week. If any other SA-area school creeps back in, expect another tirade about how skewed the DCTF staff are in trying to keep each part of the state happy enough for magazine sales.
As for the Houston area, I could get real accustomed to Manvel showing as the second-best Houston school going into the playoffs. Let’s face it, nobody would rank Katy outside of the Top 5 unless they lost a third game.
1. Denton Guyer Cedar Hill L 28-54 0-1 2. Cedar Park @ Westlake L 7-21 0-1 3. Tyler John Tyler Lufkin W 35-21 1-0 4. Highland Park Aledo L 12-31 0-1 5. Pearland Dawson --- bye --- 6. Leander @ Connally W 35-7 1-0 7. Wichita Falls Rider @ Abilene Cooper L 36-43 0-1 8. Aledo Highland Park W 31-12 1-0 9. CC Calallen @ Mercedes W 40-13 1-0 10. Angleton @ Montgomery W 28-18 1-0
Tough opening week when three of the top 4 teams fall. Looks like the smart ones here were the Dawson High schedule-makers. Denton Guyer took a punch to the gut with their loss, but the program should be strong enough to rebound. I’d still rank them in the Top 5.
1. Stephenville Monterrey Tech L 17-27 0-1 2. La Marque Galveston Ball W 35-12 1-0 3. Carthage Jacksonville L 30-34 0-1 4. Coldspring-Oakhurst @ CE King W 21-13 1-0 5. Navasota @ Willis W 42-0 1-0 6. Argyle Wylie L 14-31 0-1 7. Wimberly @ Llano W 27-26 1-0 8. Henderson Prestonwood L 21-56 0-1 9. Waco La Vega @ Palestine W 24-23ot 1-0 10. Celina Melissa L 13-18 0-1
The only thing more surprising than seeing two of the top three teams fall in the first week of play is seeing a Texas HS powerhouse program lose to Monterrey Tech. I remember hearing for years about how MT was supposed to be the Southlake or Katy of Mexico. But every result I’ve ever seen against top-tier talent made them look more like the Washington Generals of HS football. Beating a team like Stephenville is huge. I still say that 3A football in Texas may be one of the more exciting levels of play with the teams that have moved up and down from their division last season. The Carthage-Jacksonville and Celina-Melissa games are early indicators that there are some great matchups on the schedule. Here’s hoping that a few of them have an internet audio feed in the weeks ahead.