Wild Weather on Thursday

The weather played havoc on games over a large part of the state Thursday night as games from Amarillo all the way down to San Antonio were impacted by a massive line of storms that rolled through with cold air right behind the front. In Amarillo, the district matchup between Caprock and Amarillo High scheduled for Thursday night was postponed to early Friday due to several inches of snow. While in Lubbock, state-ranked Estacado took on Perryton in a cold rain that turned into snow in the second half, but the Matadors were able to remain unbeaten with a 14-0 win. Several games in DFW were delayed, but all games were completed. In Central Texas, Waco Midway and Killeen Shoemaker were able to get their game in after a 45 minute delay. In Austin, only Pflugerville Weiss-Georgetown East View was able to kickoff, but the game was suspended early in the second quarter and resumed on Friday. All other games in the area never kicked off and were postponed to Friday or Saturday. Several games also saw delayed kickoffs in San Antonio, but they were able to be played after delays.

Top 10 Shakeup in Class 6A

For the first time in several weeks, we have some movement in the top 10 as a pair of those teams lost on Thrusday. No. 8 Beaumont West Brook fell to No. 5 Galena Park North Shore, 54-25. The Bruins dropped to No. 14, while DeSoto fell all the way out of the Top 25 as the Eagles were unable to pass their first big test of the year falling on the road to Mansfield Summit, 27-26. Moving into the 10 are Spring Westfield (No. 9) and Humble Atascocita (No. 10); both spent time in the top 10 early in the season.

Brandeis and Judson Quietly Dominating the Alamo City

The past couple of years at the 6A level haven’t been too memorable for the San Antonio area. Teams in Region IV have been dominated by the Austin area. That lack of playoff success has kept the city off the radar a bit, but San Antonio Brandeis and Converse Judson are doing big things and showing they might be capable of earning a regional title for their city. Judson, under first year head coach Rodney Williams, continues to dominate as the Rockets improved to 8-0 after they knocked off Smithson Valley, 30-13. The duo of QB Mike Chandler II and RB De’Anthony Lewis, along with a fast and hard-hitting defense, has Rockets fans excited about the playoffs. A year ago Brandeis was the surprise team in the city. After a slow start, the Broncos got rolling and advanced all the way to the regional finals before falling to Austin Westlake. This season, David Branscom’s squad moved to 8-0 after taking down San Antonio Warren, 31-14, in a game that started Thursday night but finished up Friday afternoon. QB Jordan Battles is as electric a player as you’ll see in the state and he’s fully capable of putting his team on his back on any given Friday night.

Dylon Davis’ Amazing Season

Few defensive players garner the spotlight in this day and age of spread offenses, but state ranked Abilene Cooper has one of those players in DB Dylon Davis. The junior DB leads the unbeaten Cougars secondary with 12 interceptions in nine games, including five in the past two weeks! Davis often does a lot once he gets the ball in his hands as he’s returned three of those interceptions for touchdowns. When he’s on offense he’s a threat as he’s broken off a couple of long touchdown runs as well. All the attention in 5A-Division I Region I is on three-time defending regional champion Denton Ryan, but don’t count out this Abilene Cooper squad, which is peaking at the right time.

Corpus Christi Miller Does it AGAIN

Someone might want to get Miller Bucs head coach Justen Evans some blood pressure medication as we aren’t sure he can take many more of these wild comebacks. For the second straight week, Miller had to rally back for a heart-stopping win over a district power in 15-5A Division I. This time it was over defending district champion Corpus Christi Veterans Memorial, 50-43, in a thirlling overtime win. Veterans Memorial raced out to a 23-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and appeared to be driving to put the game away in the second quarter when the Bucs defense rose up and totally turned the game around with an 86-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Joshua Cantu to make it 23-7 and swing momentum to MHS.

Miller quickly cut the lead to 23-15 after an INT on the ensuing series. The game-winning score in overtime came as Andrew Body hooked up with Zeke Moya for an 8-yard touchdown pass and the Bucs defense came through, holding Vets on its series to get the thrilling win and put Miller in prime position to clinch the district title next week against Corpus Christi Ray.

Dumas Hangs on in Panhandle Showdown

The Dumas Demons raced out to a 21-0 first quarter lead and appeared to be in total control in their showdown with a wounded Canyon squad, but Blake Bryant’s squad showed plenty of heart rallying back to make it a game before falling 21-14. State ranked Dumas remains unbeaten at 8-0 and Aaron Dunnam’s squad once again got it done with defense, holding one of the panhandle’s most explosive offensive attacks to just 14 points. The Demons offense got three big plays for touchdowns in the first quarter and that proved to be enough for the Demons to improve to 8-0 as they move into the final part of the regular season schedule.

Liberty Hill’s Struggles

Much like defending state champion Cuero in 4A-Division II, it’s been a rough go for a powerhouse in Region IV, as Liberty Hill, a team who played for the 4A-Division I state title a year ago, appears to be in grave danger of missing out on the playoffs after a 35-31 loss to Burnet. The Panthers are now 2-5 on the year and most importantly 0-3 in 13-4A Division I with losses to three teams who all look to be playoff bound in Lampasas, Fredericksburg and Burnet. The Panthers only hope for the playoffs is to win out and hope some things break their way in a tiebreaker scenario.

A Wall Hangover for Jim Ned?

A week after seeing their unbeaten season end at the hands of Wall in a 14-7 loss, the Jim Ned offense hit a road block as the Indians were knocked off by a vastly underrated Clyde squad on the road, 14-7. Matt Fanning’s squad has played winning defense the last two weeks, but only scoring two total touchdowns in these losses won’t be good enough to get it done if Jim Ned wants to make a playoff push. JNHS is still 6-2 on the season, but at 1-2 in district play they’ll want to bounce back at home as they gear up for the season finale against an outstanding Eastland squad.

San Saba’s Amazing Dominance

Third-ranked San Saba has been nothing short of a flame thrower this season as first year head coach Andreas Aguirre’s bunch continues their historic dominance. Before this week, many had questioned the Armadillo’s strength of schedule as they had run up a 7-0 record and outscored opponents 411-9. The strength of schedule question can be put to bed for the time being as Friday night SSHS rolled past a solid Valley Mills squad, 43-0, to improve to 8-0. San Saba gets its biggest test of the year this week as Crawford (6-2) comes calling to “The Graveyard” in San Saba in what should be one of the games to watch in Class 2A in Week 10.

UIL Snapshot Day Recap

UIL Snapshot Day came and went on Friday and even though schools have until next Friday to submit their numbers for the next alignment, the majority of schools have turned their information in. As always, there will be plenty of surprises come February, but a few notable items are in. It appears Longview may be moving down to Class 5A-Division I, while 4A power Liberty Hill is almost a lock to make the move up to Class 5A-Division II. We are still waiting to determine in the larger ISD’s, which schools are actually opting up a division as this could impact division splits, especially in Class 5A.

DCTF is collecting snapshot info from across the state RIGHT HERE! If your school isn’t listed you can email it to matt.stepp@texasfootball.com