REGIONAL OUTLOOK

Things have changed in Region III a bit, gone are both regional finalists a year ago as Texas High moves to Region II and Crosby moves up to Division I, so that’s going to open the door for the 2018 and 2019 regional champion, the Fort Bend Marshall Buffaloes as they move into a new district that should provide them some much better competition.

James Williams’ squad starts the year as the 9-5A Division II favorite and the Region III favorite after the disappointment of last year’s bi-district loss. Marshall will greatly benefit from the increased competition in the district which includes strong teams in Texas City, Port Neches-Groves and Nederland, all of whom have recent playoff pedigree.

10-5A Division II is a bit of a hodge-podge district that stretches from the Brazos Valley all the way down to Fort Bend County, so the teams will put some miles on the busses driving through Greater Houston. There’s absolutely no clear cut favorite in this district as Montgomery, who was a surprise 11-1 squad a year ago was absolutely gutted by graduation. That could open the door for Brenham or Huntsville to take the lead in this district race, while Bryan Rudder, fresh off their first playoff appearance in school history a year ago expects to challenge as well.

The Austin area takes up two districts in Region III, with the first district being the northern suburbs of the Austin area, going north all the way to Waco. Rouse, who has had two straight highly successful seasons is going to give it one more run as they try and win a regional title and the Raiders enter 2022 as the favorite in 11-5A Division II. Belton, dropping all the way down from 6A still has enough depth despite Lake Belton cutting into their numbers to be the leader for the second spot. Things get really interesting after that, with Pflugerville and long-struggling Waco University both having really good chances to get into the playoff mix.

The Austin ISD district will be a two-team race with last year’s 4A Division I state runner-up LBJ getting the edge over McCallum a team who made the area playoffs a year ago. Northeast should be the third place team, while Crockett and Travis will battle for the final playoff slot.

DISTRICT PREDICTIONS

District 9-5A Division II

1. Fort Bend Marshall
2. Texas City
3. Port Neches-Groves
4. Nederland
5. Dayton
6. Fort Bend Willowridge
7. Galena Park
8. Santa Fe

District 10-5A Division II

1. Brenham
2. Huntsville
3. Montgomery
4. Bryan Rudder
5. Montgomery Lake Creek
6. Rosenberg Lamar Consolidated
7. Richmond Randle

District 11-5A Division II

1. Leander Rouse
2. Belton
3. Pflugerville
4. Waco University
5. Elgin
6. Pflugerville Connally
7. Killeen Chaparral

District 12-5A Division II

1. Austin LBJ
2. Austin McCallum
3. Austin Northeast
4. Austin Crockett
5. Austin Travis
6. Austin LASA
7. Austin Navarro
8. Austin Eastside

PROJECTED BI-DISTRICT MATCHUPS

W9 Fort Bend Marshall vs F10 Bryan Rudder

R12 Austin McCallum vs T11 Pflugerville

W10 Brenham vs F9 Nederland

R11 Belton vs T12 Austin Northeast

W11 Leander Rouse vs F12 Austin Crockett

R10 Huntsville vs T9 Port Neches-Groves

W12 Austin LBJ vs F11 Waco University

R9 Texas City vs T10 Montgomery

REGIONAL CHAMPIONS

Fort Bend Marshall over Texas City