Euless Trinity Trojans(9-2) vs Duncanville Panthers(11-0)
Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, a triple header gets underway between a traditional powerhouse, and a red hot unbeaten. The Trojans are coming off an overtime thriller against Plano High. Courage Keihn rushed for 222 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries in the 28-21 win.
Duncanville has been shocking the state since defeating DeSoto in week 9. Since that game, the Panthers have scored 56, 45, and 62 in each of their last three games and only giving up 6. This team is rolling and a win against Trinity would make a lot of noise.
Winner will face: winner of Arlington Lamar vs. Midland Lee.
Odessa Permian Panthers(9-1) vs. Arlington Martin Warriors(10-1)
Friday at Maverick Stadium at UTA, Juma Otoviano will try to lead the Warriors to a win over Permian. The dual threat quarterback has thrown for 915 yards and 6 touchdowns as well as rushing for 632 yards and 17 touchdowns. If he is given space, he can run all over the Panther defense.
Permian controlled most of West Texas throughout the year with their only loss coming to San Angelo Central. In the win against El Paso Coronado, running back Ed Williams rushed for 290 yards and four touchdowns as the Panthers ran to a 50-17 win over the Thunderbirds. Whichever team can slow down the run should win this game.
Winner will face: winner of Allen vs. South Grand Prairie
Southlake Carroll Dragons(8-3) vs. DeSoto Eagles(10-1)
In one of the best area games of the weekend, traditional power Southlake Carroll takes on the defending 6A DII State Champion DeSoto at the Ford Center in Frisco.
The Dragons are led by Quarterback Will Bowers and running back T.J. McDaniel. Bowers has thrown for 1,862 yards and 23 touchdowns on top of running for 681 yards and 6 touchdowns. Paired with McDaniel (1,648 yards rushing and 21 TDs) the Dragon offense is hard to stop.
The Eagles are still shaken after the last few games of the regular season a little too close for comfort. But after defeating Copperas Cove 44-10 in the Bi-District round, DeSoto is back on a roll. Courtney Douglas has thrown for 1,653 yards and 12 touchdowns this year and those numbers could go up if the Dragons can’t slow him down.
Winner faces: winner of Arlington vs. El Paso Montwood
San Angelo Central Bobcats(11-0) vs. Mansfield Tigers(10-1)
Friday at Vernon Newsom Stadium in Mansfield, the Tigers face off against a Bobcats squad that over the years have established themselves as the dominant team in West Texas.
San Angelo Central are led by quarterback Maverick McIvor who has thrown for 2,996 yards and 39 touchdowns and rushed for 833 yards and 8 touchdowns.
The Tigers have only twice given up more than 20 points. The Tigers defense has 12 interceptions on the year. The defense can be suffocating if the Bobcats can’t get their offense rolling. On top of that, the Tigers have one of the most high powered backfields in the DFW area with thousand yard passer Shawn Hartsfield and thousand yard rusher Avery Chatman.
Winner will face: winner of Byron Nelson vs. Waco Midway
Saginaw Boswell Pioneers(10-1) vs. Richland Rebels(9-2)
Friday at the Ford Center in Frisco, the Pioneers will face yet another tough test against the Richland Rebels. Both teams faced some district adversity. Boswell had to go through defending state champion Aledo, and Richland had to go through contenders Colleyville Heritage and Grapevine. Boswell quarterback Brayden Thomas has many weapons out wide including Breshun Berry. The two have connected 59 times for 952 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Richland is fresh off their win over Fort Worth Southwest. Quarterback Drew Trent threw for six touchdown passes in the win. Four of the touchdowns were to Shamar Johnson who has caught for 491 yards and 5 touchdowns on the season. Both teams are no stranger to big games. This one should be close.
Winner Faces winner of El Paso Parkland-Lubbock-Cooper
Aledo Bearcats(11-0) vs. Grapevine Mustangs(9-2)
Friday at Midlothian ISD Stadium, the defending state champions in Aledo face one of the toughest tests so far. The Bearcats come in as favorites but Mike Alexander and his Mustangs will be looking for revenge after last year’s match up. Quarterback Alan Bowman remembers the game from last year and will want to finally get past Aledo to a possible title for the Mustangs. Bowman has totalled 2,952 yards passing and 30 touchdowns on the year.
But the Aledo front four on the defense will be putting constant pressure on Bowman with James Williams and Colt Ellison. The two have combined 14 sacks on the year with 133 total tackles. These two will be working hard to flush Bowman out of the pocket and disrupt the passing game. If they can do that, they will pave the way for Jake Bishop and the Bearcat offense to have a big day.
Winner faces: winner of El Paso Eastlake vs. Abilene Cooper
Kennedale Wildcats(10-1) vs. Van Vandals(10-1)
Friday at the Ford Center in Frisco, two heavyweights meet up to try to keep their State Title dreams alive. Kennedale has a dominant running back system of De’shaun Kirven and Jaden Knowles. The two each have 32 touchdowns on the year. Kirven has rushed for an even 1,300 yards on the year and Knowles has 1,284. These two are dominant and will be hard to slow down.
Van is also stacked on offense with quarterback Garrett Moseley who threw for 193 yards and rushed for 234 more in the 35-28 win over Princeton last week. Moseley also accounted for all five of the Vandal touchdowns. Van will need to have a great game from Moseley to outscore the Wildcats.
Winner faces: winner of Midlothian Heritage vs. Crandall
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