Game Ball Honors: the best Texas high school players of Week 6

EDITORS NOTE: Every week, Texas HS Football will present their official game ball honors to those that were the most impactful under the Friday Night Lights. Our experts watched numerous games and decided on the very best that Week Six had to offer.

Please post your own game ball honorees below and tag @texashsfootball and use the hashtag #GameBallHonors through our various social media channels. We’ll be sure to keep an eye on all suggestions.

Keilon Elder (RB, Duncanville) and the Panther defense

With Duncanville’s throttling of Cedar Hill last week in the manner they did, it would be hard to not award the game ball honors to the defense. It was a unit that scored three touchdowns and forced three turnovers as a unit and was also a few seconds away from a shutting out the Cedar Hill Longhorns that only finished with 132 total yards.

It was a unit that scored three touchdowns and forced three turnovers as a unit and was also a few seconds away from a shutting out the Cedar Hill Longhorns that only finished with 132 total yards. Duncanville definitely made a statement last week and if you haven’t bought into this team yet, you better go on ahead and do so.

Let’s also give Keilon Elder some recognition as his second-half surge further assisted Duncanville in their 41-6 victory. Elder finished with 138 yards and two rushing touchdowns. — Jonathan Rodriguez

Brooks Klutts (QB, Boerne), Connor Fisher (WR, Boerne)

Boerne senior quarterback Brooks Klutz stood out in the Greyhounds’ 41-28 win against Wimberley on Friday. Klutz accounted for five touchdowns (four passing, one rushing) and 261 yards (226 passing, 35 rushing). His ability to get away from pressure and buy time to throw or pick up yards with his feet was mighty impressive.

We can’t talk about Klutz, however, without also mentioning senior wide receiver Connor Fisher. Fisher caught eight of Klutz’s 12 completions for 127 yards and two touchdowns. Klutz said Fisher has been his go-to guy for a long time and all he has to do is throw it in his general vicinity of him to catch it. — Steven Ryan

Brant Kuithe (RB, Cinco Ranch)

Last week, the Cinco Ranch Cougars whooped up on a very good Richmond Foster Falcons team. The disparity between the level of 6A and 5A football certainly showed its true colors in the 36-6 win for the Cougars. However, all but two of the 36 points scored by Cinco Ranch in last week’s contest came from stud running back Brant Kuithe.

Kuithe, who is committed to Rice University, rushed for 129 yards on 21 carries and averaged about 6 yards per carry against the Falcons. Whether it was 1st and 10 or 3rd and long, the ball was most entrusted in the hands of Kuithe, in which touchdowns came in the red-zone as well. I’ve yet to see such a dominating performance in any game by a running back that rushed less than 30 times.

Brant Kuithe may stir trouble for teams in the post-season. You’ve all been warned.  — Quentin Edmiston

Isaiah Spiller (RB, Klein Collins)

Though Spiller didn’t do anything out of the ordinary on paper — finishing with 100 yards and one touchdown — on the field, however, he helped earn a tough win against a stout Klein Oak defense.

He took carry after carry up the middle and wore down the Panthers’ defense late in the game. The lone blemish on a great night was a fumble at the one-yard line that was miraculously recovered by a teammate for Collins’ first score of the night. Spiller, a junior that’s the 2019 class No. 2 running back in the state and the son of former Texas A&M tight end Fred Spiller, is expected to sign with the Aggies. — Tim Verghese

Reinard Britz (QB, Oak Ridge)

Britz opened the game with a 92-yard touchdown pass and finished with more than 200 yards passing and two touchdowns as Oak Ridge’s War Eagles won their homecoming game against the Montgomery High School and remained undefeated.

Britz is a pro-style quarterback, but showed he wasn’t afraid to run — specifically during a 30-yard run in the third quarter set up the War Eagles’ third touchdown of the night. Oak Ridge plays out of a spread system giving Britz the freedom to air it out all over the field, his pocket presence and arm strength stood out in the closest game the home team has played all season. — Tim Verghese

Dominique Smith (QB, El Paso Andress)

The junior left-handed signal-caller didn’t throw the ball a ton last Thursday night, but he certainly made his opportunities count against El Paso Bowie. Smith finished 10-of-18 for 233 yards and three touchdowns as the Eagles moved to 2-0 in District 1-5A and got revenge from last year’s loss with a 38-21 victory over the Bears. — Tony Venegas

Seth Dominguez (RB, El Paso Franklin)

Senior running back Seth Dominguez had a career game last Friday night against El Paso Eastwood, rushing 26 times for 320 yards and two touchdowns. The Cougars needed every one of those yards as they held off the Troopers 49-41 in a wild shootout on Friday night. Following the game, head coach Daren Walker stressed the need to get him the football and he’ll need to be a playmaker this week as the Cougars travel to take on unbeaten El Paso Montwood. — Tony Venegas

Chaka Watson (QB, West Orange-Stark)

While the senior gunslinger is currently untied to any NCAA Division I, II, or III and had no offers before arguably the best game of his career, Watson’s near 170-total yard and three-touchdown performance may have opened more than a few eyes.

Especially given he entered halftime 3-for-10 with little more than 20 yards passing and 41 yards rushing. He was also sacked three times by the same Kennedale defense —sans Ohio State linebacker Baron Browning — that found a way to bottle 4A passing leader Landon Ledbetter and Midlothian Heritage High School in the 2016 UIL 4A regional semifinal.

Watson nearly tripled his rushing totals in the final two quarters leading all runners with 142 yards and four scores (including one two-point conversion that deadlocked the score and sent the game into extra time) on 16 rush carries. The fourth, a 23-yard overtime scramble through the teeth of the Wildcat defense, sealed West Orange-Stark’s 31st consecutive victory — the longest streak in the state. — Marcus Matthews-Marion

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