Groveton, Lovelady and Centerville battle for District 12-2A

Photo via Ronnie Sartors

By: Tristan Tippett

November 4th, 2016

An interesting three horse race will be decided in District 12 of 2A-1 Region III. Two other teams in the six-team league; West Hardin, who is 1-8 on the year and 0-4 in the district and West Sabine, who is 4-5 on the season and 1-3 in the district are out of contention. The Deweyville Pirates are also out of the race, despite being 5-4 on the season, because three of their losses have come within the district and they have only one win in the district. The three top teams in the district, however, have played the district to the last game of the season.

The Groveton Indians, whose team logo represents that of the Georgia Bulldogs, are currently in first place in the district. They have four wins and haven’t lost a game in the district, and they’ve lost only one game overall versus eight wins. The loss came way back on Sept. 9 at San Augustine. It was a high scoring game in which the Indians lost to the 5-4 Wolves of San Augustine in a 58-54 shootout. Since then, the Indians have been on a six-game winning streak with an average margin of victory of nearly 40 points.

The Indians followed up their game against San Augustine with a 47-24 win at home and then they completed an incredible statistical feat. They played three straight games in which they won each game 55-0: 55-0 at home over Normangee on Sept. 23, 55-0 at Deweyville on Oct. 7 and 55-0 at home against West Hardin on Oct. 14. They followed that stretch with a 64-21 win at West Sabine on Oct. 21 and a 34-27 win at home against Centerville last week.

The Indians’ best win of the year was their first game of the season at home against New Waverly who is 7-2 and the possible winner of the 3A-2 Region III District 12, one of the deepest districts in Texas. The Indians blew them out 53-9 and followed that up with a 64-42 win at Grapeland on Sept. 2.

The team Groveton beat last week, the Centerville Tigers, is in second place in the district with a 6-3 record overall and a 3-1 record in the district.

The Tigers started off the season with two wins: one a 56-0 shutout over Hearne at home on Aug. 26and another a 44-22 win at Corrigan-Camden on Sept. 2. They also won at Hardin 54-3 on Sept. 16. The Tigers’ two non district losses can be characterized as head-scratching and ugly.

They lost at 35-24 at home to Trinity on Sept. 9. The Trinity Tigers are currently 3-7. The ugly loss came on Sept. 23 on the road at Mart, where they lost to the 9-0 Panthers 43-6. In four games within the district, Centerville shutout West Hardin 63-0 on the road on Oct. 7, won at home against West Sabine 55-29 on Oct. 14 and at Lovelady 29-21 on Oct. 21. The win over the Lions, who are ranked ninth in the Texas HS Football 2A Rankings, is what gives Centerville the tiebreaker over Lovelady in the current standings. The Lions have an overall better record than the Tigers at 7-1. The loss to Centerville is the only one for Lovelady and it’s the low point in an otherwise successful season.

They had a couple of close calls in two non district games against quality teams but ultimately prevailed at home Sept. 9 against Joaquin (6-3) 21-20 and at Leon (8-1) Sept. 16 20-12. They rolled another quality team in a 27-0 shutout at Timpson (5-3) on Sept. 23 and won their first game over Anderson-Shiro (0-10) 48-20 on Sept. 2.

In their three district wins, the Lions beat West Sabine at home 52-20 on Oct. 7, shutout Deweyville on the road 43-0 on Oct. 14 and shutout West Hardin 47-0 in Saratoga on Oct. 28. Centerville should prevail at home in their game against Deweyville, but the marquee game is Groveton taking on Lovelady at 7 PM, Friday, Nov. 4. If the Lions beat the Indians and if the Tigers lose to the Pirates,  Lovelady will win the district, but if the Lions beat the Indians and the Tigers beat the Pirates, Centerville will be the surprise winner.