Well, this week was… strange. There were a lot of near upsets, a lot of strange scores, and a lot of massive rushing totals. We’re on to the Sweet Sixteen, the round known as the Regional Semifinals, but first we should recap a crazy Friday night in the Area round.
Best Celebration
FINAL: @HeritageFtball (11-1,5-0) beats @KaufmanFootball (8-3,5-1) 39-36 to win area championship on 32-yd @Hoganator_22 FG #txhsfb pic.twitter.com/MbuUnQjbgr
— ☘𝕸𝖆𝖗𝖖𝖚𝖊𝖘 𝕳𝖆𝖘𝖊𝖆𝖓 𝕸𝖆𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖓☘ (@IamHaseanMarion) November 19, 2016
It’s a long ways away, but consider this: it’s Midlothian Heritage’s first season as a team, and they’re in the third round of the playoffs. That’s pretty good.
Picture(s) Of The Night
Sometimes we forget these players leave everything on the field during #txhsfb playoffs. pic.twitter.com/9UEJvfCaDN
— Edward Egros (Vaccinated) (@EdWithSports) November 19, 2016
Felt terrible for four-star S Robert Barnes (@r0bertbarnes). Wish he had a chance to play in his last #txhsfb game. pic.twitter.com/GzTTXP7JVM
— "EJ Holland" (@EJHolland_TW) November 19, 2016
We sometimes do forget that for some of these young men, it’s the last time ever. I wanted to give some credence to the emotion of these photos, but they aren’t the photos of the night. I need to set it up with a video, though.
Texas target Levi Jones (left side of the line) forces a fumble at the goal line in overtime and Westlake survives another week pic.twitter.com/PDsQZGHiuI
— Garrett Callahan (@CallahanGarrett) November 19, 2016
Now, this forced fumble is the source of some controversy. Let’s zoom in.
ENHANCE
— UnBroken (@Valenz_Doc) November 19, 2016
I’m not going to comment on it. Let’s leave it at this, it was ruled a fumble on the field, and Austin Westlake will move on while Converse Judson will not. Believe what you want about it, but that call on the field is the reality.
#WeirdFootball Score Of The Night
Man, it seems that the Texas Tech Red Raiders are rubbing off on Levelland!
Now that I’ve gotten the very obvious and very not funny joke out of the way, let’s discuss what appears at first glance to be a basketball score: Levelland 82, Decatur 73. Here’s a picture of the scoring log from that game.
The crazy scoring summary from Decatur and Levelland #txhsfb pic.twitter.com/e2V6D32Uk9
— Richard Greene (@WCM_RGreene) November 19, 2016
If you’re shocked at this result, you really shouldn’t be. Andrews has already played Levelland, and they’re opponents in the next round. The catch: they’ve already played. It ended up being a 77-76 Andrews victory in overtime. Levelland has been playing hair on fire offense all year. They ain’t slowing down.
Five Teams That Impressed
Mesquite Poteet
Any day you can completely shut down Frisco Lone Star is a good day. Any day you can completely shut down Frisco Lone Star and send them home for the holidays? Even better. Poteet locked up Jason Shelley and the Rangers, winning 45-14. Poteet’s looking dangerous, and they’re primed for a run.
Friendswood
The Friendswood offense is chugging right along nicely thanks to Tyler Page. They dropped 56 on La Porte, and look to be a legitimate threat in Region III. They’ll face the winner of Langham Creek and Katy Cinco Ranch in the next round.
Laredo United South
What a win the Panthers just had over the San Benito Greyhounds! They pulled off a solid 28-21 victory, and are advancing to face San Antonio Churchill in the next round. This has been somewhat of a dream season for Laredo United South, and they’ll get to extend it another week.
Abilene
This one’s cheating a tad, seeing as how I saw their game last night. Let’s also be serious here: the Eagles held Texas’s second-leading rusher to 20 yards and racked up 55 points en route to a shutout. Abram Smith ripped off an impressive 99 yard touchdown run, beating out a school record for longest touchdown held by Abilene legend Herschel Sims. They’ll play DeSoto, but don’t sleep on this team. They might be from West Texas, but they have some talent and speed, and they aren’t the same team that got walloped by San Angelo Central in the season opener.
Highland Park
What did Highland Park do to deserve being on this list? Oh, just completely shut down Dom Williams, 2,000 yard rusher, and the rest of Frisco Independence. In a year where Independence scored over 60 twice, Highland Park held them to a mere three points. It was a crushing performance by a defense that has struggled at times this year, but looks to be in peak condition if we’re using this game as a barometer.
Other Things That Should Be Mentioned
Shoutout to Roshauud Paul for becoming the winningest player in Texas High School Football History
And shoutout to Greg Tepper of DCTF for pointing it out.
https://twitter.com/Tepper/status/799851537296228352
Lubbock Rising
There will definitely be a full article about this next week, but the trifecta of Lubbock schools are looking excellent so far. Lubbock Cooper and Lubbock Monterey dominated in their wins, and Lubbock Coronado looks primed to win big and advance to the third round as well. Lubbock Estacado got stomped by Argyle, but, well, that’s what happens to the vast majority of teams that play Argyle.
Celina got pleasantly weird
Celina won by the skin of their teeth in a game that they allowed Gladewater back into. Conner Pingleton ran in a touchdown with seven seconds left that secured the victory for one of Texas’s high school football bluebloods.
Stuff To Look Forward To Today:
Oh boy, Saturday is going to be great. We have Denton Guyer and Cedar Hill, Beeville Jones and Liberty Hill squaring off, and a matchup between College Station and Magnolia that I think is going to be closer than a lot of others think.
