Texas Football

By Travis Stewart/Texas Football

Up in Class 5A and 4A, district sweeps in the first round of the playoffs are tough to come by -- there's a lot of factors that go into wiping a district clean off the map, and it's hard to account for all of them when everyone has an immense talent base to pull from.

But in the small-school ranks, where only three teams qualify from each district, every bi-bidistrict clash is going to yield either a sweep or a 2-1 result. No one is safe, and someone is going to have to come out ahead every time. Let's take a look at who survived ... and who's home for the holidays.

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3A districts that we'll miss

1-3A

Lubbock Estacado (L: 24-7, Abilene Wylie) >> Estacado scores early, but Wylie forces it to play from behind and pass into the teeth of the defense
Borger (L: 42-14, Graham) >> Graham QB Case McCoy blows open a close first-quarter game with 263 passing yards and five touchdowns
Dalhart (L: 33-7, Brownwood) >> Dalhart finishes with less than 100 yards, all in the running game -- the lone TD was a fumble return

4-3A

Fort Stockton (L: 26-23 3OT, Andrews) >> Fort Stockton led by touchdowns in the fourth quarter before the fateful Andrews rally started
Pecos (L: 41-7, Monahans) >> Monahans suffers a few more injuries, but still, Pecos kept this somewhat close (21-7) until halftime
Clint (L: 55-7, Seminole) >> Suffers third straight loss to Seminole by a hefty margin after trailing 21-0 at the end of the first quarter

10-3A

Paris North Lamar (L: 37-0, Prosper) >> Prosper's defense was smothering, and the Eagles already led 30-0 at halftime
Paris (L: 52-14, Argyle) >> Argyle's defense completely controls the pace of the game, and Paris has to try and pass to catch up
Van Alstyne (L: 35-14, Celina) >> Matching up against 9-3A is a tough proposition, even for unbeaten district champ Van Alstyne

14-3A

Wills Point (L: 52-36, Lucas Lovejoy) >> Lovejoy gets its first-ever playoff win by turning seven Wills Point turnovers into 39 points
Eustace (L: 17-14, Farmersville) >> A late Eustace score put it within three, but it was never able to get the ball back
Van (L: 35-14, Quinlan Ford) >> The upset of the first round in 3A? Kyle Stone throws for two scores and runs for a third in the win

20-3A

Athens (L: 21-20, Waco La Vega) >> Led 20-7 after a long punt return for a TD late in the third, but La Vega mounted a fourth-quarter comeback
Brownsboro (L: 30-14, Lorena) >> Brownsboro manages just a touchdown in each half against battle-tested Lorena
Palestine (L: 36-14, Mexia) >> Mexia RB Doug Gentry was The Man, rushing for 214 yards and three scores -- it's tough to stop that

27-3A

SA Sam Houston (L: 46-12, Cuero) >> Sam Houston loses QB Dominique Broadnax-Lee on his first carry of the night, but still holds close till halftime
La Vernia (L: 22-13, Yoakum) >> Yoakum scored on four of its first five possession, and the defense held strong for the rest of the evening
Luling (L: 54-40, Edna) >> After losing its coach midway through the season, Luling still plays a close playoff game with offensively-talented Edna

32-3A

Zapata (L: 59-19, Ingleside) >> Ingleside QB Brian Hull throws for three early touchdowns to put Zapata in an insurmountable hole
Rio Hondo (L: 28-21, Sinton) >> The talk about Sinton has centered around its stout offense all year, but the defense was the key in this one
Lyford (L: 41-24, Mathis) >> Mathis' Donnie Butler rushes for almost 300 yards as the ground game batters its way past Lyford

3A districts we almost lost

7-3A

Gatesville (L: 38-7, Burnet) >> Burnet scored 28 points after halftime, morphing a close game into a blowout in a hurry
China Spring (W: 31-20, Fischer Canyon Lake) >> Canyon Lake trailed by just four at the half and even held a third-quarter lead
Glen Rose (L: 49-44, Wimberley) >> Wimberley trailed 16-0 early in the first quarter, but RB Dennis Smith rushes for 5 TDs after that

11-3A

FW Castleberry (L: 63-0, Alvarado) >> Castleberry can't get to 100 offensive yards, but Alvarado RB Broam Hart is injured in the first half
Lake Worth (W: 31-21, Kaufman) >> Don't overlook Lake Worth -- Joel Rockmore runs for two touchdowns as the district champs stays hot
Dallas Madison (L: 24-17, Kennedale) >> Kennedale's score with less than a minute to play propels it past Madison; Kennedale passed once all night

17-3A

Gilmer (W: 57-21, Jasper) >> Jasper tests Gilmer in a way few 3A teams can, but Buckeyes are unbeaten for a good reason
Tatum (L: 42-21, Center) >> Center chalks up 35 unanswered points against Tatum after the Eagles got out to a 21-7 lead
Gladewater (L: 48-0, Carthage) >> Like Gilmer-Jasper, there are few teams, if any, in Class 3A that can knock off Gilmer or Carthage

21-3A

Silsbee (W: 54-35, Huffman Hargrave) >> QB Jeremy Johnson throws for 139 yards, rushes for 139 yards and chalks up three total touchdowns
West Orange-Stark (L: 41-36, Oakhurst) >> West Orange-Stark falls wayyyyy behind, comes all the way back to take a 29-25 lead ... and then loses it late
Bridge City (L: 44-17, Cleveland) >> The Cleveland defense pitches a second-half shutout after the Indians led by just 7 at the halfway point

26-3A

Needville (L: 43-36, Sealy) >> Needville trailed early, 21-0, but took a late fourth quarter lead -- only to see a 76-yard TD run by Sealy wipe it all away
Brookshire Royal (W: 40-21, Giddings) >> This is not the place we thought 26-3A would earn its stripes, but the Royal run game was tough to stop
Sweeny (L: 48-27, La Grange) >> That La Grange offense was just too much in the only game between 25-26 3A that went as we expected