Amarillo Tascosa (2-1) at El Paso Americas (3-0):
If you like physical football and teams who like to run, then this might be your game. Both Amarillo Tascosa and El Paso Americas have an identity and it lies with running the ball, not the spread. Both teams get it done in different ways. Tascosa lines up in the flexbone and comes at you from multiple angles with multiple ball carriers, while El Paso Americas likes to primarily use one of the state’s top junior running backs in Aaron Dumas. Last week, Tascosa rolled past cross-town rival Amarillo Palo Duro, 49-7, in what can only be described as a total domination. The Rebels had 552 yards of offense, while allowing just 101 yards of offense to Palo Duro. QB Joseph Plunk ran for 165 yards and four touchdowns, pacing a ground attack that had six different backs gain at least 40 yards on the ground.

Americas went on the road last week, leaving the state and travelling to Las Cruces, N.M. and leaving with a big 55-14 win over Onate HS. The story of the game was both positive and negative for the Trail Blazers as RB Aaron Dumas went wild, rolling up 373 yards rushing and seven touchdowns, but head coach Patrick Melton can’t be happy about all the penalties he committed. (Granted the rules in New Mexico are different and often times TXHSFB teams get high penalty numbers when playing out of state). The bottom line for Americas is the team needs to play a clean game to pull the upset at home. AHS will match up with Tascosa at the skill spots, but the Rebels have a big size advantage in the trenches. If the Trail Blazers can neutralize that edge and find ways to get Tascosa off schedule in the early downs, they’ll have a chance to hang around in this one.

Stepp’s Pick: Amarillo Tascosa by 13

Arlington Martin (2-0) at Rockwall (2-1):
Arlington Martin opened the season with a pair of impressive wins, then in an odd twist, took Week 3 off and will now play eight straight games to finish out the season. When we last saw the Warriors, they were involved in one of the oddest games of the year two weeks ago beating Hebron, 33-14. It was a game in which Martin actually held a 24-0 halftime lead despite -38 yards of offense in the first half. Martin ended with just 131 yards of offense and only nine first downs, but because of defense and special teams they found a way to get the win. They’ll need to be a bit more efficiency this week on offense, because asking for a repeat performance against an explosive offense like Rockwall is a challenge.

The ‘Jackets are putting up well over 50-points per game and last week’s 58-33 win over previously unbeaten Arlington Bowie won’t hurt the average. RB Khalil Catlett ran for 103 yards and four touchdowns, while WR Jackson Smith-Njigba had 158 yards receiving and a pair of touchdowns for RHS. The key in this game is Martin’s advantage in the special teams this week will be negated as Rockwall is always outstanding in the kicking game as well, so this game will come down to the Martin defense. Can they find a way to slow Rockwall down enough to give their offense, (which isn’t the most explosive) a chance to at least keep pace? Martin is the higher ranked team going into this one, but this looks like a bad matchup for the Warriors.

Stepp’s Pick: Rockwall by 9