The Best Game Every Week of the 2025 TXHSFB Season
A Week 1 bEast Texas showdown between Kilgore and Carthage and the DeSoto vs Duncanville rivalry headline the best games for every week of the 2025 season.
DCTX wrote about this matchup for the top non-district games in Class 4A.
Class 2A Refugio and Class 3A Edna, located just under 65 miles away from each other north of Corpus Christi, have played a non-district football game every year dating back to 2020. Edna got its first victory over Refugio in that span last season in a 42-35 thriller.
These two historic programs have relatively green head coaches. Refugio’s Drew Crox went 11-2 in his first season at the helm. The vast majority of TXHSFB programs would be ecstatic with that record; Refugio has a bitter taste in its mouth after missing out on the regional finals for the first time in 17 years. Jamie Dixon is in his eighth overall season as a head coach, but his first at Edna. He inherits a program that has won double-digit games in four straight years, topping out with a 14-1 mark in 2024.
Refugio had three wide receivers (Laytyn Garza, Mikel Brown and Fabien Garza) who made the All-District 16-2A DI team. But the passing attack will have to contend with an Edna defense that boasts a top-five secondary unit and defensive line unit in Class 3A. Defensive end Hunter Buehring (82 tackles, 11 sacks) is the preseason Class 3A Defensive Player of the Year, while free safety Trevor Floyd is a preseason All-State selection.
Edna’s inexperienced offensive line will need to grow up quickly. Refugio defensive end Kolton Taylor had 11 sacks in his own right last season, while linebacker Zander Wills (130 tackles) is a preseason All-State selection.
Tidehaven head coach David Lucio was Ganado head coach Josh Ervin’s peewee football coach, and later high school offensive coordinator, at Bay City. Lucio says that experience coaching peewee football convinced him to become a coach after his military career. This matchup between Ganado and Tidehaven has been decades in the making.
Tidehaven returns 17 of 22 starters, including quarterback Kale Russell, who has compiled a 30-0 district record and 12-3 playoff record as the Tigers’ starting QB since his freshman year. Tidehaven has the edge in experience over the reigning Class 2A DI state champions, but will that be enough to overcome the hostile environment on the road?
Ganado running back Logan Bures (140 carries, 1,398 yards, 15 touchdowns) will have tough sledding against Tidehaven linebacker Bryce Sliva (164 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, 3 forced fumbles, 2 INTs, 2 sacks) and preseason Texas Football magazine All-State defensive back TJ Galvan.
DCTX recently named District 9-5A DII the toughest district in Class 5A. Preseason No. 1 Richmond Randle, No. 5 Iowa Colony and No. 7 Fort Bend Marshall make it the only district in Classes 6A-2A with three teams in the preseason top 10.
Randle, the defending state champions, has one of Class 5A’s top linebacker duos in Ryan Mallory and TCU commit Noriel “Pac-Man” Dominguez. But the Lions don’t return many starters on defense, and the fresh faces will need to grow up fast before facing Marshall in the district opener and Iowa Colony in Week 5.
Iowa Colony has one of the state’s top pass-catch duos in quarterback Carson White and wide receiver Jayden Warren, a Houston commit. White, a junior, has already led Iowa Colony to back-to-back 12-win seasons. Plus, the Pioneers will be motivated after Randle handed them their only two losses of the season last year.
Preseason No. 3 Denton Ryan hosting No. 1 Aledo could decide the district championship for 3-5A DI in Week 6. These two programs have developed a fierce rivalry as district opponents the past three seasons, and 2025 should be just as competitive.
Denton Ryan’s defensive line, headlined by preseason All-State defensive tackle Uzziah “Cookie” Warmate, is an unstoppable force with three starters back, all three-year starters. But Aledo’s offensive line, namely preseason All-State Payton Williams, is an immovable object that returns four of five starters.
While Ryan’s defensive line is dominant, the back end is unproven with three new starters in the secondary and two new starters at linebacker. Ryan cornerback Xaier Hiler, a First Team All-District selection in 2024 with five interceptions, against Aledo superstar wide receiver Kaydon Finley, a Notre Dame commit, is a critical matchup.
If Ryan loses the experience battle in the defensive skill positions to Aledo’s offensive skill positions, they gain an edge with senior quarterback Quin Henigan (2,657 yards, 32 TDs). Aledo has two options at quarterback that it feels great about in Lincoln Tubbs and Nash McElree, yet both would be a first-year starter.
Duncanville vs DeSoto is on the Mount Rushmore of TXHSFB rivalries, if not the outright best. The two programs have split the 34 matchups since 1972 at 17 apiece, with Duncanville holding recent bragging rights after a 42-20 win last year.
There will be future Power Four football players all over the field. DeSoto wide receiver Ethan “Boobie” Feaster, a USC commit, is a preseason All-State selection. Coach Claude Mathis has maintained that he could go down as the best wide receiver in DeSoto’s history since he started on the 2022 state championship team as a freshman.
But will DeSoto quarterback Legend Howell have time to get Feaster the football? The Eagles’ young offensive line faces two defensive ends (KJ Ford and Landon Barnes) ranked in the top 20 of the DCTX Hot 100.
Duncanville must replace Keelon Russell (Alabama) at quarterback, but whoever takes the reins will throw to three FBS wide receivers. Zachary Turner and Ayson Theus were First Team All-District 11-6A selections in 2024, while rising junior Trenton Yancey holds nearly 40 offers.
These two teams split their games in 2024. Bay City beat La Vernia, 40-21, in the regular season, but La Vernia had the last laugh with a 42-24 victory in the fourth round of the playoffs.
La Vernia head coach Brian Null led the Bears to the best season in program history (11-4 record, state semifinals berth) in his first year at the helm. But Bay City is also on the come-up. Coach Robert Jones brought the Blackcats to their highest win total (12-2) since the 2003 season.
The strengths of both of those teams return in 2025. La Vernia running back Sean Garza is a preseason All-State selection after rushing for 2,120 yards. He’ll have to fight for yards against Bay City’s three returning all-district 15-4A DI linebackers. Jones calls senior James Copeland (142 tackles) the heartbeat of the defense. Senior Davont’A Harris led the team with three interceptions for 100 return yards, including a touchdown. Fellow senior Jordan O’Neal notched 60 tackles.
Westlake is 6-1 against Lake Travis since 2017 and has ended its rival’s season in the fourth round of the playoffs two years in a row.
Westlake quarterback Rees Wise, an Ole Miss commit, is a three-year starter with his eyes set on a return to the state championship for his final season. But he’ll be tested by a Lake Travis defense that boasts two Power Four defensive linemen in preseason All-State pick Carter Buck (TCU) and Ben Duncum (Kentucky).
Lake Travis running back Vann Hopping (1,531 yards, 29 TDs) could run wild once again behind an offensive line that brings back three of five starters, headlined by senior Will Hesse. Westlake’s defensive-minded head coach Tony Salazar, the preseason 6A Coach of the Year in Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine, will bank on TCU commit Maddox Flynt to stop them.
Preseason No.6-ranked La Porte hosts No. 7 Angleton at its new $56 million stadium in the second-to-last week of the regular season with a potential District 11-5A DI Championship on the line. La Porte won the regular season matchup, 35-28, but Angleton ended its season in the fourth round of the playoffs in a 24-21 nail-biter.
La Porte has one of the top 2028 prospects in the nation in running back Sean Simon, who rushed for 1,609 yards and 21 touchdowns as a freshman despite sharing carries with graduated senior and District Offensive MVP Tyresse Barnes (East Texas Baptist). Angleton will benefit from playing this game late in the year. The Wildcats’ front seven, which was fantastic in 2024, has to replace linebackers Kaden Edwards (Navarro) and Raydin Garcia (UTPB). Coach Jason Brittain counts on another huge season from defensive end Brynden Mack (62 tackles, 15 TFL, 8 sacks).
Garrison throttled Joaquin 34-8 in the final game of the regular season last year. Joaquin limped into the playoffs as a four-seed with a 3-2 district record, but outlasted all their rivals by reaching the state semifinals. Joaquin’s run, just a year after a 2-8 season, was a Cinderella story for TXHSFB fans. Now, the Rams are ready for the sequel.
Junior RB/S Cooper Bragg (881 all-purpose yards) and senior WR/CB Max Garvin plan for big years with protection from guard Aiden Kilpatrick and tight end Conner Rios. But Garrison has plenty of offensive weapons returning. It starts with running back Avery Yarbrough, whose blend of shiftiness and power resulted in 1,155 yards and 10 touchdowns. Junior quarterback Riley McGuire excelled off the bench as a sophomore after the starter was injured for the year, leading the Bulldogs to nine wins and earning District 11-2A DI Newcomer of the Year.
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