Weather impacts for the second straight week
For the second straight week, Mother Nature had quite the impact on Texas high school football and forced a slew of games scheduled for Friday night along the coast to get moved to Thursday night. The entire Corpus Christi area saw its games played Thursday, including my scheduled Friday game pitting George West at Goliad.

There was a large slate of games in the Rio Grande Valley that were moved to Thursday as well. There were also a few cancellations, most notably El Paso Del Valle-Hutto and Converse Judson-Harlingen. The DFW area which bore the brunt of weather impacts last week was expected to be spared of the rough weather, but there were impacts and several games called early, most notably Allen-Coppell.

Newton handles West Orange-Stark in Golden Triangle showdown
As mentioned earlier, West Orange-Stark is off to a 1-2 start on the year, partly due to the dominance of Class 3A Newton who has staked its claim early on as the state’s best pound-for- pound team after an impressive 21-7 win over 4A WOS Friday night. Newton got big plays in the win from its trio of TCU commits and the defensive unit rose to the occasion on a sloppy track down in Orange. The Eagles won the game without head coach W.T. Johnston on the sidelines as he missed the game to receive medical treatment. The Eagles have a chance to make another major statement in two weeks when they host another 4A powerhouse in Gilmer.

Big rushing performances
A week ago, we had a rash of big-time rushing performances with at least six running backs statewide topping the 300-yard mark on the ground. In this day of wide-open spread offenses, we thought maybe that last week was an aberration. But wow we were wrong. The huge rushing performances continued in Week 3. Victoria West’s Tyvon Hardick, El Paso Americas’ Aaron Dumas, Benbrook’s Quintan Jackson, McKinney’s Cordrick Dunn, Dallas Hillcrest’s Nasir Reynolds and Birdville’s Laderrious Mixon all topped 300 yards rushing.

Alto’s Vidareious High had an incredible 420 rushing yards in the ‘Jackets’ win over New Diana, while Pettus RB John Hodge also ran for 420 yards and six touchdowns Friday evening and they were only second in total yards rushing. We also had some big touchdown efforts as well. On Thursday South Garland RB Jaquarion Turner ran for 196 yards in seven touchdowns in the Colonels’ win over Dallas Molina. While Fort Worth South Hills RB Anthony Watkins topped them all with a silly performance as he ran for nine touchdowns and an incredible 509 yards in the Scorpions win over Saginaw.

Highland Park gets it done with defense
Through two games the Highland Park Scots, led by junior QB Chandler Morris, appeared to be an offensive juggernaut and much like last year in their playoff run, they needed to put up some big offensive numbers to win games. Thursday night that wasn’t the case as HP won a 10-7 slugfest over Frisco Lone Star in a top 10 matchup. Highland Park’s defense forced three Lone Star turnovers and held the Rangers to just 268 yards of offense, while kicker Hudson Clark lifted HPHS to the win nailing a 22-yard field goal as time expired to keep Highland Park perfect at 3-0 on the young season.

District play kicking up statewide
Last week we just had a couple of districts get going with early district play, but we had several more start up district play in Week 3 as the nine-team districts got it going. We start in two of the 10-team districts in the state where a couple of key games that could decide the district title took place. In San Antonio, the District 28-6A race is starting to take shape as San Antonio O’Connor earned a key victory knocking off San Antonio Warren 14-7 in a defensive struggle on Friday night. Down in the Rio Grande Valley, the battle of the schools named Veterans Memorial took place Saturday night and most felt the 16-5A Division I title was on the line and it was Mission Veterans Memorial and its powerful offense pulled away from Brownsville Veterans Memorial 45-28. In 12-6A, Belton took home a key early district win knocking off longtime rival Copperas Cove 35-28 to set the tone as a team that can compete with Waco Midway and Temple for the district title. Cypress Ranch, for the third week in a row, rallied from a deficit to earn a win and this one was a massive win as the Mustangs opened 14-6A play with a 31-24 win over Houston Langham Creek. Down in Austin in 13-6A, Austin Vandegrift opened district play ending Round Rock Cedar Ridge’s district winning streak with a 17-14 win. The Vipers can put an early stranglehold on the district race with a win next week against unbeaten Pflugerville Hendrickson. In 25-6A, Lake Travis jumped out to a 42-7 halftime lead on Austin Bowie and cruised in the second half for a 42-28 win.

Mason handling larger scho

There’s no question who the top small school program in the Concho Valley is this year as the Mason Punchers have firmly established their place with three straight wins over 3A opponents to start the year. In Week 1, Mason took down Class 3A Division I powerhouse Wall 27-21 and after blowing past 3A Division II Johnson City in Week 2, the Punchers had a chance to end any questions about playing larger schools on Friday night at the Puncherdome against 3A Division II Sonora. Mason made quite the statement in the rain and shut out 3A Division II power Sonora 27-0 as its defense limited the Broncos to just six first downs, -16 yards rushing and just 59 total yards. The Punchers are 3-0 this year and won their 36th straight game in the Puncher Dome, where they haven’t lost since 2010.

Katy Tompkins off to a flying start
Before this season, Katy Tompkins had never won more than three games in a season, but second-year head coach Todd McVey has the Falcons flying high after an impressive 70-7 win over Alvin on Friday night. That win puts Tompkins at 3-0 and squarely in the discussion as a playoff contender in Katy ISD. We thought Tompkins would be much-improved this season as a veteran squad returned with a full off-season in McVey’s system and THS showed some promise this summer in 7-on-7 as well. Katy Tompkins closes out the non-district slate next week against Clear Creek and then step into district play on September 28 against Katy Seven Lakes.

Everman and Arlington Seguin love the 7-0 game
For the second time in three seasons, Everman and Arlington Seguin played a game that ended in a final score of 7-0. In 2016, Arlington Seguin stunned Everman at home 7-0, scoring on the game’s opening drive and then holding on down the stretch. That loss proved to be the key game in Everman’s 17-year playoff streak ending that season. The two teams played another absolute defensive struggled on Friday night as Everman turned the tables knocking Seguin off 7-0 in maybe the most incredible way possible as Everman DB DeAndre Tolliver returned an interception 99 yards on the final play of the game to lift the Bulldogs to the win. The win was also special for Everman head coach Dale Matlock who got his first win as a head coach after a longtime stint as Dale Keeling’s defensive coordinator.

Kaufman makes a statement
In their first district game as a Class 5A school, Coach Jeramy Burleson’s squad showed no signs of being intimidated as Kaufman improved to 2-0 after a dominating 37-7 win over Class 5A power Ennis. Kaufman, after back-to-back strong runs in Class 4A, wasn’t considered among the favorites in District 8-5A Division II, but consider the statement made. The Lions are a team to watch.

Class 4A Division II upheaval
Is there any division that looks to be more wide open than Class 4A Division II at the moment? Defending state champion Texarkana Pleasant Grove is off to a 3-0 start, but the Hawks haven’t looked nearly as dominant as they did a year ago. Gilmer has also not appeared to be its usual dominating selves and it was evident in a 27-21 loss to a Paris team that was winless. Cuero is 2-1, but the Gobblers have dealt with injuries and inconsistent play early on. Perennial power Graham is struggling at 0-3 and West Orange-Stark, who has played for the state title four straight years, is off to a slow 1-2 start as well. This could be a year that an unknown team really rises up and makes a run. Teams to watch early on are Sweeny, Jasper, Fairfield and Lubbock Estacado.