Little SWC vs RGV
It was a tough Week 5 for the Rio Grande Valley as it dropped four of the five matchups with the teams from West Texas out of District 2-6A, also known as the Little Southwest Conference. On Friday night, things got started as Odessa Permian rolled past Los Fresnos 56-0 in a game at Ratliff Stadium. On Saturday, Harlingen travelled to the Permian Basin and dropped a 51-31 decision to Midland High, but the game wasn’t that close as Midland led 30-0 in the first half. Odessa High took the long road trip down to the Valley and after a slow start, the Bronchos pulled away for a 44-17 win over Harlingen South.

The only neutral site contest also featured the only win for a school from the Rio Grande Valley as Brownsville Hanna used a stifling defensive effort to stun favored Amarillo Tascosa 35-19 at Farris Stadium in San Antonio. The final game of the day on Saturday was another lopsided affair as Midland Lee blasted San Benito 49-0. The Rebels jumped out to a 42-0 halftime lead and cruised in the second half en route to the easy victory. Midland Lee had three one-play scoring drives in the first half. The closest game of the five contests was the lone RGV win, as Hanna won by 16 points. The four Little SWC wins were all decided by 20 points or more. All 10 teams involved in this series will take next week off before jumping into respective district schedules.

TWELVE TD passes?
Yes, you read that right. A quarterback playing 11-man football threw an incredible 12 touchdown passes in a game Friday night. Stamford quarterback Peyton Bevil threw for an eye popping 789 yards and 12 (!!) touchdowns in the Bulldogs 90-62 win over DeLeon Friday night. Bevil’s 12 touchdowns went to four different receivers with Tre Mitchell leading the way with eight catches for 305 yards and three touchdowns. In total the game featured 152 points, 55 first downs and 1,613 yards of total offense.

Mansfield Lake Ridge announces themselves to Class 6A
If you weren’t already a believer in the Mansfield Lake Ridge Eagles, they certainly made believers out of most of us Thursday night, as Kirk Thor’s squad pulled off a thrilling 34-29 win over powerhouse DeSoto to improve to 4-1 on the season and more importantly 2-0 in District 7-6A. Lake Ridge won the game in spite of four turnovers and an empty possession in which it moved inside the DeSoto five-yard line and came away with zero points. After leading 28-16 in the third quarter, DeSoto rallied to take a 29-28 lead with 1:27 remaining in the game, but with two timeouts left QB Chandler Rogers calmly led Lake Ridge down the field and with six seconds left lofted a perfect 35-yard touchdown pass to Keylon Johnson to lift LRHS to the massive win and putting them squarely in the district title discussion.

Laredo Alexander getting defensive
First-year head coach Sergio Salinas has the Bulldogs off to a big start at 4-1 after Laredo Alexander won their District 29-6A opener on Thursday night with a dominant 30-0 win over Laredo LBJ. It was a sensational effort on the defensive side of the ball for AHS as the Bulldogs defense in the victory held LBJ to just 26 yards of offense for the entire game.

A push from Paris
The Paris Wildcats have been overlooked in 7-4A Division I by known state powers Argyle, Celina and Melissa, but that is starting to change after the Wildcats won their third game in a row Friday night knocking off Melissa 28-25 at Wildcat Stadium.  Paris trailed 25-9 late in the third quarter but scored 19 straight points down the stretch to rally for the win, Dorian Williams who ran for 99 yards scored two of the three touchdowns down the stretch to give the Wildcats the big district opening victory. The Wildcats now own wins over Gilmer and Melissa and are establishing themselves as a team to watch in Region II.

Lorena Makes a Statement
In a battle of top 10 teams from District 8-4A Division II, Lorena rolled past Fairfield to remain undefeated with a dominant 41-13 victory. Special teams were huge for the Leopards early on as strong play from that unit gave LHS a big early lead in the first quarter and Ray Biles’ squad never looked back. After not starting the year ranked highly in any publication, the Leopards are making quite the case as a bona fide regional title contender in Class 4A Division II Region II.

Atlanta gets on the board
One team that’s been tough to get a read on early on has been the Atlanta Rabbits. Atlanta lost its first four games of the season, losing three games to Class 4A opponents and its one loss to a 3A opponent was to unbeaten Gladewater. The Rabbits finally got it going last week rolling past Redwater 54-6 as the Rabbits rushed for 363 yards and finished with 532 yards of total offense in the win. It’s too early to sell your stock on Atlanta as the Rabbits have been known to start slow and get going later in the year. In 2003 when Atlanta won its last state title, it started the season at 1-4 and rattled off 11 straight wins to bring home a state championship. Don’t be surprised if Atlanta gets a hot streak going and is in contention late in the year.

Alvin Shadow Creek is for real
Head Coach Brad Butler’s squad made quite the statement to the entire state Friday night as the Sharks stunned state ranked and previously undefeated Angleton 35-14. QB Jamarion George led the way for SCHS throwing for 250 yards and three touchdowns on just 11 completions, while the speedy Sharks defense forced three turnovers in the win. Even more stunning is Shadow Creek is getting it done in its first season competing at the varsity level and at 4-0 on the year. Shadow Creek has served notice that it will be a contender in District 10-5A Division I, known in the Houston area as The Little SEC.

Shiner upsets Goliad
Head coach Steven Cerny’s squad continues to make their case as the top team in Class 2A Division I as the Shiner Comanches knocked off consensus Class 3A Division I top five squad Goliad 21-20 on the road at Tiger Stadium. Shiner’s defense has been stellar all year and was key in the win containing one of the most explosive offensive attacks in South Texas and improving to 5-0 on the season. However, it was RB Donyai Taylor who provided the winning margin hauling in a 49-yard touchdown pass from QB Tyler Mikes. Taylor finished the night with 254 yards of offense and three total touchdowns. Goliad did play the game without a couple of key skill players who were a little dinged up, so Tigers fans shouldn’t be too concerned about the close loss to a very strong Shiner bunch.

State title rematch in Mart
The much-anticipated Class 2A Division I state championship rematch in Mart didn’t turn out to be much of a game as Mart destroyed the Bobcats to the tune of 41-8 on Friday night. Mart’s defense shutdown a struggling Refugio offense and the ground game led by Tyrek Horne, Shatydrick Bailey and new QB Kyler Martin was more than enough for Mart to blow this game open in the second half. The loss drops Refugio to 3-2 on the year and the Bobcats new option based offense just hasn’t gotten rolling yet and there are some definite concerns about this Refugio team who in three of its five games has seen its offense slowed considerably.