With Friday's announcement that the Southwest Preparatory Conference was cancelling all of its organization's fall sports and the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools' prior decision that its schools would not play their first football games until the weekend of September 24-26, the spotlight shines brightly on independent and homeschool teams in addition to members of three other private and parochial school organizations.

Teams in the Texas Christian Athletic Fellowship (TCAF), the Texas Christian Athletic League (T-CAL) and the Texas Association of Independent Athletic Organizations (TAIAO) will kick off their seasons this weekend.

Two of the marquee games will feature San Antonio Cornerstone Christian traveling to Corpus Christi's Phil Danaher Field to take on Calallen, who advanced to its third regional final in four years last year going 13-2, while Cedar Hill Trinity Christian (0-1), coming off a 27-26 loss Friday night in Jackson, Mississippi to Madison-Ridgeland Academy, will travel to Knoxville, Tennessee to square off against Knoxville Catholic.

Cedar Hill Trinity Christian's contest is scheduled to be televised nationally on ESPN's networks at 12 noon on Saturday.

The Fighting Irish Friday night shut out its first week opponent, Afton Chuckey-Doak, 49-0, as junior quarterback Kaden Martin, the son of University of Tennessee assistant head coach and national championship winning quarterback for the Vols, Tee Martin, ran for a pair of touchdowns and threw for a third while throwing for 138 yards as Knoxville Catholic roared for 42 second-quarter points.

Cedar Hill Trinity Christian will look again to Florida Atlantic commit, quarterback Shadeur Sanders to lead the way.  Sanders ran for a touchdown and add another to Kavion Williams in the loss to the defending MAIS 6A champions.

The Tigers were just under two minutes away from leaving Mississippi with a 26-20 win, but a fumbled handoff on a reverse call at the Tigers’ 12-year line gave MRA the opportunity to score the winning touchdown from 10 yards out with seven seconds left to play.

The Warriors of Cornerstone Christian will be take on Calallen led by Arkansas quarterback commit Lucas Coley, who ran and threw for more than 1,000 yards last year while accounting for 28 scores.

The rest of the 11-man schedule features Dallas Home School Athletic Association (HSAA) rebranded for 2020 as the Nike Dallas Football Club traveling north to avenge a 12-6, double overtime loss to the Oklahoma City Patriots, Waco Texas Wind heading up Highway 6 to Hico and Cedar Hill Newman International Academy squaring off against UIL 3A Dallas Gateway Charter.

The Cedar Hill DasCHE Spartans will also travel to Malakoff to take on Cross Roads High School Friday night

Lewisville Founders Classical Academy was set to open with Tomball Christian Homeschool in Spring on Saturday evening, but have cancelled over COVID-19 concerns.

Athletic director Kevin Frost confirmed via e-mail saying, “Yes, because of the high number of cases in the area my district is not wanting us to travel.

“I am aware this is a major inconvenience, however we thought it was the most prudent thing to do.”

A limited card of 13 six-man games will see three 2019 state champions begin their title defenses on Friday night, including a rematch of last year’s T-CAL Division II state championship.

Burnet Smoking for Jesus Ministry Christian School will travel to Sherman  to take on Grayson Christian School, who defeated Smoking for Jesus 82-51 in the title contest.

TAIAO champions Bastrop Tribe Consolidated and Victoria Home School will open their seasons against the Brazos Valley Mustangs (also Bryan Christian Home School or BVCHEA) and the Fort Bend Chargers, respectively.

Coach Brent Goleman’s Warriors, 12-1 a year ago to take the TAIAO Division I crown, will look again to RB Samuel Osborn, who ran for 2,368 yards and 48 TD’s last year, to lead the way. 

Friday night’s game with the Mustangs will be at Baker Field on the campus of Allen Academy and will be broadcast by the Lone Star Christian Sports Network at 7:30 p.m.  The game can be heard on LSCSN.

Running backs Dawson Roach and Kelson Schoonover will get the bulk of the carries for the TAIAO Division II defending champion Cobras as they will host the Chargers at 12 noon on Saturday.

One of the most competitive matches on Friday evening is expected to be between TCAF Division II non-district foes Azle Christian School and Waco Parkview Christian Academy.

Gary Rushing’s Crusaders at Azle went 8-4 a year ago and athlete Gabriel Ellis and running back Camden Logan will lead the office while coach Josh Hayes expects big things from college prospect C.J. Lanehart, who checks in at 6’4”, 240 pounds.

Two homeschool teams – San Antonio FEAST Homeschool and Stephenville Faith – will draw top ten UIL opponents in Leakey and Union Hill, respectively. 

Stephenville Faith and Gilmer Union Hill will square off Friday afternoon in Throckmorton at 5 p.m.

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Jon Walk is a contributor to the Lone Star Christian Sports Network, one of the state's top sources for private school sports news and information. Check out LSCSN.com and the LSCSN Facebook page for more.