Crosby (11-3) vs Liberty Hill (12-0)

7:30 p.m. Friday at Bryan’s Green Stadium

Crosby has made a habit of taking down state-ranked teams in the playoffs, having defeated the fifth, fourth and third-ranked teams in 5A DII.

They’ll face their fourth straight top 10 opponent in the seventh-ranked Liberty Hill Panthers this week; the Panthers are playing inspired football after the death of their head coach Jeff Walker before the start of the playoffs and is a team that’s captured the imagination of the state with their Slot-T offense.

Crosby took down two-time defending regional champion Fort Bend Marshall, 37-28, last week despite QB Deniquez Dunn being hobbled with an ankle injury.

Trailing 21-9 early in the fourth quarter, the Cougars exploded for four touchdowns with WR Reggie Branch leading the way. Branch split time at QB with Dunn and rushed for 200 yards and three touchdowns; he also chipped in 71 receiving yards and a touchdown.

Dunn, who wasn’t able to move around like he normally does, showed plenty of grit throwing for 133 yards and a touchdown.

Liberty Hill ran for an incredible 717 yards last week and they needed every single yard as they held off a game effort from Mission Pioneer in a thrilling 56-53 win.

LHHS didn’t complete a single pass in the game, but the Panthers averaged over 13 yards per carry with Blake Simpson leading the way throwing up 312 yards and five touchdowns. Trey Seward chipped in 194 yards and a touchdown rushing, while Eric De La Cruz added 189 yards and two touchdowns.

One thing to watch for in this showdown are the health of Dunn; if he’s able to move around better, the Crosby offense may overwhelm Liberty Hill with their speed.

But the biggest keys are on the other side of the ball. Can the Crosby defense, which has been playing their best football of the year, find a way to slow the incredible tempo of the Liberty Hill attack? I think Crosby’s speed and size, which Liberty Hill hasn’t seen since their 4A title appearance against La Vega, will be too much.

Stepp’s Pick: Crosby by 6