The 5 Best Teams That DIDN'T Make the Playoffs

6A: Rockwall Yellowjackets

Rockwall, the team that ended North Crowley’s 34-game regular season winning streak in Week 4, finished 4-6 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2012. 

You are what your record is, but not all schedules are equal. Rockwall played in one of the state’s most competitive districts (10-6A) and endured a non-district gauntlet. The Yellowjackets lost 28-20 to undefeated Lake Travis and 28-21 to Lewisville, who finished 8-2. In district play, Rockwall jumped out to a 22-0 first-quarter lead over Forney before losing a 48-47 heartbreaker. A 47-41 loss in Week 9 to rival Rockwall-Heath, the Yellowjackets’ fourth one-score loss, mathematically eliminated them from playoff contention.

5A: Leander Rouse Raiders

Leander Rouse finished 6-4, averaged 41.8 points per game, had a senior quarterback in London Morgan who threw for 32 touchdowns and 3 interceptions and beat perennial power Liberty Hill in Week 2. Yet it missed the playoffs for the first time since 2019. 

The Raiders’ 24-21 win over 7-3 Georgetown East View gave it a puncher’s chance heading into the final week of the regular season, but a four-game losing streak from September 11 to October 10 was too much to overcome. A 35-33 loss to Georgetown, which played for the District 8-5A DI Championship, shows how competitive this district was.

4A: Lago Vista Vikings

Lago Vista reached at least the third round of the playoffs in four of the last five seasons, but the Vikings’ 6-4 (3-3) record kept them on the outside of the postseason. Lago Vista gave itself a shot to sneak in with a regular-season finale 21-17 win against Wimberley. Instead, that game is indicative of the quality team that’s left out of the postseason. 

Lago Vista’s three district losses all came by one score, showing the razor-thin margin of error in District 13-4A DII, where five of the seven teams finished with a winning record. Lago Vista lost 29-28 to 7-3 Salado and 35-28 to 8-2 Jarrell. The loss that truly doomed their playoff hopes was a 34-28 defeat to Gonzales, which gave Gonzales the crucial tiebreaker needed to qualify over Lago Vista. It’s the first time Gonzales has made the playoffs since 2018, and the first time Lago Vista has missed the playoffs since 2018.

3A: Ponder Lions

Head coach Marcus Schulz told Dave Campbell’s Texas Football in late September that this Ponder team was probably the best he’d been part of since the state champion Gainesville Leopards in 2003. The Lions roared to the first 4-0 start in school history behind an offense that was averaging 67.5 points per game. But Ponder lost four of its final five district games averaging 24 points per game. 

Under further examination, Ponder’s non-district slate proved weaker as the season went on. They scheduled up against 4A teams, but Venus and Bonham finished 0-10 and Gainesville finished 1-8. A 20-14 loss on October 31 to No.2-ranked Paradise displayed how even District 4-3A DI was this season.

2A: Timpson Bears

From 2020 to 2023, Timpson went 55-3 with a state championship win. The Bears have now missed the playoffs in each of the two years since superstar athlete Terry Bussey and head coach Kerry Therwhanger. 

New head coach Patrick Gandy’s squad has been ultra-competitive, missing the playoffs by one game each season. Timpson finished 4-6, with three of those losses coming by one score (to 7-3 Hooks, 6-4 Joaquin and 3-7 Shelbyville). The Shelbyville loss sealed its playoff-less fate, as both teams finished with 2-3 District 11-2A DI records. A 34-13 win in the regular-season finale over 7-3 San Augustine showed this program’s potential when they put it all together.