These teams could all be playing in December. Instead, half of them will be done before Thanksgiving. 

DCTX Playoff Central

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6A DI: Waco Midway vs Waxahachie

Waxahachie shared the District 11-6A title with DeSoto and Duncanville, and they’re rewarded with a trip to Waco for a tricky first-round matchup against an underrated Waco Midway team. The Panthers are 9-1, with the one loss coming by three points to Killeen Harker Heights.

This game has multiple intriguing matchups. First off, how does Waco Midway running back Lathan Whisenton (1,405 yards and 24 TD) fare against Waxahachie’s dynamic LB tandem of Damarion Cooper and Kaden Tolleson? Can Waco Midway head coach Joe Gillespie, the former TCU defensive coordinator, scheme the defense to stop TCU QB commit Jerry Meyer III and Texas WR commit Kohen Brown? 

Matt Stepp has Waxahachie in the regional final against Duncanville. But Waxahachie has a tough road to get there. If they get past Waco Midway, they’ll most likely have to face North Forney and Ohio State commit Legend Bey in the area round.

6A DII: Austin Vandegrift vs Austin Westlake

Last year’s 6A DII State Champion (Vandegrift) takes on last year’s 6A DI State Finalist (Westlake). Austin Bowie making the playoffs bumped Austin Westlake down to Division II, giving us this big-brand box-office matchup in Round One. 

This game features one of the week’s best quarterback matchups with Vandegrift’s Miles Teodecki (Kansas State commit) and Westlake’s Rees Wise (Ole Miss commit). But both head coaches, Vandegrift’s Drew Sanders and Westlake’s Tony Salazar, are defensive guys who could confuse the quarterbacks with their schemes. 

Both teams have shown excellence when playing to their paper, but they’ve also shown vulnerabilities. Vandegrift was blown out by Dripping Springs 41-14 in Week 1. While Dripping Springs ended up going 9-1 (and beating Westlake), Vandegrift’s 17-14 loss against Round Rock McNeil was an upset. Westlake lost in Week 1 to Prosper, then gave up 10 sacks to Lake Travis and allowed 45 points to Dripping Springs. What versions of these teams do we get in the first round?

5A DI: La Porte vs Pflugerville Weiss

On our Monday Playoff Preview Show, we found out La Porte is Matt Stepp’s Class 5A DI State Championship pick and Pflugerville Weiss is Mallory Hartley’s Region III Champion. Both these teams have the talent to play in December, and one of them will be done before Thanksgiving. 

These two offenses are electric, but in different ways. Weiss slings the ball around the yard with QB Jaxon Schad, who is second among all sophomores with 42 touchdown passes. Three wide receivers have over 670 receiving yards, headlined by DCTX Four-Star Tre Moore’s 1,281 yards and 17 touchdowns. La Porte, meanwhile, has Sean Simon, one of the nation’s best running backs in the class of 2028, with over 2,000 yards, and another 1,000-yard rusher in Ashton Ruffin.  

“La Porte is either going to win by three touchdowns, or Weiss is gonna upset them,” Stepp said on the latest Tep and Stepp.

5A DII: Argyle vs Lovejoy

Greg Tepper referred to Argyle vs Lovejoy as the state’s best coaching matchup in the bi-district round. It’s the Todd Bowl between Argyle’s Todd Rodgers and Lovejoy’s Todd Dodge, who have combined for 138 career playoff victories. 

Argyle, whom three of six DCTX employees picked as the regional champion, is the clear favorite. The Eagles made defensive adjustments in the back end that rectified that unit after a Week 1 blowout loss to Frisco Lone Star. Landon Howald was moved from cornerback to safety, while sophomore Brayden Offner has emerged as a lockdown corner. 

That secondary will be tested against Dodge’s spread attack. Senior QB Jacob Janecek, a Stephen F. Austin commit in his second year in the system, has thrown for over 1,700 yards and rushed for 640 yards with 26 total touchdowns.

4A DI: Corpus Christi Calallen vs El Campo

Both Greg Tepper and Matt Stepp said on the most recent Tep and Stepp that the winner of this game is playing on Thanksgiving. Not only is this a battle of historic TXHSFB programs, it’s also a sibling rivalry between Calallen’s Charlie Reeve and El Campo’s Travis Reeve.

Last year, younger brother Charlie gained a year of bragging rights when his Calallen Wildcats beat El Campo 35-14. Calallen is making its 41st consecutive playoff appearance after an undefeated run through District 16-4A DI. The Wildcats’ defense has allowed 30 combined points in their last four games behind junior LB Josh Norval’s 98 tackles, 19 TFL and four sacks.

El Campo, meanwhile, enters this contest on a three-game losing streak in one of the toughest 4A districts, 15-4A DI. Travis Reeve is trying to prevent his Rice Birds from suffering a four-game skid to end the year like they did in 2024. El Campo has one of Class 4A’s top backfield tandems with Vladamir Garcia rushing for over 1,200 yards and Kylon Taylor gaining 923. 

4A DII: La Marque vs Hamshire-Fannett 

This game features a duel between two of the best sophomore quarterbacks in Class 4A. La Marque’s Deuce Walker and Hamshire-Fannett’s Blake Broussard aren’t playing like first-year starters, however. Walker has thrown for 2,174 yards, 21 TD and 1 INT, while Broussard has 1,948 yards, 17 TD and 1 INT.

La Marque has the marquee running back in Cory Hosea (1,426 yards, 11 yards per carry, 17 TD). But Hamshire-Fannett has the all-around athlete in senior Pierce Pirtle, who’s earned First Team All-District honors on both sides of the ball every year of his career. Pirtle has 140 tackles on the season, along with 431 receiving yards, 221 rushing yards and 10 total touchdowns. 

The bottom half of Class 4A DII Region III is an absolute meat grinder. Whoever wins this game will most likely face Bellville. If they get past Bellville, they’ll most likely see either Waco La Vega or Silsbee. Talk about a gauntlet.

3A DI: Winnsboro vs Atlanta

Matt Stepp picked Winnsboro to win Class 3A DI Region II, but he readily admitted Atlanta could beat them in the bi-district round. This game is a microcosm of the most chaotic region in the most chaotic classification. I also could’ve selected District 7-3A DI Champion Commerce facing Jefferson, a team ranked fourth in the state at one point.

“I mean this sincerely,” Greg Tepper said. “There are 16 teams in this region. There are about 14 that you could realistically tell me can win the region.”

Winnsboro has one of the best QB/WR duos in Class 3A DI with Nolee Carroll and Mississippi State commit Camden Capehart. In the eight games they’ve won, the Red Raiders have averaged over 56 points per game. But can Winnsboro’s defense hold on in the playoffs after surrendering 25.3 points per game this season?

Atlanta, meanwhile, is one of the most talented teams in East Texas with senior RB Jayden Riley and sophomore phenom CJ Whaley. But are the Rabbits ready for the moment with all the youth on their roster, including a freshman quarterback?

3A DII: Lexington vs Wallis Brazos

Lexington QB Kase Evans (Iowa State commit) against Wallis Brazos QB Jarvse Dickerson (Washington State commit) is as good a superstar battle as we’ll see in the first round of the small-school playoffs. 

Dickerson, who also doubles as a defensive back, helped lead Wallis Brazos to an 8-2 record one year after finishing 4-6. He’s been a star for first-year head coach Patrick Oliver’s turnaround campaign, a mission close to Oliver’s heart as a 2002 graduate of Wallis Brazos. 

Evans has one of the more decorated TXHSFB careers, starting every game for Lexington since his freshman season and compiling a 39-8 record. Despite battling the injury bug, the Eagles have scored less than 33 points in a game just once this season, and their only loss is by two points to Edna. They’re getting healthy at the right time.

2A DI: Panhandle vs Post

Panhandle was my preseason state championship pick, and it’s Matt Stepp’s current state championship pick. But the Panthers have a treacherous path, which begins in the bi-district round against a Post team that went 13-1 last season and returned 14 starters. Should they win, they’ll likely play Greg Powers’s regional championship pick, Cisco. If they get past those two tests, a date with either Anson or Ozona (who has RB Christian Villarreal chasing the single-season rushing record) awaits.

But Panhandle has its own superstar in QB Broxton Robinson (Army commit), who’s passed for 1,814 yards, rushed for 963 and scored 52 total touchdowns. He’s also the team’s leading tackler with 77 stops. 

Post recovered from two consecutive losses in the middle of the year and now enters the playoffs on a four-game win streak.

2A DII: Lindsay vs Hamlin

We don’t often see two 8-2 teams facing off in the first round of the Class 2A DII playoffs. The similarities don’t stop there - both these teams run the ball on a 3:1 ratio and are led by their senior dual-threat quarterbacks.

Hamlin QB Isaiah Hutchings suffered a torn ACL in the first game of his junior season, but he has more than made up for lost time as a senior, leading the Pied Pipers to their best regular season since 2020. Lindsay QB Lane Foster is the tip of the spear in the pistol flex bone. Greg Tepper refers to him as a certified dawg after watching him in person.

The money matchup is Foster and Lindsay’s offense against Hamlin’s defense, which has surrendered just 10.9 points a game in its eight wins.