GAMES
RANKINGS
Predicting Notable Week 10 DFW Matchups
There are 48 regular season games to pick this year and the chances of a 75 percent prediction record is slim-to-none. It would require a 45-3 record the last two weeks of the year, and I'm 100% sure I'll get more than three wrong this week. I went 19-5 last week, which is 79.2 percent right, missing big time on DeSoto beating Mansfield Summit, Dallas Carter beating Dallas Hutchins and Dunne knocking off Lynch.
Below are the 22 other games of note that I'll try my best at predicting a winner for in addition to the deeper-dive games for Thursday and Friday:
Keller Central clinching a playoff spot and eliminating Keller Timber Creek; Prestonwood bouncing back and beating Bishop Lynch at home.
(Rankings for each team can be found in our Week 10 Top 10 Area Rankings)
The first two games are Thursday night matchups; the next 19 are Friday night games; last one is Saturday. There are a lot of playoff implications in these games as well, so hold onto you butts, because here...we...go. Week 10 picks!
Grapevine (5-3, 2-2) vs. #2 Denton Ryan (8-0, 5-0)
Ryan is in. There's no doubt about that. Grapevine has work to do. It is in fourth right now and owns the tie-breaker over Denton, which is a game. Grapevine can clinch with a win and a Heritage win or a Denton loss. However, it'll have to wait a week as Ryan rolls here at home.
4 Week 7 Knee-Jerk Reactions
That was a classic Week 6 in Texas high school football...am I right? Lots of interesting story lines, but here are the most interesting.
And as a reminder, these opinions are meant to be held within this singular moment in time and not carry over each week.
Surprising Losses
A lot of credit to both Haltom and Dallas Jesuit in their wins over ranked 6A teams in Euless Trinity and Prosper. For the second year in a row, Haltom took down Trinity, which is surprising because this isn't nearly the same Haltom team from a year ago that took the Metroplex by storm on the way to a 13-1 record. To see Prosper go down against Jesuit the way it did is confusing because the defense has been what has carried this team this year.
2 Losses in a Day
It seems Frisco Independence isn't quite there yet to mix with the top tier of 5A teams, as evident by the 63-14 loss to Frisco Lone Star. What makes matters worse is suffering a second loss that day after it self reported using an ineligible player in its game over Frisco Heritage. Now, Independence is toward the bottom of District 5-5A DI standings with five games left instead of being in third. Independence has Wakeland, Little Elm and The Colony in the next three weeks, which will make getting into the playoffs very tough.
Chaos in Arlington
Arlington loses to Bowie, Martin is rolling and 4-6A is not what I would have expected at this time of year. We had Martin picked second and Bowie picked fourth, but both sit No. 1 and No. 2 with 3-0 records. With a combined record of 20-4 for the top four in that district, it could be the best district in the area and provide a lot of theatrics with four games left for each.
Big Bounce Back
What a statement bounce-back win for Royse City. A week after falling out of our rankings in a loss to Ennis, Royse City takes down Corsicana in a shutout. It's very easy for teams to go down that rabbit hole after a setback, so for Royse City to show its mettle and win big over our projected district winner is a big statement to put the rest of the district on notice.
District play is killing me! I was 16-8 in my picks this week and the 75 percent picking percentage goal is quickly fading. Oh well...