Week 6 is here and that means we are crossing over the halfway point to playoffs. There are a lot of usual suspects already at the top of their respective standings - Duncanville, Allen, Highland Park - and there are a number of surprises, both good and bad - Frisco Independence off to a 4-0 start, SOC just at 2-2 and the ever-changing private school landscape.
Let's get into a two-game breakdown for this week.
THURSDAY: Lakeview Centennial vs. Wylie
<p rel="noopener noreferrer">
Thursday's game takes us to 10-6A between Lakeview Centennial and Wylie. <a href="https://www.vype.com/dfw-football-10-6a" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Both teams were predicted to make the playoffs in our preseason preview</a>, but only two games into the district schedule, there's still a lot to sort out.
</p><table width="100%" cellspacing="5" cellpadding="0" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="6">
<strong>DISTRICT 10-6A</strong>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
</td>
<td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">
<strong>OVERALL</strong>
</td>
<td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">
<strong>DISTRICT</strong>
</td>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<strong>TEAM</strong>
</td>
<td>
<center><strong>W</strong></center>
</td>
<td>
<center><strong>L</strong></center>
</td>
<td>
<center><strong>W</strong></center>
</td>
<td>
<center><strong>L</strong></center>
</td>
<td>
<strong>DIFF</strong>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Rowlett
</td>
<td>
<center>2</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>3</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>2</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>0</center>
</td>
<td>
-86
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Wylie
</td>
<td>
<center>2</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>3</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>2</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>0</center>
</td>
<td>
-2
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
N. Garland
</td>
<td>
<center>4</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>1</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>1</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>1</center>
</td>
<td>
+116
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Garland
</td>
<td>
<center>3</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>2</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>1</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>1</center>
</td>
<td>
-19
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Lakeview Cent.
</td>
<td>
<center>3</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>2</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>1</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>1</center>
</td>
<td>
+44
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Sachse
</td>
<td>
<center>3</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>2</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>1</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>1</center>
</td>
<td>
+36
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
S. Garland
</td>
<td>
<center>1</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>4</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>0</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>2</center>
</td>
<td>
-119
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Naaman Forest
</td>
<td>
<center>0</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>5</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>0</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>2</center>
</td>
<td>
-122
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table><p>
It's a jumbled mess really with two, sub-500 teams at the top and a wide range of point differentials making up the No. 3 through 6 teams in the standings.
<br>
</p><h4>Previewing Lakeview Centennial (3-2, 1-1)</h4><p>
Lakeview Centennial comes into this matchup after completely dominating South Garland last week 62-3. The defense held South Garland to just 109 yards, forced three turnovers and the offense - mainly Camar Wheaton, who scored four touchdowns in the first quarter - jumped out to a 42-0 first quarter lead. It was also the first time the offense cracked the 300-yard mark (384) in a game this year with the previous high being 253 against Richardson Berkner in a 7-0 overtime win.
</p><p>
Centennial is a team that would much prefer to run the ball, force turnovers and control the clock to win games. Here is split of the offensive averages between wins and losses this year as well as the turnover battle.
</p><table width="100%" cellspacing="5" cellpadding="5" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
</td>
<td>
<center><strong>WINS</strong></center>
</td>
<td>
<center><strong>LOSSES</strong></center>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<strong>Pass Yds
</strong>
</td>
<td>
<center>101.3</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>175.0</center>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<strong>Rush Yds</strong>
</td>
<td>
<center>158.5</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>69.5</center>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<strong>Turnovers
</strong>
</td>
<td>
<center>1.8</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>2.0</center>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<strong>Takeaways
</strong>
</td>
<td>
<center>2.7</center>
</td>
<td>
<center>2.0</center>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table><p>
To highlight this fact even more, in last week's win over South Garland, Centennial ran for 263 yards; the week prior against North Garland was just 44 yards.
</p><p>
Wheaton and Zechariah Dunston carry the bulk of the load in the rushing game, combining for 88 attempts for 462 yards (5.25 yds/carry) and 10 touchdowns. <br>
</p><h4>Previewing Wylie (2-3, 2-0)</h4><p>
Wylie also enters this week having put up good numbers the week prior. While not scoring 42 in the first quarter, the Pirates did end up scoring 50 on an up-start Garland team, pulling away in the fourth quarter with a 21-7 scoring advantage.
</p><p>
It seems district could not have come a better time for Wylie, which was only averaging 19 points and giving up 29.7 in its non-district schedule - all losses. The outlier being the double-overtime loss to Rockwall-Heath in which Wylie scored 41 and racked up 540 yards of offense.
</p><p>
So far in district, Wylie has held both opponents to 21 points and 260.5 yards per game. An interesting note on Wylie's defense: It has only given up seven points - last week - in five fourth quarters this season.
</p><p>
On offense, Wylie has gone with a two-quarterback approach, with Marcus McElroy (60 pass attempts) and Mason Lang (67 pass attempts) splitting reps. Lang has been a bit more effective, completing 52.2 percent of his passes and a 5-4 touchdown-to-interception ratio, compared to McElroy's 48.3 percent and 2-3 ratio.
</p><p>
Tre Sheffield is a workhorse in the backfield, with 103 rush attempts for 407 yards and five scores, but the bulk of the offense lies in the pass game for Wylie.<br>
</p><h4>Previewing the Game</h4><p>Here are the stat splits between the teams entering the game.</p><iframe allowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" webkitallowfullscreen="true" style="height: 500px; width: 540px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;" class="imgur-embed-iframe-pub imgur-embed-iframe-pub-a-Ey3wCeZ-true-540" scrolling="no" src="https://imgur.com/a/Ey3wCeZ/embed?pub=true&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vype.com%2Fcore%2Fdashboard%2Feditor%2F2640829389%23publish&w=540" id="imgur-embed-iframe-pub-a-Ey3wCeZ"></iframe><script async="" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>While the numbers say Centennial's defense is better in points per game allowed, it's been a bit of yo-yo the last four going from 33, 0, 28, 3. Wylie's defense has been a little more consistent although giving up more yards per game. </p><p>Both teams find ways to produce takeaways, each averaging more than two a game while giving it the ball away less than twice a game. </p><p>But having a little more potent offense than Centennial, the ability to shut teams down in the fourth quarter and make comebacks (Sachse) or pull away (Garland) from teams is why we give the edge to Wylie in this game.<br></p><p><strong>Prediction: Wylie 36, Lakeview Centennial 24</strong><br>
</p><p>
Follow
<a href="https://twitter.com/iamspeters" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">@iamspeters</a> for live updates of this game.<br>
</p>
Other notable Week 6 DFW #TXHSFB games
THURSDAY
Frisco Lone Star (4-0) vs. Frisco Wakeland (3-1)
Garland (3-2) vs. Sachse (3-2)
Haltom (2-2) vs. Weatherford (4-1)
FRIDAY
Southlake Carroll (4-0) vs. Denton Guyer (4-0)
Fort Worth All Saints (3-1) vs. Prestonwood (4-1)
Burleson (5-0) vs. Burleson Centennial (4-1)
Bishop Lynch (3-2) vs. Fort Worth Nolan (5-0)
McKinney North (4-1) vs. Texarkana Texas (3-2)
Midlothian (4-1) vs. Aledo (3-1)
Hebron (3-1) vs. Coppell (2-2)
Lake Worth (3-2) vs. Fort Worth Benbrook (3-2)
Dallas Hillcrest (5-0) vs. Carrollton Ranchview (4-1)
Mesquite Horn (2-3) vs. Rockwall (3-2)
Rockwall-Heath (3-2) vs. Mesquite (4-1)
Royse City (4-0) vs. Ennis (4-1)
Dallas Skyline (2-2) vs. Duncanville (4-0)
Shelton (4-0) vs. Frisco Legacy Christian (4-1)
Parish Episcopal (3-1) vs. Fort Worth Christian (3-2)
There are plenty of marquee football matchups this week in the Austin area. Plenty of folks will be curious to see how Cedar Ridge holds up against Lake Travis or just exactly how many points Cedar Park and Hutto are going to score between them in their battle for 24-6A lead.
But the vast majority of games each week slip under the radar, largely unnoticed by anyone except the teams themselves and their fans. That doesn’t make those games any less important. And this week’s VYPE Central Texas Game of the Week between McNeil and Stony Point at Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex is a perfect example.
There are similarities between these two longtime Round Rock ISD rivals. Both are operating under new head coaches. And both are trying to build new cultures around those coaches and return to playoff form.
McNeil’s journey has been the most harrowing of the two. The Mavericks (0-2, 0-6) returned to the playoffs in 2024 and were one freakish play away from repeating that accomplishment last season under former head coach Scott Hermes. The program then went through the process of replacing Hermes twice, ultimately landing Jerry Gardner from Wylie East late in the summer.
Between the late change and seriously rebuilding after losing a ton of talent to graduation, the Mavericks have gotten off to a slow start. Senior quarterback Orion Covault has worked through the air (52-100, 646 Yds., 5 TD, 3 INT – stats through 5 games) while tacking on 261 rushing yards with a touchdown. Senior Zylen Hall (48-255, 9.5 YPC, 4 TD) has provided a spark on the ground with young receivers Quincy Sampson (13-194, 14.9 YPC, 2 TD) and sophomore Jeremy Powell (12-143, 11.9 YPC, TD) emerging as his favorite targets.
It’s a similar, if more conventional story at Stony Point (1-1, 2-4). Former Hutto offensive coordinator Dustin Pleasant travelled west along Hwy. 79 to land in Tigerland, taking over from legendary head coach Craig Cheshire. Unlike McNeil’s recent playoff appearance, the Tigers haven’t been to the postseason in a minute or two. And while the path to postseason is difficult in a district with Lake Travis, Westlake, and Round Rock, the path potentially exists with a win over Cedar Ridge (or a huge upset of either “Lake” team.)
Senior quarterbacks Brady Davis (49-89, 670 yds., 5 TD, 2 INT) and sophomore Kadin Smith (29-55, 324, 2 TD, INT) have both seen time behind center while junior Aiden Lloyd (98-475, 4.8 YPC, 8 TDs) anchors the running attack. Senior Olamide Aroworade (28-456, 16.3 YPC, 3 TD) has been the Tigers’ leading receiver.
It’s easy to hype the drama between two powerhouse teams. These two – McNeil and Stony Point – each have their own goals and agendas. At the most basic level, McNeil is simply looking for their first win of the season and of the Coach Gardner era; a chance to reap the rewards after months of hard work.
The Tigers’ slender playoff path relies on winning all their game against the rest of the district while punching one of the favorites in the nose down the road.
But mostly, it’s just one of the 10 nights these kids get to experience the thrill and joy of playing Texas High School Football. The fact that it’s our VYPE Austin CenTex Game of the Week is just icing on the cake.