Blitz Picks - Week 14
WEEK 1 PICKS: 30-40, 75%
WEEK 2 PICKS: 34-44, 77.3%
WEEK 3 PICKS: 42-47, 89.4%
WEEK 4 PICKS: 32-43, 74.4%
WEEK 5 PICKS: 38-45, 84.4%
WEEK 6 PICKS: 28-30, 93.3%
WEEK 7 PICKS: 35-40, 87.5%
WEEK 8 PICKS: 33-38, 86.8%
WEEK 9 PICKS: 32-38, 84.2%
WEEK 10 PICKS: 37-42, 88.1%
WEEK 11 PICKS: 30-32, 93.8%
WEEK 12 PICKS: 28-32, 87.5%
WEEK 13 PICKS: 12-17, 70.6%
SEASON: 411-493, 83.4 %
Nine teams from the Big Country Blitz coverage area will get to practice on Thanksgiving, a huge deal for high school football in Texas.
Abilene High, Wylie, Brownwood, Hawley, Cisco and Albany are in the Sweet 16 of their playoff brackets, while Westbrook and Loraine (Mitchell County pride!) are in the Elite Eight and Abilene Christian is in the Final Four.
The picks get tougher as the season goes on, plus with fewer games it means a bigger drop in percentage points with every miss. Hence the season low 70.6% hit rate last week. Now I remember how it felt taking tests as a kid…
Good luck to your squad in week three of the playoffs!
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Contact: cody@bigcountryblitz.com
Abilene High (6-6) vs. Burleson Centennial (11-1) - Friday, 7:30 p.m. - Choctaw Stadium, Arlington
Series: First meeting
The Warbirds have battled Burleson High twice in their history, but this will be their first test against Burleson Centennial.
The Spartans are in just their 11th season of football but have made the playoffs nine times. This run matches their deepest ever in the postseason: they lost in the third round in 2015 and again in 2018.
Centennial, like Abilene High, is a run first offense. The Spartans used their flex-bone, triple-option offense to pick up 362 yards in their 31-7 win last week over Tascosa and 327 came on the ground. The Eagles, who lost at Tascosa this season 36-14, ran for 412 of their season-high 481 yards in the 35-0 victory over Red Oak in the area round.
Centennial ran for 539 yards and only passed once in their 55-28 bi-district victory over Lake Belton.
The Eagles limited the Hawks to just 84 yards a week ago, while the Spartans gave up just 161 to a Tascosa squad that ran for 424 yards on Abilene High.
Centennial has just one loss on the season, a 64-21 defeat against District 3-5A D1 champ and state power Aledo. They finished second in the district, a game ahead of Denton Ryan—a team they beat 23-16.
Abilene High hopes to keep momentum rolling as they seem to be a new team in the postseason. They are the only remaining team in the playoffs out of 2-5A Division II after Tascosa, Amarillo and Lubbock Cooper all were knocked out of the postseason last week.
The Eagle defense has been outstanding this season but they did have a lot of trouble with the Tascosa triple-option. No doubt they’ll do better against a similar team this time around, but they seem to excel by getting to the quarterback against passing heavy offenses.
UP NEXT
Winner of Aledo (10-2) vs. Midlothian (12-0), 6 p.m. Friday at Midlothian's Midlothian ISD Stadium
PLAYOFF HISTORY
Abilene: 37th appearance, third straight appearance
Centennial: 9th appearance, ninth straight appearance
STAT LEADERS
Abilene High
Dylan Slack: 124-214, 1110 yds, 11 TD, 11 int
Brayden Henry: 25-39, 300 yds, 3 TD, 0 int; 402 yds, 4 TD rushing
Bam Rashaw: 1007 yds, 13 TD rushing
Austin Wood: 30 rec, 237 yds, 1 TD
Tim Outlaw: 21 rec, 219 yds, 5 TD
Bryce Neves: 80 tkl, 11 tfl
Noah Hatcher: 73 tkl
Kenneth Johnson: 59 tkl, 14 tfl, 11 sacks
Burleson Centennial
Elijah Zeh: 1,319 yds, 19 TD rushing
Phillip Hamilton: 958 yds, 12 TD rushing
Jahiem Ababio: 652 yds, 8 TD rushing; 10 rec, 273 yds, 4 TD
THE PICK: BURLESON CENTENNIAL
Wylie (9-3) vs. Canutillo (10-2) - Saturday, 3 p.m. - Fort Stockton
Series: First meeting
The never-say-die Bulldogs rallied past Colleyville Heritage last week and now draw arguably the best program from the El Paso area in Canutillo.
The Eagles shut out Palo Duro 28-0 in bi-district and got past Arlington Heights 21-14 in area. Their losses this season were to Pebble Hills, a 6A district champion, 23-0 and Del Valle, a 5A D1 district champion, 38-7.
We do have some comparative scoring to work with a little bit. Wylie used a late touchdown to get past Palo Duro on the road 27-24 and the Bulldogs played very well in a scrimmage with the Abilene High squad that beat Del Valle (that beat Canutillo) 38-7. Both beat El Paso High as well, Canutillo 49-0 and Wylie 54-14.
Canutillo has a very good defense that only allows 10.8 points per game (second best in the state in 5A D2). It will be tested against the high-powered Bulldog offense that scores just over 39 points per contest.
The Bulldogs will have to find a way to stop running back LJ Martin, a Stanford commit, that has rushed for 1,937 yard and 17 touchdowns on the season for Canutillo.
Wylie is making its best playoff run to date as a 5A program, while Canutillo made it to the third round a year ago before falling to Wichita Falls Rider 28-7. They made the state semifinals in 2014, the deepest ever playoff run for an El Paso area team.
UP NEXT
Winner of Argyle (12-0) vs. Grapevine (11-1), 6 p.m. Friday at Southlake’s Dragon Stadium
PLAYOFF HISTORY
Wylie: 32nd appearance, 1st appearance since 2020
Canutillo: 22nd appearance, fifth straight appearance
STAT LEADERS
Wylie
KJ Long: 175-252, 2968 yds, 34 TD, 6 int; 607 yds, 4 TD rushing
Landry Carlton: 914 yds, 8 TD rushing; 11 rec, 96 yds, 1 TD
Malachi Daniels: 415 yds, 6 TD rushing; 8 rec, 159 yds, 2 TD
Julius Lane: 369 yds, 5 TD rushing
Braden Regala: 78 rec, 1219 yds, 11 TD; 109 yds, 3 TD rushing
Harrison Heighten: 36 rec, 699 yds, 9 TD
Hunter Hood: 15 rec, 406 yds, 3 TD
Canutillo
Jeremiah Knox: 82-136, 1392 yds, 14 TD, 5 int; 516 yds, 5 TD rushing
LJ Martin: 1937 yds, 17 TD rushing; 28 rec, 145 yds, 3 TD
Lorenzo Arreola: 22 rec, 424 yds, 4 TD
Abel Gallardo-Perez: 125 tkl, 6 tfl
Chuy Carrilo: 122 tkl, 10 tfl
THE PICK: WYLIE
Brownwood (10-2) vs. Wichita Falls (8-4) - Friday, 7 p.m. - ACU
Series: Brownwood leads 3-1
Two traditional powers that have combined for 13 state titles meet at ACU Friday night for the right to advance to the fourth round.
The Lions haven’t been to the quarterfinals since 2015 and the Coyotes haven’t since 2013.
Both teams have really turned things around this year. The Lions have improved from four wins to ten and the Coyotes have jumped from three to eight so far.
Wichita Falls took down Dumas 15-10 in the first round and got past Big Spring 31-7 in round two.
Brownwood has eased past El Paso Irving and Canyon by a combined 94-10.
The Coyotes entered district play 3-3 but have only lost once since, a 31-27 defeat to district champ Decatur. They have given up just 45 points of the past four games.
The Lions have been on a roll since falling to Stephenville, beating their six opponents by a combined 294 to 50.
This will be the first game between the programs since a 34-7 Coyote area round win in 2000. The only other playoff matchup was a 27-16 Brownwood win in 1993.
UP NEXT
Winner of Canyon Randall (9-3) vs. Decatur (9-3), 1 p.m. Friday at ACU
PLAYOFF HISTORY
Brownwood: 48th appearance, 14th straight appearance
Wichita Falls: 46th appearance, second straight appearance
STAT LEADERS
Brownwood
Konlyn Anderson: 1509 yds, 25 TD rushing
Ike Hall: 104-188, 1703 yds, 14 TD, 5 int; 891 yds, 12 TD rushing
Thad Hinds: 40 rec, 784 yds, 7 TD
Jason Jackson: 19 rec, 413 yds, 9 TD
Chance Jones: 112 tkl, 5 sacks
Quinten McCarty: 110 tkl, 14 tfl
Sam Kallman: 114 tkl, 1 sacks
Wichita Falls
John Ledesma: 137-237, 1887 yds, 18 TD, 6 int
Cameron Gould: 1224 yds, 12 TD; 139 tkl, 25 tfl
Keondrae Fleeks: 38 rec, 567 yds, 7 TD
Ivy Kelley: 141 tkl, 6 tfl
THE PICK: BROWNWOOD
Hawley (12-0) vs. Sonora (10-2) - Saturday, 7 p.m. - San Angelo
Series: First meeting
The Bearcats find themselves in the three rounds deep in the playoffs for the fourth straight season and getting set to face Sonora.
The Broncos went 4-1 in District 3-2A D1 play and won a tie-breaker with Forsan and Reagan County to claim the top seed in the playoffs. They just got past Olney 28-27 and beat Farwell 18-7 a week ago to advance.
Hawley has had little issue getting past Christoval 52-8 and Panhandle 72-26 in the first two rounds.
The teams have a pair of common opponents: Olney and Christoval. They combined to go 4-0 against them but Hawley (34-7 over Olney and 52-8 over Christoval) earned easier victories than the Broncos (28-27 over Olney and 30-6 over Christoval).
Sonora’s only losses on the season were 31-27 at Coahoma in week two and a 24-21 loss to Reagan County in their second district game.
The Broncos rely heavily on quarterback Jaime Buitron, who has combined for over 3,500 yards and 40 touchdowns rushing and passing. The Bearcats run a very balanced offense and can run and pass equally well.
UP NEXT
Winner of Cisco (10-2) vs. New Deal (9-3), 2 p.m. Friday at Colorado City’s Wolf Stadium
PLAYOFF HISTORY
Hawley: 12th appearance, 10th straight appearance
Sonora: 39th appearance, 14th straight appearance
STAT LEADERS
Hawley
Rodey Hooper: 130-193, 2406 yds, 26 TD, 4 int; 217 yds, 4 TD rushing
Austin Cumpton: 1595 yds, 31 TD rushing; 83 tkl, 13 tfl, 3 int
Will Scott: 35 rec, 615 yds, 7 TD; 92 tkl, 10 tfl, 4 int
Kason O’Shields: 29 rec, 495 yds, 7 TD; 61 tkl, 1 int
Chandlin Myers: 29 rec, 489 yds, 6 TD; 53 tkl, 3 int
Diontay Ramon: 35 rec, 773 yds, 7 TD; 49 tkl, 21 tfl, 6.5 sacks
Hez Parker: 118 tkl, 15 tfl, 2 int
Sonora
Jaime Buitron: 93-163, 1572 yds, 16 TD, 8 int; 1965 yds, 24 TD rushing; 72 tkl, 5 int
Hunter O’Banon: 1296 yds, 7 TD rushing
Edgar DeLuna: 27 rec, 530 yds, 7 TD; 178 tkl, 22 tfl
THE PICK: HAWLEY
Cisco (10-2) vs. New Deal (9-3) - Friday, 2 p.m. - Colorado City
Series: Cisco leads 1-0
The Loboes and Lions meet in the third round for the second straight season, and Cisco hopes round two goes like round one did.
Cisco eliminated New Deal 34-14 a year ago at the same venue in Colorado City.
The Lions enter on an eight-game winning streak after dropping three of their first four games this season to Farwell, Idalou and Lubbock Trinity Christian. They blew out Amarillo Highland Park 71-18 in bi-district and got past Forsan 35-11 in area.
Cisco got past defending 2A D2 state champ Stratford in a 14-8 slugfest in round two after shutting out Reagan County 55-0 in the first round.
For the second straight week the Loboes have the experience advantage at quarterback. Hunter Long outplayed Stratford sophomore QB Bryce Braden last week, and this time around Cisco will face a freshman QB in the Lions’ Dallas Sumner.
UP NEXT
Winner of Sonora (10-2) vs. Hawley (12-0), 6 p.m. Friday at Big Spring’s Memorial Stadium
PLAYOFF HISTORY
Cisco: 31st appearance, 12th straight appearance
New Deal: 36th appearance, 19th straight appearance
STAT LEADERS
Cisco
Hunter Long: 68-108, 1248 yds, 17 TD, 2 int; 1935 yds, 25 TD rushing
Trent Huston: 860 yds, 13 TD rushing; 5 rec, 64 yds, 1 TD
Cade Gayle: 28 rec, 568 yds, 8 TD; 252 yds, 3 TD rushing; 1 punt return TD
Carter Holton: 9 rec, 218 yds, 4 TD
New Deal
Dallas Sumner: 83-137, 1325 yds, 14 TD, 6 int; 553 yds, 8 TD rushing
Kendrick Nelson: 1001 yds, 11 TD rushing
Ethan Brown: 58 rec, 770 yds, 7 TD
Cale Harkey: 129 tkl
THE PICK: CISCO
Albany (10-2) vs. Wink (12-0) - Saturday, 3 p.m. - San Angelo
Series: Tied 1-1
Two teams that have been in the state rankings all year meet with the regional title on the line Saturday in San Angelo.
The Lions used a huge second half to get past Muenster 56-10 last week while Wink outlasted Santo 35-19.
Wink was really only tested twice this season, once in a 51-38 victory over Ozona and again in a 42-28 victory over McCamey. Albany played the tougher schedule and suffered losses to Hawley and Comanche, who went a combined 19-1 in the regular season. Both defeats came while the Lions were battling injuries to key players.
The Lions seem to be healthy now and will likely have to play the starters for the full game for the first since that week five loss to Comanche.
Coy Lefevre, Adam Hill and even quarterback Cole Chapman last week give Albany a tough rushing game to stop. Plus Chapman has been very efficient in the passing game, throwing nine touchdowns and no interceptions.
Wink leans heavily on quarterback Kanon Gibson (2,739 yds, 38 TD rushing and passing) but can move the ball equally well on the ground and through the air.
Both defenses are very good as well. Albany is 8th in the state in 2A D2 giving up 12.2 points per game and Wink is 10th giving up just 13 points per contest.
These two are meeting for the first time since 1961, when the Lions beat the Wildcats 28-6 in the semifinals on their way to winning state. Wink beat Albany 21-13 in the second round in 1951.
UP NEXT
Winner of Vega (8-4) vs. Wellington (11-1), 3 p.m. Friday at Canyon’s Happy State Bank Stadium
PLAYOFF HISTORY
Albany: 49th appearance, 21st straight appearance
Wink: 47th appearance, 11th straight appearance
STAT LEADERS
Albany
Cole Chapman: 48-83, 625 yds, 9 TD, 0 int; 153 yds rushing
London Fuentes: 25-40, 420 yds, 6 TD, 3 int; 199 yds, 2 TD rushing; 21 rec, 340 yds, 4 TD; 28 tkl, 3 int
Adam Hill: 1176 yds, 17 TD rushing; 11 rec, 227 yds, 5 TD; 76 tkl, 16.5 tfl, 6.5 sacks
Coy Lefevre: 810 yds, 13 TD rushing; 8 rec, 135 yds, 2 TD; 37 tkl, 3 int
Cason Fairchild: 23 rec, 295 yds, 3 TD; 41 tkl, 3 int
Jayden Lucas: 86 tkl, 9 tfl
Coy Cauble: 85 tkl, 1 sack
Tye Edgar: 67 tkl, 11 tfl, 6.5 sacks
Wyatt Windham: 79 tkl, 4 int
Wink
Kanon Gibson: 118-202, 2016 yds, 22 TD, 2 int; 723 yds, 16 TD rushing; 83 tkl, 5 int
Bryan Wilcox: 559 yds, 10 TD rushing
Jordan Tally: 48 rec, 953 yds, 12 TD
Hudson Morgan: 79 tkl, 5 tfl
THE PICK: ALBANY
Westbrook (11-1) vs. Rankin (11-1) - Saturday, 5 p.m. - Robert Lee
Series: Series tied 2-2
The Wildcats and Red Devils played one of the best six-man games of the season in a 59-58 week three Westbrook win and now they get set for the rematch.
Westbrook has been dominant over the past seven weeks, earning mercy-rule wins in every contest, including 72-22 over Garden City and 48-0 over Buena Vista in the playoffs.
Rankin’s only loss of the year was to Westbrook and they enter on a nine-game winning streak. The Red Devils beat Garden City 60-36 to claim the district title, got past Ira 74-42 in bi-district and Whiteface 70-24 last week.
The Wildcats one-two punch of Cedric Ware and Grayson Jeffrey on offense has been pretty hard to stop, and that, along with a defense that only allows 18.8 points per game (sixth best in the state) should be enough to get Westbrook past Rankin in another close one.
UP NEXT
Winner of Nazareth (10-2) vs. Happy (11-1), 6 p.m. Friday at Tulia
PLAYOFF HISTORY
Westbrook: 6th appearance, third straight appearance
Rankin: 30th appearance, sixth straight appearance
STAT LEADERS
Westbrook
Parker Matlock: 56-85, 664 yds, 12 TD, 3 int; 42 yds, 1 TD rushing; 77 tkl, 13 tfl, 4 int
Cedric Ware: 1481 yds, 35 TD rushing; 15 rec, 193 yds, 4 TD; 49 tkl, 5.5 tfl
Grayson Jeffrey: 1122 yds, 22 TD rushing; 4 rec, 29 yds, 1 TD; 40 tkl, 7 int
Hadley White: 12 rec, 183 yds, 3 TD; 42 tkl, 9.5 tfl
Bo Payne: 12 rec, 82 yds, 3 TD; 47-75 PAT
Pahton Dominguez: 83 tkl, 22 tfl, 5 sacks, 3 ff, 1 fr; 247 yds, 6 TD rushing
Rankin
N/A
SPREADS
SIXMANFOOTBALL.COM: RANKIN BY 4
THE PICK: WESTBROOK
Loraine (11-1) vs. Cherokee (11-0) - Friday, 6 p.m. - Miles
Series: Loraine leads 1-0
The Bulldogs passed the Richland Springs test with flying colors and now get set to face Cherokee for the Region IV championship.
The Indians are coming off a big time battle with Blackwell that they won 36-30 to stay unbeaten on the season. Cherokee, much like Loraine, is having its best season in a while. The Indians haven’t won ten games in a single season since 1985 and are looking for their first state title since 1978. Their best wins this season were an 84-44 win over Bluff Dale, a 1A D2 Region III finalist this week against Oakwood, and their 78-47 victory over Richland Springs that snapped the Coyotes 81-game district winning streak.
Loraine has been very good all season but has seemingly reached another level in the playoffs, outscoring Panther Creek and Richland Springs by a combined 108-0. They have only allowed 26 total points in their last five outings. The Bulldogs have played seven playoff teams this season and beaten six of them, with the only loss against top-ranked and unbeaten Benjamin in week six.
These two have only played once before — a 28-26 Bulldog victory in 2010.
UP NEXT
Winner of Oakwood (10-2) vs. Bluff Dale (11-1), 7 p.m. Friday at Ferris
PLAYOFF HISTORY
Loraine: 14th appearance, fourth straight appearance
Cherokee: 31st appearance, third straight appearance
SPREADS
SIXMANFOOTBALL.COM: LORAINE BY 8
THE PICK: LORAINE
Abilene Christian (9-2) vs. Fort Worth Covenant Classical (10-1) - Friday, 1 p.m. - Dublin
Series: FWCC leads 2-0
The Panthers get another shot at the Cavaliers, this time with a whole lot more than the district championship on the line.
Abilene Christian fell to Covenant Classical 52-6 back on Oct. 22 but have reeled off three straight wins since, including last weeks come from behind upset of Lucas Christian, to set up a rematch with the Cavaliers.
FWCC, the defending TAPPS 6-Man Division III state champs, fell to 1A D1 #1 ranked Abbott 52-6 in week two but haven’t been tested since. They are on a nine-game winning streak and every game, save a forfeit win over Denton Calvary, was by mercy rule.
The Panthers lost their head coach after the regular season but have seemingly come together better over the last few weeks to earn another contest against the Cavs. FWCC beat them in the first round of the playoffs in 2021.
UP NEXT
Winner of Conroe Covenant Christian (11-2) vs. Pasadena First Baptist (12-0) - Friday, 6 p.m. - Tomball Concordia