Week 1 Rewind
The Friday night lights were shining bright deep in the heart of Texas, and that made many of us quite happy last week. I was able to see a little bit of Santa Anna at Trent Thursday and Early at Bangs Friday and it sure was great to return to “normal.” My sons went with their grandparents to see Stamford at Hamlin and my wife watched her hometown Pipers on YouTube, thanks to the UIL allowing video broadcasts and streams this season. Whether it was live or via video or on the radio, I hope you had a chance to take in a little of the action this past week.
GREAT DEBUTS
A number of Big Country coaches started their tenures at their new school with a bang.
Britt Hart and the Merkel Badgers blew out Reagan County on the road 46-14.
Cisco started the Kevin Stennett era with a 39-14 home victory over Clyde.
Dale Means and Rotan impressed in a 60-12 blowout of Bronte.
Highland got Ben Smith a win in his first game as the Hornets head coach, 54-6 over Grady.
Hermleigh’s Heath Gibson kind of counts on this list. He started his second term as the Cardinals head coach with a 54-8 win against Wellman-Union.
Other new coaches did not fare as well in their first game with their new team:
Breckenridge (Casey Pearce) fell to Jacksboro 13-0
Early (Daniel Price) lost at Bangs 28-0
Baird (Derek Schlieve) lost to Crowell 58-12
Trent (Chris Ellison) lost to Santa Anna 46-0
Rising Star (Clint Miller) lost to Gustine 62-44
TLCA Abilene’s Ryan Ward will make his head coaching debut in the Eagles varsity football debut Friday night at Rochelle.
SOMEWHAT OF A SURPRISE
Nothing stands out as a huge shocker from week one, but a couple of shut outs raised an eyebrow.
Hamlin taking down rival Stamford, from a larger classification, 34-0 proved the Pipers may be a force to be reckoned with again this season. My sources (my father-in-law Charlie Shira, who is the PA voice of the Pipers) says he thinks Stamford still has a good team despite the shut out. Maybe the Pipers just have a great team again. We will certainly find out more about them the next two weeks as they visit Hawley and Albany.
Coleman shut out Miles 32-0 on the road, my biggest whiff in picking week one games (although 25 outta 30 ain’t bad). I was also off the mark on Snyder/Slaton, Haskell/Quanah, Valley/Aspermont and Benjamin/Moran. Blitz Picks. The Bluecats forced five turnovers in their week one win, and will have a good match-up in their home opener Friday against 1-0 Anson.
Rotan rolled to season opening win over Bronte. I thought the Yellowhammers would be better this season with a new head coach and a strong group of returning players, but they may have exceeded expectations in week one. Granted, Bronte is rated 74th out of 76 teams in the UIL Division I rankings on sixmanfootball.com. Rotan checks in at number 54.
SHUT OUTS GALORE
Many area teams flexed their defensive muscle in week one as Albany, Bangs, Hamlin, Coleman, and Santa Anna all kept their opponents off the scoreboard. Cross Plains, Hawley and Hermleigh all limited the folks they faced to just a touchdown.
UP NEXT
There are some AWESOME games on the schedule this week. In no particular order:
Jim Ned at Sweewater in a battle of two teams that came up short in week one.
Hamlin at Hawley was a great game last year (Hawley won a 46-44 shootout) and should be again this time around.
Midland Greenwood at Brownwood. The Lions played pretty well in the first half of a loss at #3 Lampasas and will have to bounce back quickly against a highly ranked Greenwood squad at Gordon Wood Stadium.
Dublin at Albany. The Lions rolled Colorado City last week 47-0 while Dublin took down De Leon 33-7.
Cisco at Wall. The Loboes will be playing up a couple classes as they visit Wall in a battle of state ranked teams. The Hawks opened with a 38-3 win at a Behren Morton-less Eastland squad on Friday.
Sterling City at May. The Tigers are coming off a 70-14 win over Bryson while Sterling City rolled rival Garden City 74-26 on Friday. May is #7 in the sixmanfootball.com 1A Division I rankings. Sterling City checks in at #4.
SHAMELESS PLUG
If you have absolutely nothing else to do, check out my return to “a screen” Friday night.
KOXE radio in Brownwood has an awesome new green screen they use for weather with former KTAB meteorologist/anchor Randy Turner (also the voice of the Coleman Bluecats online at koxe.com) along with various Brownwood Lion coaching shows and previews. They also let me and fellow scoreboard show host Mike Blagg test our staying awake stamina with a post-midnight taping of this goodness.
Dr. Pepper Scoreboard Show Streaming Edition
