Battle of Contrasting Teams on Tap for Friday

Lake Dallas-Everman matchup highlights area's "other" good games

By ADAM BOEDEKER

Updated 8:15 AM CDT, Thu, Nov 19, 2009

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With the second round of the playoffs in our near future, we'll look at the four biggest games of the week. Usually I do three games on Thursday and wait for Friday for THE game of the week. But in case you've been living under a rock, there's two games that are equally huge which will occupy Friday's slot. I bet you can't guess which two those are.

Anyway, with that in mind, let's take a look at the other two big games of the weekend:

Lake Dallas (10-1) vs. Everman (9-2), Friday at 7:30 p.m., Pennington Field -- This game will be televised on tape delay starting at 11 p.m. on Friday night, thanks to the UIL's ridiculous rule about televising live high school games on Friday nights, so everyone set your DVRs for a game that should be a dandy. These two teams are about as different as you can be. Lake Dallas has a powerful passing attack behind QB James Franklin, but he's also the team's best runner and can win a game by himself. Everman is coming off a demolition of Fort Worth Dunbar behind the Bulldogs' run-heavy offense. One thing that has changed about this year's Lake Dallas team in comparison to past teams is the Falcons physicality up front, especially on the defense line. Prediction: Lake Dallas 24, Everman 21.

Coppell (10-1) vs. Plano East (8-3), Saturday at 11 a.m., Cowboys Stadium -- The Panthers narrowly escaped the jaws of defeat last week after head coach Johnny Ringo did his best Bill Belicheat impression and went for two points after scoring in the first overtime of a win over Irving MacArthur. The Panthers had some issues stopping MacArthur's power running game, but the Panthers' talent-laden secondary matches up well with Coppell QB Hayden Hawk, who's topped the 3,000-yard mark in passing this year. I really believe this game could go either way, but for the sake of making a prediction, I'm doing this: Prediction: Coppell 31, Plano East 23.

Last week's record: 2-2. Season record: 29-18.

Adam Boedeker is a sports writer/award-winning blogger for the Denton Record-Chronicle. One week. Turkey. Dressing. Mashed potatoes.