High school football is finally in full swing, as every team in the state will have played at least one game come Saturday night as some teams had Week Zero off.
There are a handful of good-looking nondistrict games that fans can look forward to watching. I'll highlight a few, give my spot-on predictions and you can look forward to tomorrow when I give my Game of the Week prediction.
So let's get started.
Duncanville at Garland, tonight at 7 p.m. -- Both teams had impressive wins in Week Zero, but on different levels. Garland steamrolled Dallas Kimball with a 60-7 win over a mid-level Class 4A team. Duncanville pulled an upset over state-ranked Odessa Permian in famed coach Gary Gaines' first game back on the MOJO sidelines. The Panthers beat ... well... the Panthers, 33-14, in San Antonio and saw the Duncanville defense hold Permian's offense in check all night. Garland has one of the area's most explosive pass-catch combos in QB Jared Barnett and UT commit Adrian Phillips. Give me Garland. Prediction: Garland 38, Duncanville 24
Denton Ryan at Richardson Pearce, Friday at 7:30 p.m. -- This game might end by midnight. Ryan QB Scotty Young threw 65 TDs last season -- just two short of Graham Harrell's state record of 67 in 2003. Last week, Young tossed six touchdowns and went for 258 yards in one half. In short, the Raiders like to sling the ball around, and then do it some more. And so does Pearce. Last season, Ryan beat Pearce 68-37 at home, and Ryan's defense has earned the reputation of not being able to stop anyone and leaving it up to the offense to win games. Rumor says that's changed this season. We'll find out. Prediction: Denton Ryan 48, Richardson Pearce 32
Lancaster at Ennis, Friday at 7:30 p.m. -- This game has intrigue written all over it. Lancaster has become "Secondary Central" as of late and has two defensive backs who have orally committed to Big 12 schools in Tyler Stephenson (Baylor) and Quentin Hayes (Oklahoma). Ennis has quarterback D.J. Betik and wide receiver Kyle Guinyard. Betik accounted for seven touchdowns in last week's blowout win over Crosby -- all in the first half (five passing, two rushing). Guinyard is a straight man-beast. I think offense wins this one. Prediction: Ennis 41, Lancaster 21
Last week's record: (2-2)
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Adam Boedeker is a sports writer/award-winning blogger for the Denton Record-Chronicle. Follow blow-by-blow action of the Ryan-Pearce and Denton Guyer-Stephenville games at drchighschoolblog.dentonrc.com.
