My friends at The Dallas Morning News posed what is always an interesting question on a survey recently.
Which area district is the biggest gauntlet? There's 6-5A with undefeated teams like Coppell, Flower Mound and Southlake Carroll. Then you throw in Flower Mound Marcus (which has one loss to Katy) and Hebron, and that makes for an incredibly tough district. They have one team in the Associated Press Class 5A Top 10, as Southlake Carroll checks in at No. 3.
In 11-5A, you have undefeated teams in Mesquite Horn and Tyler John Tyler, and a 3-1 DeSoto team that is as dangerous as any out there, and was one big play away from beating No. 1 Cedar Hill in their nationally televised season opener. There are no 11-5A teams in the top 10, but all three of the aforementioned programs are in the "others receiving votes" section of the poll and are all on the brink of cracking the poll should someone slip up.
Then, there's 5-4A. In my opinion, it doesn't get any better than the top of this district. I could be biased because I cover these teams on a weekly basis, but you have 4A No. 2 Denton Guyer, No. 9 Denton Ryan and a Lake Dallas team that is the fourth team receiving votes in the "others" section. This district also has probably the best quarterback play of any district in the state with Guyer's J.W. Walsh, Ryan's Scotty Young and Lake Dallas' James Franklin. Oh, and there's two-time defending district champion Wichita Falls Rider, which is 0-3 with losses to Cedar Hill, No. 4 Sulphur Springs and Tyler John Tyler.
In 10-4A, you could have made the top claim for them last season, but so far this year, the teams appear to be a bit down. There are a handful of teams who will be fighting for the four playoff spots, and it still starts with Highland Park, which is No. 8 in the state poll. The Scots are the only team in the poll in front of some good, not great, teams such as Rockwall-Heath, Carrollton Newman Smith and Richardson Pearce. Greenville is the only undefeated team, but they aren't for real.
So who do you pick? I'm going with 5-4A.
Adam Boedeker is a sports writer/award-winning blogger for the Denton Record-Chronicle. Check out 5-4A insight throughout the season at his blog.
