Kickoff Classics from Around the State

Here is a list of some of the early season "Classics" in Texas:

Trinity Mother Frances Football Classic
Tyler – Rose Stadium - September 3-5
Gilmer vs. Rains - Thursday, September 3 - 7:30 pm
Lufkin vs. John Tyler - Friday, September 4 - 7:30 pm
Longview vs. Tyler Lee - Saturday, September 5 - 7:30 pm

Texas Football Classic
San Antonio- Alamodome - August 27-29
Floresville vs. SA Fox Tech - Thursday, August 27 - 7:30 pm
Boerne Champion vs. Midlothian - Friday, August 28 - 7:30 pm
Katy Mayde Creek vs. Brenham - Saturday, August 29 - Noon
Odessa Permian vs. Duncanville - Saturday, August 29 - 3:45 pm
SA East Central vs. Cibolo Steele - Saturday, August 29 - 7:30 pm

Verizon Wireless High School Kickoff Classic
Houston - Reliant Stadium - August 29th
Pearland vs. Kingwood - Saturday, August 29 - 1:00 pm
College Park vs. Madison - Saturday, August 29 - 4:00 pm

Champions Classic
Abilene – Shotwelll Stadium - August 27-29
Abilene Christian vs. NW Missouri - Thursday, August 27 - 7:00 pm
Abilene Cooper vs. O.D. Wyatt - Friday, August 28 - 7:30 pm
Abilene High vs. Dunbarr - Saturday, August 29 - 11:00 am
Jim Ned vs. Merkel - Saturday, Aug. 29 - 7:30 pm

Tom Landry Classic
Dallas – SMU’s Ford Stadium - August 29th
Southlake Carroll vs. Plano West - Saturday, August 29 - 4:30 pm
Red Oak vs. Highland Park - Saturday, August 29 - 7:30 pm

Tyler Classic
Tyler - All Saints - August 27-29
T.K. Gorman vs. Big Sandy - Thursday, August 27 - 7:30 pm
Brook Hill vs. Hawkins - Friday, August 28 - 7:30 pm
ASES vs. The Highlands - Saturday, August 29 - 2:00 pm
Grace vs. Eustace - Saturday, August 29 - 7:30 pm

Kirk Herbstreit Varsity Football Series
Dallas, TX - The New Texas Stadium - September 7th
Euless Trinity vs. Bingham (UT) - Monday, September 7 - 10:30 am
Colleyville Heritage vs. Irving Macarthur - Monday, September 7 - 1:30 pm
Mansfield Timberview vs. Mansfield Summit - Monday, September 7 - 4:30 pm
Klein Oak vs. Notre Dame (CA) - Monday, September 7 - 7:30 pm

Longview News Journal's 2009 East Texas Dream Team

The Longview New Journal has announced the 2009 East Texas Dream Team:

Offense:
Quarterback - Darian Godfrey - Gilmer
Runningback - Traylon Shead - Cayuga
Runningback - Tyler McCray - Longview
Runningback - Ted Burns - Pittsburg
Receiver - Chris Jones - Daingerfield
Receiver - Trey Metoyer - Whitehouse
Receiver - Quinn Trimble - Lufkin
Tight End - Trevor Murphy - Carthage
Offensive Line - Gerron Anthony - John Tyler
Offensive Line - Beau Carpenter - Sulphur Springs
Offensive Line - Kendrick Henderson - Carthage
Offensive Line - Bryce Redman - Longview
Offensive Line - Jaylyn Turner - Winona
Kicker - Ryan Bustin - Kilgore
Return Specialist - Der'rikk Thompson - Troup

Defense:
Defensive Line - Ashton Dorsey - John Tyler
Defensive Line - Jeremiah Farley - Longview
Defensive Line - Clarence Lee - Jefferson
Defensive Line - Deshun Williams - Carthage
Linebacker - Blake Roberts - Tyler Lee
Linebacker - Chris Weaver - Longview
Linebacker - Mikey Wilson - Gilmer
Defensive Back - Carrington Byndom - Lufkin
Defensive Back - Alonte' Darden - Longview
Defensive Back - Montrae Williams - Texas High
Defensive Back - Bryant Jackson - Sulphur Springs
Utility Player - Lavocheya Cooper - Arp
Punter - Collin Bradley - Hallsville

Northeast Texas Preseason Rankings

Everybody and their mother has preseason and weekly rankings nowadays. My opinion is no less important than anybody else's (or their mother's). So, I will give you my rankings for 2A - 4A in Northeast Texas starting with the preseason and continuing weekly until the playoffs. If you don't agree, I guess you can make up your own rankings?

4A Top 10
1. Longview
2. Texas High
3. Sulphur Springs
4. Whitehouse
5. Marshall
6. Kilgore
7. Lindale
8. Nacogdoches
9. Jacksonville
10. Hallsville

3A Top 20

1. Gilmer

2. Carthage

3. Van

4. Tatum

5. Mexia

6. Pleasant Grove

7. Liberty Eylau

8. Pittsburg

9. New Boston

10. Paris

11. Palestine

12. Tyler - Chapel Hill

13. Gladewater

14. Diboll

15. Crockett

16. Spring Hill

17. North Lamar

18. Canton

19. Rusk

20. Kaufman

2A Top 20

1. Daingerfield

2. Arp

3. Paul Pewitt

4. Jefferson

5. Lone Oak

6. Corrigan Camden

7. White Oak

8. Caddo Mills

9. Winnsboro

10. Harmony

11. Franklin

12. Troup

13. Prairiland

14. Kerens

15. Hearne

16. Hughes Springs

17. West Rusk

18. Frankston

19. Elysian Fields

20. New Diana

Big Frank Hits The Airwaves

I am proud to announce that I will be doing a weekly show with Randy Shortnacy covering East Texas High School Football. This is perfect since I have a great face for radio. Randy is a native East Texan who has been in broadcasting for 18 years. Randy is also the author of his own blog Short's Sports Corner.

Randy shares my desire to help promote the players, coaches and fans of the great football programs here in East Texas. I hope through this radio show we can help draw more attention to the teams we all love to follow during the season. Over the next few weeks Randy and I will be previewing East Texas teams as we lead up to the start of the football season. The shows will be available at TheOldCoach.com.

Thanks to Randy Shortnacy, Matt Stepp and The Old Coach for this opportunity.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/rshort

Area Scrimmages

Two-a-days start for most schools on August 3rd while others start August 10th. The following is a list of upcoming area scrimmages.

8/15/09
Tatum @ Daingerfield (7:00pm)
Troup @ Gladewater (9:00am)
Brownsboro @ Rusk (9:00am)
Paris Chisum @ Hughes Springs (10:00am)
Henderson @ Sulphur Springs (TBA)
Chapel Hill @ Wills Point (TBA)
Jefferson @ Liberty Eylau (TBA)
Mt. Vernon @ Paul Pewitt (TBA)
Kaufman @ Spring Hill (TBA)
Lindale @ Palestine (8:00am)
Pine Tree @ Corsicana (TBA)
Harmony @ Hawkins (TBA)
Paris @ Gainesville (TBA)
Whitesboro @ Commerce (TBA)
Garrison @ Shelbyville (10:00am)
Center @ Newton (5:00pm)
Mabank @ Mineola (TBA)
Pleasant Grove @ Linden-Kildare (TBA)

Winona @ Beckville (TBA)

Jasper/Crockett @ Jacksonville (TBA)

Coldspring @ Woodville (TBA)

Lovelady @ Centerville (8:00am)

Arp @ Harleton (10:00am)

Gilmer @ Atlanta (TBA)

Groveton @ Grapeland (TBA)

Waskom @ Union Grove (10:00am)

Teague @ Palestine Westwood (6:00pm)

Tenaha @ Sabine (10:00am)
Joaquin @ Big Sandy (TBA)

Cushing @ Timpson (10:00am)

Maud/Hooks @ Clarksville (6:00pm)

Dekalb @ New Diana (10:00am)

Winnsboro @ Van (9:00am)

Canton @ Farmersville (10:00am)

8/20/09
Gladewater @ Sabine (5:00pm)
Rusk @ Crockett (5:00pm)
Bullard @ White Oak (7:30pm)
Arp @ Chapel Hill (7:00pm)
Atlanta @ Jefferson (TBA)
Mt. Vernon @ North Lamar (TBA)
Spring Hill @ Pine Tree (TBA)
Harmony @ Quitman (5:00pm)
Palestine @ Henderson (TBA)
Whitesboro @ Paris (TBA)
Prairiland @ Mineola (TBA)
Hughes Springs @ Paul Pewitt (5:00pm)
Linden-Kildare @ Dekalb (TBA)

Carlisle/Shelbyville @ Beckville (TBA)

Troup @ Van (TBA)

Cushing @ Lovelady (5:00pm)

Teague @ Kerens (6:00pm)
Ore City vs. New Diana at Pine Tree (5:00pm)

Diboll @ Tatum (TBA)

8/21/09
Carthage @ Whitehouse (TBA)
Mt. Pleasant @ Kilgore (7:30pm)
Daingerfield @ Wills Point (10:00am)
Marshall @ Liberty Eylau (4:00pm)
Longview @ John Tyler (5:00pm)
Nacogdoches @ Beaumont Ozen (TBA)
Palestine @ Henderson (TBA)
Hallsville @ Lindale (7:00pm)
Garrison @ Groveton (5:00pm)
San Augustine @ Center (5:00pm)

Newton @ Coldspring (7:00pm)

Grapeland @ Leon (TBA)

Big Sandy @ Union Grove (5:00pm)

Joaquin @ Frankston (TBA)

Timpson/Maud @ Redwater (5:30pm)

Clarksville/Idabel @ Detroit (6:00pm)

8/22/09

Jacksonville @ Pine Tree/Spring Hill (TBA)

Aaron Johnson racking up the offers

Longview quarterback Aaron Johnson has been racking up the offers. At last count no less than five D1 schools have extended Johnson an offer. Houston, Kansas State, TCU, Northwestern and Stanford have already offered. But Johnson is reportedly garnering interest from Oklahoma, Texas and Florida as well. And while the three big boys have not yet offered it may only be a matter of time.

http://stanford.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?pr_key=89543

Pewitt's D.J. Burleson out for the year

Paul Pewitt's all-state fullback will miss the upcoming football season with a torn ACL. In 2008 Burleson ran for over 1800 yards and 31 touchdowns on 296 carries in Pewitt's Slot T offense. Tevondrick Finley is the most likely candidate to fill the starting fullback position for the Brahmas. Finley was expected to play mostly defensive tackle this year before taking over for Burleson in 2010. Finley may now pull double duty for the Brahmas.

Other players who may be expected to pick up the slack are runningbacks Jerry Braddock and Jerome Whetstone. Also, expect youngster Sedrick Johnson to see some time on offense as well. Even without Burleson the Brahmas should still be the prohibitive favorite to win district 12AA with the only serious threat coming from Prairiland.

The Old Coach

I am very proud to announce that I am joining the team at http://theoldcoach.rivals.com/. I will be covering East Texas High School football and submitting articles and photos to the website. In my opinion, theoldcoach.com is the best website covering Texas High School football on a statewide basis. I hope that through my efforts I can help promote the great players, coaches, and fans of East Texas High School football and bring better coverage to East Texas. I will continue to operate this blog, so please continue to visit this site as I will be posting frequent updates, game analysis, and photos during the season. I want to thank The Old Coach for this opportunity and I am looking forward to covering the upcoming football season.

--Doug Reeder

The Paul Pewitt Brahmas: Set to Make Another Run

Saying Paul Pewitt is a running team is like saying Richard Simmons is a little effeminate.

Saying the Brahmas like to run the football is like saying Rosie O’Donnell likes to eat.

Pewitt runs the ball more than …. (ok, you get the point).

In recent years the Brahmas have become one of the most prolific running teams in East Texas. And, by prolific I mean both persistent and productive. The Brahmas rushed for nearly 350 yards a game in 2008. Pewitt fullback, D.J. Burleson ran for 1862 yards and 31 touchdowns as a junior. Burleson carried the ball 296 times in 2008, second in Northeast Texas to only Kilgore's Frank Reddic who carried the ball 335 times for the Bulldogs.

While Burleson was the workhorse, he was far from the only threat. Pewitt had three other players with at least 600 yards rushing: (Jordan McFarland - 792 yards; Diondre Holey - 691 yards; and Jerome Whetstone - 604 yards). These four players alone combined for nearly 4,000 yards and 53 rushing touchdowns. That is some serious production.

On the flip-side, Pewitt quarterback Jordan McFarland completed only 5 passes all year (5-14; 140 yards; 3 tds; 2 ints). While the touchdown per completion rate was high: 60%; so was the interception per attempt ratio: one interception for every 7 pass attempts; and the completion percentage was barely above 35%. Thus, it appears the Brahmas exemplify legendary Texas football coach Darrell Royal's old adage "Only three things can happen when you pass, and two of them are bad."

Whatever the shortcomings of the Bulls' passing offense, the fact remains that because of the productivity of the running game, the Brahmas seldom have a need to pass the football. Some critics argue that Pewitt’s offense is boring and hard to watch at times. But those critics are often fans of opposing teams whose defenses have been ground into tomato paste by a Brahma offense that racks up first downs by the dozens.

It is hard to argue with the results. In 2008, the Brahmas averaged nearly 38 points a game and steamrolled through their district. And, Paul Pewitt has only missed the playoffs one time in the last 16 years. Whatever the Brahmas are doing, it seems to be working.

All indications are that the Brahmas are set to make another deep run in the playoffs in 2009. The Brahmas have 14 starters back from 2008's 9-3 team whose only losses came to Daingerfield (15-1), Arp (11-1) and Pottsboro (13-2).

On offense, Pewitt returns 8 starters including Burleson, QB McFarland, and multi-talented Whetstone. With a veteran offensive line leading the way, Burleson could top 2,000 yards in 2009 and put himself in the conversation for 2A offensive player of the year honors.

On defense, Pewitt returns 6 starters including all-state free safety Whetstone. Sean Gulley is a rock on the defensive line. And, Jerry Braddock is a play-maker from his linebacker/defensive back position. If the Brahmas hope to better their record from a year ago, the defense, which gave up 20 points per game in 2009, will need to improve particularly against the elite teams on their schedule.

The Brahmas will have to hit the ground running (pun intended) when they begin the 2009 season on August 28th. The Bulls will begin the season with a brutal three game stretch that will see them face second ranked Arp, number 1 ranked Daingerfield and 21st ranked Jefferson in successive weeks. In 2008, the Brahmas faced the same three game gauntlet and came out of it with a 1-2 record. But, the tough non-district competition prepared the Bulls for district play and the Brahmas ended the regular season with an 8-2 record. After dispatching Tom Bean in the first round of the playoffs, Pewitt was bounced from the playoffs by a senior laden Pottsboro team.

Expectations are high in Pewitt, and for good reason. Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine ranked Pewitt 9th in its annual preseason poll. And, HuddleUpTexas.com ranked the Brahmas 7th. It appears many Texas football fans are expecting big things from the Brahmas this year. Just don't expect too many forward passes.

Offense (Slot-T)
Probable Starters:

QB - Jordan McFarland - Sr.
FB - D.J. Burleson - Sr.
RB - Jerome Whetstone - Sr.
HB - Jerry Braddock - Sr.
T - Joe Tucker - Jr.
G - Grant Cason - Sr.
C - Sean Gulley - Sr.
G - Jordan Nix - Jr.
T - J.B. Betts - Jr.
TE - Clay Thompson - Sr.
SE - Jacob Morton - Sr.

Defense (3-5)
Probable Starters:

DL - Sean Gulley - Sr.
DL - Jordan Nix - Jr.
DL - Clay Thompson - Sr.
LB - Jerry Braddock - Sr.
LB - D.J. Burleson - Sr.
LB - J.B. Betts - Sr.
LB - Jacob Morton - Sr.
LB - Grant Cason - Sr.
CB - Donavan Jarvis - Jr.
CB - Sedrick Johnson - Sr.
FS - Jerome Whetstone - Sr.

2009 Football Schedule
August 28 - Arp (Away)
September 4 - Daingerfield (Home)
September 11 - Jefferson (Home)
September 18 - Open
September 25 - Bogata Rivercrest (Away)
October 2 - Redwater (Home)
October 9 - Paris Chisum (Away)
October 16 - Hooks (Home)
October 23 - DeKalb (Away)
October 30 - Clarksville (Away)
November 6 - Prairiland (Home)

Projected record 8-2 (7-0)

Daingerfield Quarterback Club

Daingerfield Tiger fans have a new way to support and follow their favorite team. 2009 will mark the inaugural season of the Daingerfield Quarterback Club. Memberships to the Quarterback Club are on sale now. The Club intends to meet weekly during the football season and members will have an opportunity to watch game film. The Club is putting together a football program for the upcoming season. Advertising space in the program is available and all proceeds will go to support the Daingerfield athletic programs. The Quarterback Club has created a website (http://www.daingerfieldquarterbackclub.webs.com/) which will allow fans to check upcoming events, interact with other fans and find out more about their home team.