EnjoyLife

Here is a quick rundown on Henderson. Stumbled out of the gate losing to 5A Whitehouse and then 4AD2 champs Pleasant Grove to start the season...then won six in a row...then got smoked by Carthage and lost to 9-2 Van by 1 pt in a game where Henderson turned it over 5 times. Offense has been inconsistent and lost starting QB last week but put up 450 yards offense tonight against a good Crandall team. Defense is pretty darn good especially against the run. 

I had LCM in this one

Congrats Lumberton. Hope to see you guys next week.

Fwiw...Carthage up 21-14. 3:00 to half.

9 hours ago, Coach #23 said:

But still probably Crandall in round 2

Negative ghost rider.

LCM gets it done.

Keeping my eye on this one.

WOS wins big...but got to be honest...I would love to see Huntington pull off the upset just because this is their first playoff game since they started playing football almost 40 years ago. I have only been in Texan Drive stadium one time...but it is the best place I have ever watched a game.

Dont know much about either team but Houston schools have really struggled in the post season recently so give me HH.

LCM

Looks like a solid hire. Dropping from 5A into an average 4A district they should be instantly competitive. Im not an SETX guy so I dont know much about their non-district opponents other than Jasper and Huntington...but I am going to predict 6-4 and 2nd place in the district.

We all know programs that have won consistently for decades...and we all know programs just down the road from them that have lost consistently for decades. Why is that? I do not believe God just anoited kids in one zipcode with more ability to play football than kids in another zipcode. Im not talking about that rare 4*-5* player that happens to come along...Im talking about the kids that will not play beyond hs that make up the bulk of teams (even successful one's).

I dont know the full story and I just hope justice (whatever it is) is served. To the best of my knowledge Surratt has ran a clean program and deserves the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. 

Unless some program really steps up to challenge them WOS would have to be a pretty heavy favorite to take the region. Win the region and you are only one win away from Jerry World. With Gilmer (imo) sliding a little and PG losing a lot of kids the 'stangs certainly have a shot.

I dont know much about Livingston football other than what I have read on here but I would think dropping from 5A into a managable 4A district would be a great opportunity for a coach. Dont over schedule in non-district and maybe go 7-3 0r 8-2...get a really weak Houston school in round 1 and notch a playoff win. Do that a couple seasons and maybe land a job at more of a "football school". You would not have to turn Livingston into Argyle. Am I wrong?

Those of us that post on sites like SETX or Smoaky have a passion for this stuff so we want top notch facilities...but a lot of folks could not care less about HS athletics so it can be hard to get major upgrades approved (bonds). Henderson has been very fortunate. The stadium is in the final stage of a multi-year, multi-million dollar renovation and will be really nice when complete. The school covered the cost of turf and about 20% toward the video board...but everything else was paid for by VERY generous donations. Henderson football is pretty good (but over shadowed by district mate Carthage). This decade the Lions have a state championship...5 seasons with 11+ wins...and a 19-5 playoff record...but despite that success there is no chance a bond would have passed to upgrade facilities.

I dont know anything about Lumberton. According to maxpreps they were 4-5 last season so what makes them the district favorite? Did they drop down?

On 1/25/2018 at 8:21 PM, CardinalBacker said:

Plus, a big school playing Newton is kinda like picking a fight in a gay bar. You can’t brag if you win, but you’d better not lose. 

lol

Newton is a great program and I admire their willingness to play up by 1 or 2 or even 3 classifications...but as great as last seasons team was they would have gotten woodshedded by Carthage. In 2017 Henderson went 11-3 and was a 4AD1 top ten program...but 2 of those 3 losses was to Carthage by a combined score of 77-17. I do think Newton has a shot against Gilmer in week 5 but the Eagles lack of depth may hurt them against the Bux fast paced offense. If that game happened to be on a Sat in Gilmer (or maybe in Lufkin) I would go.

Coach Goodman probably made the wrong people mad. Few years ago Henderson ran off a coach that was 98-45-3 with four 10+ win seasons. I like small town life...but sometimes in small towns you have people that think they are big fish when they are really just in a small pond.

Define "winning". Are we talking about going 10-3 or are we talking about going 16-0? An average coach with great talent and a great coach with average talent can go 10-3. Too win multiple titles takes a little of both. Surratt at Carthage has 6 championships in 10 seasons...but after winning the 2013 sc they went 6-6. Did he become an average coach for that one year? Of course not. By the same token I do not believe that 2016 Carthage was the most talented team in the state (heck, I do not think they were even the most talented team in the district) and they coulda/shoulda lost in round 1 (Silsbee), round 3 (Henderson), round 4 (Stafford) and round 5 (China Spring) but when it was all said and done they were hoisting the trophy. I give most of the credit for that run to Surratt. I dont think there is a right answer to the X's and O's vs Jmmys an Joes question.

This is just highschool sports. How do you fire a guy after two seasons as hc when he increased the win total by 3 and was district co-champs?

If Stepp is right about Van moving into 9-4A D-1 with Carthage , Kilgore and Henderson that district would be brutal.

I expect Carthage to win this one by 14+...but like Coach Lou Holtz used to say..."You dont have to be the best team all season. You just have to be the best team for three hours".

Rootin' for the Raiders...but picking the Eags. Newton...something like 42-21.