Dawgs12345

Hendo vs Silsbee and Kilgore vs Navasota look like very good matchups. I could see Silsbee and Kilgore advancing. Carthage will beat the 4th place team by as many as they want, no matter what anybody says or post. Any of the top 3 teams out of D10 should beat Bullard no problem. Looks like Silsbee is starting to put it together. They need to finish in the top 2 to miss Kilgore in the 1st round. I'm not saying they cannot beat them, but that's not a good 1st round matchup. I think the 1st round games will end up 2-2.

Looks like district 9 is pretty much of a lock to finish Carthage, Kilgore, Hendo. That 4th spot is probably going to be Bullard unless something very strange happens.

If Silsbee can get consistent I think they got a real shot to meet Carthage in the R3 final. Btw you won't have to worry about Kalon getting his hands on the ball on special teams if that game happens. No way in hell Surratt kicks to him.

Carthage has played Silsbee 4 out of the last 5 years in the playoffs. Carthage has won every meeting. A couple of them in blowouts. TBH I never saw anything out of the ordinary from Silsbee. A little chippyness or maybe a couple late hits or extracurricular activity after the play. But nothing malicious. And that was against a team that has pretty much stopped every deep playoff run Silsbee has had. I don't live in the area, but I don't consider Silsbee FB program to be dirty. Now there has been some incidents that make you wonder what's going on with the fights and then this. But every program has things that happen that are embarrassing. Even Carthage. There has been a couple times where if there was video, people would've been screaming Carthage is a dirty program. It happens to the best of them. These are just kids. And kids make mistakes.

One of these articles the Jasper coach said the QB could miss the rest of the season. If that's the case I don't think the kid that made the hit should be allowed to play either. Hey, young men make mistakes. I'm sure the young man that made the hit would never have imagined that he could've potentially ended the Jasper QB career. But we all have to pay for our mistakes. That's life.

I wouldn't sleep on Kennedale. They have steam rolled teams to this point.

Awesome. Thanks for sharing.

If 776 is the cut off for 4a DI, then WOS will have some more competition in DII R3 in 2018. Carthage would be almost a lock to drop down to DII.

Agree. We have divisions in Texas for a reason. You play who is on your schedule. No matter the class, if you win a state championship it is a heck of an accomplishment. None, in my opinion, are better than the others. No matter if people say this division is more competitive than this division, and so on. A ship is the ultimate goal. WOS has played in 3 straight, and won 2 in a row. They are the class of their division, and defintley recognized around the state as an elite program. And don't worry we have these same conversations on another site about playing teams in higher classifications. There are always arguments whether Carthage and Gilmer can play with Longview or John Tyler. Although there are some homers from Carthage and Gilmer, I think everbody that knows football understands that those games would be blowouts 9 out of 10 years. Longview and John Tyler have the same kind of athletes as Carthage and Gilmer, but they have 3-4 times as many. That is just too much to overcome. When it comes down to it, it's all about the jimmies and joes. When the jimmies and joes are close to equal, then it comes down to the X's and O's.

+1 good post. Yea I agree if your trying to play deep in the playoffs, then those games in late November and December will be the "games of the year".

WOS had an all time great team last year, but that was a once in every 20 year team. Some schools go their whole history without a team that good. Big props and respect to WOS. But you are incorrect that WOS will kick everybody's butt regardless of classification. Some of the WOS stuff goes over the top. WOS didn't beat the top teams or win state in old 3a (since the late 80's anyway) until there was split divisions in the new 4a. WOS is an elite program at the 4a level regardless of DI or DII, but people need to stop acting like nobody can compete with them. They had an all time great team in 2016, but people get silly when talking about how they can beat everybody. Take away the split divisions and WOS will go back to just another great program. Don't get me wrong I have a ton of respect for their program, but like I said people go wayyy overboard when talking about them. Kick everybody's butt in 5a? OMG, hahaha. Now I see that only the "elite" 6a teams could deal with WOS. Guys this is getting ridiculous. Hahaha.

Carthage at Gilmer week 4. Preseason #1's in a rivalry game. Don't get no better than that. Series tied 3-3 since 2008. Carthage won last year at their house 55-37. Gilmer made a strong comeback after being down 49-17. 2015 was a 18-15 Gilmer victory in a surprising defensive battle. 2014 was a Gilmer blowout, beating Carthage 58-21 at Longview. 2014 Gilmer won state. 2015 both made a trip to the semifinals. 2016 Carthage won state, and Gilmer again made a trip to the semifinals. This is one of the premier matchups in the state this year regardless of classification.

Haha. I'm glad he's not! He was just the 5a state championship offensive player of the game as a freshman. Never mind being the Maxpreps freshman POY in the nation.

Jace McClellan is not moving to Gilmer. You got the story very mixed up. It is a back up running back and DB that is moving back. It's definitely not the potential #1 running back in the nation of the 2020 class. lol.

We have to wait and see about Henderson. I agree 1st or 2nd, but I just don't see how Henderson is not down from last year. Both Kilgore and Carthage should be quite a bit better than last year. So I guess I would be kinda shocked if Carthage was out of the top 2, even knowing the history of this district. We haven't had an undefeated team since this district was put together 3 years ago. But this year besides Henderson I don't see another team that will really be ready to compete for the top 2 spots. CH is a wreck. Center is still building in Bowman's 3rd year. Bullard just don't have the jimmies and joes. I guess Palestine is in the same "wait and see boat" as Henderson. They had a very much improved season last year, but let's be honest. When all the cards were on the table and they were playing Carthage for a playoff spot the 2nd to last game of the season they were in the bad side of a 48-16 game. So how close were they really? But history has shown that this is a crazy district. Stranger things have happened.

Carthage vs Kilgore is a toss up every year. Kilgore is gonna be good. Real good. Of course I think Carthage will win just based on the law of averages. They beat us 2 in a row, so it's our turn. Plus we got some thoroughbreds this year.

I don't know if Tre Lowe is fast on the track, but he can fly on the football field. I don't remember much from last years game from either Kalon or Tre, probably because Calvin Tyler was running for 300+, but I remember from 2015. Tre Lowe was the fastest kid I saw on the football field all year when he was a sophomore. He literallly made Carthage players look like they were standing still that year. I doubt you will find too many teams in the state with a faster tandem.

Carthage will have one of the best defenses they have ever had. Plus the #1 RB in the state. This is the year Carthage fans have been waiting for since 2013. The Dawgs won state a year early. 5 of the returning starters will be 3 year starters. Another returner who didn't play on the varsity as a sophomore was the leading receiver last year. 7 returning on defense. 6 returning on offense. Plus 2 incoming sophomores one of which has 4 D1 P5 offers already as a freshman (RB, WR, CB), and another (6-5, 285 OT) who is already receiving P5 interest. Carthage has 7 legit D1 football players that will be on the field this year on Friday nights. 3 of which already have D1 offers. Plus a safety who has won state in the 400m the last 2 years. I really liked what I saw from Silsbee last year, and I think they are building something. But It's going to take a very special team to beat Carthage with this much talent returning and arguably they best coach in the state. Silsbee and Carthage won't meet in the 1st round. D9 will be down. Carthage and Kilgore will both be really good, but after that it's kind of a toss up. I could easily see these 2 districts each having 2 teams still playing in the second round. As for the thread title I honestly think Carthage will go 16-0

Those would be classic offense vs defense games. Not saying that WOS doesn't have a high powered offense or Ville or BW don't play defense, but they are known as defensive and offensive teams respectively. Give me defense in big games. Ville has really feel off over the last couple of years. I remember when they dropped down in 2012, and ran roughshod over pretty much everybody that year. They had so much success for so long in the old 4a, and then dropped down and won a title the 1st year. I thought they would continue that dominance. But it didn't happen. They kind of feel back in the pack with a bunch of contenders after those 1st couple years. A lot of people kinda dismiss 4a (old 3a), but we have some awesome programs that can compete with anybody. Look at Carthage, WOS, and Gilmer. They all 3 beat teams 2-3 times their enrollment all the time. Even before it was split divisions the upper limit of 4a (old 3a) was over 1000 kids. Heck Carthage is the biggest of the 3 I named at 754. Gilmer has 685 and heck WOS has only 580 kids. Look at the top of the division in 4a before the split. You have teams like Kilgore at 1,065, Chapel Hill at 1,082, El Campo, Abilene Wylie, Ville all right at 1,000 kids. That's a big difference based on percentages. Heck WOS rolled Kennedale this year, and they have an enrollment double WOS (1,028). That's not even mentioning the teams those programs play and beat in 5a every year. Just goes to show you when these teams drop down in classification doesn't mean they are going to beat up on everybody. Enrollment does make a difference, but it's not everything.

5 titles in 6 appearances. Looking to get another one this year! Trust me everybody that knows football has an extreme amount of respect for WOS. Awesome program.

Exactly. And no way Jasper or Brookshire would be able to beat WOS in the playoffs anytime soon. Those programs are nowhere near what they used to be. I don't know about Giddings. This is coming from a Carthage fan, WOS is about to go on an all time run IMO. I could easily see 3 more titles in the next 5 years to go along with the 2 they got the past 2 years. Like it or not WOS is pretty much in a class of its own in their classification.

WOS will have a real shot to make it to Jerry World every year in their current classification. Pretty much Gilmer and WOS will be the favorites every year for the foreseeable future. Some years Celina and Cuero will be there, but they cannot consistently compete with WOS and Gilmer year in and year out IMO. Other teams like Graham, LaGrange, Sweetwater, Atlanta, Tatum, Bellville, Navarro, and Gladewater will make some noise, but again not consistently. 4a D2 is the weakest division in the state IMO. Couple of really high level programs, and then just a buncha ok teams. I really don't like the split in 4a. Seems like all the powerhouses stayed D1 (With the exception of WOS and Gilmer). In D1 you have 10-12 teams that will have a real shot every year, and then a bunch of teams that will be right there with a special class. Crazy the difference in the 2 divisions.