With one District 9-5A football game and five weeks of football (including the bye/Zero week) in the bank, we should be able to establish some trends and begin to see an image of how this district will shape up. Right?
Maybe.
Below are District 9-5A standings up to Thursday with the first column being overall, and the second being district record. Below that, a rundown of what each team has done so far and what to expect.
Richardson 4-0 1-0
Lake Highlands 2-2 1-0
Skyline 2-2 1-0
Jesuit 2-2 1-0
W.T. White 2-2 0-1
Samuell 2-2 0-1
Sunset 1-3 0-1
Berkner 1-3 0-1
I’ll start at the bottom and work my way up. If you are the type of reader who just can’t wait, go ahead and scroll all the way down.
Berkner suffered its first district loss at the hands of the reigning district champions. The Rams only win came against North Crowley who also has only one win. However, they did take Southlake Carroll to the limit before district play began. The Rams offense is always interesting for opponents to scheme for in a week, so don’t be surprised to see some upsets when they hit the field.
Sunset has really only played three formidable teams as its lone win came against Fort Worth Diamond Hill-Jarvis. It’s other three opponents have outscored the Bisons 149-7 collectively…so I’ll let you put those pieces together.
Samuell has beaten Bryan Adams and Fort Worth Trimble Tech, a team that Bryan Adams used to schedule for an early season win. The 56-7 romp Lake Highlands posted should give you an indication of how Samuell will fair against the rest of the district.
W.T. White has beaten a two win Hillcrest team and a two win Trophy Club Byron Nelson team. Appears they are kind of mediocre, but I hear they have some talent. We’ll hold off on the Longhorns until we see them in person on Friday at the homecoming game.
Jesuit gave up 69 points to Flower Mound and 52 points to Coppell. Granted those are two highly rated programs in the state as Coppel is ranked No. 8 statewide according to TheOldCoach.com. And that means the Rangers know how to handle adversity. They also posted 31 points in the loss to Flower mound. Expect a strong outing every time from the Rangers.
Skyline as I said on my ESPN Radio interview, which you can hear every Friday night after the game, last Friday night all the coaches have indicated that Skyline is the team to beat until further notice. They are the reigning champs, and every team aspires to knock them off. Still, they lost to two top-notch Florida teams and have beaten a solid Berkner squad and Arlington Bowie.
Lake Highlands I’ve been there for every game. At times against Horn and Garland, you could see some youthful mistakes. But for the most part, this Wildcats team is interesting in their approach. Against Samuell and Mesquite they were able to accomplish what they did well, getting the ball to Desmond Roland and DeVonte Sunwenghan. If they do that and those guys find holes, LHHS is tough to beat.
Richardson is an even more interesting. When I was covering the Plano schools, Richardson was always the punching bag out there. Now, they are undefeated having beaten a Frisco Centennial team who is 3-1, Irving who is all-defeated, Richardson Pearce who has one win, and Sunset (see above). It’s hard to gauge whether the schedule is an easy one for the Eagles, or whether they are really that good. I think the team is confident after some big wins, but they are going to run up against some very tough teams starting Friday against Skyline.
Overall, keep an eye out across the district plain here as we records will bounce all over the place and more than likely I’ll be forced to go to great lengths to explain how playoff scenarios will play out at some point.
But there is you 9-5A outlook after one week in district play. It’s fuzzy, convoluted and probably unpredictable. But, more fun than a barrel of monkeys on tilt-a-whirl.
Feel free to contact me with your thoughts on District 9-5A at cmageors@advocatemag.com.
