Texas High School Football is here, and with it comes exciting games each and every week across Austin and San Antonio. Here we take a look at some of those games.
Steele vs Brennan
One of the biggest games not only in Week 1, but for San Antonio area teams all season, Steele and Brennan meet in the night cap at the Alamodome for the KSAT Pigskin Classic. Each school comes into the season with lofty expectations with Steele losing early in the playoffs last season to Vandegrift while Brennan lost in the Regional Finals to Lake Travis. Each squad will have experience returning behind Center. For Steele it will be Connor Vincent who threw for over 1,500 yards and 15 touchdowns last season. But Brennan has the reigning player of the year for San Antonio Ashton Dubose who accounted for over 4,000 yards in the air and on the ground and nearly 70 touchdowns on top of that last season. Not only that but the Bears will have Oregon commit Tyler Turner at Safety. Both teams are looking to also break the drought of San Antonio schools in the UIL Championship. While Brennan seems to be the favorite on paper, Steele holds the series lead 3-0, but I expect that to become 3-1 after Saturday.
Lake Travis vs Arlington Martin
Overshadowed isn't something you would really think of when thinking of Lake Travis, but the last few seasons it almost feels that way with rivals Westlake winning 3 state championships over the last 3 years. And yet during the last 3 seasons Lake Travis has made the state semifinals twice, losing to eventual champion North Shore both times. Lake Travis will be lead by Michigan State commit Bo Edmundson who will be put to the test early in the season as the Cavaliers will have some new faces on the offensive side of the ball. Their defense, on the other hand, returns seven starters and will look to be the driving force of this team this season. It almost seems like the opposite can be said for Martin who has a young defense and three playmakers to help carry their offense in Javien Toviano, Sergo Snider and Zairre Barrow. Lake Travis has won two of the last three matchups against these squads, including last season, and while Martin will have home field advantage in this one and could pull of the win, I have to give Lake Travis the edge in what should be a thrilling contest.
Liberty Hill vs Wagner
Wagner travels up north to take on the state finalists Panthers in what should be a ground and pound affair. Liberty Hill has made a name for themselves since moving up to 5A two seasons ago with state semi and state finals appearances, but they have their eyes set on more. They will lean on Joe Pitchford and Noah Long in their legendary Slot-T offense to try and accomplish that. While they do need to reload on defense, as long as their run game stays strong Liberty Hill will continue to find success on the field while their defense gels. Wagner on the other hand will have some inexperience in the backfield on offense. This really could come down to Liberty Hill's offense versus Wagner's stout front seven. One of the surprising outcomes last season, for me, was Liberty Hill's Week 1 loss to Killeen Ellison.....I don't see them repeating that Week 1 outcome this season.
New Braunfels vs Denton Ryan
One of the more intriguing teams in the Austin/San Antonio this season for me is New Braunfels. They had a great season last year, defeating undefeated SA Johnson in the first round before losing to Westlake in the 2nd round and return 6 starters on both offense and defense. Among those are Landon Marsh and Lance Beeghley. They also find themselves in a competitive but favorable district that only has 6 teams so playoffs will be on everyone's mind. However their biggest issue heading into the season is replacing Quarterback Aiden Baumann. With his absence, having inexperience could hurt them early on in the season. Although a positive for them with a small district, it becomes no easy feat against Denton Ryan. The Raiders finds themselves hungry after last seasons first round loss to eventual state runner-up College Station. Because of all of this, the biggest threat to New Braunfels in this game has to be the defense and A&M commit Anthony Hill who could, and will, be a huge problem for the offensive front of the Unicorns to handle. I think New Braunfels falls short in this one, but for me this is an experience game for the Unicorns anyway.
Judson vs SA Johnson
The Mark Soto era in Judson will begin with a matchup against his former school SA Johnson, which won't be the only time he plays a former school this year. Not only that but the new Head Coach at Johnson is Soto's former Defensive Coordinator on the Jaguars, T.P. Miller. So needless to say the headlines write themselves for this one. For the teams themselves, each squad comes in looking a little different. Judson had a rare "off" season going 4-6, but a 4-6 that saw them beat DeSoto in the process early in the season. Meanwhile Johnson went 10-1 with their lone loss coming in the playoffs in Round 1. Judson will have a lot of talent returning including 2 of the top prospects in San Antonio DL Johnny Bowens and WR Anthony Evans. Johnson meanwhile lose a ton of talent from last season and will have to lean on WR Alex Tavarez. Both will be finding their way at QB and because of that I give the edge to Judson with their returning talent on both sides of the ball.