The fourth and final playoff spot in District 20-6A is still unclaimed going into the season's final week. The Austin Bulldogs want it, and they face the Elkins Knights Thursday night at 6:15PM, live, on vypefortbend.com. The best way for the Bulldogs (3-3 in district play) to nail down that playoff berth would be to knock off the favored Knights, who are 4-2 and currently hold the 3rd seed.
However, if Austin doesn't beat Elkins, the 'Dawgs will drop to 3-4 and could possibly finish in a three-way tie for 4th with the Kempner Cougars (if Kempner wins its Friday finale vs. 0-6 Clements) and the Bush Broncos (if the Broncos lose to undefeated Travis Thursday).
In head-to-head competition, those three bottom-tier contenders beat each other in a circular pattern earlier this month: Bush over Kempner, Kempner over Austin and Austin over Bush. In those games against each other, Bush had a point differential of +2 and scored 35 points. Austin's point differential was 0 and they scored 35, while Kempner was -2 and scored 33.
Top-seed Travis (9-0, 6-0) meets Katy Tompkins in the opening round of the 6A playoffs Nov. 14, and district runner-up Ridge Point (7-2, 5-1) faces the #2-ranked Katy Tigers (9-0). Those are bi-district matchups in Class 6A Division I between Fort Bend ISD teams and those in District 19-6A, and they won't change, no matter what happens in the season's final week.
But in Class 6A Division II, the matchups are still up in the air. Elkins doesn't know who it will face out of 19-6A: two teams from among Katy Taylor (3-2), Mayde Creek (3-2) and Morton Ranch (2-3) will advance to the playoffs. Stay tuned.
LISTEN NOW- Fort Bend ISD: Austin Bulldogs vs. Elkins Knights
6:15 p.m. Pre-game; 6:30 Kickoff, MercerF
t. Bend ISD Crew: Roger Smith, James Kowaleski, QA – Suna Venkat