This week, it's a double-dose of triple headers in multiple locations each day as we move into the third week of the Texas high school football playoffs - previewing four UIL Regional Semifinal matchups and two TAPPS State Semifinals.
FRIDAY #1: Duncanville vs. Arlington Martin
<h4 rel="noopener noreferrer">Game Details</h4><p rel="noopener noreferrer">
<strong>Time:</strong> Noon<br>
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<strong>Day:</strong> Friday , November 29
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<strong>Location:</strong> AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas)
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<strong>Previous meetings:</strong> Arlington Martin won 34-9 (2007hi)<br>
</p><h4>Previewing Duncanville (12-0)</h4><p>
What else can be said about Duncanville at this point? The team is once again playing at an elite level, and that's in all phases of football.
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Last week, Duncanville scored 42 points in 13 minutes of game action in the first week against Flower Mound on the way to a 45-0 halftime lead and a 59-13 win. Everything looked effortless when Duncanville decided to flip the switch and actually look interested in winning.
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In the two playoff games this year, Duncanville is winning by an average of 52 to 13.5 while outgaining teams by an average of 501.5 to 282 yards per game.
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The defense plays fast and is flies on the field, force a lot of turnovers (21 on the year; 6 in playoffs) and do not give up much, whether yards or points.
</p><h4>Previewing Arlington Martin (11-1)</h4><p>Outside of a failed comeback bid against another Regional Semifinalist - Rockwall - Arlington Martin has been playing lights out as well. In its nine-game win streak since the Rockwall loss, Martin is winning by an average of 44 points a game with the closest game coming against Arlington , 21-3.</p><p>So far in the playoffs, Arlington Martin has averaged 70 points per game and bumped its yards per game average to 479.5, which is 116 yards more from its district average.</p><p>Martin has a very active defense as well, forcing 21 turnovers this year as well as six in the playoffs, which has helped it jump out to big, early leads.<br></p><h4>Previewing the Game</h4><p>Oddly enough, Martin is slightly favored in this game, according to TexasFootball.com. This was shocking at first look, but certainly understandable.</p><p>
Here are the team split:
</p><table style="border-top: 1px solid #d6d6d6; border-right: 1px solid #d6d6d6; border-bottom: 1px solid #d6d6d6; border-left: 1px solid #d6d6d6" width="100%" cellspacing="5" cellpadding="5" border="0">
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<strong>TEAM STATS</strong>
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<strong>DUNCANVILLE</strong>
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<strong>ARLINGTON MARTIN</strong>
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Points Per Game
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<td align="center">45.7</td>
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48.4 </td>
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Points Allowed Per Game
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5.0 </td>
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12.1</td>
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Yards Per Game
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403.9
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369.5
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Yards Allowed Per Game
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162.1</td>
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257.8 </td>
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</table><p>What I don't think is taken into account is Duncanville is resting its starters for the second halves of most of its games this year, which contributes to the low stat numbers for its offensive starters. And even with back ups in the game, they still play pretty well </p><p>Seeing Martin playing as well as it has this year is good for Texas high school football. However, I don't think they are quite at the level of Duncanville. Both teams have good ground games, are pretty even passing numbers on the year and rely on the defense to hold teams down.</p><p>For my money, though, Duncanville seems to be a slight cut above. Expect Martin to make things interesting early until the depth and skill of Duncanville allows it to pull away late.<br></p>
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<strong>Prediction: Duncanville 38, Arlington Martin 21</strong>
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Follow
<a href="https://twitter.com/iamspeters" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">@iamspeters</a> for live updates of this game.<br>
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