GAMES
RANKINGS
St. Thomas looks lilke TAPPS favorites
BIG CHANGES: TAPPS, SPC early playoff look in
The big-picture story: TAPPS blew up the playoff format
For the 2026-28 realignment cycle, TAPPS compressed the football playoffs to three weeks so they finish before Thanksgiving, a move that drew significant pushback from member schools and fans. To get the playoff field down near 50% of teams, the organization added an extra championship in 11-man Division II and two more in six-man.
- Division I is a straight eight-team bracket, regionals this Friday, then semis and a final.
- Division II is now split into Large School and Small School brackets with four byes, so only two games are played in each this week.
- Finals are Nov. 19-21 in Waco. Per TAPPS, the Division I title game is Friday, Nov. 20 at 6 p.m., with Division II Small School at 11 a.m. and Large School at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21, at the Waco ISD Athletic Complex.
TAPPS Division I — Regionals, Friday, Nov. 6
The four games: Austin St. Michael’s (District 2 No. 4) at Argyle Liberty Christian (District 1 No. 1); Frisco Legacy Christian (1-3) at Houston Lutheran South (2-2); San Antonio Central Catholic (2-3) at Dallas Parish Episcopal (1-2); and Plano Prestonwood (1-4) at Houston St. Thomas (2-1), Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Prestonwood at St. Thomas (Fri., 7:30) — The Eagles are the District 2 champion and the Houston-area headliner. St. Thomas is 7-2 overall and 5-0 in district before closing the regular season against St. Michael’s. Their two losses came early, including one to Kinkaid in September, before a 19-14 win over Lutheran South on Oct. 2 that effectively decided the district. Prestonwood is the 4-seed out of the Dallas district, but their résumé isn’t a pushover: PCA beat Fort Worth Christian 49-35 in September and lost to All Saints 42-14, a team that’s arguably the best private program in the state.
Legacy Christian at Lutheran South (Fri., 6:00) — The Pioneers were a surprise package this fall. LSA started 6-0 and and were 7-1, with the lone loss the five-point game at St. Thomas. QB Reid Jeffrey and Braeden Robinson are the names to wach. Legacy Christian is the District 1 No. 3 — they lost 24-20 to Episcopal School of Dallas in September, and ESD is now an undefeated SPC 3A team, so that’s a respectable loss.
St. Michael’s at Liberty Christian — Liberty Christian is the District 1 champion and the program with the most recent hardware: they won Division II in 2023 and Division I in 2024 before being upset early last year. They opened 2026 with a 66-63 loss to Midland Christian and lost 35-34 to Celina, so the defense has been the question all year, but the offense is explosive. St. Michael’s is the District 2 4-seed that St. Thomas just played.
Central Catholic at Parish Episcopal — Parish lost 42-16 to San Antonio Cornerstone in September, and finished second in District 1. Central Catholic is the District 2 No. 3; Lutheran South beat them 48-14 in September.
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TAPPS Division II Large School — Quarterfinals this week
Fort Worth All Saints and Regents School of Austin have byes. The two games are Midland Christian vs. Bullard Brook Hill and Austin Hyde Park vs. Houston Second Baptist. The winners face All Saints and Regents, respectively, in the semifinals, with the final Saturday, Nov. 21 at 6 p.m.
Hyde Park vs. Second Baptist — This is the Houston story. Second Baptist is coming off the most improbable run in the area last year: they started 2025 at 1-6 and still reached the state title game, beating Woodlands Christian 34-27 and then Lutheran South to earn the berth for a second straight year. They led defending champ All Saints 10-7 at halftime of the final before falling. They sat at 5-3 as of mid-October. Hyde Park lost 31-27 to Central Catholic in Week 0.
Midland Christian vs. Brook Hill — Midland Christian is the dangerous one: they put 66 on Liberty Christian in Week 0, and played a New Jersey team (Wayne Hills) in a 41-34 loss. Brook Hill is the East Texas entry. Winner gets All Saints, the defending Division II champion. Prospectus: All Saints is the title favorite in this bracket; Midland Christian is the team most capable of scoring with them.
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TAPPS Division II Small School — Quarterfinals this week
Tyler Grace Community and The Woodlands Christian Academy have byes. The games are Grapevine Faith vs. the McKinney Christian/Grace Prep winner, and Brownsville St. Joseph vs. Victoria St. Joseph.
The Houston angle: Woodlands Christian - TWCA is the District 4 champion sitting on a bye and is the obvious favorite in this bracket — it’s a program with real pedigree and was pushed down here by enrollment rather than results. Walk specifically flagged that TWCA was denied the chance to compete against the other district champions. Story: “The best team in the Small School bracket didn’t want to be in it.” TWCA’s semifinal opponent is the Brownsville/Victoria St. Joseph winner — Grapevine Faith, which Walk describes as having come on late in the year, faces Grace Prep on the other side for a shot at Tyler Grace.
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SPC — Semifinals Friday, Nov. 6; championships Saturday, Nov. 7
This is new too. The SPC expanded its football playoffs this year to include semifinals in both 4A and 3A. St. John’s lists its SPC semifinal for Friday, Nov. 6, time TBA. The fall championships are in Houston this year (the SPC cross country championship is Nov. 7 at Spring Creek Park, hosted by St. John’s), so expect the title games Saturday on Houston-area campuses.
4A semifinals: (1) Kinkaid vs. (4) St. John’s; (2) Episcopal vs. (3) Houston Christian. All four are Houston schools. Standings: Kinkaid 5-0 SPC, 7-3 overall on a six-game win streak; Episcopal 4-1 and 7-3, four straight wins; Houston Christian and St. John’s both 2-3 and 5-5; St. Mark’s 1-4; John Cooper 1-4.
- Kinkaid vs. St. John’s is a rematch of Friday’s regular-season finale. Kinkaid beat St. John’s 28-0 in the 76th meeting of the series — the Falcons’ 14th straight win over the Mavericks, and only the fourth shutout in the rivalry since 1971. The Mavericks last beat Kinkaid 27-21 on Oct. 26, 2012, and this will be the first time the two have played twice in one year. Prospectus: Kinkaid, VYPE’s preseason No. 1 private school, is the clear favorite, but SJS gets a second look at them a week later.
- Episcopal vs. Houston Christian — Episcopal’s only conference loss is to Kinkaid, so a Kinkaid-Episcopal final (the matchup that’s defined 4A for over a decade) is the expected outcome. Houston Christian is the spoiler; the Mustangs have never won a 4A SPC football title, having lost the 2023 3A final 30-27 to Trinity Valley before moving up.
3A semifinals: (1) Episcopal School of Dallas vs. (4) Austin St. Andrew’s; (2) Arlington Oakridge vs. (3) Fort Worth Country Day. ESD is 10-0 (7-0), Oakridge 8-1 (6-1), FWCD 6-4 (5-2), St. Andrew’s 5-4 (3-4). ESD could reach 11 wins for the first time in school history next weekend. ESD dropped from 4A to 3A this cycle under new coach Bob Benson.
Concordia Lutheran is a sleeper in DI TAPPS playoffs
BUMP, SET, SPIKE: Private school volleyball title runs wrap this weekend
The private school volleyball championships are on deck.
The TAPPS semifinals and championships are Friday–Saturday, Nov. 6–7, at sites around Waco, with 6A and 5A both at Robinson High School. The SPC is also this weekend.
Class 6A (“DI”) — Friday at Robinson HS
Semifinals:
Nolan Catholic (25-11) vs. Prestonwood (40-4), 4 p.m.
Antonian (45-4) vs. Concordia Lutheran (24-21), 7 p.m.
Championship: 4 p.m. Saturday at Robinson.
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The headliner: Prestonwood. The nation’s 10th-ranked team swept Bishop Lynch 25-17, 25-16, 25-17 in the regional round to run its win streak to 15 and set up the Nolan semifinal. This is a revenge tour: Prestonwood won three straight 6A titles from 2022-24, then lost in the regional round last fall to Bishop Lynch (3-1), who went on to the final. The Lions are back and look like the class of the field. "Prestonwood has that look again," VYPE's Matt Ogle said. "The are the hands down favorite, but don't count out Antonian."
Antonian is the defending champ. Bishop Lynch fell to Antonian 3-1 in last year’s 6A final. The Apaches come in 45-4 after beating Katy St. John XXIII 3-1 (25-27, 25-11, 25-15, 25-12) in the regional. Antonian also won the 2017 title over Prestonwood, and the two have met in multiple finals (2023, 2024), so a Saturday rematch is the expected storyline.
Concordia Lutheran is the Cinderella. At 24-21, the Crusaders beat San Antonio Incarnate Word 3-1 in the first round and are back in the state semifinals for the third time in four years. This is a program with real history here: they won the 2016 6A title and took Prestonwood to five sets in the 2018 final, losing 26-28, 16-25, 25-19, 25-19, 15-13 after leading two sets to none. They lost 3-0 to Antonian in the 2024 semis and to Prestonwood in the 2023 semis.
Nolan Catholic (25-11) is the 2025 semifinalist that lost to Bishop Lynch in four sets last year. They will have their hands full against Prestonwood.
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Class 5A (“DII”) — Friday at Robinson HS
Semifinals
Southwest Christian (32-1) vs. All Saints Episcopal (17-14), 10 a.m.
Cypress Christian (32-5) vs. Fort Bend Christian (20-9), 1 p.m.
Championship: 1 p.m. Saturday at Robinson.
Cypress Christian vs. Fort Bend Christian — the all-Houston semifinal, and a third meeting. These are District 5 rivals and Cypress Christian has won both regular-season meetings: a 2-1 escape on Sept. 24 (Bella Thomas 35 assists/12 digs, Sarah Troxel 16 digs/13 kills) and a 3-0 sweep on Oct. 13 that snapped FBCA’s 12-match home winning streak. The Warriors got here the hard way, surviving San Antonio Christian in five (25-23, 25-23, 14-25, 22-25, 15-8) in the regional, while FBCA swept Schertz John Paul II 3-0. Cypress Christian’s balanced attack (Troxel, Thomas, Karly Schielack) against an FBCA program that won the 5A title in 2021, was runner-up in 2022, and reached the 2024 final after sweeping Woodlands Legacy in the semis.
Prospectus: Cypress Christian is the favorite on form, but a third meeting between rivals is never a lock — FBCA has already seen everything they run.
Southwest Christian at 32-1 is the clear top seed on the other side. All Saints beat Southwest Christian in the 2024 semis (25-21, 25-21, 20-25, 25-16) and went on to that year’s final, so this is a rematch of a Fort Worth rivalry that All Saints won last time it mattered. At 17-14, All Saints is a long shot.
The Prediction: Southwest Christian vs. the Cypress Christian/FBCA winner for the title, which would be a Houston team’s shot at the Fort Worth juggernaut.
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The rest of TAPPS
- 4A
- Pantego Christian (33-5) vs. Plano Coram Deo (22-7-3), 4 p.m. Fri.
- Boerne Geneva (24-18) vs. Bryan Brazos Christian (29-11), 7 p.m. Fri.
- 3A
- Abilene Christian (35-8) vs. Lucas Christian (22-4), 10 a.m.
- Temple Central Texas Christian (36-8) vs. Spring Providence Classical (29-12), 1 p.m.
- 2A
- Lubbock All Saints (25-10) vs. Red Oak Ovilla Christian (31-7), 4 p.m.
- Bryan St. Joseph (22-3-1) vs. Shiner St. Paul (29-4), 7 p.m.
- 1A
- Wichita Falls Christ Academy (21-18) vs. Amarillo Accelerate (17-15), 10 a.m.
- San Marcos Hill Country Christian (20-7) vs. Kingwood Covenant Prep (18-3), 1 p.m
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SPC — Volleyball Championships this Week
4A standings
Greenhill - 8-0
Hockaday - 7-1
Episcopal - 5-3
John Cooper - 5-3
Houston Christian - 5-3
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The Hockaday three-peat chase. The Daisies are the two-time defending 4A champs: they beat St. John’s for the 2024 title (Olivia Wayne 19 kills, 12 digs, 5 blocks) without dropping an SPC set, and beat Episcopal in last year’s final. But this fall Hockaday is the 2-seed behind an 8-0 Greenhill — the same Greenhill team Hockaday beat 3-0 for third/fourth place last year. Hockaday was 25-16 as of Oct. 21 and swept Kinkaid 25-11, 25-11, 25-19.
Episcopal. The Knights (21-9 overall) are the best Houston hope — they swept Kinkaid Oct. 8 but lost 0-3 to Hockaday Oct. 3, which is the gap they have to close. John Cooper and Houston Christian are also 5-3 and in the mix for a semifinal spot; St. John’s is the 2024 finalist but finished 3-5. Kinkaid, VYPE’s usual private-school standard-bearer, is having a down volleyball year at 2-6 in SPC and 5-17 overall.
3A: a new member at the top. Saint Mary’s Hall (San Antonio), in its first SPC season, went 7-0 in conference and is the 3A top seed. Trinity Valley, a recent 3A champion, finished 1-6, so the bracket is wide open behind SMH and 6-1 St. Andrew’s.
The SPC hasn’t posted the volleyball bracket/times yet; last year’s event ran Thursday–Saturday in Houston with quarterfinals, semis and a consolation round.
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