Denton RC High School

I'm going to do my best to blog from Ryan's playoff opener against Aledo, which will tip off in about 10 minutes. I'll do it the same way we do football. Just click refresh to get the updates.

Also, be patient with me. Blogging basketball games is tough. I'll update as much as I can.

Pilot Point is going into its biggest game in ages without running back Cooper Guthrie, who posted back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons as a sophomore and junior. Head coach Blake Feldt will move slot receiver Jarman Johnson to running back to replace him while Nathanael Riegel will take Johnson's spot in the slot.

The Bearcats have already survived one game without Guthrie -- their 27-24 win over Winnsboro last week -- but can they do against the No. 3 team in the state in Muleshoe tomorrow? Since the Mules entered district play, they've given up no more than 20 points and pitched three shutouts.

Last week, Muleshoe destroyed Clyde, 42-7. My buddy George Watson at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal told me last week that Muleshoe was absolutely unstoppable. This isn't exactly the time to loose your running back.

In hopes of starting a tradition that Boedeker began last week with his Beasts of the Ryan-Guyer Game, here are my Beasts of Ryan's win over Birdville tonight (although my blog entry won't be longer than War and Peace like every other Boedeker post. BURN!)

First of all, Ryan will play Mansfield Timberview at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Brewer High School.

3. Scotty Young
The junior quarterback was phenomenal adjusting to the wind. His 42-yard toss to Bud Sasser, which ended in a Sasser fumble and a D.J. Beshears fumble return for a touchdown, may have been the difference in the game as the Hawks couldn't do anything with the wind in their face in the first quarter. Joey Florence told me after the game that the wind wasn't much of a factor in the second half, but Ryan's ability to move the ball in the second quarter was essential.

The regular season is over. The playoff are upon us. The boys who fell short have to wait until next year. Those who made the cut get ready to perform on the biggest stage in high school sports. Here's how the final week went in the area.

Little Elm 39, Denton 36
Excellent finish for the Broncos despite the loss. Denton showed a lot of resilence to climb back in this game. This wraps up a simply brutal year for the Broncos, but the good news is there's no where to go but up. Denton's subvarsity teams have rebounded numbers-wise, so a return to competitive play is hopefully in the cards for our friends on Fulton.

Guyer 42, Ryan 28
We've pretty much beaten this game to death on, as Tim MacMahon would say, this here blog, so let's talk about the future. How will these two teams be in the years to come? I'm going to say great. Ryan will take a hit on the offensive line, but the Raiders have a ton of defensive studs coming up. Next year should see a more balanced Ryan team. Guyer will also lose talent on the offensive line, and some more in the defensive front seven, but the future is bright for the Wildcats as well with J.W. Walsh and Jaimaine Wilhite returning.

The Colony 34, Lake Dallas 33
The Falcons seem to have dropped off a bit since the tough part of their scheduled ended a few weeks ago. The Colony is a good team, but Lake Dallas should not have lost this game. This was the last game of the year for the Cougars, and it didn't mean anything as far as playoffs for Lake Dallas, so I'm sure the Falcons were checked out. Next up, state-ranked Aledo.

Ryan and Guyer will be hated enemies next week, but they're pulling for each other this week. The two teams can't clinch a playoff spot with a win alone as Ryan, Guyer and The Colony are tied for third at 3-2.

But! If both Ryan and Guyer win, they both clinch playoff spots. How is that possible you say? Let me explain.

If Ryan beats The Colony, both Ryan and Guyer will own the tiebreaker over the Cougars by beating them this year. A Guyer win over Wichita Falls would give Ryan and Guyer 4-2 marks while The Colony would be 3-3.

Ryan and Guyer play each other in the last game, so one of them would finish 5-2 and clinch a spot outright. Even if The Colony beats Lake Dallas after losing to Ryan, they would be 4-3 along with the Ryan-Guyer loser. The Ryan-Guyer loser would make the playoffs because it beat The Colony.

I think it's time all our doubts about Wichita Falls Rider were put to bed.

After Ryan's self-inflicted loss to the "Other Raiders," I was the first to say I thought Ryan looked like the better team. After Rider's win over Guyer, I thought they underachieved by letting the Wildcats back in the game.

And after they lost quarterback Shavodrick Beaver, I thought Lake Dallas would pull the upset, but Rider prevailed in a game where many Corinthians seem to think the Falcons let it slip away.

You don't beat Ryan, Guyer and Lake Dallas without being good. You don't beat all three of them without being great. Rider is going to win its second straight 5-4A title, and the Other Raiders deserve it.

It's getting to be playoff time in high school football, and we have a pretty clear picture in 5-4A now. Unfortunately for Ryan, The Colony and Lake Dallas, they have been systematically eliminated from the district title picture by going 0-3 against Wichita Falls Rider. Here's a look at the action:

The Colony 38, Denton 9
The Broncos hung in there with Cougars before a 24-point second quarter put them too far back. Honestly, I think this is a small victory for Denton. The Colony is a playoff-caliber team, and to be so depleted and keep it from getting out of hand is an accomplishment in itself.

Ryan 66, Wichita Falls 43
If Ryan Salter's parents video taped this game, I know what Ryan Salter did all weekend - watch his phenomenal touchdown run over and over again. Salter caught the ball about 10 yards passed the line scrimmage, changed direction a bunch of times before shaking the four or five defenders in front of him. He took it 65 yards for the score. What a beast.

Guyer 62, Little Elm 35
Little Elm sure has a lot of talent for being a winless team. Fred Fowler is a stud, and the backfield has a lot of athleticism. Given that, Guyer did well to put this game out of reach as J.W. Walsh's return helped put the game away in the second half. That's good timing. Guyer will need that extra offensive punch when they face Ryan in two weeks. But first things first, Guyer has to get past Wichita Falls.

I just got off the phone with Lake Dallas coach Michael Young and followed up with him about stud kicker/punter Michael Murray, an all-state preseason selection this year at kicker.

People often underestimate the importance of the kicking game, but the Falcons truly have one of the best around at both positions, it just happens to be the same guy.

And now they'll be without him for likely a week or two, and Young hopes he's back for the postseason after suffering an injury to a muscle around his knee in his right leg (non-kicking leg). Murray was hurt on a kickoff just before halftime.

"He's real important especially when you play a game like the other night [against Rider] where field position decides it," Young said. "He can make a real difference."

With some folks already discussing the James Franklin-Scotty Young dilemma, I thought I'd take a look at which way I might vote when it's time to put together our All-Area team. Also, I think it could be the way the coaches go on the all-district team as well.

First, let's take a look at the race for MVP, which is clearly a two-man race.

Lake Dallas QB James Franklin:
141-208 with 7 interceptions for 2,057 yards and 19 touchdowns, 9.9 per attempt
150 carries for 878 yards, 5.9 yards per carry and 15 touchdowns

Ryan QB Scotty Young:
173-270 with 7 interceptions for 2,788 yards and 42 touchdowns, 10.3 per attempt

My boy Graham Harrell tossed a state-record 67 TDs in 2003, but Young has been super impressive this year even though it's doubtful he'll catch Harrell. He has just been one shy of the single-game state record (8) twice this year.

As some of you may not know, we work under pretty intense deadlines when writing our stories that appear in the next day's paper. For that reason, sometimes we leave some stuff out either because they're are simple oversights or because we just don't have time.

So, I'd like to address a few points that I left out of my story that will appear in Saturday's DR-C.

First off, as I mentioned, Guyer scored a school-record 62 points tonight, and that was with taking a knee with 1:59 left in the game inside Little Elm's 20-yard line after nine straight runs from backup RB Terry Easley.

Again, sorry for the spacing problems, but you can figure it out. I'm too tired to figure out if Rider has clinched a playoff berth. For all intents and purposes they have, but there might be some obscure scenario that could keep them out with five teams with no more than two district losses. This is a really really tough district.
EDIT: I guess Rider does clinch a playoff spot since they've beaten all the 2-loss teams head-to-head. EDIT 2: Lake Dallas has also clinched.

DISTRICT 5-4A STANDINGS
District Overall
W-L W-L PF PA
x-Wichita Falls Rider 5-0 5-3 237 177
x-Lake Dallas 4-1 6-2 319 231
Ryan 3-2 6-2 439 255
Guyer 3-2 6-2 268 194
The Colony 3-2 6-2 258 178
Wichita Falls 2-3 3-5 247 278
Little Elm 0-5 0-8 130 367
Denton 0-5 0-8 84 385
x -- clinched playoff berth
y -- clinched district title

I'm not a math expert, but it looks like Denton's win over The Colony on Friday night, coupled with Guyer's sweep of Little Elm has given Guyer its second straight 5-4A title.

The Lady Wildcats are now 11-2 in district, while The Colony falls to 10-3. With one match remaining in the regular season, even a Guyer loss at Rider and a Cougar win would tie the teams and Guyer has the tiebreaker since the Lady Wildcats have beaten The Colony twice this year in head-to-head action.

Congrats are in order to Guyer for its second straight title after never making the playoffs before last season. They also get the good draw in the postseason and will likely play Saginaw in the first round.

Wichita Falls is going to get the ball to start the half. The 'Yotes need a score early if they want to stay in this one.

Third quarter

11:07
Nice start for the Ryan defense. A quick three-and-out puts the ball back in Scotty Young's hands.

8:37
Another penalty-filled drive ended in a Ryan score. Christihan Guifarro kicked a 36-yard field goal.

2:38
Wichita Falls converted three fourth downs on the drive and Ben Henderson scored from 11 yards out. The Coyotes are doing much better running the ball than throwing it.

Scotty Young has 307 yards and five touchdowns ... in the first half. He now holds the school record for touchdown passes in a season with 40. That's in eight games, an average of five touchdown passes a game. Ridiculous.

Ryan has to feel good with a 42-22 halftime lead and Scotty being a beast, but the penalties on both sides are getting out of control. Ryan has 12 for 111 yards. Wichita Falls has nine for 95 yards. I've run out of spots on my stat sheet for penalties ... in the first half.

Ryan's defense has looked vulnerable at times. Its missing tackles when Ole High runs up the middle. Coverage has been decent for the most part as Ben Henderson has 56 yards passing.

9:11 4Q: J.W. Walsh fumbled to give Little Elm the ball back on its 43 but on the Lobos' second play, Adams was picked by 5-8, 150-pound CB Josh Stewart, who took it 40 yards the other way before being chased down by an offensive lineman. Three plays later, Wilhite scored from a yard out.

0:00 3Q: Chase Melton just caught a 21-yard pass and stretched over the goal line to end the third quarter. Little Elm faked another punt to extend the drive.

First off, Guyer has five penalties for 35 yards, but none have killed them and two of those were on the Wildcats' first four plays and they ended up scoring on that drive.

This game started off an epic shootout with long scoring plays from both teams but Guyer began to separate in the second quarter and now leads by two scores and will receive the opening kickoff in the second half with a chance to go up three.

Little Elm's last touchdown shouldn't have counted as everyone in the press box said Darnell Adams didn't break the plane of the goal line, but the refs disagreed. With four seconds left and no timeouts, the Lobos wouldn't have been able to get set to run another play.

Anyway, let's take a look at some halftime stats:

Argyle has defeated Sanger 42-13.

The Colony has defeated Denton 38-9.

Wichita Falls Rider has defeated Lake Dallas 21-18

0:04 2Q: Little Elm just got another great catch from Fred Fowler, this time a 41-yarder down to the Guyer 8 with no timeouts. Darnell Adams took a draw up the middle and appeared to be down at the 1 but instead was given a touchdown. Little Elm kicked an onside kick and Guyer recovered but the four seconds mysteriously ran off the clock. Interesting calls.

3:37 2Q: And on first-and-goal, Wilhite goes in untouched for the touchdown. Marquis Smith just found Cole Underwood for the two-point conversion in the back of the end zone. Guyer appears to be running away now, much like Ryan did last week after being tied 14-14.

3:47 2Q: There's two more Lobos injured, ample time for blogging. Guyer faced 4th-2 from its own 43 and lined up in a punt formation, but the upback Ravion Ingram caught the snap and raced 25 yards to the Lobo 32 to continue the drive. Now after a 12-yard scamper by Walsh and two 8-yard runs by Wilhite, the Wildcats have the ball on the Lobo 3-yard with 1st-goal.

9:45 2Q: Josh Stewart just picked off a deep pass from Darnell Adams and Guyer gets possession at its 22.

11:53 2Q: John Walsh just rolled the dice and went for it on 4th-5 from the Little Elm 6-yard line and called a wishbone play with his son, J.W., at QB. The younger Walsh found the end zone but after a false start penalty on the XP attempt, Sam Alspach's kick sailed right.

2:33 1Q: The scouts in here just erupted with a collective "sweet!!" as Guyer pulled off a tricky onside kick when Josh Stewart snuck off to the Guyer sideline uncovered and Sam Alspach sent a beautiful bouncing kick to Stewart, who was all alone. It was well drawn-up.