Denton RC High School

Argyle wide receiver Brady Brown, who's orally committed to Vanderbilt, broke the school record for career receiving yards in tonight's win over Gainesville.

Brown, a 6-5 target, finished the night with eight grabs for 143 yards and two touchdowns and when the game was over he had 2,326 career receiving yards. That mark eclipses Brice Bode's career mark of 2,232 yards set in 2005.

What a BEAST.

Well, first off, congratulations are in order to Guyer's players, coaches and fans for the Wildcats' first playoff berth in school history. That 7-2 record this season looks a lot better than 0-10 or 1-9, I'm sure.

Now to the game, the Wildcats handed out a downright butt whuppin' to the Coyotes. Just as I suggested to head coach John Walsh (and I'm sure he read), the Wildcats threw the ball just five times and kept the cutesy runs and line shifts to a minimum. The result? A second straight week of a school-record rushing total, this time 391 yards and Kamrhan Jones was 10 yards shy of having three players go over the century mark.

I said it last week, but now I'm screaming it... J.W. Walsh's return to this football team is a huge difference maker. His ability in the zone read option game is uncanny. He grew up around the offense and looks like a seasoned veteran out there running it, not a sophomore who's played in now four varsity football games.

All four playoff spots from 5-4A are reserved, here you go...

(obligatory apology for spacing)

DISTRICT 5-4A STANDINGS
District Overall
W-L W-L PF PA
y-Wichita Falls Rider 6-0 6-3 282 183
x-Lake Dallas 5-1 7-2 369 251
x-Ryan 4-2 7-2 481 279
x-Guyer 4-2 7-2 318 208
The Colony 3-3 6-3 282 220
Wichita Falls 2-4 3-6 261 328
Little Elm 0-6 0-9 136 412
Denton 0-6 0-9 104 435
x -- clinched playoff berth
y -- clinched district title

THURSDAY, OCT. 30
Wichita Falls Rider 45, Little Elm 6
Lake Dallas 50, Denton 20
FRIDAY, OCT. 31
Ryan 42, The Colony 24
Guyer 50, Wichita Falls 14
FRIDAY, NOV. 7
Wichita Falls Rider vs. Wichita Falls, 7 p.m.
Denton at Little Elm, 7 p.m.
Guyer at Ryan, 7 p.m.
The Colony at Lake Dallas, 7 p.m.

Ryan will get the ball to start the half. A score would go a long way toward securing a playoff berth as Guyer is up big as well.

Third quarter

10:43
It took Ryan five plays to score with a 41-yard reception by Bud Sasser sparking the drive. Beshears put it in the end zone from 7 yards out.

4:54
The Colony drove all the way to the Ryan 3-yard line. The Cougars had two straight bad snaps and came away with nothing.

2:45
Ryan is on the board again, and again it's D.J. Beshears. He caught his third touchdown on a 22-yard post rout.

1:43 4Q: John Walsh just got some more confidence in kicker Sam Alspach, as if he needed it. The junior senior just booted a 48-yard field goal, a career-long. And he did it after getting crushed by a Coyote defender and drawing a roughing the kicker penalty.

4:34 4Q: 12 more runs, no more passes. Jaimaine Wilhite and J.W. Walsh are both over 100 yards and Wilhite just scored his third touchdown for the second straight week.

1:35 3Q: The Wildcats have still thrown just four passes and needed seven runs to go 68 yards after forcing a WF punt. Guyer got four straight runs from Wilhite, who's now up to 84 yards on 13 carries. J.W. Walsh finished things off with a 25-yard touchdown run on another option read play. He was never touched. Rider's Ponder & Co. are all impressed with Walsh, who didn't play against them. They also really like Kamrhan Jones.

5:25 3Q: Kamrhan Jones, the fastest player on Guyer's team just took a run 53 yards around left end for a touchdown. Coming into the game, he was averaging 11.5 yards per carry on 10 carries. Tongiht he has three runs for 81 yards and a touchdown. He's a big-time home run threat for Guyer as of late. Reminds me of Felix Jones.

12:00 3Q: Guyer has the ball at the 20-yard line to start things off.

Well, just like I said, Guyer has run the ball without much problem and has hurt itself at times by trying to get too cute with its playcalling. The Wildcats will start the second half with the ball and will be looking to go up by three scores. As long as they keep it on the ground and keep feeding the ball to Jaimaine Wilhite and J.W. Walsh keeps up his success with the option reads, they should do just that.

The Coyotes scored a late touchdown with under a minute remaining in the half after a big roughing the passer penalty on a Guyer lineman. It was a 15-yard advantage that gave the Coyotes 1st-10 instead of 4th-inches. This team did a decent job with penalties last week, but this week the Wildcats have 52 yards on six penalties already in the first half. It's tough to win games when you shoot yourself in the foot like this, but they're managing to do it tonight as they did through nondistrict play.

Boy that was ugly to start the game. Ryan's defense was giving up big plays and the offense was out of sync. The defense caught it's breath, and the offense made enough plays to give Ryan a 21-10 halftime lead.

Scotty Young has been throwing a little behind his receivers, but he's starting to get in a rhythm. His receivers are helping him look good as James Johnson and Bud Sasser scored on broken tackles.

The Colony is starting to struggle throwing the ball. Bryce Perkins' last five passes have been three incompletions and two interceptions, the last pick by Peyton Whitlock. The Cougars are still able to run though. They're able to run well out of the "Wildcat" set that the Miami Dolphins have made popular.

On their last drive, The Cougars were running all over Ryan before Perkins' first pass of the drive, which was Whitlock's interception. If I were TC, I'd stay in that Wildcat set.

Prosper has defeated Sanger 30-14

Argyle has defeated Gainesville 34-0

0:46 2Q: A roughing the penalty passer gave WF a 1st-10 at the Guyer 30 instead of 4th-inches in WF territory. They hit a 30-yard pass to Riley Mason to score at the end of the half. That's gonna chap John Walsh's hide.

3:35 2Q: Guyer's Antonio Burton just picked off Ben Henderson and gave Guyer the ball on the Old High 33. Guyer tried a reverse pass from Luke Russell to Deandre Wilson and he advanced it to the 12 where he fumbled. It was picked up by Daniel Harkins and run in 12 yards for a score. This could be getting out of hand. Now, if Ryan could just get a lead.

4:53 2Q: Guyer forced another three-and-out and made the Coyotes pay. The Wildcats are running the ball at will and Wilhite scored again from two yards out and had a nice 28-yarder on first down.

.

Here we go! The Colony will start with the ball.

First quarter

9:50
Tony Peoples scored on The Colony's first drive on a 35-yard run. Ryan went three-and-out on its first drive after Scotty Young was sacked on third down. The Colony is driving.

4:39
Ryan came up with a big stop in the red zone and The Colony settled for a 20-yard field goal.

4:12
Scotty Young threw three incompletions on another three-and-out. The third down pass went 60 yards in the air and was tipped right before D.J. Beshears could touch it. Now The Colony is driving. Nothing is going Ryan's way.

We're running a little behind today because of homecoming for The Colony, so we might be a little late tonight.

It'll be worth the wait. Both of these teams are fighting for the playoffs. We have two great offenses and this game figures to be a shootout. A quick note: Ryan left tackle Garrett Gramling is not scheduled to play. Tevin Willis will get the call tonight, and he's been good the past two weeks.

Ryan's run defense is going to get tested against The Colony's Tony Peoples. He might be the most talented runner in the district. It'll be a good warm up for Guyer next week.

But first things first: Ryan needs a win. The Raiders aren't out of the playoffs if they lose, but it'll be an uphill battle.

My prediction goes out to Tom as usual. I love you, Tom. Ryan 62, The Colony 45

I just got finished eating a delicious pulled pork sandwich from Texas Roadhouse and some rolls with that awesome cinammon honey butter, and now I'm ready for some blogging. Thanks, Martha!

As I said last night, this game is really for all the marbles for both of these teams. An Old High loss would eliminate the Coyotes from the playoffs. A Guyer loss would be a huge blow to the Wildcats' playoff chances, forcing them to need a win over Ryan next week.

If Guyer and Ryan both win, both teams are in. A Guyer win and Ryan loss tonight would also not be good for the Wildcats.

Well, the good news it appears the comments are back up and running after we had to go through an impromptu server switch the other day and didn't get any comments for two straight days. (I know it wasn't because no one was reading the blog with our awesome loyal readership).

Anyway, the bad news is there's yet another comment personally attacking an individual player. Remember, these are high school kids.

Carry on. Big night tonight for 5-4A playoff implications.

It all comes down to this for Guyer: Beat Wichita Falls on Friday, and you're all but assured a playoff appearance. Beat Old High and have Ryan beat The Colony, and you're definitely in.

My prediction is a Guyer win after the Wildcats rejuvenated their offense last week against Little Elm. Sure, you're saying "Little Elm's winless, who cares what they did against the Lobos," well, I don't think the Coyotes' defense is much better, especially against the run, which is where Guyer excels.

However, the Wildcats still aren't consistent enough for me to make them a no-brainer pick despite their talent on the field, so I don't think Guyer fans should be too comfortable with this game. A loss against the Coyotes is disastrous. It would make a 3-way tie for fourth and from what I gather, if Old High beats Guyer by four points they would have the tiebreaker over the Wildcats on point differential. That would force Guyer into having to beat Ryan next week to make the playoffs. I'm not saying they can't do that, but I sure wouldn't want to have to in order to keep playing when I could just end the suspense tomorrow against a clearly inferior Old High team (to Ryan that is).

So, what's tomorrow's game going to be like? I'm predicting a Guyer win somewhere in the neighborhood of 38-24.

5:08 4Q: Denzell King just fumbled and it was scooped up by Lake Dallas reserve Troy Privett and run back 20 yards to the end zone.

Just got word from the Lake Dallas radio crew that they found out yesterday that Michael Murray has a torn ACL and is out for the season, contrary to what coach Michael Young told me earlier this week.

That's bad news for the Falcons. They had expected to get him back for the playoffs but that obviously won't happen now. Murray's a huge weapon not only in the kicking game, but I think he's more impressive in the punting game.

0:00 2Q: I was a bit off on my James Franklin leave the field prediction. Unless he's injured, which I don't believe, he came out with three minutes left in the half in favor of backup Richard Cox. The senior backup drove Lake Dallas on 10-play drive that was capped off by a 43-yard field goal from Lake Dallas backup kicker Adam Goodnight. A 43-yarder is quite a boot. It hit the crossbar and bounced in. It didn't look like a Michael Murray 43-yarder that would clear the uprights by 15 yards, but it was huge for the backup's confidence anyway.

2:53 2Q: Denton scores! The Broncos just went 70 yards in 12 plays and went for it on 4th-goal from the Lake Dallas 2. Chris Pegram punched it in on an end-around to get the Broncos on the board.

8:43 2Q: Two Jared Beggs runs later and the Falcons are on the board again. They're doing their part to make this game go fast, but it's at a snail's pace right now.

9:10 2Q: It just gets worse for Denton. The Broncos fumbled the kickoff and it was recovered by Lake Dallas at the Broncos' 19-yard line. What was a relatively close game for a while is starting to get out of hand due to a lot of mistakes by Denton.

I'm here at beautiful C.H. Collins and am gearing up for what should be not much of a football game between Lake Dallas (6-2, 4-1) and Denton (0-8, 0-5). The Broncos appear to have more than 19 players suited up unlike last week, which is good. Although the Broncos had their best showing of the season last week against The Colony.

After watching DHS QB Hunter Dozier in warmups, I still say he's uber talented. That's right, I just said "uber". But he's overmatched tonight by his counterpart James Franklin, Lake Dallas' signal caller. Franklin is my frontrunner for District 5-4A MVP and All-Area MVP as a true dual-threat QB.

My prediction for this game: Lake Dallas 58, Denton 10: Franklin plays up to the first series of the second half before making way for Richard Cox.

If you haven't done so already, check out our high school podcast from yesterday.

Trevor Williams, Boedeker and I get you caught up on everything in 5-4A from volleyball to football, from Lake Dallas to Denton High.

Enjoy!

Rider decided to come in and shake up my rankings, and end the Falcons' home win streak nearing three years.

1. Wichita Falls Rider -- Proved they are still the best team in the district despite losing their star player. Should roll Little Elm on Thursday and finish off with a win over crosstown rival Wichita Falls, but then again, you never know with those games.

2. Lake Dallas -- The Falcons are still in great shape with just the one district loss and Denton and The Colony remaining. The loss to Rider was huge because it means they'll likely face Aledo in the first round and will have to face Everman soon thereafter.

3. Ryan -- The Raiders have what could be a challenge on Friday from The Colony. Their offense should carry them to a win against a lackluster defense, but look out, The Colony can put points on the board too. A win and a Guyer win would clinch berths for both schools.

One game that's going to go a long way toward deciding who Ryan and Guyer will play in the playoffs - assuming they make the playoffs - is Friday's game between Saginaw and Saginaw Boswell.

Those two teams will likely be the Division I representatives from District 6-4A. Ryan and Guyer will likely be the Division I representatives from District 5-4A. Those two districts play each other in the first round.

This week, Boswell and Saginaw will do battle to decide who gets the top D-1 seed in 6-4A. Assuming Ryan and Guyer win this week, their game next week will decide who gets the top D-1 seed in 5-4A.

In the spirit of the election, which can't get here fast enough for yours truly, the DR-C High School Blog is projecting Boswell to win Friday and get the top seed. It is also projecting Ryan to beat Guyer, giving the Raiders the top seed.

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 passed 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.

Alright, let's see if Ryan can get things started early as the Raiders will start with the ball.

No Stars game tonight, so no updates needed. I'll be at tomorrow's game with AO and the Capitals if anyone wants updates from me ...

First quarter

9:26
A failed onside kick by Wichita Falls set Ryan up with a short field, but three consecutive false start penalties killed the drive. Scotty Young was sacked on fourth-and-26.

7:11
Peyton Whitlock intercepted a Ben Henderson pass on fourth down to give Ryan the ball back.

4:16
A previous touchdown pass to D.J. Beshears was called back for holding, but Scotty Young found his favorite target in the end zone again from 10 yards out to give Ryan the lead. That's 36 for Scotty on the year.

For example, Boedeker likes Pizza Hut. Who likes Pizza Hut? Especially after those terrible commercials where people lose bladder control over "bacon mac n' cheese" ...

Anyway, we're about a half an hour away from kickoff here in Wichita Falls, where the Coyotes look like numbers problems are taking root. Ole High has 37 players on the roster. More may be suited up.

A few notes: Scotty Young will likely threaten James Battle's single-season touchdown passes school record of 38 set in 2001. Scotty has 35. He will get to 38 in about half the games it took Battle to set the record.

My first pregame thought is this: I couldn't think of one song that I'd rather be listening to over the PA while getting ready for a football game than... "Dancing Queen" by ABBA? Really?

This game shouldn't be close, but then again last week's Guyer-Lake Dallas should have been close and last week's Ryan-Little Elm shouldn't have been close -- and it was for a quarter.

Here's the thing though, Guyer doesn't have the offense that Ryan has and if Little Elm can stay close in the beginning, it could be a tight game down the stretch. Guyer's secondary has some improvement to make after last week's torching from Lake Dallas, and Little Elm has weapons in the passing department.

Don't get me wrong, I love Martha and the folks over at C.H. Collins, but I think I've found the best press box food ever tonight in Little Elm. It's a really nice press box, first of all, on par with the one at Collins, but there's some place down the road called Prince Bistro and the food is phenomenal. I'm chowing down on a nice healthy salad with a mango habenero dressing, some chicken and turkey wraps and some delicious pizza with all kinds of unique toppings. It's really good stuff. I'll be back later for football stuff, but I thought I'd give Prince Bistro a shoutout, and tell Jeff to eat his heart out.

Sorry for the tardiness of my rankings this week. Anyway, here goes nothing.

1. Lake Dallas -- The Falcons have proven plenty worthy of the top spot with wins over two likely playoff teams in the past two weeks in Ryan and Guyer. James Franklin to Joey Knight is one of the top pass-catch combos in the area and the Falcons' defense is improving steadily. A win tonight will all but lock up the district title and considering the Falcons haven't lost at home since 2005, things are looking pretty promising.

2. Wichita Falls Rider -- With Shavodrick Beaver out for the season, Rider has had to transform its identity from a perfectly balanced offense to a team that has attempted 12 passes in the past two games. But they've also gotten at least 250 yards rushing from Will Toliver in those two games.

3. Ryan -- The Raiders have a test tonight playing a somewhat rejuvenated Wichta Falls team in Wichita Falls, which is always a tough place to play, but with that being said it's still a game Scotty Young & Co. should win.

After looking at the 4A volleyball bracket, and spending endless, tireless hours examining the standings (OK, with some help...OK, with a lot of help), I think I have a general idea of how Region I might shake out, and now I'm going to share it with you in the blogosphere.

In this area's district -- 5-4A -- I see things finishing as follows:

1. Guyer
2. The Colony
3. Ryan
4. Wichita Falls Rider

I'm not really sure what the "?" is for, this is a pretty easy call.

Lake Dallas (6-1, 4-0) and Wichita Falls Rider (4-3, 4-0) will meet at Falcon Stadium on Friday night to -- with all intent and purposes -- decide the District 5-4A title.

Here's something to think about: The Falcons haven't lost a home game since 2005, when they lost to eventual state champion Hebron by a score of 3-0. It's a really tough place to play as Ryan found out two weeks ago.

Now the other Raiders come to town not at full strength and a bit of a one-dimensional team. With Michigan commit QB Shavodrick Beaver out for the season, we don't get to see what would've been an epic battle between he and Lake Dallas' own dual-threat QB James Franklin.

Assistant sports editor Trevor Williams and staff writer Jeff Andrews talk Ryan football and volleyball.

Oct. 22 Ryan podcast

Assistant sports editor Trevor Williams and staff writer Adam Boedeker talk Guyer football and volleyball.

Oct. 22 Guyer podcast

The Guyer Lady Wildcats didn't have much trouble handling The Colony tonight at Wildcat Gymnasium to move into a first-place tie with the Lady Cougars and Guyer has the head-to-head tiebreaker with wins in both meetings.

Guyer's seniors were huge tonight in their final home match and kept their unbeaten home streak alive for this season. Alyssa Hanley is always one of the Lady Wildcats' top weapons and tonight was no different with 11 kills and 10 digs in a stellar defensive performance -- good since Eastern Kentucky was there scouting her.

The Ryan Raiders still have a lot of work to do to get into the playoffs after losses to Wichita Falls Rider and Lake Dallas. This week, Ryan will plays at Wichita Falls, one of the other 2-2 teams hoping to pass up the Raiders.

Ole High has had its share of adversity this season, starting with injuries to starting quarterback Ben Henderson. It looks like Henderson could be back this week though, giving Ryan another tough test in 5-4A.

Our man Andy Newberry has more on the Coyotes in his story today.

Now that we have an idea of what the playoff situation is going to look like in District 5-4A, it's time we take a look at our friends from 6-4A - the district 5-4A will matchup with in the first round of the playoffs.

First of all, the DR-C High School Blog is projecting Ryan and Guyer to be the Division I representatives, and Lake Dallas and Wichita Falls Rider to be the Division II representatives. Hopefully we are not botching these projections as bad as CNN did by projecting Gore winning Florida in 2000.

The two schools with the top two enrollment numbers go D-I, if you didn't already know.

Over in 6-4A, Aledo (7-0, 4-0) and Birdville (5-2, 4-0) have emerged as the top two teams and they will meet in the final regular season game for what will likely be the district title. Saginaw, Fort Worth Boswell and Springtown are in the playoff mix.

So I've been more than impressed with Ryan's offensive line this year. Blake Holland, Alton Moss, Garrett Gramling, Tim Smith and Matt Burks aren't letting defenders even lay a hand on Scotty Young. I'm not exaggerating. They don't touch the guy. There's no drop back. The ball is hiked to Scotty, he stands there and throws the ball.

Even with Gramling out against Little Elm, I think Young was pressured once in the entire game.

This brings me to my question. Which o-line is better - Ryan or Guyer's? Guyer's was the most hyped coming into the year with Division I prospects Jesse Coffey and Kyle Clark as the bookends, but Ryan's is doing pretty well even though some of you Guyerlings think Moss (6-6, 330) and Gramling (6-6, 300) are "too small."

Things are really starting to take shape in District 5-4A after Week 7, and our friends in 9-3A and 10-2A are finding out a little about themselves as well. Here's a run down of this weekend's action, along with my playoff projections for our teams:

Wichita Falls Rider 42, Denton 0
After seeing Little Elm on Thursday, I'm afraid the 2008 season may be a winless one for the Broncos. The Lobos have a little more athleticism on offense and, of course, don't have to play linemen on both sides of the ball. Rider is making the playoffs, but I don't think they're a state title contender.

Ryan 58, Little Elm 14
Joey Florence was disappointed by his defense giving up two big touchdown plays, but I thought the unit looked better for the most part. The Lobos have offensive talent, and outside of those two plays, Ryan was able to shut them down. Despite some wild accusations by some of you Corinthians, Ryan will obviously make the playoffs and I stand by my prediction that they'll win a couple games while they're in it.

Lake Dallas 41, Guyer 15
As great as the Guyer turnaround has been this year, this game may show that the Wildcats aren't district title contenders yet. I do have Guyer making the playoffs though, and they have a chance to win a few. The Falcons are just a win over Rider away from an improbable third-straight district title. With James Franklin, this is a dangerous football team that no one will want to see in the postseason.

OK, we had some technical difficulties with the blog late in the fourth quarter. Luckily for me and the blog readers, it wasn't a game anymore at that point.

Look, I've respected the Falcons all year. I even had them No. 1 in my esteemed power rankings this week.

What they did tonight not only blew Guyer away, but did the same to me.

Sanger has beaten Gainesville by a score of 16-14.

In the fourth quarter, Lake Dallas leads Guyer by a score of 41-8

If you're looking to get one of those AT&T wireless internet cards, don't. I have one. My internet goes out every 10 minutes and I have to sit for another 10 minutes to get it working again.

Anyway, the point is, I'm having internet problems. I'll try to keep you posted, but if I disappear, you can call AT&T about it.

Third quarter

8:42
Gainesville scored on its opening drive and Sanger went three-and-out. Leopards have the ball.

5:11
A Gainesville snap just went out the back of the end zone on a punt.

11:42 4Q: Well, I hate to count this Guyer team out, but I think it's probably safe now. James Franklin found Joey Knight for a 79-yard pass as he was wide open after another busted coverage. He took it to the Guyer 13. A 5-yard Guyer penalty and a James Franklin 8-yard run have likely sealed the game for the Falcons.

3:17 3Q: Each team has had the ball twice in the third quarter and there's no points, though Lake Dallas is threatening right now. The Falcons face 4th-4 from the Guyer 23. A 15-yard facemask got the Falcons a key first down. The Falcons committed a false start and now will attempt a 44-yard field goal. And it's good. Murray is a beast.

8:44 3Q: Guyer forced a punt and will take possession at its 20.

9:54 3Q: Guyer could've used a score on their oepnign drive, but gave the Falcons the ball back on their own 40. A pretty short field against this potent offense.

On the first play from scrimmage in this game, Guyer took all the momentum with a safety just 10 seconds into the game to take a 2-0 lead. Since then, it's been James Franklin, Joey Knight & Co. who have stolen it and held it.

Guyer has once again managed to shoot itself in the collective foot with penalties, including a key personal foul on Cody Marley that turned 2nd-21 at the Guyer 41 into 1st-10 from the 19. Four plays later, Lake Dallas scored its final TD of the half on 3rd-and-goal from the 19.

Argyle has defeated Whitesboro 31-0.

Wichita Falls Rider has defeated Denton by a score of 42-0

And we're off. Sanger will start with the ball.

First quarter

7:20
Bad start for the refs. They've given Sanger an extra down. Sanger is the new Colorado Buffaloes of 1990.

3:11
DeShawn Franklin just put Gainesville on the board, which capitalized on a fourth-down fumble by the Indians. This Leopard team has some athleticism, and they run a hard-to-predict offense.

Second quarter

Gainesville is in Sanger territory, and the Indians are having a hard time bringing down these big runners of the Leopards. They line a bunch of different guys up at quarterback.

Outside of their struggle with Pilot Point, the Sanger Indians cruised through their nondistrict schedule.

Their District 9-3A opener? That was a very different story.

Sanger was pounded by defending Class 3A champion Celina last week, humbling the Indians. Tonight they face a tough road game against Gainesville, which should tell us where exactly Sanger is.

The Indians were picked to finish last by Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine in the summer. Gainesville was picked second-to-last. If the Indians lose tonight, we may have to start re-examining their hot nondistrict start.

0:03 2Q: Lake Dallas had a few great chances to punch in another touchdown but the Falcons had to settle for a 34-yard field goal from Michael Murray. That should do it for hte first half. I'm off to do the radio halftime show on 88.1 FM

2:27 2Q: Lake Dallas just forced a three-and-out and will take possession at its 42. A touchdown here would be huge for hte Falcons before half.

2:55 2Q: James Franklin and Joey Knight are untouchable. Franklin just found his favorite target on a nice fade to right corner of the end zone on 3rd-and-goal from the Guyer 19. Penalties weren't Guyer's friend on that drive.

4:22 2Q: On 2nd-21 after an offensive pass interference on LD, Cody Marley was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct to give the Falcons a first down at the Guyer 19. Coach John Walsh met him at the hash marks to chew him out. It's now 2nd-7 at the 16.

6:57 2Q: Guyer just went three-and-out and had to punt. Lake Dallas got five yards on the return and will start at the Guyer 46-yard line. Guyer's Josh Allen is lying on the ground right now at midfield and appears to have a fairly serious injury to his leg, I'm guessing knee. He's coming off the field now.

Twenty-seven total touchdowns accounted for, more than 2,200 total yards, a 6-3, 215-pound frame (although I swear he's at least 6-4, 220), a great, heady kid, and not one college offer?

What?!!?

I spoke with LD coach Michael Young and he said the junior hasn't received a single offer. Amazing, really. He's a physically-imposing player and is an absolute man-beast. Or meast.

He was on the OU sideline at the Texas/OU game last weekend, but still no offers.

This game is 30 minutes from kickoff and you can feel the excitement in the air, figuratively, of course. I really think this game could be a coin toss. It was definitely the most difficult game to pick this week.

It's a great defense (Guyer) with a so-so offense against a great offense (Lake Dallas) with a so-so defense. The old saying is "defense wins championships" but it'll be interesting to see if Guyer's offense is good enough to keep up with Lake Dallas', although I make an Adam Boedeker guarantee that Lake Dallas' streak of scoring at least five touchdowns in every game this season will end.

As I mentioned earlier, special teams will play a huge role in this game, and if Guyer wins, I bet there's a big kjckoff or punt return to spur them to victory. Now, for my prediction, which has been spot on the past two weeks:

Guyer 26, Lake Dallas 24

P.S. Cody Marley, Guyer's middle linebacker, has been a gametime decision all week. He's suited out and going through pregame but he seems to be favoring that ankle a bit. We'll see if he actually makes it on the field once the clock starts.

Well, I'm about to head down to the field and chat with some coaches because DR-C photographer Gary Payne sat in my seat in the press box and I am confined to a corner spot. All so he can be on the field throughout the game pushing a button.

Anyway, a few points... Guyer kick Sam Alspach, who I mentioned in my previous entry, just hit a 52-yard field goal in warm-ups. It's not the same as a game situation, for sure, but still impressive. UPDATE: I now have his stats written on my hand. He's 4-for-4 on field goal attempts, 13-of-14 extra points and has 12 touchbacks in 26 kickoffs.

Also, there's a bounce house outside. I'm gonna go hit that up after I drink a few diet cokes.

Just got an e-mail from Kim Rogers, who's the media contact for the UIL in Austin, with the agenda for the UIL Legislative Council annual meeting this weekend in Austin to review rules and vote on proposed changes.

Here's the five topics of discussion that will be up for vote:

Guyer's rushing attack vs. Lake Dallas' run defense

By this point, we all know the size of Guyer's offensive line, but Lake Dallas' defensive line isn't a bunch of runts, either.

Let's look at the direct players in this matchup, Guyer's runners and Lake Dallas' defenders.

I'm waiting on Wildcat Dad to take this moniker and run with it -- maybe make some bumper stickers, T-shirts and dish sets.

Without further ado, here's my third, and probably final, matchup to watch out for, and it's not what you might think of immediately.

Lake Dallas K/P Michael Murray vs. Guyer's kickoff/punt return team

I would have done this "Murray vs. Guyer K Sam Alspach" because Alspach has quietly done a great job this year, but a) I couldn't track down stats for Alspach for the life of me, and b) kickers don't play against each other, silly.

Due to the overwhelming support of my Lake Dallas-Guyer rivalry moniker, I've decided to give you guys another installment as we're just 20 minutes from Friday and the epic battle between these two intense, heated rivals who have never actually played before.

Guyer's LB corps vs. Lake Dallas QB James Franklin

Everyone and their mother knows about Franklin, the dual-threat QB, who's accounted for 27 touchdowns in six games and accounted for more than 2,000 yards of Lake Dallas' offense. He's rushed for more than 700 yards and makes his living on breaking contain and finding wide-open seams when teams are selling out on the Falcons' lethal passing attack.

The job of containing Franklin's ground game will be left up to the Guyer's linebackers. Outside linebackers Blake Terry and Ravion Ingram, along with middle linebacker Cody Marley are all playmakers on Guyer's talented defense. Marley is actually a gametime decision for the game with an ankle sprain. He missed last week's demolition of Denton.

Let's see how long it takes for backups to get into the mix here. Scotty might be breaking records if he plays anymore.

Third quarter

9:19
Jay Catlin powered Ryan down the field on its opening drive of the half, and he punched it in from 2 yards out. The extra point failed.

6:38
Cooper Jackson just intercepted Little Elm quarterback Darnell Adams and returned into Lobo territory.

5:32
Jay Catlin again got Ryan down the field, this time with a 43-yard run. The Raiders couldn't punch it in though as they settled for a 22-yard Christihan Guifarro field goal.

I hope Ryan fans are soaking up the Raider offense this year. Through two quarters at C.H. Collins tonight, the Raiders have lit Little Elm up for 42 points.

Scotty Young, inhuman man-beast, is 18-for-22 for 290 yards and five touchdowns in one half. Think about how ridiculous those numbers are. What's even more impressive than his arm strength is the amount of touch he can put on his long balls.

Jay Catlin has six carries for 73 yards. Bud Sasser has six receptions for 106 yards and a touchdown. D.J. Beshears has four receptions for 101 yards and three touchdowns. Insane numbers for a half of play.

But you know what makes all this happen? Ryan's offensive line. Scotty has all day to throw the ball, and I mean all day. Little Elm has gotten virtually no pressure, and Ryan is without left tackle Garrett Gramling tonight.

They make it look so easy.

And we're off! Little Elm will get the ball first. Quick note, Ryan defensive tackle Logan Sadowski is in street clothes tonight. Sedrick Purnell, who some random guy pronounced out for the year and next, is suited up and ready to go.

Also, keep me updated on the Stars game. You guys really dropped the ball last week with that ...

First quarter

10:51
Little Elm is on the board after Fred Fowler caught a 74-yard touchdown pass from Darnell Adams. Yahshua Williams had good coverage on the play, but Fowler was able to come up with a play

10:35
That was a quick answer. Ryan Salter, on what I believe was his first kick return ever, just ran it back 72 yards for a touchdown.

5:35
Ryan forced a three-and-out and then promptly marched down the field for a score. D.J. Beshears scored on a 6-yard fade from Scotty Young.

James Johnson has emerged as a go-to receiver for Scotty Young and Ryan's offense. He's put up back-to-back 100-yard receiving games and could knock D.J. Beshears and Bud Sasser off their statistical plateaus.

Here's a tidbit I missed from Johnson's last game: He broke the Ryan school record for receptions in a game with 10. He beat Okoto Okpo' and Justin Fenty's record of nine.

That might not be the only receiving record broken this year. The yards in a game record was set by Fenty in 2004 with 223. The receiving yards and touchdowns in a season records were both set by Phillip Jones in 2002. He had 1,317 yards and 19 touchdowns that year.

Dave Campbell's Texas Football has a weekly Top 25 poll for each classification. Looks like Guyer cracked this week's poll. Inexplicably, there's no sign of Lake Dallas, which I find to be ridiculous.

Assistant sports editor Trevor Williams and staff writer Jeff Andrews talk Ryan football and volleyball.

Oct. 15 Ryan podcast

Assistant sports editor Trevor Williams and staff writer Adam Boedeker talk Guyer football and volleyball.

Oct. 15 Guyer podcast

OK, now that my rant is out of the way, it's time to talk some football again and Friday's huge game between Lake Dallas and Guyer that I've dubbed the Swisher Showdown, as of about three minutes ago. I hope that name's not already taken. I reserve all rights for any T-shirts produced. Or maybe if you make them you can just plug our blog on it.

Anyway, let's take an extended look at what I think will be the matchup that decides Friday's game and whether Lake Dallas stays in a tie for first place (assuming Rider beats Denton, sorry Denton fans) or Guyer moves into a tie for second place with the Falcons, and possibly Old High although they don't really count.

It may sound cliche, but this game will be won in the trenches. Follow the jump for a closer look at both sides of the ball.

Don't get me wrong, Jeff and I love the fact that you guys seem to be enjoying this blog, but I want to make something clear. This is not a forum to single out 17-year-old kids and badmouth their character, much less their football skills.

The grandmother that posted a comment is completely right. You know, it's fine if you want to say "Lake Dallas football is terrible" or "Guyer football sucks" but let's leave individual kids out of the mix. Fair enough? If you want to say "James Franklin can't run on us" or "Luke Russell is gonna get shut out", fine. But stay away from personal attacks, please.

Now, sorry if I'm preaching to the choir and there's two or three bad apples out there, but we need to get this straightened out.

End. Rant.

Remember Ryan's phenomenal 3-0 nondistrict run that included big wins over Mesquite Poteet, Richardson Pearce and McKinney? After two district losses, that seems like a long time ago.

But let's take a look back and those teams and see how they've performed since losing to Ryan.

Mesquite Poteet is having a rough season at 1-6. The Pirates' only win was against Frisco, which is 0-6. The Pirates lost to Ryan 48-30. Against its six other opponents, Poteet's offense is averaging 15.7 points per game and 35.3 points against.

What did I do on my Tuesday night off? I went to watch a high school volleyball match. That's how big Ryan-Guyer volleyball has become. It's truly one of the better rivalries in our area in any sport.

Guyer swept Ryan in all three meetings last year, including a playoff match, and then Ryan knocked off Guyer at the beginning of this season's district schedule after the Lady Wildcats had gone all of last season without a district loss.

On Tuesday night, Guyer got its revenge. I think the rivalry meant a little more to Ryan until the Lady Raiders beat Guyer earlier this year. Tonight I watched a heated match that went four games -- all of which were very close and the last Guyer won 26-24 to end the match.

The plan for the past few weeks regarding Guyer QB J.W. Walsh has been to bring him back for the Little Elm game next week in a limited role. I'm sure his dad and head coach, John Walsh, would like to have him back for this week's huge game with Lake Dallas, but the more you think about it, maybe not.

His injury was originally suffered in summer 7-on-7 play and popped back up in the fourth quarter of the season-opening win over Carrollton Newman Smith. Right now, it's back to the point where it was heading into the season opener -- about 80 percent. And we now know, in hindsight, what happened last time he tried to play in that condition.

So the plan still sticks. Walsh will return next week against against the Lobos, in what should be a relatively easy win. He'll play some, but won't supplant Marquis Smith immediately. After all, as a commenter said on Jeff's post, he's just a sophomore and he's had one varsity start. The plan is probably to have him going full steam ahead for the Ryan matchup if playoff seeding is on the line.

Look for my feature story on Smith, which also will include a lot on his relationship with J.W. in Friday's edition of the DR-C.

We all know The Colony and Wichita Falls are still dangerous teams, but I think the District 5-4A season will boil down to three more games.

Lake Dallas at Guyer, Friday
Boy I wish I was covering this game, but our boss is obviously in the tank for Boedeker as I will be in Gainesville covering Sanger. This may be the most bitter rivalry between two teams that have never played each other.

Wichita Falls Rider at Lake Dallas, Oct. 24
Rider is vulnerable without Shavodrick Beaver, and Lake Dallas may be the only team with the ability to take advantage of it as Rider has already beaten Ryan and Guyer. They sure lucked out with the timing of that injury. A Rider win likely spells district title for the other Raiders.

Guyer at Ryan, Nov. 7
This game could end up determining a playoff spot, and not just for Guyer. Ryan hasn't missed the playoffs since Joey Florence has been head coach, but after losing to Lake Dallas, this game takes on added importance. That said, I think Ryan wins its next three and clinches beforehand. Guyer's game with Lake Dallas likely determines how much this one will mean for the Wildcats.

I've made my rounds this week (Lake Dallas yesterday, Guyer today) and there's one common theme amongst the kids when you mention Friday's clash between the two schools. It sure does bring out a lot of smiles.

Though these teams have never met on the football field, there's no doubt there is already a rivalry with some kids at Guyer (Luke Russell, Tyler Joliff and Cole Underwood) growing up in Lake Dallas and playing on pee-wee teams with the Lake Dallas players.

It should be a fun one on Friday night, and they'll be plenty more to come about the game.

We're past the midway point of the season and things are getting more than a little interesting. Lake Dallas' upset of Ryan turns 5-4A on its head while 10-2A and 9-3A started district play.

Guyer 55, Denton 6
This one turned out how we expected, but after seeing Denton last week and Boedeker seeing the Guyer game, we both came away with the same thought of the Broncos - Hunter Dozier is a great quarterback. It's a shame he doesn't have more around him or he might be right on Scotty Young's heels.

Lake Dallas 42, Ryan 38
It was interesting to watch Ryan's defense try to adjust during the game. The Raiders started our running a man-defense with the safeties on the line opposite receivers. As the game went on, zone started creeping in. By the fourth quarter, Ryan ran all zone.

I know, I know, you're amazed I'm working on Columbus Day/Canadian Thanksgiving, but I'm just that dedicated to you, the DR-C blog readers.

So, without further ado, here's the newest edition of my esteemed District 5-4A power rankings. There's a few changes this week. Can you guess where?

Lake Dallas and Ryan find themselves in very different positions than they were going into Friday's game. Lake Dallas has emerged as a serious 5-4A contender while Ryan has to feel sick for already dropping two district games.

Before we get into that, let me just say that the difference in Friday's game was that Lake Dallas punched it in after having a first-and-goal on its last drive of the game while Ryan settled for three. That was it. That was one of the most evenly played games across the board I've covered.

It seemed like Ryan was a step ahead in the first half while Lake Dallas picked it up in the second half, starting with that great opening drive for a touchdown.

Again, sorry for the spacing issue. Congrats to Lake Dallas. What a huge win.

District Overall
W-L W-L PF PA
Lake Dallas 3-0 5-1 260 195
Wichita Falls Rider 3-0 3-3 174 159
Guyer 2-1 5-1 191 118
Wichita Falls 2-1 3-3 171 176
Ryan 1-2 4-2 315 198
The Colony 1-2 4-2 184 136
Little Elm 0-3 0-6 81 247
Denton 0-3 0-6 75 305

3:52 4Q: Guyer just had its first punt of the night, and Denton takes possession at its 10.

7:31 4Q: Hunter Dozier just found Billy McCarty (5 catches, 156 yards) for a 72-yard touchdown over the middle. It was a nice pass, and Denton is finally on the board. The extra point was blocked.

9:50 4Q: WIth all backups in, Guyer stalled on the Denton 22. Sam Alspach just hit a 40-yard field goal with about 10 yards to spare into a pretty stiff wind. Impressive stuff.

0:40 3Q: It appears many of Guyer's offensive starters are done for the night.

3:48 3Q: Antonio Burton took a punt return 53 yards down to the Denton 6-yard line. Two plays later, Kamrhan Jones punched it in from two yards out after Burton got a 4-yard carry. It was his first carry of the season for the free safety. At quarterback on that drive? TIght end/defensive end Colin Hinchey. Weird.

6:34 3Q: Guyer just took 13 plays to go 50 yards and did it with more running. Wilhite scored on a 1-yard plunge and now has 106 yards on 14 carries and two scores.

Lake Dallas is going to start with the ball here. A score to open the half would be huge for the Falcons.

Third quarter

10:07
Joey Knight caught a 33-yard pass and a 44-yard touchdown to tie the game for the Falcons. Ryan's secondary is playing man coverage and getting burned.

8:37
Jay Catlin fumbled at the end of a long run and Lake Dallas has the ball back. Jared Beggs popped off a 45-yard run on the first play of the new drive.

7:26
Lake Dallas went for it on fourth-and-12 from the Ryan 30 and got it. But! Tyler McGee was stripped at the 8-yard line and Ryan recovered. Peyton Whitlock had the strip and the recovery. That's good for Whitlock. He's been picked on in this game a bit.

Guyer leads 38-0, and really it could be 42 if not for the refs letting a blatant pass interference go in the end zone, but I can't say I really blame them too much.

This is a mismatch of epic proportions. Like Guyer coach John Walsh told me this week, Denton's definitely been outscored a lot this year, but he didn't feel like the Broncos had been beaten physically yet this season. Tonight, that's happening.

I talked to Randy Patzkowski before the game, and he expected to get a heavy dose of the Guyer rushing attack and knew it would be a tough road if he did. His worst nightmare is coming true.

Both teams got a couple interceptions, both teams got a fourth-down stop, but Ryan leads 21-14 at halftime here at Falcon Stadium

I think both offenses got a little ambitious with their fourth-down attempts. Ryan was in pretty good field goal range. Lake Dallas was at midfield with more than two minutes left.

But I think the difference in the game was Colby Boliver's interception in the first quarter. It set up Ryan taking a 21-7 lead. Yahshua Williams made a great play, hitting the Falcon receiver right as the ball got to him. The ball bounced off of him and landed in Boliver's hands.

With 1:17 left to go in the game, Celina leads Sanger 56-7. Celina should be able to run the clock out from here.

It's a final, Prosper has defeated Argyle 35-14.

First quarter

9:35
Bud Sasser just scored his 10th touchdown of the year after catching a 35-yard pass from Scotty Young. He broke a tackle at about the 15 and crashed into the end zone.

5:51
Ryan blocked a 49-yard field goal attempt, but Ryan was offside on the play. Lake Dallas has it on the Ryan 23-yard line.

4:16
We are tied after a 3-yard run by James Franklin. Ryan was offside twice on fourth down, once on the blocked kick.

0:26 2Q: Guyer just hit a 24-yard field goal to take the 38-0 lead. On 2nd-11 from the Denton 13, Smith found Mose on a fade route. He was clearly interfered with -- everyone in the press box was saying so. However, I think the refs are kind of swallowing their whistles at this point, and it's not even halftime.

2:23 2Q: Guyer needed just four plays to go 89 yards, highlighted by a 47-yard strike over the middle from Smith to Russell, who already has 97 yards receiving. Smith is getting all kinds of time from his O-line. The drive was capped on a 41-yard run by seldom-used Kamrhan Jones.

3:51 2Q: Guyer just held Denton on 1st down from the Guyer 9. Of course, Denton went for the touchdown on fourth but Guyer stood up and take possession.

8:45 2Q: Guyer scores again. This time on a 5-yard run from Wilhite. He already has 70 yards on just eight carries. The Wildcats have 157 yards on the ground. Denton has 27 total yards -- -33 on the ground.

Remember Lake Dallas running back Justin Hill? He signed a scholarship at my brother's alma mater, Rice University. Go Owls!

Well, with Rice having injuries on defense, Hill has been playing linebacker, where he played as an underclassmen at Lake Dallas. Hill was a good one here in Corinth, and is showing his versatility at Rice. Just thought I'd throw that in there.

Also, this is the last year for Lake Dallas' current press box. Falcon Stadium will get a new press box that is the same width, but two stories. That's good news for us who are used to the plush hospitality of C.H. Collins Athletic Complex.

Well, I don't expect much of a game here, to be blatantly honest, but there a few tidbits to report. Denton will be without kicker Daniel Premenko, who's off at a soccer tournament. So, head coach Randy Patzkowski got William Pena off the soccer team on Tuesday and he will be handling field goal and extra point duties for the Broncos tonight.

On the Guyer side, running back Travis Baker, who was expected to get a lot of carries tonight assuming Guyer can build a lead will miss the game due to disciplinary reasons. He made it to the pregame meal before head coach John Walsh found out about something else and sent him home. He's not even on the sideline.

The soon-to-be packed house at Falcon Stadium is trickling in for tonight's showdown between two of the area's best offenses in Ryan and Lake Dallas.

Unfortunately, I jumped the gun a little bit and after being here for 40 minutes, I'm still the only one in the press box. I don't mind, though. I covered Lake Dallas on a part-time basis when I graduated college and it's nice to get back on the turf of my first beat.

In fact, the only people I've seen up here are Ryan baseball coach Bret Warnack and Lake Dallas head coach, and Rangers shortstop, Michael Young.

I meant to do this yesterday, but anyway, here goes nothing...

Wichita Falls Rider 41, The Colony 15 -- I'm pretty confident about this one.

Guyer 54, Denton 7 -- I don't think Hunter Dozier has time to throw, and teams haven't been successful running the ball against Guyer's defense. That spells trouble.

Ryan 61, Lake Dallas 52 -- I feel sorry for my buddy, Jeff. Good luck meeting deadline, pal. This will be an epic shootout. I'd love to watch it. Cover it? Not so much.

Little Elm 24, Wichita Falls 20 -- Based on what I saw from the Coyotes last week, and their injuries to key players, I don't see this going well.

What do you guys think about this week's games? Let's see your predictions...

Look, I'm not going to pretend I was here covering these teams when Guyer opened. I was in the district (Sherman) but didn't keep up with the happenings.

However, I do know one thing as fact, that the students Ryan and DHS were allowed to go to Guyer when the district opened. As was said previously by a commenter, you don't open a brand new school with state-of-the-art facilities and then not stock it. This isn't a very common occurence, as far as I know, when new schools open.

I graduated from Marcus in 1998, a state championship year. The following year, Flower Mound opened and it diluted the athletic programs at Marcus, but just enough to make Marcus and Flower Mound both just better than average. That clearly hasn't been the case here.

Assistant sports editor Trevor Williams and staff writer Jeff Andrews talk Ryan football and volleyball.

Oct. 7 Ryan podcast

Assistant sports editor Trevor Williams and staff writer Adam Boedeker talk Guyer football and volleyball.

Oct. 7 Guyer podcast

Thanks to Wildcat Dad for pointing this out...

Our friends over at Dave Campbell's Texas Football, otherwise known as the bible of Texas high school football, have come out with their midseason reports for every classification in the state.

Pay close attention to the 4A report and you'll notice that Ryan QB Scotty Young is the Region I midseason MVP. Everything on this report is just through four weeks, but now the junior has 1,707 yards and 27 touchdowns to go with just six interceptions through five games.

In the spirit of tonight's second presidential debate, I'm throwing this out here and expect some good, quality, possibly heated discussion to follow as we enter the third week of 5-4A play.

Here's how I see the district after the first two weeks:

1. Ryan (4-1, 1-1) -- But wait, Adam, didn't Ryan lose to Rider two weeks ago? Yes. However, this is a look at the current state of affairs in 5-4A, and I still believe Joey Florence has the best team in the district. Ryan turned the ball over seven times in that game (true, horrible ball management) and still only lost by a field goal at Memorial Stadium. Not to mention the fact that Rider is now without stud QB Shavodrick Beaver, likely for the rest of the regular season.

2. Wichita Falls Rider (2-3, 2-0) -- Yes, they're without Beaver but they still have superior athletes to most of the other teams in the district, if not the state. Yes, they're having trouble closing out games. But they're still unbelievably talented and have still beaten arguably the two best teams in the district. We'll see if they can keep it up without Beaver. The Colony will be a good barometer on Thursday night.

I've pondered that question after watching his team get gutted by Ryan on Friday. What do you tell those kids to keep them going?

We all know what happened to this team. A consistent playoff threat turned into a doormat (in more sports than just football) when Guyer opened. Transfers were allowed. Most of them went from Denton to Guyer. Denton's numbers plummeted in athletics and Guyer's ballooned to 5A numbers (Shh! Don't tell!)

The good news is this is probably the worst year the Broncos will have to endure. The freshman team has been competitive. The current senior class was the last group allowed to transfer. Couple that with new zoning and Denton should start to rebound.

But without a serious influx of new students, rebounding means rebounding to maybe a 5-5 record. Denton's numbers will slowly build back up, but who knows when they'll get back to normal and what that will actually mean on the field for the Broncos.

There wasn't a whole lot of action in Week 5 as the six-team districts typically take their byes in Week 5, but it's only the calm before the storm as we have plenty of good matches up coming in the next two weeks.

Ryan 58, Denton 14
The second half of this game featured seven drives, one being a one-play drive where Denton scored on the first play. Why were there so few drives? Because both teams were trying to end the game before it got out of hand, because this was an embarrassing mismatch. That's not the way it's suppose to be in a three-high school district.

Wichita Falls Rider 31, Guyer 28
Guyer again showed some grit by making this game after falling behind in third quarter. I'm not trying to take anything away from Guyer, because this was another example of the Wildcats being a legitimate playoff contender, but at what point do we start considering Rider overrated? That was suppose to roll through this district, and they have two wins all season by a combined six points.

Lake Dallas 42, Wichita Falls 21
Speaking of overrated Wichita Falls teams, the Coyotes were suppose to be an easy pick to make the playoffs. Now they're a team that takes its frustrations out on poor Denton. As for Lake Dallas, we'll find out a lot about the Falcons in the next two weeks as it hosts Ryan on Friday and then takes on Guyer.

Aubrey 35, Fort Worth Southwest Christian 14
The Chaps were up-and-down in nondistrict play, but after this thumping of Southwest, Aubrey enters 10-2A play with a 3-2 record. This was clever scheduling on Daryl Hellman's part as it gives the Chaps some confidence heading into district. The best thing to come out of nondistrict for Aubrey: Chase Bray. The Chaps have a quarterback. That will take them a long way.

In my Lake Dallas-Old High gamer that will be in the morning paper... Wichita Falls scored its final touchdown with three seconds left against the Falcons' second-teamers. I can admit, I'd doubted Lake Dallas' defense all season thus far, but tonight they were ready to go.

With that said, the Coyotes were without their starting quarterback, which made them a severely one-dimensional team, along with their best wide receiver, who missed the entire second half and a bit of the second quarter. Now, I'm not saying the Coyotes would've won the game with those players -- they wouldn't have stood a chance. But we'll see how far the Falcons' defense has come next week when they face Ryan. That game should be a shootout of epic proportions.

Again, sorry for the spacing issues, but you get the picture. I can tell you this much: I can't wait for C.H. Collins in two weeks when Guyer and Lake Dallas face off.

District Overall
W-L W-L PF PA
Lake Dallas 2-0 4-1 218 157
Wichita Falls Rider 2-0 2-3 133 144
Ryan 1-1 4-1 277 156
Guyer 1-1 4-1 136 112
The Colony 1-1 4-1 169 95
Wichita Falls 1-1 2-3 157 163
Denton 0-2 0-5 69 250
Little Elm 0-2 0-5 68 233

0:03 4Q: Anderson just scored from a yard out to make the score 42-21. Game over.

5:07 4Q: Michael Murray just boomed a 63-yard punt, Lake Dallas' first of the night, down to the 1-yard line.

7:11 4Q: Caleb Cade just picked off a pass and Lake Dallas has the ball at the WF 47-yard line. The backups are in now. Franklin is out, Beggs is out and most of hte starting WRs.

8:08 4Q: The Falcons just scored on a 9-play drive, capped off by a James Franklin pass to a wide-open Joey Knight. Knight ran a short little post.

11:52 4Q: Falcons get the stop and the ball at their own 24-yard line.

12:00 4Q: To start the fourth quarter, WF has the ball on the LD 23-yard line facing 3rd-5. This would be a key stop for the LD defense's confidence.

Third quarter

Offensive backups are in for Ryan.

6:57
With Ryan Salter and Maurice Young paving the way, Ryan drove the field and set up a Christihan Guifarro 23-yard field goal.

Looks like we got defensive backups for Ryan, too.

1:24
Denton just had long drive end with another turnover on downs. Denzell King paved the way, but three straight incompletions ended it for the Broncos.

Fourth quarter

8:38
Broncos are on the board! Charles Poe caught a pretty 47-yard bomb from Hunter Dozier. A big cheer went up in the press box as it happened.

5:12
A bad punt set up Denton with a short field. The Broncos scored on their first play of the drive, a 33-yard pass from Dozier to Daniel Castro.

This is a tough one to watch. Denton is completely overmatched. Ryan has scored on all six of its drives and scored on a fumble return and a punt return. Denton hasn't scored. The Broncos have 27 players suited up after Phillips' ejection.

I wouldn't expect any offensive starters to play in the second half, maybe on the first drive. Joey Florence isn't one to run up the score, so this will end up being Ryan's second team offense against Denton's starters.

Here are some stats:

Ryan
Scotty Young, 10-for-13, 235 yards, five touchdowns
James Johnson, 4 receptions, 136 yards, two touchdowns
Jay Catlin, 34 rushing yards, one reception, 45 yards

Denton
Hunter Dozier, 3-for-9, one INT, 47 yards
Denzell King, 12 carries, 51 yards
James Taylor, 24 yards, 4 carries
Kevin Harris, 2 receptions, 40 yards

Don't drink the water here in Wichita Falls, if you do, you might be out of commission for a considerable amount of time.

First off, news came down today that Rider QB Shavodrick Beaver, who's committed to Michigan, separated his shoulder and tore cartilage in last night's narrow escape over Guyer. He's set for surgery on Monday morning and will miss 4-6 weeks.

Tonight, WF QB Ben Henderson disappeared after two series, apparently with a separated shoulder. To add insult to injury, the Coyotes lost their most explosive player, wide receiver Antwone Moore, to some kind of leg injury. At first, it looked like cramps but he came off the field not putting weight on either leg. I heard a rumor it might be his AC joint, which I believe is what likely ended Terry Glenn's NFL career.

The Falcons lead 28-7 at the half, but it could be much worse. The Falcons got two fumble recoveries in WF territory but gave the ball right back both times on rare James Franklin mistakes -- interceptions.

This game is the Falcons' to take from this point on. My score prediction is looking somewhat possible although I might've sold the Falcons a little short.

Let's take a look at the halftime stats:

0:00 2Q: Lake Dallas held WF again and the Coyotes got a 56-yard punt from their backup QB down to the LD 1-yard line with 19 seconds left. Franklin ran up the middle and the clock ran out to halftime.

2:07 2Q: Franklin just scored on an identical run to his first touchdown, this time from 5 yards out to make it a 28-7 game. Things aren't looking good for the Coyotes injury-wise, or scoreboard-wise. The TD was set up by a beautiful one-handed grab by fullback Kameron Espinoza on a 29-yard gain down to the WF 4.

4:21 2Q: WF went for it on fourth and failed, but they're in bad shape now. Antwone Moore, the Coyotes' best offensive player came off the field without putting any weight on either leg.

Here we go! Battle for whatever a Volt is! Get that Volt!

Also, folks, my Waxahachie Indians are playing Zach Harrell's Ennis Lions. I need updates, please.

First quarter

11:24
Denton had a mix up receiving the kickoff. No Broncos touched the ball and Ryan recovered. Ryan scored on a 3-yard pass from Scotty Young to D.J. Beshears.

9:17
Denton got a nice first down on a 23-yard pass from Hunter Dozier to Kevin Harris, but went three-and-out after that. Ryan is driving.

8:06
Ryan just scored on a 62-yard pass from Young to James Johnson. Johnson showed some nice vision to get to the end zone.

6:03
Denton was pinned on its own 1-yard line. It tried to trick Ryan by punting on third down. The punt went 20 yards. Two plays later, Young found Bud Sasser in the end zone. This was is getting ugly already.

OK, so we all know Ryan is heavily favored against Denton, but what would it take for the Broncos to pull the biggest upset of the year?

First of all, Ryan would have to play just awful. The Raiders turned it over seven times against a state-title contender in Wichita Falls Rider last week and still only lost by three. To give away a game against Denton, Ryan would have to not only have to turn it over a bunch, but miss tackles, be disengaged with the game and be freakishly overconfident.

On the flip side, Denton would have to play out of its mind. I'd say a successful game plan against an offense like Ryan would need to be similar to the Giants' plan against the Pats in the Super Bowl. The Broncos need to be conservative on offense, not make mistakes and capitalize on their chances when they get them.

Unfortunately, I am. Nothing's worse as a sports writer than covering a game that features not much defense because before you can write something down and digest what happened, something else happens. I get the feeling that's what tonight's game between Lake Dallas and Wichita Falls will resemble.

The Falcons, ranked No. 9 in The Dallas Morning News' Class 4A area poll, sport the Metroplex's fourth best offense at the 4A level, averaging 457.6 points per game led by James Franklin. The Falcons' dual-threat QB has already surpassed the 1,000-yard mark through four games and has tossed 10 touchdown passes, six of which were to his favorite target Joey Knight, former member of NKOTB.

The Coyotes (2-2, 1-0) hung 76 points on Denton last week. I'm not sure what that tells us, but they do have a history of having some offense in the past. They're led by QB Ben Henderson and receiver Antwone Moore.

Here's how I see this game playing out: Neither team excels on defense, but the Falcons' offense is much more potent. I think we're looking at about a 48-21 Lake Dallas win,which would be like heaven compared to last night's 65-64 Denison win over McKinney. I'm just glad I didn't have to cover that.

Nick Gholson, famed veteran of the Wichita Falls Times Record News, and veteran of countless Olympic games, including this year's Beijing games, chimed in with his prediction. Lake Dallas 31, Wichita Falls 14.

I just got settled up in the press box of C.H. Collins Athletic Complex for The Battle of the Volt (what's a "Volt"?). The teams are on the field warming up and I'm ready to see my friends from Denton High tonight.

I have a special affection for Denton High because it was my first beat as a professional sports writer when I started at the DR-C in 2006. Broncos head coach Randy Patzkowski helped me immensely when I was a jittery first-timer.

Unfortunately for Denton, I can pretty much tell you what's going to happen tonight. Ryan will go full-throttle for a half, build a 42- to 49-0 lead, and then call off the dogs in the second half.

It's a shame this rivalry has been watered down to that. We all know Denton's numbers are way down in every sport. It hurts the football team the most because it needs the most players. Hopefully with the new zoning boundaries, Denton can rebound and be the proud team it was when Herman Johnson and Anthony Alridge were donning the purple and gold.

Checking in with our old 5-4A friends tonight, I heard this nugget. Denison, which was a team on the rise last year before realignment took them and Sherman to the Frisco/McKinney district, has already whipped Wichita Falls this year and is 5-0 on the season.

The Yellow Jackets' junior running back D.J. Jones, who's only played in four full games this year due to a first-half suspension in the opener and blowouts that took him out of two fourth quarters, had a game tonight that will go down in Texas prep lore.

The speedster led Denison to a 65-64 win over McKinney with 12 carries for 272 yards and four scores -- at halftime. Three of his first five runs went for touchdowns of 70, 77 and 73 yards. He finished the game with...drumroll... 30 carries for 434 yards, 7 rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown on a 27-yard screen pass -- his lone reception.

One of the goals tonight was to get the ball in receiver Luke Russell's hands more. The inside receiver is probably Guyer's most dangerous home-run threat on offense. Tonight, he caught four passes for 31 yards and carried the ball seven times for 24 yards, mostly from the quarterback position.

1. John Walsh was really angry with himself after that game. He feels he lost them the game. I tend to think it was a botched punt and a defensive lapse in the third quarter, but he has a point. Assuming everything else was equal, Guyer could've tied the game at the end had they gone for two to make it 31-15 and gotten two more 2-pt conversions.

2. This Guyer team is incredibly scrappy. It appeared it just wasn't their night after Rider went up 31-7 after the Wildcats played toe-to-toe with the Raiders in the first half to a 14-7 deficit, which should've been a 14-7 lead for Guyer.

3. The naysayers need to admit they're wrong. Guyer just battled one of the top teams in all of 4A (despite their record) to the bitter end. Next week's game at Denton is a win, which will have Guyer at 5-1 heading into the matchup with Lake Dallas, which at best will be 5-1.

The onside kick didn't go 10 yards and it's now Rider's ball at the Guyer 47. One kneel and it's over. Great fight from Guyer, as yet again, they owned the fourth quarter. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Rider owned the third and they had a key mistake at the end of the first half that was a 14-point swing.

0:06 4Q: From the Rider 15 yard line, Smith found Harkins on a jump ball in the back of the end zone for the score. It's now a 3-point game, but with 6 seconds left they'll need another onside kick and then a miracle.

1:03 4Q: Guyer appeared to pull within 3 when Smith found Russell, who found Daniel Harkins for a 27-yard touchdown. It was called back because of holding and illegal procedure.

1:47 4Q: Guyer got the onside kick and will take possession on the Rider 49. It was a perfect kick and bounced off a Rider defender. It was receovered by Antonio Burton.

That turn of events near the end of the half was a huge misfortune for the Wildcats, but for some reason Rider wasn't calling any of its two timeouts on Guyer's final drive of the half when the Raiders could've gotten the ball around their own 40, more than likely.

It very easily could be 14-7 Guyer right now if not for missing the two wide open passes, but the Wildcats are still very much in this game and have to gain a ton of confidence from that.

I think one thing's for sure, at least 24 minutes into this game, those folks who are still questioning Guyer's legitimacy should be eating their words about now.

Follow the jump to look at some halftime stats.

1:45 2Q: Ouch. That hurts. Guyer just lost a 14-point swing after missing out on a touchdown. Guyer punter Evan Vazquez saw pressure and dropped the ball. He picked it up and attempted to punt it as he was hit by Rider's Mason Deerinwater, who took teh ball 48 yards for a touchdown.

1:56 2Q: Guyer should be leading right now. On 2rd-18, Matt Mose dropped a ball at the 1-yard line. On the next play, Guyer went for it and Marquis Smith slightly overthrew Luke Russell, who was wide open.

2:47 2Q: Guyer just called timeout on the Rider 30. The Wildcats aren't having any success through the air but they're running the ball fairly well. Luke Russell's in at QB again and just scampered on a QB sweep seven yards for a first down on 3rd-6. A halftime lead would do wonders for Guyer's confidence. We'll see if they can get that done.

Tonight at C.H. Collins, we have the only undefeated team in District 5-4A against a 1-3 team, and if you'd look at this game at the beginning of the season, you'd have no trouble deciphering which was which.

Instead, Guyer is 4-0 and 1-0 in district and ranked No. 13 in The Dallas Morning News 4A area poll, while Wichita Falls Rider is coming off its first win -- albeit, a big one over Ryan -- last week. Rider started the season No. 2 in the AP state poll but started 0-3 with losses to Cedar Hill, Sulphur Springs and Tyler John Tyler.

People around here keep saying Guyer needs to prove itself. I'm not sure what else you can do other starting 4-0 and beating a traditional powerhouse at their place in Stephenville, but a good showing tonight would definitely prove some folks wrong.

Assistant sports editor Trevor Williams and staff writer Adam Boedeker talk Guyer football and volleyball.

Sept. 30 Guyer podcast

Assistant sports editor Trevor Williams and staff writer Jeff Andrews talk Ryan football and volleyball.

Sept. 30 Ryan podcast