Midseason Report Card - Central Texas

The season has reached the midway point, so now is the perfect time to catch up with some of the region's most interesting stories. There are several familiar names and few unexpected developments  (good and bad) to report, so we broke it down into three categories: Contenders - teams playing well that should continue to play well, Pretenders - teams playing well we expect to become exposed as the season wears on and Surprise, Surprise - teams that surprised us with how well, or how poorly they've played. Here's the Prep Ticket midseason report card.

Contenders

Class 5A

Round Rock Stony Point

The class of the Austin area, Stony Point's is balanced and dangerous. The Tigers are averaging 35 points per game, while allowing just 10 - and that's against a schedule that featured four playoff teams from a year ago.

Running back Glasco Martin is a Baylor commit at receiver, yet he's rushed for 489 yards and scored seven touchdowns. Quarterback Nyk McKissic has been the team's catalyst, however, accounting for almost 1,000 yards of offense while completing 62 percent of his passes and throwing eight touchdown passes.

Stony Point was the Cinderella story of the postseason a year ago winning its first playoff game, but should be writing a longer tale this time around. 

Grade: A (the best 5A team in Austin area)

Copperas Cove

Copperas Cove is our dark horse candidate to win state in Class 5A, a year after losing the state title game at the 4A level. The Bulldawgs have proven to be that good and may not see a real challenge until the playoffs.

It all starts with TCU commit Tanner Brock and a defense that is among the state's best. No team has scored more than 20 points on Copperas Cove, the Bulldawgs have yet to yield more than 300 yards to a single opponent and outscored the opposition 131-32 in the first half this season.

Speedy receiver Josh Boyce is the big-play threat on offense, hauling in 14 passes for 338 yards and four touchdowns. The Bulldawgs average 48 points and over 400 yards of offense per game, making them easily the most complete team in the region.

Grade: A+ (best 5A team in the region)

San Antonio Madison

The Mavericks may have been depleated by graduation and the opening of a new high school, but Madison's product on the field has been as good as ever. The Mavericks boast a pair of Division I recuits on offense and defense and the scary part is, this team is still young.

Marshall's offense is the key to the Mavs' success, averaging 43 points and an even more impressive 450 yards per game. Running back Aaron Green is the heart of the offense with 1,050 yards and 14 touchdowns, while big brother Andrew is the anchor of the defense in the secondary.

Look for Madison to be playing into early December once again.

Grade: A (improved D could lead to repeat trip to state semifinals) 

Converse Judson

Turnovers and a couple botched defensive plays are that's kept the Rockets from an undefeated season thus far. That said, Judson's 3-2 mark isn't bad when you consider both losses have come to teams with a combined 9-2 record.

Chauncey Harris is among the best running backs in the region, rushing for 900 yards and seven touchdowns to give the Rockets a steady offensive force. Judson's game is to control the clock and wear the opposition down and it'd defense lets the Rockets do just that.

Judson is allowing just 16 points per game and has yet to be held to under 200 yards rushing this season, giving the Rockets the prefect recipe for playoff success.

Grade: B+ (less mistakes makes Judson hard to beat)

Class 4A

Lake Travis

The defending state champs look better than they did a year ago and we don't see too many challengers able to close the gap on the 6-0 Cavaliers. Since a close game against Round Rock Westwood in Zero Week, Lake Travis has hit the zone on offense and shows no signs of slowing down.

Quarterback Garrett Gilbert has thrown for over 1,800 yards and has a touchdown to interception ratio of 20:1 right now. Not surprisingly, the Cavs are averaging 47 points per game in their last five contests and have won those games by an average of 25 points.

The question right now isn't when will someone stop Lake Travis, but can anyone stop Lake Travis?   

Grade: A+ (best 4A team in the state - by a wide margin)

Cibolo Steele

Steele broke into our state poll for the first time last week and looks to have the potential to stay there. The Knights love to pound the ball and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone in the region who can do it better.

Running back Malcom Brown has rushed for 1,010 yards and 14 touchdowns this season, making him the top 4A runner in the San Antonio area. But Steele is more than a one-trick pony, with the Knights having held four of their five opponents under 275 yards and posted their 5-0 record with an average margin of victory of 19 points per game.

Grade: A (took Judson's winning blueprint and ran with it)

Kerrville Tivy

While everyone jumped on other teams' bandwagons to start the season, we liked the balance and composure of the Antlers in District 27-4A. Quarterback Colton Palmer is one of the most underrated players in the state, having passed for 744 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Tivy isn't the biggest or the fastest team around, but it has plenty of offensive weapons and its defense has improved every week. The team even shook off a drinking scandal to win a big game two weeks ago and bounced back strong by getting the bulk of those suspended players back to rout Seguin.

The Antlers are 4-1, gave 5A power Madison all it could handle earlier this season and will likely do the same to their 4A foes once the playoffs get underway.

Grade: A (passed every test so far and could get better)

Pretenders

Class 5A

Georgetown

The Eagles are 5-0 and riding a huge wave of momentum heading into this weekend's showdown with Stony Point. A win over the Tigers would cement Georgetown as a legitimate threat to win District 16-5A, but don't bet on that happening.

Quarterback Garrett Gilleland has thrown for 1,050 yards and nine touchdowns, helping Georgetown average 31 points per game. Yet the Eagles have yet to beat a team with a winning record and their opponents combined mark is a ghastly 8-19. The team Georgetown has yet to play have a combined 15-9 record, so don't be surprised if the Eagles have a rough landing soon. 

Grade: A (haven't played anyone that legit yet)

Leander

A quick glance at Leander on paper and the Lions' 3-2 record looks solid. But a close inspection shows the team has several fatal flaws that could leave Leander out of the postseason.

The Lions average less than 20 points on offense, average less than 265 yards of offense and have beaten just one team with a winning record. Leander's defense is always a strength, but the Lions surrendered almost 700 yards of offense and 62 points to good offenses in Bryan and Stony Point and that doesn't bode well with more high-powered offenses still on the schedule.  

Grade: C+ (no offense equals no chance come playoff time)

San Antonio Southwest

Southwest has bounced back well from its rough 0-3 start to grab a share of the District 29-5A lead, yet we don't see the same momentum building that the Dragons had a year ago. All-state candidate Stephen Salinas has been held in check for most of the season, rushing for just 360 yards and four touchdowns.

The Dragons have picked up the slack on defense, allowing just 14 points in their past two games, but they'll be hard pressed to continue that once the competition gets stiff in the playoffs. We like Southwest to repeat as district champs, but don't see much success after that.

Grade: C (good team that won't meet lofty expectations)

Smithson Valley

The Rangers are off to a 5-1 start and that is a testament to the program's winning tradition after losing almost the entire team from a year ago. But Smithson Valley hasn't been overly impressive and showed its youthful inexperience in a loss to Reagan.

The usual offensive balance isn't there so far, with the Rangers twice as likely to run than pass this season, and while the defense has been solid, it hasn't yet been tested. We really do like Smithson Valley and what it is doing this season, we just don't like the Rangers as much as some of their neighbors in the San Antonio area. 

Grade: A- (inexperienced, but could be a contender by season's end)

Class 4A

New Braunfels Canyon

We're actually torn on Canyon. The Cougars are 4-1 and have big wins over Hendrickson, LBJ and San Marcos. But it's the other two games that landed Canyon on this list.

The Cougars looked completely helpless against rival New Braunfels and giving up 27 points to lowly Seguin wasn't exactly inspiring. And when you consider that Canyon still has to face the top three teams in the district, even making the postseason isn't a sure thing.

To be honest, we'll know a lot more about the Cougars after this week's showdown with Cibolo Steele.

Grade: B (tests will get tough, will Canyon?)

San Antonio Brackenridge

The Eagles are off to a 4-1 start and may actually win District 28-5A, but a deep playoff run isn't very likely. Running back Willie Culpepper is averaging almost 10 yards per carry and has scored nine touchdowns, but Brackenridge doesn't feature many more gamebreakers.

Add in a potential first-round date with either Alamo Heights, Schertz Clemens or Cibolo Steele and the Eagles' postseason hopes won't last long.

Grade: B+ (scrappy team with a bad postseason draw)

Hutto

The Hippos are 4-2 and among the best running teams in the region, averaging 367 rushing yards per game and scoring 40 points per game. Quarterback Ryan Naivar and running back Devin Carter have accounted for almost 1,600 yards and 19 touchdowns, but the bigger question is on defense.

Hutto has allowed 100 points in its last two games - both losses - and has been shredded both on the ground and through the air. We still like the Hippos' chances of getting to the playoffs, but Hutto will eventually get burned if it keeps trying to win by simply outscoring the opposition much like it did in 3A last season.

Grade: B- (a great story could get better if defense gets better) 

Surprise, surprise

Class 5A

Round Rock Westwood

While many didn't expect much from a team with a losing record last season, we saw immense potential in Westwood young but unproven talent. The Warriors are 2-3 but showed that promise in a narrow loss to 4A state champ Lake Travis to open the season, but have been inconsistent since then.

Running back Princeton Collins is a star in the making and quarterback Tyler Grabarkewitz appears to be a heads-up quarterback, but nobody else has emerged on offense. Add in a defense that yields 30 points per game and it's hard to tell if Westwood will finish strong and make the playoffs or fold now that it's lost its past two games.

Grade: D+ (talented that team needs to learn how to win consistently)

Temple

It's hard to imagine that one of the state's most prestigious programs could boast a pair of Division I-caliber offensive prospects and struggle to score points, much less win games. Yet the Temple Wildcats are in that boat and could see their season sink with a couple more losses.

Receiver Tevin Reese is headed to Baylor and running back Lache Seastrunk is being courted by every top program in the country, but the Wildcats still have been able to break the 21-point barrier just once and have lost two games by 20 or more points.

Is 0-5 Temple a victim of a difficult schedule or just an overrated team that couldn't meet the hype? The jury is still out, but we'll see where the defending district champs stand come November.

Grade: F (close calls? yes, but too much talent for lackluster play)

Class 4A

Dripping Springs

The Tigers entered 2008 coming off back-to-back losing seasons and were picked to finish near the bottom of a weak District 25-4A. Instead, Dripping Springs is off to a 5-0 start and can clinch a winning season with a victory over Hutto this weekend.

Led by quarterback Jacob Moore (936 all-purpose yards and 11 touchdowns), the Tigers have been consistent on offense, scoring 24 or more points in five of their six games. Games against district co-leaders Lake Travis and Pflugerville Hendrickson loom, but Dripping Springs may be a good bet to make the playoffs.

Grade: A- (we see 7-3 and a trip to the playoffs)

San Marcos

A move down in classification usually works to the benefit of a larger school, but that hasn't been the case for San Marcos. The Rattlers, a  5A playoff team last season, are struggling to be competitive at the 4A level.

San Marcos is still a force running the ball at times, but hasn't been able to overpower any of its foes on a consistent basis like it did a year ago. The Rattlers enter Week 6 action with a 2-3 record, but have been outscored 132-37 in their three losses - not the kind of struggles you'd expect from a former 5A playoff contender playing against 4A teams.

Grade: D (no consistency on offense or defense)

Date of Article: Wed Oct 08, 2008 5:00 pm

Related Content:
- Lake Travis  - Cibolo Steele  - San Antonio Converse Judson  - Copperas Cove  - Dripping Springs  - Georgetown  - Hutto  - Kerrville Tivy  - Leander  - New Braunfels Canyon  - Round Rock Stony Point  - San Antonio Brackenridge  - San Antonio Madison  - San Antonio Smithson Valley  - San Antonio Southwest  - San Marcos