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2019-20 East Texas 5A Sports Thread


Mavchamp

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IIRC..... Pine Tree had one of the most prolific offenses in all of East Texas last season.  I'm almost positive they were the #1 offense in our district.  They were very good offensively in 2017 too (made the playoffs).

But as good as their offense has been.... their defense has been horrendous.  Especially last season when they gave up some leads they had absolutely no business giving up.

I was able to catch the end of the PT/WH game on the radio last season.   PT captured the lead late in the game....only to have WH kick a FG late in the game for the 45-43 Wildcat win. 

PT took a 42-35 lead over Nac last season with 1:15 left in the game.  But they saw Nac score with 15 seconds left in the game...and then lost the lead on a 2-point conversion for the 43-42 Dragon win.

But their most damning loss of all was a 42-38 loss to Jacksonville when the Indians scored with 20 seconds in the game.

Mind you..... the Pirates throttled Lindale 56-28....who was the district runner up.... and who advanced to the 2nd round of the playoffs.

No doubt in my mind that PT SHOULD have been the district runner up last season.  If they would have had any semblance of a defense.... they SHOULD have been (8-2).... should have hosted a playoff game.... and likely would have won and advanced to the 2nd round.

But.... those three gut-wrenching losses happened.... and they sat at home at 5-5.... which by PT standards.... is a pretty successful season.  But....coulda/shoulda/woulda been so soooo much more.

I honestly expect PT to be in the hunt this season BIG TIME. 

TBH...... this time last year.... I believed the district championship was going to be decided in the regular season finale at Pine Tree Stadium when we played them.  That didn't end up the case....but I still believe it to be a possibility this season when they come to Marshall.  Expecting a showdown.

Pirates have a beast at QB coming back in Freeman.  He passed for 1171 and ran for another 834.  If they can find another RB to spell him a bit..... it would be deadly.  Losing Nelson in the backfield hurts them.  But WR Sparkman will also be back... and he was Freeman's #1 target last season.  I expect the PT offense to pick up where it has left off the last 2 seasons.  Comes down to improvement on defense IMHO.  If that happens.... PT is an immediate contender for the district title.

That said.....I'm interested in seeing who everyone  in the district has coming back. 

Especially Lindale.  Much respect for the Eagles from me.  Outside of that inexplicable loss to PT....they were a strong team last year.  And year after year....in spite of their small enrollment.... they seem to compete.  I know they earned a lot of respect in their former district Vs. Lufkin and Ennis..... maybe JT too.  They just seem to rise up to the occasion.  

Whitehouse has to replace a QB (Herrington) that passed for 2,700 yards and 25 TDs last season.  Not an easy task.  Not to mention their top RB also graduated (Haskins).  Not to mention all 5 of their top WR's from last season graduated too.  SOUNDS like WH could be rebuilding offensively in 2019.

Nac has three year starter Jake Smith coming back at QB for his senior season.  That's a huge thing.  He will likely be playing FCS ball..... and perhaps BCS if his senior season goes well.  Deckard coming back at WR will be big too.  Not sure what they have coming back in the backfield or WR corps.....but with a new HFC in town... no one really knows what to expect from the Dragons until we see them in action.

 If QB Shewmake for Jacksonville jetted for Bullard as stated....that's a harsh blow to the Indians.  Hard to replace a 1400 yard passer.  Not to mention your top rushers in Mccuin  and Ratliff have graduated.  Jackconville's offense had it's struggles last season.  Losing your top two weapons will be tough to replace.

Really have no idea what MP has coming back.  They have numbers issues.  I think they have had to cancel sub-varisty games the last couple of years to move guys up from JV to varsity for injuries and such.  MP always seem to have athletes.  Just not enough of them.  Offense is usually pretty good.  I just have no idea what they have coming back..... or how good their sub-varsities were.

Hallsville seems a mess on paper.  Boyd and Driggers are gone.  Venters will be back at RB.... but who will be with him seems fuzzy.  Who will be QB?  Will the OL for Hallsville be better than they were last season... which had lots of struggles last season.  Defense is in question....which is bizarre to say for Hallsville.... who seemed to be good defensively year after year.  

Marshall will have three year starter JJ Green back at QB.  He had 2499 passing and almost 800 rushing for a total of 43 touchdowns.  We will have the Williams kids in the backfield as well, who had over 600 yards.... but it looks like a new name has emerged from the Spring.   That could be the best running back we;ve had since 2015.  Arkansas commit Savion Williams will likely lead the WR corps.... which is loaded this spring in spite of losing Tahj Washington to Memphis and Bender to Southern Arkansas and J Mitchell to SFA.  Defense will be the area with the most questions.

Can't wait to get 7 on 7 started.  I'll update when I get more news.

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5 hours ago, JTFAN99 said:

wow, when is the last time LV underclassmen have lost that many games...Im not sure if you combine the JV and Freshman records it has equal to that many losses in quite some time.

Class of 2017 (SRs in 2016) actually had a worse Freshmen season. Think they won like 3 games. 

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8 hours ago, JTFAN99 said:

wow, when is the last time LV underclassmen have lost that many games...Im not sure if you combine the JV and Freshman records it has equal to that many losses in quite some time.

2013, Freshmen went 3-6. 

But you're right, we had 3 losses combined on the JV and Freshmen from 2014 to 2018.

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3 hours ago, ANTI said:

Class of 2017 (SRs in 2016) actually had a worse Freshmen season. Think they won like 3 games. 

 

36 minutes ago, LoboFan07 said:

2013, Freshmen went 3-6. 

But you're right, we had 3 losses combined on the JV and Freshmen from 2014 to 2018.

Oh...Ok .  

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I may change my mind after I see a few more numbers.... but here are my early predicts:

1/2.  Marshall/Pine Tree-  Winner of the regular season finale takes the district title.  Loser settles into #2.

3/4.  Nacogdoches/Lindale- The winner of their match up takes the third place spot while the loser will take the final playoff spot.   

5.  Whitehouse- Wildcats lose too much offensively to keep pace this season. Cardiac Cats of 2018 have some rebuilding to do.

6.  Jacksonville- Sounds like the Indians are replacing a lot from a team that stuggled most of last season....but tradition alone maybe keep them a little ahead of the bottom two.

7/8.  Mount Pleasant/Hallsville- Hard to imagine the Bobcats being this low....but last season was a disaster for Hallsville and they won't even have their top producers back.  MP has struggled for a while.... and they have a limited roster it seems.  Whoever wins their match up may avoid the basement.  

Let's see who proves me wrong.

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I'll try and get around to posting the non-district schedules for all of the East Texas 5A....but I'm just going to start with 9-5A DII

Marshall:  Tyler Lee, @ Longview, @ Carthage
Hallsville: Terrell, Kilgore, Bullard
Nacogdoches: Kilgore, Lufkin, @ Tyler Lee
Jacksonville: Carthage, @ Palestine, Henderson
Whitehouse: Henderson, Chapel Hill, Melissa
Lindale: Kaufman, @ Forney, Van
Mount Pleasant: @ Wylie East, @ North Lamar, Paris
Pine Tree: @ Bullard, Pittsburgh, @ Kilgore

 

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My Take after talking to some around the district...

1.Marshall-The clear favorite and I don't think anyone made the strides necessary to beat them. 

There is a big gap between #1 and 2-4. 2-4 will be a close race like last year.

2. Pine Tree-will be 6-0/5-1 heading into the gauntlet of their schedule-they will be 3-0 in district before playing Nac, Lindale, WH and Marshall to end the season. PT will reload on offense with a smaller O-Line. The defense is gonna decide how PT finishes this year. I think they make the playoffs this year for sure.

3.Lindale- Always competitive and tough to beat-they don't beat themselves, they play good defense and run the ball well. Very few penalties and turnovers very disciplined team.

4.Nac-Coming off a playoff birth season as a young team-The young team excuse is gone-This team is full of Juniors and Seniors and have a new coach with a big resume. They must improve on their home record, the majority of this teams wins have been on the road. 1 Home district win in 4 years, 3 home wins period in the time. How well they Jell in a new system will be the key-the talent is here for a district challenge but until I see it I can't put them there. I think Nac. takes the 4 spot again.

5.WH-Will compete again for a playoff spot. 2 comeback close wins that pushed them into the playoffs last year. Last second wins at PT and Nac. WH will struggle with the top 4 this year and miss the playoffs. 

I think there is a big gap between the bottom 3 and the playoff teams.

6.Jax-Replacing a few players, but reopening the fantastic looking Tomato Bowl this year. This will be worth a few wins for them.

7.MP-High Scoring Last year until QB was hurt-don't think they can compete this year unless they add some dynamic play makers. 

8.Hallsville- Graduated their 2 most dynamic players hard to imagine them competing this year. Always root for Hallsville, nice community and they are pretty humble even in success.

 

Just my opinion and means very little!! Cant wait for the season to get started!!!!!!!!!!!

 

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20 hours ago, mav01 said:

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I’m really surprised to poteet didn’t make the top ten with what they have on offense coming back on offense. And birdville is way overrated, I’ve seen them in person and I wasn’t impressed at all, and they are in the weakest region and it’s only them and Ryan and they got hammered by Ryan. Birdville in any other region would be out in the first or second round. 

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8 hours ago, nacdragon07 said:

Yeah you might as well say that, his wife has coached in Nacogdoches for years. They also live in Nac. He told me some time ago he’s been trying to get down this way.

His wife is the swim coach(17 straight district titles) and the girls coordinator. In my opinion, She runs the most successful program in the district, maybe even in all of east Texas.  

He has wanted the boys basketball job for a long time. Both of their kids will go to Nac and are starting to participate in school extra curricular activities. It makes sense for them to line up their schedules. 

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Gonna break the weeks down for district and see what people predict to happen throughout schedule.  Could be fun to see how the race could play out.

Try and get that posted tonight or tomorrow

 

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I didn’t realize they had done away with the N. 

But I do seem to recall a dragon logo with an N on it being around.  Can’t recall if it was on the helmet though. 

Looks great. Congrats to Nac.  

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1 hour ago, Mavchamp said:

I didn’t realize they had done away with the N. 

But I do seem to recall a dragon logo with an N on it being around.  Can’t recall if it was on the helmet though. 

Looks great. Congrats to Nac.  

Yeah Reyes brought it back for one year then went back to the gold dragon in the Texas logo with the N. I wonder if they will have New Uniforms to go with it.

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  • Mr. P changed the title to 2019-20 East Texas 5A Sports Thread

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