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And Chapel Hill also impressed me. That’s an absurd amount of points to put up in a season opener, and to do it on the road against a blue blood program adds a bit too. Yeah, yeah, the defense. That will definitely come back to bite them if it doesn’t get sorted out, but theres a lot of season left, and quite frankly, there aren’t gonna be many (or any) offenses in 4A DI that will be as explosive as the Bulldogs.

Anna was most impressive to me in week one. The new QB looks like a true dual threat. Coyotes might be even better and more explosive than last season.

Bobcats offense is as balanced and as skilled as I’ve seen it since that 2015 state runner-up group. The running game with soph Logan Gutierrez and Junior Harrison Williams is going to be really good behind that massive o-line. Those guys are both head and shoulders above what the run game was a year ago. The passing game is going to be much more refined than it has been since that 2015 season too. Nathan Elliot as the new OC did an amazing job in his first game. He looks much more imaginative and practical than our previous play caller. Blended the classic Celina full-house power game with plenty of spread/zone runs and lots of quick-strike passes that were open whenever we wanted them. Gone (THANK GOD!) is the head-scratching strategy of just throwing the ball deep every single play and hoping for the best. Bobcats threw a couple deep balls (one a TD that our receiver just flat out dropped) but those were on free plays when we got Paris to jump. Knox Porter at QB is going to be really good. Coaches say he’s the hardest working kid we have, and it has shown. Kid has a cannon of an arm. When he let the ball go on the quick-hits, the ball got ON our receivers quick. He’s more accurate than Bentley was, more mechanically sound and has better touch on deep throws. Only thing he won’t do better than Bentley is run, but we’ll take that trade off. He also has better weapons than Bentley ever had in his 3-year varsity career. Porter wasn’t perfect last night, but he was pretty good for week one. High-ceiling kid. Bobcats have a nice blend of size, strength and quickness. Paired with Elliot’s offensive philosophy, makes me more excited for the season than I was probably three weeks ago.

40-9 was the final. Celina rushed for 280 and threw for another 160. The offensive line dominated. But they were a little sloppy and undisciplined. Really need to clean up some extracurricular hands. Paris scored on their opening drive, and honestly was able to move the ball well at other times throughout the game. But the Celina defense played much better overall than I expected them to in the opener. Paris just didn’t seem quite comfortable in the new offense yet. That said, this Paris team has some serious, serious speed. If they get comfortable in this scheme, they have the athletes to cause problems. By week four or five, if they can hang in there, they ought to be rolling. They’ll make the playoffs.

DCTF projections have Celina by 30. Seems a bit steep, but I wouldn’t mind that.

If the pass defense is an issue, it could be a long night. Celina’s offensive line is massive, and they’ll get a good push on Paris, which should allow the Bobcats to get the run game established. But Celina has a QB that can get the ball out there and a corp of receivers who can make some plays. I still think Paris is athletic enough to cause us some problems though. Hoping for a Celina win by a couple scores.

That does tend to be the case. From what I saw, they don’t appear to be lacking in that regard this year either.

Story time: The year was 2002. Celina was in the middle of "The Streak," in pursuit of a 5th straight state championship. First year in 3A. We were rolling along, too. We'd just beaten Lake Dallas 28-7 in week 4 to run the streak to 61 straight wins. We lost our stud RB in that game with a tough knee injury (didn't end his season, thankfully), and then he broke his hand in practice the following week. Also that week, when we were set to square off an upstart Little Elm squad, we had one of our RB/FBs go down with a terrible staph infection caused by a spider bite. Almost cost him his leg it got so bad. It also caused a school-wide staph outbreak. At the same time, a massive flu epidemic hit the entire district. I remember at one point in the week, we had half the student population out with the flu. We were threadbare at practice. Things got really bad, and there were serious discussions happening that we were going to pass a certain threshold of student absences and be forced to shut down the school for a bit, which would have included forfeiting all extracurricular activities, which would have meant the legendary winning streak would have come to a very anti-climactic end. Faced with that, the school took some crazy measures. We had professional bio-hazard officials come in and clean the school and locker rooms. We were forced to take some fairly wild measures for a couple weeks to keep the train moving. All that to say ... yes, schools can and have before shut down over a flu epidemic. And Texas High School Football history was that close to being rewritten by one 21 years ago.

Man, I honestly forgot about this Week 1 matchup. This one ought to be good. It's so hard to beat Gilmer at home, especially in a season opener, as their offensive style typically is firing efficiently, even early in the season. That's a tough task for any opponent. It becomes nearly insurmountable if you turn the ball over and give the Buckeyes extra chances. That said, IF Chapel Hill doesn't buy into their own hype, IF they take care of the football, and IF they come out ready to set the tone for the season, I think they have the pieces to win this game by 2+ scores. If Chapel Hill is undisciplined in this one, or gets down early and compound their mistakes, then I think the score will be inverted and Gilmer will win by 2+. I think this is the year for CH. I think they're experienced and hungry enough this year to get the job done. Give me the Bulldogs.

No doubt. But admittedly, I don’t have as big of an interest in the “big” schools.

100% That one, this one and Celina's game are the ones I'll be following on Friday.

That certainly helped our young(ish) QB and young(ish) skill guys through the first two scrimmages. Offensive line looks impactful — maybe the best word I can use for that unit right now. And I could probably say the same for the defensive line, honestly. The drop off for that group from last year to this year may not be as steep as I initially thought. Time will tell if it makes a difference in the W-L column, but I expect it to at least have a big impact on Friday’s game.

At any rate, there may not be a better week one matchup in all of Texas. I am very excited for this one. Win or lose, both teams ought to wake up Saturday morning with a renewed idea of themselves.

Apart from just being excited about Celina’s week one matchup, this game is probably the one I’m anticipating the most across the whole state! This ought to be an absolute dandy! Melissa has the ranking, the athletes, the new stadium and expectations. Argyle has history and pedigree! You almost always expect an Argyle game to be high scoring, and maybe this game will be no different. But Melissa’s defense will be no freaking joke. As of Monday morning, give me Melissa. But I may change that prediction before Friday.

From what little I’ve seen, I definitely agree. They look much better and more equipped, scheme-wise, to succeed this season. I definitely see them knocking off some big plays on Friday. But I do think Celina has enough in the trenches to out-physical Paris and control the flow of the game.

Maybe someone will push Carthage early, but I don’t see anyone knocking them off, especially post-Thanksgiving. And I said this the other day to someone: If Carthage goes 16-0 this season, I honestly think they’ll overtake Celina’s long-standing all-time win streak of 68 wins in a row. Obviously there’s a long way to go, and so many things have to go right along that way, but things set up nicely for Carthage if they reach 32-0 by Christmas.

Any Wildcats fans have thoughts on this one? I was surprisingly impressed with what I saw from Paris in their first two scrimmages. Wildcats will definitely be back in the playoff mix this season. (Mostly) Gone is the wing-t. I saw a few snaps outta that look, but for the most part, the Wildcats are spreading it out a lot more. They look to have a ton of speed, as usual, and better schemes to get their athletes the ball in space. I’ll be especially keyed in on our young LBs covering the Wildcat backs out of the backfield. If there’s a matchup the Wildcats feel they might have an advantage in, that’s probably the one. Gonna be a much different week of preparation for the Bobcats than it has been for the past several years of playing Paris. One thing I did notice though is the Wildcats don’t seem to have much size on the offensive or defensive lines. Celina has it in spades. Bobcats o-line looked solid first two scrimmages against big schools. Could see a strong power run game from the Bobcats on Friday if the o-line continues to get big pushes up front.

That’s definitely coach Crook in grey and (retired) coach Davis in the salt life shirt. Longtime Bobcat staffers.

So to answer your question — Bobcats look about how I expected. Young. Pretty raw at certain positions. But lots of talent and potential. Probably more raw potential than we’ve had in a little while.

Bobcats much better defensively this week than last week. The secondary was shaky against 6A Royse City last week, but was vastly improved tonight. Defense still has some young guys growing into spots, and some guys new to football who are super athletic who will get some spins on defense, and they looked pretty good. Offensively, Celina scored a bunch last week against RC, and they continued to have success tonight against Heritage. As expected, the offensive line looked very, very stout. They were creating big holes and had good pass pro too for the most part. Scrimmage got a little chippy in the live quarter, and Celina immediately went into full house backfield five straight plays and just bruised Heritage into the end zone. Porter hasn’t been perfect at QB, but he’s made some really good throws. Receiving corp is as talented and as deep as it’s been in a long while. Guys that can make plays on the outside. RB tandem of Logan Gutierrez and Harrison Williams is going to be nice. Gutierrez more of a tough, strong runner, and Williams is super quick, fast and hits the hole very hard.

Celina 1s - 1 Frisco Heritage 1s - 0 Celina 2s - 1 Frisco Heritage 2s - 0 Live Q: Celina - 10 Heritage - 7 Heritage scored on their very first play of the live quarter. Bobcat LB forgot to cover RB out of the backfield and he scored easily. Celina dominated FH, otherwise, especially up front. Scrimmage ended with Celina inside the 10-yard line and driving.

Great show guys! Love this time of year. A couple of notes on Celina: You guys may have mixed up the O-line and D-lines. Bobcats bring back all but one on the offensive line, and the one spot being replaced was occupied at times by some of those guys coming back. The offensive line was a bright spot for the Bobcats last season, and should be again this year. The defensive line is going to need to replace a lot, although early on it looks like they've got a good group. We bring back a couple interior guys, one coming back from injury, but we'll need to replace two stud defensive ends that were really good. The linebacker corps will also be very young, but have a chance to be one of the better LB groups Celina has had since that 2015 runner-up group. The secondary is all back, and they're all very speed/athletic guys. That should be a strong suit for the Bobcats defense. Porter at QB has a good amount of size and presence in the pocket, and he was a regional track qualifier. He doesn't have breakaway speed, but he has enough size and mobility to extend plays if he needs to. Bobcats bring back a pair of really young RBs, one of which got a ton of snaps as a freshman last year. That will be the weak point early on for Celina's offense, in my opinion. This WR/TE/HB group will be "young" as well, but I'd be surprised if they don't end up as one of the better receiving groups Celina has had since that 2015 season as well. Good size. Good hands. Lots of depth. Some of those secondary guys on defense are going to get some targets as well this year. I think if you look at the youth, it's easy to say Celina will take a step back this year, and I don't necessarily disagree, and wouldn't argue that too much. But this youth coming up has been on back-to-back dominant JV teams, now getting their chance, so they'll be looked at to come in and do what they've been doing for those past couple of years. All said and done, I think this team ends the year better than the 2022 Bobcats.

Greatest comeback of all time. Panthers had no business winning that game, man. VooDoo Tatum was the real deal.

Celina’s biggest upset probably came the same year (2002) that The Streak ended. Bumped to 3A by two kids (smallest school in the class). Lost our legendary HoF coach to our rival (Pilot Point). Had the 60-something game streak intact. Won our first two district games over a salty Pottsboro group and then had an emotional 10-0 win over PP in a monsoon. Had to follow that up against an absolutely stacked Gainesville team that was ranked near the top in the state. Speed everywhere. Athleticism everywhere. Size everywhere. They were the real deal. They came into our place and brought a raucous crowd and an expectation that they’d be the ones to end the streak. Every local TV station had trucks parked at the field for the entire week. It was wild. Bobcat stadium at the time probably held around 2,500-3,000. There were about 10,000 at that game and most were from Gainesville or were there to see the streak end. Had to block off Main Street. The game itself is one of the wildest I’ve ever been a part of. It was an absolute slug fest and had some unbelievable plays — like Gainesville RB LJ Searcy breaking off a 98-yard run, getting tackled on the 1-yard line, and the Bobcats recovering a fumble on the next play to prevent a score that likely would’ve sealed the game. We ended up winning 28-20 and the stadium and locker room and town went into pandemonium after that. An absolutely thrilling win.

I hope he’s moved on. But that was brutal. He was 100% on PAT’s throughout his four years … up until then.