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5A-D2: #13 Melissa Cardinals vs #8 Argyle Eagles


regaleagle

Melissa vs. Argyle   

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  1. 1. Who wins???


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You can bet your boots the stadium will be full on Friday night.  Eagle Stadium holds about 5000 capacity, and I'm totally certain Melissa will come in droves. Every seat on the Argyle side will be taken, and then the tables and standing areas around the concessions on the Argyle side......maybe the same on the Melissa side.  Argyle does have endzone bleachers now for the band.....not sure if that is in the 5000 seating capacity or not.  They were added a couple of years ago and have really helped the Argyle side in seating availability.  That Argyle band has about 80-100 members.....not counting the flag wavers and The Majestics dance team( impressive!).  Then there's those "cult fans" from around the area that like to follow Argyle every season......Argyle does have a following for only 4500 population.

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Down the street in Argyle is Liberty Christian, but they will be playing Prestonwood Christian in Plano on Friday night.  Jason Witten took over that program last season, so it will be interesting to see what happens for the Warriors this season and in the future......notwithstanding a rapture event happening first. If that happens.....most of Argyle will practically disappear!

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Just looking at a few clips from Spring practice of new Melissa QB Trever Ham(6-0/175/Jr) from McKinney High School......I'd say he has a strong arm, really good throwing motion with a quick release like Sam Fennigan had last season, stands tall in the pocket, and is definitely accurate for such a quick release.  He looks to be the perfect fit for Melissa in their offensive scheme, and he's only a junior this season.  By the time district play gets here, he should be settled in quite nicely and a real threat passing it around to all of those tall quality recievers the Cards have.  Adjoken at RB should blossom this season as a junior as well. I think this RB is very talented and a hidden gem just waiting for his number to be called.  Argyle will have its hands full Friday night for sure.  BUT......so will Melissa.  The Eagles D will be very good. Maybe pretty good offensively too?  We don't know for sure yet.......Argyle tends to keep everything "close to the vest" in the off season. Melissa definitely did some work expanding their roster and football program over the off season for that step up to 5A.......alot more than Argyle did.  If Trever Ham sparkles this season like I think he will, then lookout.....Melissa could turn out to be the real deal with all the other talented and experienced players they have returning.  Of course Argyle ain't going nowhere but the playoffs by the time all is said and done. They will most probably win their district and be ready come playoff time.

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12 hours ago, regaleagle said:

Yeah......Argyle Broadcasting Network does the call and Sportsgram 9 is the carrier......just like always.  Pregame broadcast starts at 6:30 and the kickoff is at 7 pm.

Will that’s just be a radio broadcast or will we actually be able to watch the game?

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12 minutes ago, TCU44 said:

Will that’s just be a radio broadcast or will we actually be able to watch the game?

That's just radio broadcast.......but I think they may have livestream video broadcasting for a fee.  Not sure at this point how they are gonna do it this year......just hafta wait and see.  You can always search Argyle Broadcast Network or Argyle Boosters Club on Twitter to find out before gametime, usually on Thurs.  Sportsgram just carries the live broadcasts of the broadcast team......they don't provide the video part......Argyle or somebody else would have to do that.  I do know that Argyle High School has a student video crew that has carried live videostreams of the games in the main sports for both boys and girls.....but not on an every game basis yet.  But maybe at home game venues like this one will be......

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My feeling from the Argyle perspective is that the Coaching Staff will try to keep this game low-scoring and very conservative offensively.  They will attempt to slug it out with Melissa and give the team plenty of reps in trench warfare to start this season.  Most likely Coach Rodgers will pick his spots offensively to throw it......lots of short passes to loosen up the secondary and some counters with motion to catch those DE's and LB's from crashing in. Then some quick outside throws to keep the Cards D running side to side to set up quick hitter runs up the middle.

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With all the games Argyle has played the last 10 yrs, it's no big secret what Argyle will do.  They will just line up and try to beat you at the point of attack, and get the secondary spread out to find the open receiver one on one. They don't really incorporate alot of offensive sets at all......just motion and quickness really.  They do have lots of different skill players to go to......and will hit the long medium and long routes to keep the D honest. The receivers have speed.....lots of speed......they have some tracksters returning this season that won and placed in the top last season at the state meet. I don't know where they get them, but Argyle does have lots of speed on the field every year.

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Most teams with "speed" have one or two guys that are real burners......the obvious fastest guys on the field.  Argyle has more than that, but you don't notice it until you come against them out on the field.  They are quick off the line and can just outrun most secondaries as a group. It becomes difficult to defend the field.....somebody usually is open IF the QB can get him the ball.  And then they do know how to make the catches......they don't drop many.

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But to be fair, Melissa has morphed into an Argyle-like team themselves.  Their receivers are very talented, have speed and height, and their passing game can definitely burn you at any time.  Melissa has managed to attract some very talented skill players and some quality QB's for their offensive scheme over the years.  Now they have a new facility for the football program and lots of players competing to play on Friday Nights.  Melissa is a known winner in football in the DFW Metroplex by just about everybody that follows high school football.  IF they can get past Argyle in Argyle this Friday Night under the lights......the program will make a HUGE statement to the state and to 5A-D2 in the process.  You just don't come in to Argyle and beat them on their own home turf......I don't recall when that happened last or who it was.....Abilene Wylie in the first game of the season back in 2012, I think it was. Argyle went 11-2 losing to Gilmer in the playoffs, and Wylie went 12-2 losing to Stephenville in the playoffs.

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On 8/24/2022 at 12:01 PM, regaleagle said:

Just looking at a few clips from Spring practice of new Melissa QB Trever Ham(6-0/175/Jr) from McKinney High School......I'd say he has a strong arm, really good throwing motion with a quick release like Sam Fennigan had last season, stands tall in the pocket, and is definitely accurate for such a quick release.  He looks to be the perfect fit for Melissa in their offensive scheme, and he's only a junior this season.  By the time district play gets here, he should be settled in quite nicely and a real threat passing it around to all of those tall quality recievers the Cards have.  Adjoken at RB should blossom this season as a junior as well. I think this RB is very talented and a hidden gem just waiting for his number to be called.  Argyle will have its hands full Friday night for sure.  BUT......so will Melissa.  The Eagles D will be very good. Maybe pretty good offensively too?  We don't know for sure yet.......Argyle tends to keep everything "close to the vest" in the off season. Melissa definitely did some work expanding their roster and football program over the off season for that step up to 5A.......alot more than Argyle did.  If Trever Ham sparkles this season like I think he will, then lookout.....Melissa could turn out to be the real deal with all the other talented and experienced players they have returning.  Of course Argyle ain't going nowhere but the playoffs by the time all is said and done. They will most probably win their district and be ready come playoff time.

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Edited by CrankyOldMan
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2 hours ago, Footballalltheway said:

Well you may know more about the transfer from McKinney, Ham, then most but in the spring game he was, well let’s just be honest, not good.  You are right about throws a nice ball, good throwing motion but accuracy was bad and was often late getting the ball out I thought.  It was spring ball though so who really knows.  I actually thought the starter was going to be another kid who transferred from Denton Brasewell.  Its hard to keep up with all the transfers though as it may be the same kid for all I know.  
 

You are right though Melissa has athletes but can often be very undisciplined against better teams.  That what has always impressed me about Argyle is that they are very well coached and than can make up for alot if lacking physical talent which Arglye is not.  Not to mention some of the coaching decisions by the Melissa coaching staff has left you scratching your head over the years.   If it comes down to X & O’s  I’ll take Argyle every day of the week just due to Rogers experience and coaching acumen. 

Ham was way better in the scrimmage… You have to cut him some slack it was his first varsity action and he just moved to Melissa a few months before the spring game. He is gonna be just fine, I thought he looked really good the other night….

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On 8/22/2022 at 9:51 PM, bigorange said:

Yes Melissa beat Grapevine up pretty bad… 

I wouldn't say beat up but if you can 'win' a scrimmage they did and clearly looked like a better team than Grapevine. There was no controlled varsity scrimmage. The 1s played 2 live quarters and Melissa led 17-10 after that, then the 2s played a quarter and a half with Melissa outscoring GVine 14-7 so guess a 31-17 tally in 3 and a half quarters. when the 1s were in for Melissa they used 2 QBs and both looked decent but most of their passes were deep balls...very little screens or medium throws. Melissa's OL is huge and the Cardinal D looked solid overall. 

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16 hours ago, Footballalltheway said:

Well you may know more about the transfer from McKinney, Ham, then most but in the spring game he was, well let’s just be honest, not good.  You are right about throws a nice ball, good throwing motion but accuracy was bad and was often late getting the ball out I thought.  It was spring ball though so who really knows.  I actually thought the starter was going to be another kid who transferred from Denton Brasewell.  Its hard to keep up with all the transfers though as it may be the same kid for all I know.  
 

You are right though Melissa has athletes but can often be very undisciplined against better teams.  That what has always impressed me about Argyle is that they are very well coached and than can make up for alot if lacking physical talent which Arglye is not.  Not to mention some of the coaching decisions by the Melissa coaching staff has left you scratching your head over the years.   If it comes down to X & O’s  I’ll take Argyle every day of the week just due to Rogers experience and coaching acumen. 

You know it's not the same kid LOL. Melissa does have some transfers but there will only be 2 starting transfers. When an ISD grows by 1,100 students (high school went from 971 to 1,317) in 2 years several of those 'new' kids will be football players. I'm sure the current state of the football program is attracting players but the amount of rooftops going up in the past 2-3 years and still happening today is insane. For the younger students elementary school #4 is under construction....in 2018 MISD had 1 elementary school.

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5 hours ago, Texski said:

You know it's not the same kid LOL. Melissa does have some transfers but there will only be 2 starting transfers. When an ISD grows by 1,100 students (high school went from 971 to 1,317) in 2 years several of those 'new' kids will be football players. I'm sure the current state of the football program is attracting players but the amount of rooftops going up in the past 2-3 years and still happening today is insane. For the younger students elementary school #4 is under construction....in 2018 MISD had 1 elementary school.

The Melissa area is definitely booming right now. Princeton is experiencing the same amount of growth if not more rapidly right now. 10 years ago, Princeton had 2 elementary schools, a 6th grade center, junior high and high school. Now we are sitting at 6 elementary schools (1 coming next year), 2 middle schools (1 coming next year), a freshman center, and high school with a 2nd opening in a couple years. Transfers who play football are expected in this growth. 

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On 8/25/2022 at 1:45 PM, collincountyfootball1 said:

The Melissa area is definitely booming right now. Princeton is experiencing the same amount of growth if not more rapidly right now. 10 years ago, Princeton had 2 elementary schools, a 6th grade center, junior high and high school. Now we are sitting at 6 elementary schools (1 coming next year), 2 middle schools (1 coming next year), a freshman center, and high school with a 2nd opening in a couple years. Transfers who play football are expected in this growth. 

 

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36 minutes ago, Footballalltheway said:

Yeah as fast as both Princeton and Melissa are growing there is naturally going to a good number of move-ins that play football.  Melissa’s facilities recruit football oriented transfers by itself too.  Why do you think Princeton’s football team hasn’t really flourished with all the growth like Melissa’s has?  Back in the day Princeton used to put it on Melissa.   

I wouldn’t say Princeton put it on Melissa. It was pretty evenly matched most games, 2012/2013 was a split as was the non-district matchups in 2016/2017. We beat Melissa 48-14 in 2016 and Celina 42-27 as well. Melissa and Celina both went the regional finals that year in 4A D2, while Princeton lost in the 1st round of 4A D1. The simplest reason is that Princeton grew rapidly and the football numbers weren’t reflective in the growth early on. The majority of Princeton’s growth were in the younger classifications. We are seeing it for sure now though. Freshman center opened the school year with about 600 kids. 100 of which are freshman football players. Two Freshman teams this year and now C teams at the two middle schools. Lots of good talent and big kids coming up in the freshman class we have this year. But Melissa if we are being honest is probably by most in the area consider to be more affluent of a community than Princeton and you’re getting different types of kids moving into Melissa than Princeton. The facilities they have are now up to par with what I feel like the community it feels like it should have and they do a great job of supporting the program. 

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27 minutes ago, collincountyfootball1 said:

I wouldn’t say Princeton put it on Melissa. It was pretty evenly matched most games, 2012/2013 was a split as was the non-district matchups in 2016/2017. We beat Melissa 48-14 in 2016 and Celina 42-27 as well. Melissa and Celina both went the regional finals that year in 4A D2, while Princeton lost in the 1st round of 4A D1. The simplest reason is that Princeton grew rapidly and the football numbers weren’t reflective in the growth early on. The majority of Princeton’s growth were in the younger classifications. We are seeing it for sure now though. Freshman center opened the school year with about 600 kids. 100 of which are freshman football players. Two Freshman teams this year and now C teams at the two middle schools. Lots of good talent and big kids coming up in the freshman class we have this year. But Melissa if we are being honest is probably by most in the area consider to be more affluent of a community than Princeton and you’re getting different types of kids moving into Melissa than Princeton. The facilities they have are now up to par with what I feel like the community it feels like it should have and they do a great job of supporting the program. 

image.jpegMelissa will open next year 2023 season in this new stadium 

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Coach Rodgers will be starting his 20th season in Argyle this year and jumping up to 5A football to celebrate this milestone.  The home winning streak stands at 49 games currently.......so it would definitely be another milestone for Argyle to get another win at home this week to start this new era in Argyle football with a 50-game home winning streak.  Of course Coach Rodgers said he did not know what the number was, but did acknowledge it happened against Abilene Wylie in the first game of the season years ago.  Well.....if he did not know the exact number before, he does now.   GO EAGLES!!

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Good News is there will be a Livestream Video of tonight's game in Argyle.  Go to the Melissa vs Argyle Livestream?  thread and click on the link from the Argyle Booster Club with Coach Rodger's picture in it.  That will take you to the Talon News site where you will click "sports".  Then you should be able to find the Livestream game from there.

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Okay......here's the update.  Argyle did NOT come out conservatively on offense.  They have thrown it more than run it, but both schemes look good.  It's been a highly offensive game going back and forth, with interceptions(3 by Argyle) and fumbles. I think Melissa also had an interception.  Looked like Argyle got a safety, but they marked it back at the one.  Anyway......Argyle looked a little sloppy on special teams a couple of times, but has managed to control the possession time offensively so far.  Pretty good game for the first one of the season.  Lots of action. Melissa gets the ball to start the 2nd half.

Argyle 28

Melissa 18

Halftime

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He's not standing out yet......but has the whole season to show his stuff.  The Melissa D is big alright, but Argyle has managed to rip their left side for some big gains on the ground off tackle and up the middle too.   #3 Jacob Robinson looks pretty good at QB for Argyle so far......a  few poor decisions, but has made some plays too.  He can run it darn well and his arm looks pretty good.  He tends to loft it too high on the long ones, though.....needs to bring those down a little.  Melissa looks pretty good in the secondary.......they don't look suspect to me.

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