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2023 District 8-5A DIV II Football Thread


Mavchamp

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Texas High - If they can stay away from the injuries I think T High can get it going. Dowden (newcomer of the year) plus Powell (Arkansas st offer) at LB have a chance to get the defense back to playing pretty good. 

Marshall - Having the QB back for year 2 in the system helps … imo Mavs got better each week.  Texas High and Whitehouse having to play in Marshall is big when it comes down to who could finish 1-3 

Whitehouse - QB was a player last year, gotta think they’ll have a chance because of him. 
 
Hallsville - Seem to be doing something right , last season was a big jump from where they were…anxious to see if they can keep it going but idk if they’ll get a playoff spot this year. 
 
Pine Tree - A&M commit Dealyn Evans coming back helps the defense out. If the offense can score some points maybe they make a push for the 4th playoff spot…not sure what happened but the 9-1 season seems like a long time ago. 
 

Mount Pleasant - I hope to see MP get some wins this year. 2026 class is pretty good so maybe they are still a year or 2 away but the QB comes back and he was pretty good. I think they could have a shot 

Nacogdoches - if I had to guess it is a long year for Nac but they do have some talent. I hope they find the right coach. 

Edited by RogerDorn
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On 2/28/2023 at 12:23 PM, Mavchamp said:

In fairness.... I think Nac consistently has the best military band in East Texas.  JMHO.  I know some will disagree.....but I've been to MOST of the region marching contests the last 20 years and Nac is nothing but consistent.  I've never once thought they were a borderline 1st/2nd division.  Always a solid 1.  Not a single other 5A/6A school in ETX can say that IMHO.

I've seen Nac go wild over baseball more than once.....and a couple of times with basketball.  Soccer as well.  I remember a fantastic soccer game between Nac and Marshall (2016 ish?) that probably had 1500 fans.  Never seen anything else like it in ETX aside from the LP/MP soccer game at Rose a few years back.

But even in (2006?) there wasn't a frenzy over football.  I was at the playoff game in Tyler Vs. Texas High.  Wasn't the first playoff game in like 14 years?  I was shocked how poorly it was attended by Nac......  

Perception is reality....and my perception is that the community doesn't support football.  I realize admin has made some atrocious decisions to make things worse...but at the end of the day...if the community support isn't there..... IMHO it affects participation, work ethic, and expectations for the athletes and the staff.  

I agree Nac Band is the best in district. Sorry everyone its not close regardless of all the props and neato glitter you want to douse yourself with on the field. There also is no greater sign that it is March on Smoaky than my endorsement of a 'best band in district' LOL. Mavchamp you are right. For whatever reason there is a disconnect between the face support other sports receive and football. 

Edited by tomlandry
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4 hours ago, tomlandry said:

I agree Nac Band is the best in district. Sorry everyone its not close regardless of all the props and neato glitter you want to douse yourself with on the field. There also is no greater sign that it is March on Smoaky than my endorsement of a 'best band in district' LOL. Mavchamp you are right. For whatever reason there is a disconnect between the face support other sports receive and football. 

The community support has a lot to do with, outside of 4-5 years this program has done nothing but lose for the last 50 years. Look at any program that gets in a rut of losing and the fans stay away. That 2006 year, that team fought their tails off and earned that playoff spot. But the reward for us making the playoffs as the last seed in the district has been a battle with a top 5 team with little to no chance of winning the game. I hate it for the kids of all of our sports, some of the kids go above and beyond with work and prep and get little to no support with fan turnout. 

Last years softball was a perfect example, best team Nac has had in 10 years and no one in town knew about it. Very few attended games and they had a great playoff round vs a top 10 team in Hallsville that went 3 close games. Baseball definitely draws more than softball, but baseball has had more success over the last 10 years or so. The soccer games vs really good teams can draw as many as some of our football games. 

As for our band.....I agree we are one of the best military bands in the state during halftime. However, they are one of the worst bands I have ever seen in the stands and playing during the games. They tend to sit quietly for most of the game, making noise for noise sake at the start of the game. When they play they play the same music they play at half time. No pump up songs or game day anthems and our visiting bands tend to make Dragon stadium more of a home game for the visiting team.  

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2 hours ago, Nacwagons said:

The community support has a lot to do with, outside of 4-5 years this program has done nothing but lose for the last 50 years. Look at any program that gets in a rut of losing and the fans stay away. That 2006 year, that team fought their tails off and earned that playoff spot. But the reward for us making the playoffs as the last seed in the district has been a battle with a top 5 team with little to no chance of winning the game. I hate it for the kids of all of our sports, some of the kids go above and beyond with work and prep and get little to no support with fan turnout. 

Last years softball was a perfect example, best team Nac has had in 10 years and no one in town knew about it. Very few attended games and they had a great playoff round vs a top 10 team in Hallsville that went 3 close games. Baseball definitely draws more than softball, but baseball has had more success over the last 10 years or so. The soccer games vs really good teams can draw as many as some of our football games. 

As for our band.....I agree we are one of the best military bands in the state during halftime. However, they are one of the worst bands I have ever seen in the stands and playing during the games. They tend to sit quietly for most of the game, making noise for noise sake at the start of the game. When they play they play the same music they play at half time. No pump up songs or game day anthems and our visiting bands tend to make Dragon stadium more of a home game for the visiting team.  

You hit the nail  right on the head about the band. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Whitehouse - Yes, I said it! QB Green has been waiting for his moment to shine and shine he will this season leading his team to a district championship. Also, the coaching did a great job turning this program around from the previous season.

Texarkana - CLOSE second but did somebody say defense? Defense is the backbone of this team and they always field a better than average defense every season. Coaching is as solid as it gets and i'm confident they get last seasons late struggles in check.

Marshall - This is where I see it getting interesting! I feel it could go either way for the Mavs 3 or 4 spot. I do feel they are destined for a playoff birth in 2023. Traditionally a good team with good defense and speed. Coaching did a good job in it's first season. Offensively though don't expect to see anything fancy. 

Hallsville - With Moseley in Huntsville playing QB for the Bearkats how will the Bobcats look on offense? It depends on how many baseball players want to commit to playing football this season. I would look for the Bobcats to be better on defense. This coaching staff has turned this program around and it's moving in the right direction.

Mt. Pleasant - IMHO..The top four mentioned above programs are just better programs right now but If this coaching staff can get this team to buy in.?.The current coaching staff is a good staff and I have no doubt they will. Just got to clean up the little mistakes and get the players minds off Basketball, etc..

Pine Tree - Make decisions stick with them and build. Will they continue the debacle this season?

Nacogdoches - Where to start? You got to start building a program at some point let's see it!

 

 

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It is a misperception that other sports in Nac are recruiting their kids to not play football. There are very few kids in basketball offseason and baseball only had a few straight baseball players. There are athletes in Nac but not as many as everyone thinks. Soccer is the only sport with a large number of kids in offseason. 
Band does run the school. They ever make football shorten their practice so they can get on the field. Also hear that drill team ran the basketball out of the gym as their were practicing for the playoff game. 
soccer team gets a ton of support and draws a ton of support.  Basketball has had its most consistent and best run the last 5 years and they still don’t draw a big crowd except for the Lufkin game 

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1 hour ago, NacNac said:

It is a misperception that other sports in Nac are recruiting their kids to not play football. There are very few kids in basketball offseason and baseball only had a few straight baseball players. There are athletes in Nac but not as many as everyone thinks. Soccer is the only sport with a large number of kids in offseason. 
Band does run the school. They ever make football shorten their practice so they can get on the field. Also hear that drill team ran the basketball out of the gym as their were practicing for the playoff game. 
soccer team gets a ton of support and draws a ton of support.  Basketball has had its most consistent and best run the last 5 years and they still don’t draw a big crowd except for the Lufkin game 

I don't believe that the programs other than band try and dictate single sport participation. The youth sports is where we see single sport athletes emerge, it just carries over to high school because they stop playing all but one sport at a young age. 

Soccer has definitely raised its numbers, in fact I think the soccer programs has more kids than football does from freshman, jv and varsity. 

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I would agree with you.  But what I am saying is that all of the sports have very low numbers in off season so at the high school there is not very many athletes playing just one sport accept soccer. 
Lufkin has almost all of his basketball team playing straight basketball and baseball has a bunch of straight baseball players.  Nac has many more kids playing more than one sport. 

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10 hours ago, NacNac said:

I would agree with you.  But what I am saying is that all of the sports have very low numbers in off season so at the high school there is not very many athletes playing just one sport accept soccer. 
Lufkin has almost all of his basketball team playing straight basketball and baseball has a bunch of straight baseball players.  Nac has many more kids playing more than one sport. 

I have always felt Nac has the school enrollment as a 5a school but the athletic participation of a small 4a school, with the exception of soccer. Some sports barely have a enough for a viable freshman and JV team. 

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Just now, Nacwagons said:

I have always felt Nac has the school enrollment as a 5a school but the athletic participation of a small 4a school, with the exception of soccer. Some sports barely have an enough for a viable freshman and JV team. 

Yeah the trajectory has changed even during the Reyes years. We didn’t have to worry about depth I will say it cost those kids some games. Some never stepped off the field even for a breather.  The new AD Will definitely have his work cut out for him. The non district schedule is brutal and then the district isn’t easy. 
 

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Not true about the trajectory changing during the Reyes years. I remember them playing kids on one side of the ball, and also having a full J.V. and 2 ninth grade teams. All this changed with Allman. The new coach must be a good recruiter at the Jr. High. He and his coordinators must be there every day to sell their program to the Jr. High players. You can only build from the ground up. This will be a huge challenge. 

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38 minutes ago, missionimpossible said:

Not true about the trajectory changing during the Reyes years. I remember them playing kids on one side of the ball, and also having a full J.V. and 2 ninth grade teams. All this changed with Allman. The new coach must be a good recruiter at the Jr. High. He and his coordinators must be there every day to sell their program to the Jr. High players. You can only build from the ground up. This will be a huge challenge. 

That was typed wrong I was trying to say we didn’t have to worry about depth back then. Now you do. 2020 was Allman’s best year and we still had to play kids both ways but the talent on that team made up for it. We should know something next week according to some sources. Not sure what they are about to decide but the community is tired of waiting. 

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On 3/22/2023 at 7:36 AM, nacdragon07 said:

That was typed wrong I was trying to say we didn’t have to worry about depth back then. Now you do. 2020 was Allman’s best year and we still had to play kids both ways but the talent on that team made up for it. We should know something next week according to some sources. Not sure what they are about to decide but the community is tired of waiting. 

District leadership in Nac is the issue. Wish-washy and no backbone. 

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On 3/22/2023 at 6:54 AM, missionimpossible said:

Not true about the trajectory changing during the Reyes years. I remember them playing kids on one side of the ball, and also having a full J.V. and 2 ninth grade teams. All this changed with Allman. The new coach must be a good recruiter at the Jr. High. He and his coordinators must be there every day to sell their program to the Jr. High players. You can only build from the ground up. This will be a huge challenge. 

Screen name checks out.

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Little update with drills coming in the next few weeks......

The Mav track team has had a really strong spring.  Lots of speed......guys have won several meets that have had district rivals in them.  Marshall always has speed....2023 looks to be no different.

The powerlifting team also had a good winter.  

I'm hearing guys have really been doing a ton of strength training.  We should be bigger across the board.....especially on the offensive line.  No secret that our OL has been our achilles heel for the last 2-3 seasons.  We should have some size in 2023....something we've lacked the last couple of years.

We are looking loaded at the RB position.  That's good news knowing we lost JQ Davis and Bird Robinson to graduation.  But even with those two studs last year.....Sophomore Semaj Gatson got some really good yardage last season as the #3 guy.  He's going to be stud as a junior....but a couple of other guys that tore it up last year on JV and the freshman team could make for heck of a stable of runners.  This bodes well for Alvarez's hybrid wing T.

Collier Slone will be a third year starter at QB.  He had just over 1,000 yards passing last season.... in spite of having Davis and Robinson running wild most weeks.  He proved he's more than capable of tossing the rock when needed.

With the two Smiths at WR graduating, finding some depth at those positions will be a priority.  But with Sims (Jr), Shaw (Sr), Rodgers (Jr) all returning...the cupboard isn't bare.

Defense is a focus.  While Marshall was 2nd in district for allowing the fewest points per game...we still struggled at times.  Giving up 41 to Hallsville, 42 to Texas High, and 48 to Crandall.  But they shut down Whitehouse, who was the top offense in the district...go figure.  

----------

Obviously....passing the $42M bond to renovate and expand MHS is the #1 priority for MISD.  Vibes seem pretty positive about it (compared to the very contentious bond that passed in 2016).

But I'm hearing some big things be rumbled about the continued renovation of Maverick Stadium.  Some much needed attention to the seating and concessions.  But a new visitors locker-room has been whispered too.  Stay tuned.

We're only losing one coach on the staff...... which is great news.

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Very interested in seeing this team on the field this spring. 

It should feel very different from last year when not only the staff was new...but so was that Wing-T hybrid. 

The offense really got into a groove and was humming towards the end of the season.  In our last 7 games in 2022 we scored: 36, 37, 36, 35, 49, 42, and 47 (playoff).  No one was really stopping us.  Unfortunately....our defense betrayed us a few times (Hallsville, THS, Crandall).

Anyone got a kicker we can borrow?

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3 hours ago, THSfanatic said:

Texas High has lost a TON on OL going into next year.  Skill positions are set but it all depends on the OL.  

Texas high rarely seems short on talent 

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On 4/1/2023 at 10:45 PM, THSfanatic said:

Texas High has lost a TON on OL going into next year.  Skill positions are set but it all depends on the OL.  

Holman RT and Gaines RG come back but no doubt it comes down to how they play upfront….imo within the next couple years I could see the o-line being one of the better groups they have had recently . 2026 lineman Duncan McGhee and Damion Chisum both were invited to the Under Armor underclassmen camp in February. McGhee picked up an offer from UTSA. 

Edited by RogerDorn
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7 hours ago, tomlandry said:

I'm wondering when folks' memories of the glory days for Texas High starts to pose a problem.....

It has for awhile.   We were awful for a few years.  Last year was the first time in awhile I had high hopes.   And truthfully I did not see the team progress as the season went on.  We had more talent than we showed and did not improve as expected.  You have to figure in the QB going out for the year but I was thinking we would go another game or 2 before being eliminated.

 

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In all honesty....in spite of the colossal failure that the district suffered in the first round of the playoffs last season.... I think most of the teams in the district are on upward ticks.

Last season was a fluke for THS.  Since dropping to Div II....they have been pretty dang impressive.  Marshall, Hallsville, and Whitehouse all appear to be headed in the right direction.

PT and MP are just mysteries to me.  Both have plenty of athletes....but they just can't seem to pull it all together.  

Nac......  wowzers.  I know they are suppose to name their guy in a few hours....but they just seem to be a mess right now.  

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9 hours ago, THSfanatic said:

It has for awhile.   We were awful for a few years.  Last year was the first time in awhile I had high hopes.   And truthfully I did not see the team progress as the season went on.  We had more talent than we showed and did not improve as expected.  You have to figure in the QB going out for the year but I was thinking we would go another game or 2 before being eliminated.

 

I agree. This past season I thought there was electricity flowing through the backfield with both backs and a great OL. Mixing in some solid individual WR efforts and it all seemed there. I recognize and can appreciate the burden of losing a QB. Realistically, our district is not a powerhouse DoD and I thought they still had more than enough firepower for a deeper run. At the very least I believed they would mow through the district. With the resources and pedigree Texas High should be one of the few teams each year that gets through two or three rounds. 

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9 hours ago, Mavchamp said:

In all honesty....in spite of the colossal failure that the district suffered in the first round of the playoffs last season.... I think most of the teams in the district are on upward ticks.

Last season was a fluke for THS.  Since dropping to Div II....they have been pretty dang impressive.  Marshall, Hallsville, and Whitehouse all appear to be headed in the right direction.

PT and MP are just mysteries to me.  Both have plenty of athletes....but they just can't seem to pull it all together.  

Nac......  wowzers.  I know they are suppose to name their guy in a few hours....but they just seem to be a mess right now.  

Yup, I know the board is tired of my critique of Nac but its unfair to their kids and community. I hate to see that. 

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Tom it was more than just the QB. Defensive player of the year in district (Crite) and newcomer of year (Dowden) on defense were both out…Hall at WR who had 700 yards receiving didn’t play vs Terrell either . senior QB and RB got hurt early but things just didn’t seem to work after the QB went down. 

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  • Mavchamp changed the title to District 8-5A D-II Game one predictions

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