Five bi-district games to watch featuring teams from Central Texas

With the regular season in the rear view mirror, it’s time to shift the focus towards the playoffs. Everyone has had AT&T Stadium circled since August, now the true pursuit towards a state championship begins.

Here are five bi-district games featuring teams from Central Texas to keep an eye on.

Marlin (7-3, 4-1) vs Bosqueville (6-4, 4-2)

This battle of bulldogs should be a lot of fun. Marlin has had a tremendous season under first year head coach Ruben Torres and their roster is composed of DI talent. The Bulldogs are led by 3-star linebacker Derion Gullette, who plays in all three phases of the game for Marlin and holds offers from Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and TCU.

Bosqueville is one of the most consistent programs in the area, due to the outstanding culture established by their head coach Clint Zander. The Bulldogs got a nice 42-35 win over a good Hamilton team in their district finale, after dropping back-to-back games to #4 Crawford and Tolar.

The winner of this game will get the winner of Lindsay vs Alba-Golden in the area round of the playoffs next week.

Marlin and Bosqueville will kick things off at 7:00pm on Friday at Rocket Field in Robinson.

Whitney (5-5, 4-2) vs Groesbeck (8-2, 4-1)
Don’t let Whitney’s record fool you, the Wildcats schedule was riddled with games against state ranked opponents, which should help them against the Goats. The two district losses for the Wildcats came at the hands of #4 West 14-10 and #10 Grandview 55-10, other than that, they outscored the remaining District 7-3A DI teams 185-59.

Groesbeck enters the playoffs on a two-game winning streak, after defeating Teague and Kemp. The Goats lone district loss came against Malakoff (49-28) on October 22nd, and there is a little concern about their defense, which gave up 189 points this season.

The winner of this game will get the winner of #3 Mount Vernon vs Jefferson in the area round of the playoffs next week.

Whitney and Groesbeck will kick things off at Waco ISD Stadium on Friday at 7:30pm.

Connally (4-5, 3-2) vs Jasper (5-4, 4-1)
Connally is a difficult team to figure out this season. The Cadets had a coaching change in the off-season, as head coach Shane Anderson left Connally to take over the program at Midway.

Talent isn’t an issue for Connally, with guys like 4-star RB Tre Wisner and other high caliber recruits like DB Kobe Black and S Jamarie Wiggins, but getting everything to click is the issue. Connally was blown out by #5 China Spring 48-7 in the district finale, so they are eager to get a win and not let their season come to an end.

Jasper is no stranger to the playoffs, or playing against talented opponents. The Bulldogs had a slow start to the season, but are entering the playoffs on a three-game winning streak. Their lone district loss came against juggernaut #1 Carthage 28-0, but other than that, Jasper had no problems.

The winner of this game will get the winner of #4 West Orange-Stark and La Marque in the area round of the playoffs next week.

Connally and Jasper will kick things off in Whitehouse on Thursday at 7:30pm.

Temple (8-2, 7-0) vs Waxahachie (6-4, 4-3)
Temple is the standard for football in Central Texas when it comes to 5A and 6A programs and this year was no different. The Wildcats dropped two games early in the season to #1 Austin Westlake and #10 Magnolia West, then reeled off eight straight victories.

The Wildcats are extremely talented, with multiple DI prospects leading the way. Defensively, Temple is led by 4-star S Mikal Harrison-Pilot, LB Taurean York, and S Naeten Mitchell. Offensively, RB Samari Howard, who broke Lache Seastrunck’s TD record on Friday night with 53, and QB Reese Rumfield lead the charge.

Waxahachie has battled through arguably the toughest district of any classification, District 11 6A. The Indians pushed #22 Desoto to the wire in the district finale, but came up short to the Eagles 31-25.

The winner of this game will get the winner of #5 Rockwall Heath and Namman Forest in the area round of the playoffs next week.

The Wildcats and Indians will kick things off at Temple’s Wildcat Stadium on Friday at 7:30pm.

Harker Heights (9-1, 6-1) vs Desoto (8-2, 6-1)
The Knights have been a lot of fun to keep track of this season and if it wasn’t for costly turnovers against Temple, they could have easily been the District 12 6A champions. Harker Heights is led by the leading rusher in the state of Texas, Re’Shaun Sanford, who has the pleasure of rushing behind 3-star OL Jaydon Chatman.

Desoto is currently ranked 22nd in the state of Texas and entered the playoffs on a six-game winning streak. Baylor 3-star S commit Devyn Bobby anchors the defense for the Eagles, while their offense flows through 4-star WR Johntay Cook.

The winner of this game will get the winner of #13 Rockwall and North Garland in the area round of the playoffs next week.

Harker Heights and #22 Desoto will kick things off at Waco ISD Stadium Thursday at 7:00pm.