Week 10 High School Football Preview

by Glenn Sattell
Nov 03, 2009

New Caney (2-7, 0-4) at No. 3 The Woodlands (9-0, 4-0) at Woodforest Stadium, 7:30 p.m., Thursday

The Highlanders are one game away from a perfect regular season. Only the New Caney Eagles stand in the way of The Woodlands and perfection.

The Highlanders are 9-0 all-time against New Caney, six of those were shutouts. The Woodlands has outscored New Caney 414-23 in the nine-game series. The closest New Caney has come to The Woodlands was a 7-0 final in 1984.

It won’t be that close on Thursday.

The Highlanders have scored 38, 55 and 31 points over their last three games while New Caney has given up 56, 48 and 29 points over its previous three outings.

Trent Eckel has thrown for 1,626 yards (16 TDs). New Caney has gained 1,858 yards of total offense as a team and scored a total of 13 touchdowns this season. Daniel Lasco has 1,290 rushing yards (14 TDs).

Get the picture?

This isn’t going to be pretty. It should be over by halftime, allowing Eckel, Lasco and the rest of the regulars to sit out the second half.

Glenn’s guess: The Woodlands 49, New Caney 0

College Park (4-5, 1-3) at Conroe (4-5, 2-2) at Buddy Moorhead Stadium, 7:30 p.m., Friday

College Park still hasn’t recovered from a 51-20 Saturday afternoon loss to Lufkin in front of the home folks. At the time, a victory could have put the Cavaliers in a three-way tie for first with Lufkin and The Woodlands. That was a little over a week ago, but seems like ages now.

The Cavaliers followed that up by laying a 24-0 egg against Oak Ridge. And now their backs are firmly against the wall. In a span of two Fridays, the Cavaliers went from a potential tie for first place to finding themselves on the outside looking in on even making the playoffs.

Such is life in a five-game district schedule.

College Park could still make the playoffs as the fourth seed from District 14-5A by beating Conroe on the road by 10 or more points. Or they could also get in with a victory (by any margin) over Conroe coupled with an Oak Ridge victory over Lufkin.

The question is have the Cavaliers packed it in for the season?

Glenn’s guess: Conroe 10, College Park 7

Lufkin (7-2, 3-1) at Oak Ridge (5-4, 2-2) at Woodforest Stadium, 7:30 p.m., Friday

Oak Ridge is in the playoffs. That much we know. But depending on the outcome of Friday’s action, the War Eagles could finish anywhere from second to fourth place in the final District 14-5A standings.

The simple scenarios are an Oak Ridge victory and a Conroe loss makes the War Eagles the district runner-up. Or an Oak Ridge loss and Conroe victory gives Oak Ridge the district’s fourth seed.

To simplify further, Lufkin and Oak Ridge both enter the playoffs as Division II (small school) representatives from District 14-5A. The winner of Friday’s game will be the district’s Division II top seed while the loser will be the Division II second seed.

If you like high-scoring games, this one’s for you.

Glenn’s guess: Lufkin 31, Oak Ridge 23