CY-FAIR vs. DEER PARK

The Cy-Fair Bobcats square off against Deer Park, and this should be a grind-it-out, hard-fought game. The Deer lost to Aldine, 27-20, last week, but finished 8-2 last season. They like to run, and a healthy Shawn Onyechi has done a solid job in their first two games. Onyechi missed the 2008 season with injuries. On defense, they have five starters back from their playoff team a season ago.

Cy-Fair is out of the gate at 0-2, but they’ve played some very good opponents: The Woodlands and Klein Collins. They were held to 67 total yards of offense in last Friday’s 10-0 loss to Klein Collins. Their hope is that Tevin Champagne can break loose on the ground but they may need to turn to the passing game a little more. After all, this is a team that earned a spot in the State 7-on-7 Championship.

This will be the ninth all-time meeting between Cy-Fair and Deer Park, but the first meeting between the two schools since 1965. That means not only were these current players for either team not born when the last meeting took place, you could probably find many of the players’ parents on either side of the stadium who were not yet born at the time.

Deer Park won the 1965 meeting, 28-16. I have to be honest: it’s been difficult to find a game summary on that one to pass on details to you.

Deer Park also leads the series, 5-3. The two teams first met in 1939, Cy-Fair’s first year to participate in varsity athletics. Deer Park won. They played again in 1940 and the Bobcats won. They next played each other from 1943 through 1946, with Cy-Fair winning the first game before Deer Park ran off three in a row. A home-and-home series in 1964-1965 marked the last time before this week that the teams played.

It should have happened last year, but Hurricane Ike wiped out the scheduled game.

ST. THOMAS vs. MAGNOLIA WEST

St. Thomas needs a shot of confidence to rebound from the 53-12 beating that Vidor put on them last week. After looking pretty competitive in a loss to Strake Jesuit in Week 0, the wheels came off the Eagles’ cart last week. Coach Donald Hollas, starting his second season at the helm, has a relatively young, inexperienced squad, and these are likely some of the growing pains to be expected as St. Thomas tries to grow into his offensive and defensive systems. This week, they try to rebound against second-year varsity program Magnolia West.

Magnolia West, out of District 18-4A, has EVERYBODY back from last year’s 2-7 inaugural season. That’s because they played 2008 without a senior class. This season, they’ve started 1-1, losing last week to Kingwood Park after a one-point win in their opener against Class 3A Shepherd. Inconsistency due to turnovers has been an early-season problem for the Mavericks. Two lost fumbles and two interceptions in the first two games have hampered them. This will be their final pre-district tune-up game, so look for Coach Dave Joiner to push his team to get into a tougher mindset. They’ll need it in a district that includes Magnolia, Brenham, Montgomery and more.

This could wind up being a very competitive match-up. The key may be which offense can managed to get untracked first.

HUNTSVILLE vs. ST. PIUS X

St. Pius, under first-year head coach Rene Ramirez, is a team that has proven to be capable of putting points on the scoreboard. Unfortunately for them, they’ve given up quite a few too. That is why, having scored a combined 73 points in their first two contests, they are only 1-1 coming into Week 2. They lost a heartbreaker to Westbury in the opener, 41-37, as the Rebels scored two TDs in the final three and a half minutes of the game to erase a nine-point deficit.

The Panthers rebounded last week with a 36-22 win over the Columbia Roughnecks.

Brent Peavy has looked sharp passing the ball in the first two games. He’s thrown for 312 yards and two TDs, and has completed 73% (33-45) of his passing attempts. Returning starter Venric Mark and Bradley Ward have both run the ball well for St. Pius. In fact, Mark and Ward join Peavy as Panther rushers who average over six yards per carry. Mark has also reprised his 2008 performance as a stellar return man on special teams. He’s already returned a punt for a TD.

On defense, Greg Daniels and Kirk Poston are impressive on the defensive front and would be formidable at any classification of high school football. They combine great speed and agility with strength that makes them both problematic for opposing offenses to deal with.

Huntsville will be playing their second game of the season, after falling to College Park, 28-7, in Week 1. The Hornets scored first on a 6-yard TD run by Justin Gilbert, but were shut down the rest of the way. Besides Gilbert’s run, Huntsville only managed 23 more rushing yards the entire game. Penalties and two turnovers contributed to the Hornets’ problems, but they apparently also had several players miss plays in the second half due to leg cramps. After trailing 9-7 at the half, Huntsville’s defense gave up 19 unanswered points in the second half.

STRATFORD vs. SPRING

Our Saturday night KSEV game should be a very nice matchup. Stratford is expected to be a contender for the District 18-5A crown this season and Spring has already shown the ability to score at will in their first two games.

The Spartans will be coming off an off-week, which means their coaches were likely able to personally scout the Lions in their 42-7 drubbing of Humble at Turner Stadium. We’ll see if that insight provides any help to the Stratford cause on Saturday. If nothing else, they know that Spring’s offense is very good. In their opener, a 53-51 last-second shootout loss to Langham Creek, the Lions amassed 533 yards of offense.

QB P.J. Kopesky has been very efficient in the passing game (24-36, 519 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs). Ridgeway Frank and Darel Haynes are averaging more than six yards per rush attempt.

Spring’s run defense has been solid, allowing only 99 total rushing yards in two games, but Will Bryant—a very good passing QB—was able to pick the secondary apart for over 300 yards in Week 0. Last week against Humble, the Lions recovered enough to only allow 172 passing yards.

That should mean that a lot eyes will be on Stratford QB Mark Benninger, who threw for 133 yards and one TD in the Spartans’ opening-week win over MacArthur, 34-0. But Benninger didn’t have to be outstanding against the Generals in that game, as the running game produced 165 yards.

Stratford’s head coach Eliot Allen will likely demand that his team reduce the turnovers. Five fumbles, which they committed against MacArthur, against an offense like Spring’s would be devastating.

This will be the first real test of the new season for Stratford and it will be interesting to see how they respond.

OAK RIDGE vs. ATASCOCITA

Oak Ridge is another high-powered offense and they are out of the gate at 2-0, with wins over Caney Creek (34-0) and Tomball (49-28). But they will run into the best defensive team they’ve seen so far this year in Atascocita. The Eagles have allowed only one TD in each of their first two games and are also 2-0 to start the 2009 season.

On offense, Atascocita has relied heavily on RB Jarvis Neal, who has rushed for 160 yards in two games. For Oak Ridge, QB Ryan Cyr is the triple-option threat that makes the War Eagle offense go. He’s run for 174 yards and thrown for another 235 yards in Oak Ridge’s two games.

Atascocita has a well-respected linebacking corps and they will be charged with trying to contain Cyr. Oak Ridge’s defense will try to bottle up Neal and force QB Earnest Carrington to be a playmaker.

Our expectations are that if it’s a low-scoring, defensive game, that favors Atascocita. If there are some points put on the board, that favors Oak Ridge.

Legacy Sports Network will also have action from the Golden Triangle area, as well as the Groesbeck-West game from central Texas. Lots of good football at our website this weekend. Put your headphones on and enjoy it!