High School

10 things we learned in Texas high school football Week 12 — bi-district playoffs

Upsets were plentiful in first week of UIL playoffs

Cody Thorn

Midland High's Elijah McCoy, center, runs with the ball against Frenship in a District 2-6A high school football game, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, at Peoples Bank Stadium in Wolfforth.
Midland High's Elijah McCoy, center, runs with the ball against Frenship in a District 2-6A high school football game, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, at Peoples Bank Stadium in Wolfforth. / Annie Rice/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Week 12 of the 2024 Texas high school football season is in the books, and though there were big upsets, plenty of storylines emerged.

High School on SI examined 10-plus takeaways from the weekend in Texas high school football:

10 THINGS WE LEARNED IN WEEK 11

1. Peaster notches playoff win No. 1

Peaster got a walk-off win over Comanche on Thursday when Layton Kennedy hit Slayte Robertson in overtime, 33-30. It was the fourth win in a row for the Greyhounds.

Still a relatively new program, starting varsity in 2019, this was the Greyhounds' first playoff win.

Peaster coach Trevor Owens chose to go on defense first in the Class 3A Division I playoff game.

The Greyhounds had only been to the playoffs twice — 2021 and 2023. 

2. Fort Bend Elkins upsets Alvin Shadow Creek

There were quite a few 4 seeds knocking off No. 1 seeds, but this was a big one in 6A Division II, with the Knights winning 31-28.

No. 22-ranked Shadow Creek won the District 22-6A title and had won nine in a row entering this game. Elkins got the 4 seed coming out of District 21-6A. 

Sophomore running back Tyson Craft's second TD and David Red’s 2-point conversion provided the winning margin late. 

This was Elkins’ first playoff win since 2016, and this will be only the third trip to the area round since 1997.

3. Manvel moves over .500 with big win 

A pick-6 by Grant Stewart helped turn the momentum in favor of Manvel in the second quarter on Thursday in a 23-15 win over Fort Bend Hightower.

This was another Class 6A Division II upset. The No. 24-ranked Hurricanes were 9-1 and had advanced to the quarterfinals in two of the last three years.

Hightower had 10 or more wins in each of the last three years.

At one point this year the Mavericks were 1-4 and will now face Humble Summer Creek, the state runner-up last year. 

The win moves Manvel to 6-5 on the season. 

4. Wolfe City left feeling Blue

In a 2A Division I playoff, Coleman pulled off an upset with a 40-35 win over Wolfe City in Godley.

In past years, Coleman has seen a bit of success, going 29-7 over the previous three seasons. This fall the Bluecats got off to a slow start — 0-7.

Wolfe City entered with an 8-1 mark.

In a high-scoring game, running back Anthony Espitia caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from Hunter Edington — on 4th and 11 — to turn a 35-34 deficit into a 40-35 lead with 4:35 left to play. 

5. Lone TD pass difference for Van Vleck 

Corey Austin had a big game for Van Vleck, but the one touchdown he didn’t score was the difference in a 48-41 win.

Van Vleck was considerably an underdog in this Class 3A Division II playoff game. The Leopards were 4-6 overall and were the 4 seed coming out of District 14-3A. Blanco had won seven of its last eight games and was a district champion.

In a high-scoring contest, Austin ran for six touchdowns. Tied at 41 with less than 20 seconds left, he took the snap, ran to his left and then pitched it to Wade Hutson.

The senior then planted his feet and threw to a wide-open Robert Trotter for the go-ahead touchdown. 

Van Vleck snapped a five-game losing streak in the playoffs that dated back to 2018.

6. Best season continues for Saginaw 

Since starting varsity football in 2006, Saginaw had struggled in posting wins, especially in recent years: 3-35 in the last four seasons. 

And when it came to came to playoffs, the mark was 0-4.

The Eagle Mountain ISD school — which entered the postseason with a 10-0 record — rallied for a 41-39 win over Azle in a 5A Division I playoff game.

Azle was up 39-28 with less than nine minutes to play. The Roughriders pulled closer on a touchdown pass from Roman Morales to Aidan Collier for a 38-yard score. The 2-point conversion failed, and Azle still led 39-34 with 2:56 left.

With 35 ticks left, Morales hit Isaiah Verdun for a 75-yard touchdown and sealed the victory.

The previous record for wins in a season for Saginaw was eight, coming in 2012.

7. District 23-6A goes 4-0 

In a battle for four playoff spots, District 23-6A was a tough one with Galena Park North Shore, Humble Atascocita and Humble Summer Creek easily favored to secure three of those spots.

Two of the three made state finals last year — North Shore and Summer Creek — and Atascocita lost to North Shore in the playoffs.

Those three secured playoff spots and won in the bi-district. Thanks to Kingwood’s overtime win, the district went undefeated in the first round.

The Mustangs beat Clear Springs in overtime, 36-35, to win their first playoff game since 2017. Marquez Davis ran for 152 yards on 31 carries and scored four times. He scored in overtime and then ran in the 2-point conversion that gave the Mustangs the win. 

8. The other Crowley 

North Crowley has gotten a considerable amount of attention for its success on the gridiron in recent years. North Crowley is No. 7 in the country in the latest Top 25 poll.

However, the other football program in the Fort Worth-based Crowley ISD is making noise too.

Crowley blasted Justin Northwest, 51-14, in the opening game bi-district game on Friday. It was the first playoff win since 2013 and snapped the Eagles’ seven-game losing streak in the postseason.

Quarterback Caleb Williams threw for 120 yards and a pair of scores and ran for 175 yards and two more touchdowns.

If the Eagles can knock off Midland, they could reach the third round of the playoffs for the first time since 1971.

9. The Real McCoy

Speaking of Midland, the Bulldogs had a blowout win, 42-14, of El Paso Pebble Hills.

While the game wasn’t that close, a historic record was broken by running back Elijah McCoy. The senior, a UTEP pledge, ran for 192 yards.

That meant he became the school’s first-ever 2,000-yard rusher — a program that has played continuous football since 1919.

He also broke the school record for rushing yards in a season of 1,990 yards, a mark Dave Wafford had held since 1936. 

Midland is back in the area game for the third time since 2016.

10. Party like it’s 1999

Conroe has a long playoff history — almost 100 years — but there haven’t been a lot of wins in the postseason for the Tigers.

Win No. 14 — out of 48 possible games — came on Friday with a 34-7 win over Aldine Benjamin Davis in a Class 6A Division I playoff game. The Tigers scored 24 of the 34 points in the first quarter.

Conroe won a playoff game for the first time since 1999 and advanced to the second round for the fourth time in the past 40 years. The initial playoff trip for Conroe came back in 1928.

The Tigers are now 9-2 and were part of a sweep from District 13-6A, where Willis, The Woodlands and The Woodlands College Park all won bi-district games.

A win this week against Cypress Bridgeland would give Conroe its first 10-win season since 1985.

Bonus: SEC game predicts home team 

Last week, in 6-man football, Abernathy and Aspermont decided what school would host based on the outcome of a Texas Tech vs. Colorado score.

Well, that same sort of scenario was back in play but this time it just meant more.

In the Class 2A-Division II playoffs, Ropes and Farwell are set to play on Friday in Sundown.

KCBD-TV Sports Director Pete Christy noted the outcome of an SEC game: Georgia vs. Tennessee on Saturday would be a tiebreaker. With a 31-17 win by Georgia, Farwell will be the home team since it had the ‘even’ outcome, compared to Ropes’ odd tally.

-- Cody Thorn | @sblivetx

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Cody Thorn
CODY THORN

Cody Thorn is a veteran journalist who covers high school sports across the state of Texas and Missouri. He is based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and has covered sports and news since 1999.

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