WAKE UP! ON ETBLITZ | Vote in our football poll; preseason polls have ET flavor
EDITOR’S NOTE: Cozy Coffee Station presents Wake Up! here on ETBlitz.com every single day, and you can find their excellent stores in Gilmer (755 Highway 271 North) and in Kilgore (110 Midtown Plaza). See their menu here, Home | Cozy Coffee Station, and interact with them on social media on Facebook at Cozy Coffee Station-Kilgore, and Cozy Coffee Station-Gilmer. And on Instagram: @cozycoffeestation_kilgore, and @cozycoffeestation_gilmer.
Camp Central updated
You may have noticed that Camp Central, our round-up of sports camps for kids, has been updated. I looked at the dates, and based on that, unless someone adds a camp, things are winding down. So if you have a child who wants to get into a camp, there are some opportunities left: girls basketball camp at Kilgore College this coming week; boys basketball camp at KC the following week; volleyball camps at both Kilgore High and White Oak in the middle of this month; a two-day boys soccer camp at Sabine on July 14-15; and Sabine’s football camp the final week of July.
Summer’s going by super quickly. Here’s the link to the Energy Weldfab Camp Central: CAMP CENTRAL, presented by ENERGY WELDFAB | Upcoming youth sports camps, updated July 6.
Go vote in the poll!
If you didn’t see it, the Whataburger Personality Profile this week is actually not a coach, or a player, an athletic director, a cheer sponsor or an athlete of any kind: it’s YOU, the fans.
We did a high school football poll as this week’s profile, because we wanted to gauge your opinions on a few things.
There are the standard “who-wins-what-district” questions in there, and “who-wins-between-Kilgore-and-Carthage,” of course. Those are important. But we also had questions like, what’s your favorite place to watch a high school football game. There are some fun ones in there.
It’s not too late to vote. And it’s fun, honestly. Here’s the link: WHATABURGER PERSONALITY PROFILE | Our guest is… YOU! Take our 2025 high school football poll!.
In fact, we’ll give you guys until like 2 p.m. today to vote, to let folks have time to do it after church. Then we’ll take it down, and have final results on Monday.
Speaking of polls…
The preseason high school football polls were released at the beginning of the weekend – or escaped, depending on your point of view – and man, our area has quite a few teams in the rankings.
I’ll forget about our ETBlitz.com coverage area borders for a second and just mention East Texas teams in the rankings. Maybe I didn’t miss anybody.
Longview is No. 17 in the 6A poll.
Lufkin is No. 15 in the 5A, Division I poll; Texas High (Texarkana) is No. 6 and Marshall is No. 24 in the 5A-DII poll.
Kilgore, coming off that state title game appearance in 2024, is No. 3 in the 4A-DI poll; district rivals Chapel Hill (11th) and Lindale (18th) are also ranked.
This is impressive: Carthage and Pleasant Grove are 1-2 in the 4A-DII poll. Carthage is the defending 4A-DII state champion (it seems like I write that every single year) and PG is a regular state title contender. Gilmer is ranked ninth in that poll. Athens is No. 20, Van is No. 23, and Center is No. 24.
How about THIS one: Jefferson (fourth), Liberty-Eylau (seventh) and Atlanta (11th) in the 3A-DI poll are all from the SAME DISTRICT, which also includes ETBlitz-area programs Tatum, Sabine, White Oak and Gladewater. Malakoff is sixth in that same poll; Winnsboro is 10th, and Palestine Westwood, which seemed to fly under the radar last year and lost only one game (!), is 14th.
In 3A-DII, Daingerfield, who had an absolutely awful start to 2024 and then went on a run, is No. 9. But look at rivals Troup and Arp! Troup is 14th, Arp No. 22. And West Rusk, that hasn’t missed the playoffs since Obama was in office, isn’t ranked (yet) but is also in the district with Troup and Arp.
Waskom and Garrison are third and fourth, respectively, in the 2A-DI poll. It’s Waskom’s highest ranking since Whitney Keeling, now the head coach at Tatum, was the coach of the Wildcats, when they were state title contenders. In fact, I think it’s Waskom’s ONLY ranking in the poll since Keeling was there.
Also in the 2A-DI poll, Joaquin is 10th, Mildred is 16th, and Frankston is 22nd.
In 2A-DII, there’s Bremond, checking in at No. 3; Lovelady, at No. 9; Grapeland, at No. 11; Mount Enterprise, at No. 16; and Overton, at No. 23. I think Overton would be higher, but the poll voters know that quarterback Bryce Still and receiver Jayden Edwards both graduated, obviously, and they want to see how the Mustangs replace them. It’ll be fun to watch.
And the only six-man program in East Texas that’s state-ranked is Union Hill, in the 1A-DI poll.
So East Texas is well-represented. The state polls are released every week once the season starts, and we recognize the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football polls because we believe those are the most respected and most accurate.
When you read a story on our site and it says “Kilgore is ranked No. 3 in the state,” or “No. 9 Gilmer,” those are the rankings to which we’re referring. We are certainly not going to do our own goofy poll and try to rank the state schools when we know everyone in this state respects and checks the polls released by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football.
So once the season begins, and the polls are released each Monday, look for them here on ETBlitz.com. And subscribe to the DCTF site, if you feel it’s worth it. Here’s the link: Texas High School Football – Coverage From Dave Campbell’s Texas Football. We don’t have a paywall here on ETBlitz – I’ve said it several times that we just don’t use that business model. We’d rather provide our content for free, and get a higher readership, with advertising partners. But I’ve also admitted I’m a subscriber to DCTF. Matt Stepp and those folks do a good job. In fact, they do a great job.
How many times have I written ‘in fact’ in this Wake Up?
Barney Fife Sunday wisdom: snow cone revenge
We’re starting a new feature here on Wake Up!, one that I’ve been meaning to start for a while. We’re going to draw from the wisdom of the great Mayberry deputy Barney Fife, from “The Andy Griffith Show,” one of the great characters in TV history. Now, Barney is underrated, because he can make you laugh even without saying a word. But our newest weekly feature here on Wake Up! is going to be checking in on Barn because – quite frankly – he makes me laugh, and I think we all need that.
Now, it’s summer, and we know that a LOT of you will be going to Charlie’s Sno-Balls and Seasonal Tanning here in Kilgore to get your treats, or seeing Charlie and his crew around East Texas at different events. If someone tries to mess with you while you’re eating it, here’s how you handle it. Oh, and Sheriff Andy Taylor’s advice for Barney included.