WAKE UP! THURSDAY EDITION | Enjoy the scrimmages tonight – season begins next week; will Parsons play in the season opener? Schotty believes he will
EDITOR’S NOTE: If you live anywhere near Kilgore or Gilmer, or if you’re just near either one of those cities, I’ve got a suggestion for your ride to work or school in the morning, or heck, anytime during the day you’d like a cold or hot drink, or a snack. It’s Cozy Coffee Station, located inside Credit Union Of Texas in both places, and ready to serve you the best items in East Texas, maybe even better than that. Check out their selection of coffee, tea, soda, and even snacks and sandwiches right here, Home | Cozy Coffee Station, and then go see ’em at 110 Midtown Plaza in Kilgore, or 755 Highway 271 North in Gilmer. That’s one decision you’ll be glad you made.
Have fun at scrimmages tonight;
everything starts for real next week
Preseason scrimmages, for the most part, wrap up tonight across not just the ETBlitz.com coverage area, but the entire state. Locally, there are a couple of outliers, as Leverett’s Chapel doesn’t play its final scrimmage until Saturday (at 10 a.m. in Galveston) and Carthage only played a single scrimmage; the Bulldogs are actually hosting their Meet the Bulldogs night tonight at the high school gym.
That means next week, results count: it’s the start of the regular season, and cannot get here quickly enough.
There are still three previews to run here on ETB, and we’ll have them on before Friday. It’s Gladewater, LC, and Kilgore.
Here again is where the remainder of our teams will have the final scrimmages before the season, all of these tonight:
Arp: The Tigers host San Augustine tonight at 6.
Beckville: The Bearcats will scrimmage at Garrison tonight.
Gilmer: It’s a road trip to Whitehouse Thursday for a 7 p.m. start for the Buckeyes..
Gladewater: The Bears will host North Lamar tonight at 7.
Henderson, Tatum: Both of these teams are in the ETBlitz coverage area; they play a scrimmage tonight in Tatum, starting at 6.
Kilgore: The Ragin’ Red host Center tonight, beginning at 5:30 p.m. with freshman and junior varsity, and then varsity will follow.
Overton: The Mustangs play at Ore City tonight at 6.
Pine Tree: The Pirates host Marshall tonight at 6:30 p.m.
Sabine: Edgewood comes to Liberty City later for a 6:30 p.m. start.
Troup: Alto visits for a scrimmage tonight at 6 p.m.
West Rusk, White Oak: These two are both also in the ETB coverage area and scrimmage tonight at Bruce Bradshaw Stadium on the West Rusk campus at 6:30.
On Saturday…
Leverett’s Chapel: The Lions have a Saturday scrimmage, Saturday morning at 10 a.m. at Galveston O’Connell.
Will he or won’t he? Cowboys say Parsons
will play in season opener in Philly
So, with the National Football League’s opening weekend two weeks away from tonight, and said opener being the Dallas Cowboys playing a Thursday night game at defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia, how’s that contract standoff going between the Cowboys and pass rusher Micah Parsons?
Well, apparently it depends on who’s answering the question.
According to ESPN lead NFL reporter Adam Schefter, who is actually very good at not only breaking news in the league, but staying on top of it, Parsons and the Cowboys could legit be headed for a break-up. A lot of Cowboys fans and even league insiders scoffed a bit when Parsons made a trade request last month. But Schefter is hearing Parsons might stick to that threat.
Of course, he’s also apparently hearing Parsons might play out this 2025 season, the last year of his contract.
“Today I feel comfortable saying I don’t think he’ll finish his career in Dallas,” Schefter said. “Today, I feel comfortable saying that. Now, I reserve the right to change my mind all of a sudden, the Cowboys definitely negotiate. But the way things have gotten this off season, the way people are talking, the way things sound, yeah, I would think that there is a real possibility that, if he plays this season, that this potentially could be the last year for Micah in Dallas, yes.”
Parsons has been at the Cowboys’ training camp in Oxnard, California, not practicing, but attending necessary meetings.
But first-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer told members of the media on Wednesday he is confident when push comes to shove, a deal will get done and Parsons will be in the line-up.
“The business side of it is going to take care of itself,” Schottenheimer said Wednesday. “I think at the end of the day, we feel like Micah’s going to be out there when we line up against Philadelphia here in 15 days or whatever it is. I feel good about that, yeah.”
Parsons, who missed some time last season with injuries, was drafted in 2021 and has been one of the league’s best at getting to the opposing team’s quarterback: 52 sacks, 112 hits on the QB, 256 overall tackles, nine forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries. He is 26 years old.
