ETBLITZ POWER PICKS! | Picks from the ETBlitz.com staff, and guests, for week one

High school and college football started in some places last week, but it really gets under way tonight in the East Texas region, and in the spirit of that, we bring the annual ETBlitz.com Power Picks, a concept that – at least with editor / publisher Mitch Lucas – dates back to the mid-1990s.

There are two games tonight involving ETBlitz-area teams: Winnsboro at Tatum, and Daingerfield at Gladewater. They’re on the picks grid, as are all of our area teams, plus a handful of important college games, including games of local interest.

Of note: Kilgore College has an open date, and in fact, won’t be back on the field until a home game against New Mexico Military Institute on Saturday, Sept. 14.

Our staff has attempted here to guess the outcomes of all of those games, and we purposely picked an odd number of games so that NOBODY can wind up tied (8-8, 7-7, etc.). There will be someone, likely more than one, to finish with the weekend’s best record.

We’ll do this every week, and we look forward to the journey that is the 2024 season!

ETBLITZ.COM POWER PICKS!

WEEK ONE – Thursday, August 29-Monday, Sept. 2, 2024

HIGH SCHOOL GAMES

THURSDAY’S GAMES

Winnsboro at Tatum (7 p.m., Tatum ISD Eagle Stadium, Tatum)

Daingerfield at Gladewater (7 p.m., Jack V. Murphy Stadium, Gladewater)

FRIDAY’S GAMES

Trinity School of Texas at Leverett’s Chapel (six-man; 7 p.m., LCISD Stadium)

Alba-Golden at Overton (7 p.m., Coach Chester Roy Stadium)

Sabine at Spring Hill (7 p.m., Spring Hill Panther Stadium)

Eustace at White Oak (7 p.m., White Oak ISD Roughneck Stadium)

Harleton at Arp (7:30 p.m., Arp ISD Bill Herrington Stadium)

Pine Tree at Gilmer (7:30 p.m., Jeff Traylor Stadium)

Athens at Henderson (7:30 p.m., Henderson ISD Lion Stadium)

Shelbyville at Troup (7:30 p.m., Troup Tiger Stadium)

West Rusk at Malakoff (7:30 p.m., Malakoff ISD Stadium)

Kilgore at Carthage (7:30 p.m., Carthage ISD Stadium)

COLLEGE GAMES

THURSDAY’S GAME

North Carolina at Minnesota (7 p.m., Huntington Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, MN; FOX)

FRIDAY’S GAME

TCU at Stanford (9:30 p.m., Stanford Stadium, ESPN)

SATURDAY’S GAMES

Clemson vs. Georgia (11 a.m., Mercedez Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA; ABC)

Colorado State at Texas (2:30 p.m., Darryl K. Royal Stadium, Austin, TX; ESPN)

Notre Dame at Texas A&M (6:30 p.m., Kyle Field, College Station, TX; ABC)

SUNDAY’S GAME

Southern Cal vs. LSU (6:30 p.m., Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada; ABC)

MONDAY’S GAME

Boston College at Florida State (6:30 p.m., Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee, Florida; ESPN)

THE PANEL’S PICKS:

MITCH LUCAS	DENNIS JACOBS	JOE HALE	DERECK BORDERS	JENNA LUCAS	JACOB LUCAS	ASHTYN LUCAS	ALEX NABOR	CLAYTON FLETCHER
Tatum	Tatum	Winnsboro	Tatum	Tatum	Winnsboro	Tatum	Tatum	Tatum
D’field	D’field	D’field	D’field	D’field	D’field	D’field	G’water	D’field
LC	LC	LC	LC	LC	LC	LC	Trinity SOT	LC
Overton	Overton	Overton	Overton	Overton	Overton	Overton	Overton	Overton
Sabine	Spring Hill	Spring Hill	Sabine	Sabine	Sabine	Sabine	Sabine	Sabine
White Oak	White Oak	White Oak	Eustace	Eustace	White Oak	White Oak	Eustace	Eustace
Arp	Arp	Arp	Harleton	Arp	Arp	Arp	Arp	Arp
Gilmer	Gilmer	Gilmer	Pine Tree	Gilmer	Gilmer	Gilmer	Pine Tree	Gilmer
Henderson	Henderson	Athens	Athens	Athens	Athens	Henderson	Athens	Henderson
Troup	Troup	Troup	Troup	Troup	Troup	Troup	Troup	Troup
Malakoff	West Rusk	Malakoff	West Rusk	Malakoff	Malakoff	West Rusk	West Rusk	West Rusk
Kilgore	Kilgore	Carthage	Carthage	Kilgore	Kilgore	Kilgore	Kilgore	Kilgore
Minnesota	Minnesota	North Carolina	North Carolina	Minnesota	Minnesota	North Carolina	North Carolina	North Carolina
TCU	Stanford	TCU	TCU	TCU	TCU	TCU	TCU	TCU
Georgia	Georgia	Georgia	Georgia	Georgia	Georgia	Georgia	Georgia	Georgia
Texas	Texas	Texas	Texas	Texas	Texas	Texas	Texas	Texas
A&M	A&M	A&M	A&M	A&M	A&M	A&M	A&M	A&M
LSU	LSU	LSU	LSU	LSU	LSU	LSU	LSU	LSU
Florida State	Florida State	Florida State	Florida State	Florida State	Florida State	Florida State	Florida State	Boston College