ETBLITZ POWER PICKS! | Bulldogs-Palestine; Gilmer-PG; Troup-WR; KC-TJC, and more
Now-retired legendary Kilgore High School football coach, and my friend, Mike Vallery used to say – on Kilgore’s open-date week – “Mitch, I absolutely guarantee we ain’t losing tonight.”
And we’d both laugh.
Henderson has that guarantee in place tonight, as the Lions – 6-2 overall and 3-1 in District 9-4A, Division I – are off before finishing the season with two very important games: home against Chapel Hill next Friday, Nov. 1, and at Lindale on Friday, Nov. 8.
The Kilgore Bulldogs have also yet to have their open date. Coach Clint Fuller’s Ragin’ Red will play at Palestine (0-7) tonight, and then they’ll be off next week while all the other 9-4A teams fight it out. Kilgore’s final two games – at Palestine tonight and at home against Mabank on Thursday, Nov. 7 – are both against teams with losing records. The other district playoff contenders – Henderson, Chapel Hill, Pine Tree and Lindale – will all battle each other.
Right now, Henderson, Kilgore, Chapel Hill and Pine Tree each have one loss; Pine Tree plays at CHHS tonight.
See the 9-4A standings and all of the standings for the teams in the ETBlitz.com coverage area conveniently right here, thanks to our own Joe Hale: DISTRICT STANDINGS | How the districts line up right now for ETBlitz-area schools.
This is a huge weekend. The ETBlitz.com Game of The Week is actually Saturday, with ninth-ranked Kilgore College visiting No. 12 Tyler (another link: our preview, KC, TJC TO THROW DOWN IN TYLER | Saturday’s game at Rose for the conference lead (etblitz.com); that’s better than a freakin’ capsule, I’ll tell you that), and first up, of course, tonight’s lineup, which goes like this:
Liberty-Eylau (6-1) at White Oak (5-2), 7 p.m.; Tatum (5-2) at Atlanta (5-3), 7 p.m.; Leverett’s Chapel (4-3) at Saint Jo (7-0), 7:30 p.m.; Alto (5-2) at Overton (5-2), 7:30 p.m.; Arp (5-2) at Winona (1-7), 7:30 p.m.; Sabine (2-6) at Jefferson (7-0), 7:30 p.m.; Troup (5-3) at West Rusk (3-4), 7: 30 p.m.; Gilmer (5-2) at Pleasant Grove (5-2), 7 p.m.; Chapel Hill (6-2) at Henderson (6-2), 7:30 p.m.; and Kilgore (6-2) at Palestine (0-7), 7:30 p.m.
THE PANEL
There’s Dennis Jacobs, who has picked for me for many years and often won this contest. Dennis is the ETBlitz.com Kilgore High School sports photographer, and a teacher at Kilgore Middle School.
Joe Hale has been a sportswriter for over 40 years and has covered about anything you can imagine.
My friend Dereck Borders is a member and former president of the Kilgore Independent School District board, a taxidermist and is on a hot-streak on the picks. He’s went 34-8 the last two weeks.
My wife, Jenna, is our executive editor here at ETBlitz, and often a photographer; my son, Jacob, and my daughter, Ashtyn, have picked with me (and more importantly to them, against each other) for a few years – Ashtyn is a student at Kilgore College, Jacob a former KC student, now finishing his college career at the University of Alabama, and doing video work for both ETBlitz and Alabama athletics.
Alex Nabor is also a student at KC, and one heck of a photographer, having shot so much even before his 20th birthday (I won’t be able to say that in about a month). There’s Clayton Fletcher, my friend and our assistant editor, and then the fantastic Ronnie Sartors, a photographer in the East Texas region for many years whose work is second to none.
THE STANDINGS
Joe jumped out to a lead the first couple of weeks, and hasn’t given it up, although a couple of us are getting close, there, Joe. Joe has an overall record of 124-47, after 171 games of picks.
Ashtyn is four games back, at 120-51, and Dereck, after doing so well the last two weeks, is in the mix with an overall record of 117-54, so seven behind Joe and three behind Ashtyn for second place.
In my own modest way, I’ll say I’m right behind Dereck at 115-56. Clayton is fourth (113-58), and Dennis has came from behind and is back in the middle of things at 111-60. Jacob is at 107-64; Jenna at 106-65; and Alex at 105-66.
Ronnie has 110 wins and 51 losses, but got a little bit of a late start and hasn’t made quite as many picks as everyone else.
Last week, Dennis and Dereck were on, each going 17-4. Several of us – Joe, Jenna, Ronnie and myself – each went 15-6. Ashtyn was 14-7 a week ago; Jacob and Clayton each went 13-8; and Alex had an off-week, going 11-10.
THE CYCLONE STAMPEDE
This reminder: in the playoffs, look for our Cyclone Stampede contest. We’ll continue to pick games until the end of the season for all of our 12 high schools and Kilgore College. Beginning with the first week of the high school playoffs, we’ll start the Cyclone Stampede. You enter by making a list of our 21 games (preferably typed, so we can see it, or on your phone, and take a photo so that your entry is dated before the games begin (can’t have folks sending in an entry after games are played).
Post that photo in the Forum page, in the football topic under Cyclone Stampede. If you win your week, you’ll advance to the finals against the winners of other picks weeks, and play in our college bowl pick-off for a chance at – well, I won’t spoil it. But it will be a prize you will want. Put it that way.
Why do we call it the ‘Cyclone Stampede?’ Well, it’s going to be wild, like a stampede, and the ‘cyclone’ comes from everything happening at once, like a tornado, or a cyclone. The picks list can be a brutal place, if you have three, four, maybe even five picks that looked like sure things… only to fall apart. And then, you’re busted.
THE GAMES
Here’s this week’s schedule. We do this for fun – none of us are winning anything – so y’all don’t think there’s an agenda. We just try our best to pick who we think will win. Sometimes, it’s hard: tonight’s game between Troup and West Rusk is a great example.
But here are the games, followed by our picks grid. Write down the picks and try your hand at doing it; good practice for the Cyclone Stampede, if you were to enter.
ETBLITZ.COM POWER PICKS!
Thursday, Oct. 24-Monday, Oct. 28, 2024
HIGH SCHOOL GAMES
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Liberty-Eylau (6-1) at White Oak (5-2), 7 p.m., White Oak ISD Stadium
Tatum (5-3) at Atlanta (5-3), 7 p.m., Atlanta ISD Stadium
Leverett’s Chapel (4-3) at Saint Jo (7-0), 7:30 p.m., Saint Jo ISD Stadium
Alto (5-2) at Overton (5-2), 7:30 p.m., Coach Chester Roy Stadium
Arp (5-2) at Winona (1-7), 7:30 p.m., Winona ISD Wildcat Stadium
Sabine (2-6) at Jefferson (7-0), 7:30 p.m., Jefferson ISD Bulldog Stadium
Troup (5-3) at West Rusk (3-4), 7: 30 p.m., Bruce Bradshaw Memorial Stadium
Gilmer (5-2) at Pleasant Grove (5-2), 7 p.m., Pleasant Grove ISD Stadium
Chapel Hill (6-2) at Henderson (6-2), 7:30 p.m., Henderson ISD Lion Stadium
Kilgore (6-2) at Palestine (0-7), 7:30 p.m., Palestine’s Wildcat Stadium
COLLEGE GAMES
SATURDAY’S GAMES
No. 9 (JUCO) Kilgore College (5-1) at Tyler Junior College (5-2), 3 p.m.
No. 5 Texas (6-1) at No. 25 Vanderbilt (5-2), 3:15 p.m., SEC Network
No. 8 LSU (6-1) at 14 Texas A&M (6-1), 6:30 p.m., ABC
Texas Tech (5-2) at TCU (4-3), 2:30 p.m., FOX
Oklahoma (4-3) at No. 18 Ole Miss (5-2), 11 a.m., ESPN
NFL GAMES
Minnesota (5-1) at L.A. Rams (2-4), 7:15 p.m. Amazon Prime Video
SUNDAY’S GAMES
Philadelphia (4-2) at Cincinnati (3-4), noon, CBS
Indianapolis (4-3) at Houston (5-2), noon, CBS
Buffalo (5-2) at Seattle (4-3), 3:05 p.m., FOX
Dallas (3-3) at San Francisco (3-4), 7:20 p.m., NBC
MONDAY’S GAME
New York Giants (2-5) at Pittsburgh (5-2), 7:15 p.m. ESPN
| MITCH | DENNIS | JOE | DERECK | JENNA | JACOB | ASHTYN | ALEX | CLAYTON | RONNIE |
| L-E | L-E | L-E | L-E | L-E | L-E | L-E | L-E | L-E | L-E |
| Tatum | Tatum | Tatum | Atlanta | Tatum | Tatum | Tatum | Tatum | Tatum | Tatum |
| Saint Jo | Saint Jo | Saint Jo | Saint Jo | LC | Saint Jo | Saint Jo | Saint Jo | Saint Jo | Saint Jo |
| Overton | Overton | Overton | Alto | Overton | Overton | Overton | Overton | Overton | Overton |
| Arp | Arp | Arp | Arp | Arp | Arp | Arp | Arp | Arp | Arp |
| Jefferson | Jefferson | Jefferson | Jefferson | Jefferson | Jefferson | Jefferson | Jefferson | Jefferson | Jefferson |
| Troup | West Rusk | Troup | Troup | Troup | Troup | Troup | Troup | Troup | West Rusk |
| Gilmer | Gilmer | Gilmer | P. Grove | Gilmer | Gilmer | P. Grove | Gilmer | Gilmer | Gilmer |
| Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore |
| KC | KC | KC | TJC | KC | KC | KC | KC | KC | KC |
| Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas |
| LSU | A&M | LSU | LSU | LSU | LSU | A&M | A&M | LSU | A&M |
| TCU | TCU | TCU | Tech | Tech | Tech | Tech | Tech | Tech | Tech |
| Ole Miss | Ole Miss | Ole Miss | Ole Miss | Ole Miss | Ole Miss | Ole Miss | Ole Miss | Ole Miss | Ole Miss |
| LA | LA | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota |
| Cincinnati | Cincinnati | Philly | Philly | Philly | Philly | Philly | Cincinnati | Philly | Philly |
| Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston |
| Seattle | Seattle | Buffalo | Seattle | Seattle | Buffalo | Buffalo | Buffalo | Buffalo | Buffalo |
| Dallas | SF | SF | SF | Dallas | SF | SF | Dallas | SF | Dallas |
| Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh |
