ETBLITZ POWER PICKS! | It’s ‘Dogs-Lions! Mizzou-A&M! Cowboys-Steelers! Who goes down?

Henderson has scored 252 points this season.

Kilgore has allowed just 83 points all season.

The Lions haven’t beaten Kilgore since Oct. 19, 2018, a 28-7 game at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium – Kilgore has won five in a row in the series.

Overton went 10-2 a year ago, 10 wins in the first season for Scotty Laymance as head coach. One of the losses: at Tenaha, late in the season (the other was a playoff loss against 2A power Mart).

The Mustangs host Tenaha – surprisingly, one-win Tenaha – tonight at 7 p.m.

How ‘bout this?

The first time the Dallas Cowboys met the Pittsburgh Steelers was Sept. 24, 1960, and it was at the Cotton Bowl, of all places. It was the very first GAME for the Cowboys franchise. Pittsburgh won that game, 35-28.

Of course, the teams met in a few Super Bowls, with the Cowboys getting the last word there in Super Bowl XXX in January, 1996 – but the Steelers have won a few since then, and Dallas hasn’t been back.

Since Super Bowl XXX, the Cowboys and Steelers have only played six times. They’ll meet again this Sunday night on NBC, and Dallas leads the series, 17-16.

Have I gotten you ready now? 😊

Let’s meet our panel of folks who try to pick the outcomes of games each week.

THE PANEL

We just have fun with this, y’all, so nobody take this too seriously.

For instance, our friend Dereck Borders is a Texas A&M fan, and he picks against A&M often because he believes when he picks against his teams, they win more (you’ll notice he has picked Missouri and Henderson to both win this week!).

On the panel we’ve got Joe Hale, a veteran of over 40 years of sportswriting, most of that here in East Texas. There’s Dennis Jacobs, who’s actually normally leading the picks – he got off to a bad start in week one, but he’ll probably overtake us all soon, and win the thing like he normally does. Dennis is Kilgore High School photographer for most sports, and he’s also a teacher at Kilgore Middle School.

Dereck is one of my best friends – he’s a KISD school board member, a big Aggie, and a taxidermist. And a lot of other things, but we won’t say that here. LOL, kidding. And he often travels with me as my second set of eyes at games in the press boxes. He’s pretty good with that. And I did see all the typos on the grid under Dennis last week. It was my bad; the grid reverted to the previous week, but I gave Dennis credit for his wins and losses, and the numbers are correct.

My wife Jenna, who is our executive editor / accountant / photographer here at ETBlitz.com; Jenna wears a lot of hats. You’ve heard of jack of all trades, master of none? She’s the opposite.

Jacob Lucas is my son; he’s a videographer, a student at the University of Alabama, and is currently actually in school in Tuscaloosa, working for Alabama athletics. But he also keeps up with everything, which we can now do, with all the technology we have. So he’s still in tune with all the high school sports, as well.

Ashtyn, of course, is my youngest – she’s a student at Kilgore College, a dancer, an athlete, and pretty much does whatever I ask her to do here with the company.

Alex Nabor is a student at KC as well, and a fantastic photographer, who has quite a future as a sports photographer, and I believe he’s pursuing a career in that field.

Clayton Fletcher is a KHS alumni and former high school and college cross-country runner, our assistant editor here at ETBlitz.com and my right hand man.

Ronnie Sartors – it almost goes without saying, but I’ll say it. If you’ve never seen Ronnie’s photography, you’re missing out. Sartors heads up Sport Shot Photography, has been doing so for decades, has shot for Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, and is a legend on this side of the state, period.

THE STANDINGS

Here’s where we are going into this weekend.

Joe is the leader with an overall record of 75-32. Ashtyn and I are each two games back – we both are at 73-34.

Then it’s Clayton, who’s off to a great start this season (71-36), in third place all by himself.

Dennis got off to that bad start, and now he’s back. He’s at 65-42, along with Dereck (65-42), Jenna (65-42), and Jacob (65-42).

Ronnie missed our first week in part, and has a 65-32 record, and Alex – who won last week with a 17-4 record – has an overall record of 63-44.

That brings me to last week. As mentioned, Alex was tops at 17-4. Four of us – Joe, Ashtyn, Dennis, and myself – each finished 16-5. Jenna and Jacob, who seem to be on some weird wavelength, both went 15-6. Ronnie finished 14-7, and Clayton and Dereck were off a little, and each went 13-8.

THIS WEEK’S GAMES

Here’s the schedule, followed by the grid with our picks.

Remember, the schools in the ETBlitz.com coverage area (in alphabetical order) are Arp, Gilmer, Gladewater, Henderson, Kilgore, Kilgore College, Leverett’s Chapel, Overton, Sabine, Tatum, Troup, West Rusk and White Oak.

ETBLITZ.COM POWER PICKS!

Thursday, Oct. 3-Monday, Oct. 7, 2024

HIGH SCHOOL GAMES

THURSDAY’S GAMES

Tenaha (1-4) at Overton (4-1), 7 p.m., Coach Chester Roy Stadium

FRIDAY’S GAMES

Arp (3-2) at Buffalo (1-3; 7:30 p.m., Brewer Field

Gladewater (2-3) at Sabine (2-3), 7 p.m., James Bamberg Stadium

Tatum (4-1) at Liberty-Eylau (4-1), 7 p.m., at Harris Field

Troup (3-2) at Elkhart (1-4), 7 p.m., Jerry Ives Memorial Stadium

Winona (0-5) at West Rusk (2-3), 7:30 p.m., Bruce Bradshaw Stadium

Henderson (4-1) at Kilgore (4-1), 7:30 p.m., R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium

COLLEGE GAMES

Community Christian College at Kilgore College (3-1), Saturday, 3 p.m., R. E. St. John Memorial Stadium; KC Hall of Fame Game

Houston (1-4) at TCU (3-2), Friday, 6:30 p.m., ESPN

Michigan State (3-2) at No. 6 Oregon (4-0), Friday, 8 p.m., FOX

No. 9 Missouri (4-0) at No. 25 Texas A&M (4-1), 11 a.m., ABC

No. 10 Michigan (4-1) at Washington (3-2), 6:30 p.m., NBC

Texas Tech (4-1) at Arizona (3-1), 10 p.m., FOX

NFL GAMES

THURSDAY’S GAME

Tampa Bay (3-1) at Atlanta (2-2), 7:15 p.m. Amazon Prime Video

SUNDAY’S GAMES

New York Jets (2-2) vs. Minnesota (4-0), London, 8:30 a.m., NFL Network

Baltimore (2-2) at Cincinnati (1-3), noon, CBS

Buffalo (3-1) at Houston (3-1), noon, CBS

Cleveland (1-3) at Washington (3-1), noon, FOX

Green Bay (2-2) at L.A. Rams (1-3), 3:25 p.m., CBS

Dallas (2-2) at Pittsburgh (2-2), 7:20 p.m., NBC

MONDAY’S GAME

New Orleans (2-2) at Kansas City (4-0), 7:15 p.m. ESPN

MITCH	DENNIS	JOE	DERECK	JENNA	JACOB	ASHTYN	ALEX	CLAYTON	RONNIE
Overton	Overton	Overton	Overton	Overton	Overton	Overton	Overton	Overton	Overton
Arp	Arp	Arp	Arp	Arp	Arp	Arp	Arp	Arp	Arp
G’water	G’water	G’water	G’water	Sabine	G’water	G’water	G’water	G’water	G’water
Tatum	Tatum	Tatum	L-E	Tatum	Tatum	Tatum	Tatum	Tatum	L-E
Troup	Troup	Troup	Troup	Troup	Troup	Troup	Troup	Troup	Troup
West Rusk	West Rusk	West Rusk	West Rusk	West Rusk	West Rusk	West Rusk	West Rusk	West Rusk	West Rusk
Kilgore	Kilgore	Kilgore	Henderson	Kilgore	Kilgore	Kilgore	Kilgore	Kilgore	Kilgore
KC	KC	KC	KC	KC	KC	KC	KC	KC	KC
TCU	TCU	TCU	TCU	TCU	TCU	TCU	TCU	Houston	TCU
Oregon	Oregon	Oregon	Oregon	Oregon	Oregon	Oregon	Oregon	Oregon	Oregon
A&M	A&M	A&M	Mizzou	Mizzou	Mizzou	A&M	A&M	Mizzou	Mizzou
Washington	Michigan	Michigan	Michigan	Michigan	Michigan	Michigan	Michigan	Michigan	Michigan
Arizona	Arizona	Arizona	Tech	Arizona	Arizona	Tech	Tech	Tech	Tech
Atlanta	Atlanta	Atlanta	Atlanta	Atlanta	Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay
NYJ	NYJ	Minnesota	Minnesota	Minnesota	Minnesota	Minnesota	Minnesota	NYJ	Minnesota
Cincinnati	Cincinnati	Baltimore	Baltimore	Baltimore	Baltimore	Cincinnati	Baltimore	Baltimore	Baltimore
Houston	Houston	Houston	Buffalo	Houston	Buffalo	Buffalo	Houston	Houston	Buffalo
Washington	Cleveland	Washington	Washington	Washington	Washington	Washington	Washington	Washington	Cleveland
L.A. Rams	L.A. Rams	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	L.A. Rams	Green Bay	L.A. Rams
Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	Dallas	Dallas	Dallas	Dallas	Pittsburgh	Dallas
K. City	K. City	K. City	The Swifties	K. City	K. City	K. City	K. City	K. City	K. City