ETBLITZ POWER PICKS! | Kilgore vs. Navasota; Overton vs. Grapeland; did you know there’s a big game at Kyle Field this week? and more

We’re smack-dab in the middle of Thanksgiving as this is being written, and that means that all of the high school playoff games are tomorrow.

Two of the teams in the ETBlitz.com coverage area – Kilgore (4A, Division I) and Overton (2A, Division II) – are playing fairly close to each other. Kilgore will play Navasota in Corsicana at 2 p.m., and Overton will be in Athens to play Grapeland at 6 p.m.

There’s also the return of the rivalry, the biggest rivalry in this state, as the Texas Longhorns travel to College Station to meet Texas A&M on Saturday night, for the first time since 2012. And apparently, the winner of the game will face Georgia next Saturday night in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game.

You think the intensity will be palpable Saturday night in Kyle Field?

On the menu for today, though, are the new and improved Detroit Lions taking on the Chicago Bears, who – well, have looked like a team that had the top draft pick last year, which they did. Can they hang with the Lions today? Hmmm. Not sure, but I’m thinking the chances are slim to none, and slim just took the bus.

Later this afternoon, the Dallas Cowboys will try to win for a second straight week, hosting the New York Giants. And the Giants, who are 2-9, just released their starting quarterback for the last five years, Daniel Jones, this week. I’m guessing we know how that one will turn out.

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THE PANEL and THE STANDINGS

Don’t take our picks too seriously – these folks have picked 275 games so far this year, and they’re just charged with trying to pick the winners.

Joe Hale, a veteran sports writer across East Texas for almost 45 years, is not only leading the rest of the group – he’s about to pull away so far that no one can catch him, if he hasn’t already. Joe is 207-68 in picks this season.

Ronnie Sartors, one of our veteran photographers, won the week last week with a 16-5 record.

Second to Joe record-wise in our picks is my youngest daughter, Ashtyn, a student at Kilgore College. Ashtyn is 193-82, so you can see Joe is pulling away from the field.

Third in the standings is my friend, Dereck Borders, and congratulations to Dereck and his wife Beverly on the birth of their third grandchild, Tyce DeWayne, and also for the marriage of their youngest daughter, Sydni, to Bodee Lammers. Dereck went 13-8 last week, and is 189-86 on the season.

Jacob Lucas, my son and a student videographer at the University of Alabama, is in fourth place now, six games behind Dereck at 183-92. Ronnie started a week after we did in the picks, but he also has 183 wins – he’s 183-82.

I had an awful week last week. I blew up to 10-11, just an awful, horrible, very-bad week of picks. So I’m 182-93 on the season.

Dennis Jacobs, our Kilgore photographer and the man who normally wins this contest, is at 179-96, as is our assistant editor, Clayton Fletcher.

Alex Nabor, our talented youngest photographer and also a student at KC, is 171-104, and my wife Jenna, our executive editor and a pretty good photographer in her own right, is 168-107.

THE CYCLONE STAMPEDE

If you’re looking for the Cyclone Stampede picks contest, it’s here: CYCLONE STAMPEDE PICKS CONTEST, WEEK THREE | Kilgore & Overton still standing; enter the contest, beat the other contestants and win the tailgate prize pack!, and you have until 6:59 p.m. tonight to enter. If you miss that deadline, then enter next week. What you’re doing is entering hoping to win and qualify for our College Football Pick-Off when the college bowl games start. So you still have some time, but a warning: everyone won’t qualify the final week.

The instructions are at that click, but in brief: go to the link, jot down your picks of who’s going to win those 21 games (the same games we pick below), write down your three tiebreakers that are at the bottom on the list, and send all of that to us on Facebook Messenger, or e-mail me at mlucas@etblitz.com.

ETBLITZ.COM POWER PICKS!

Thursday, November 27 through Monday, Dec. 2, 2024

HIGH SCHOOL GAMES

Friday

Class 3A, Division I regional semifinal: Liberty-Eylau (10-2) vs. Winnsboro (10-2), Friday, 2 p.m., at Sam Parker Field in Mount Pleasant.

Class 3A, Division I regional semifinal: Malakoff (12-0) vs. Jefferson (12-0), Friday, 2 p.m., at Earl Campbell Field at CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium in Tyler.

Class 4A, Division II regional semifinal: Pleasant Grove (10-2) vs. Carthage (11-1), Friday, 2 p.m., at Lobo Stadium in Longview.

Class 4A, Division regional semifinal: Chapel Hill (9-3) vs. Stafford (8-4), Friday, 2 p.m., at Randall Reed Stadium, New Caney.

Class 4A, Division I regional semifinal: Kilgore (10-2) vs. Navasota (7-5), Friday, 2 p.m., at Community National Bank & Trust Stadium, Corsicana.

Class 2A, Division II regional semifinal: Overton (10-2) vs. Grapeland (9-3), Friday, 6 p.m., Bruce Field, Athens.

COLLEGE GAMES

Friday

Mississippi State (2-9) at Ole Miss (8-3), 2:30 p.m., ABC

Georgia Tech (7-4) at Georgia (9-2), 6:30 p.m., ABC

Saturday

Michigan (6-5) at Ohio State (10-1), 11 a.m., FOX

Kansas (5-6) at Baylor (7-4), 11 a.m., ESPN2

West Virginia (6-5) at Texas Tech (7-4), 11 a.m., FS1

Auburn (5-6) at Alabama (8-3), 2:30 p.m., ABC

Oklahoma (6-5) at LSU (7-4), 6 p.m., ESPN

Washington (6-5) at Oregon (11-0), 6:30 p.m., NBC

Texas (10-1) at Texas A&M (8-3), 6:30 p.m., ABC

NFL GAMES

Thursday

Chicago (4-7) at Detroit (10-1), 11:30 a.m., CBS

New York Giants (2-9) at Dallas (4-7), 3:30 p.m., FOX

Miami (5-6) at Green Bay (8-3), 7:20 p.m., NBC

Friday

Las Vegas (2-9) at Kansas City (10-1), 2 p.m., Amazon Prime Video

Sunday

Philadelphia (9-2) at Baltimore (8-4), 3:25 p.m., CBS

Monday

Cleveland (3-8) at Denver (7-5), 7:15 p.m., ESPN

And here are the panel’s picks…

MITCH	DENNIS	JOE	DERECK	JENNA	JACOB	ASHTYN	ALEX	CLAYTON	RONNIE
L-E	L-E	Winnsboro	L-E	L-E	Winnsboro	L-E	L-E	L-E	L-E
Malakoff	Malakoff	Malakoff	Jefferson	Jefferson	Malakoff	Malakoff	Jefferson	Jefferson	Malakoff
Carthage	Carthage	Carthage	Carthage	Carthage	Carthage	Carthage	Carthage	Carthage	Carthage
Chapel Hill	Chapel Hill	Chapel Hill	Chapel Hill	Stafford	Chapel Hill	Chapel Hill	Stafford	Stafford	Chapel Hill
Kilgore	Kilgore	Kilgore	Kilgore	Kilgore	Kilgore	Kilgore	Kilgore	Kilgore	Kilgore
Overton	Overton	Overton	Overton	Overton	Overton	Overton	Overton	Overton	Overton
Ole Miss	Ole Miss	Ole Miss	Ole Miss	Ole Miss	Ole Miss	Ole Miss	Ole Miss	Ole Miss	Ole Miss
Georgia	Georgia	Georgia	Georgia	Georgia	Georgia	Georgia	Georgia	Ga. Tech	Georgia
Ohio State	Ohio State	Ohio State	Ohio State	Ohio State	Ohio State	Ohio State	Ohio State	Ohio State	Ohio State
Kansas	Baylor	Kansas	Baylor	Baylor	Baylor	Baylor	Baylor	Kansas	Kansas
Tech	Tech	Tech	Tech	Tech	Tech	Tech	Tech	Tech	Tech
Bama	Bama	Bama	Auburn	Bama	Bama	Bama	Bama	Bama	Bama
LSU	LSU	LSU	LSU	LSU	LSU	LSU	LSU	OU	LSU
Oregon	Oregon	Oregon	Oregon	Oregon	Oregon	Oregon	Oregon	Oregon	Oregon
Texas	A&M	Texas	Texas	Texas	Texas	Texas	Texas	A&M	Texas
Detroit	Detroit	Detroit	Detroit	Detroit	Detroit	Detroit	Detroit	Detroit	Detroit
Dallas	Dallas	Dallas	Dallas	Dallas	Dallas	Dallas	Dallas	NYG	Dallas
Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay
K. City	K. City	K. City	K. City	K. City	K. City	K. City	K. City	K. City	K. City
Baltimore	Baltimore	Baltimore	Baltimore	Baltimore	Baltimore	Philly	Baltimore	Philly	Philly
Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver