ETBLITZ POWER PICKS | Week three!
It’s hard to believe we’ve already played two weeks of the high school and college seasons. Week three of both is this week, and the NFL’s week two begins tonight, when Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins host Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills on Amazon Prime Video!
Locally, two ETBlitz.com-area schools, Gladewater and West Rusk, square off in a non-district game at Bruce Bradshaw Stadium on the West Rusk campus in New London.
Our ETBlitz.com Game of The Week (PREVIEWING KILGORE-GILMER | The ETBlitz.com Game of the Week!) is Friday night: Kilgore at Gilmer; Kilgore College finally returns to the field after a two-week break to host New Mexico Military Saturday at 3 p.m., in KC’s Southwest Junior College Football Conference opener; and there are all sorts of games to make everybody happy this weekend.
STANDINGS
OK, last week, 40-plus-year sportswriting veteran Joe Hale was smokin’ hot. He went 20-3. I, Mitch Lucas, did pretty well, myself. I was 17-6. Two of my children who both contribute to the site, Jacob Lucas and Ashtyn Lucas, each went 16-7.
Our assistant editor, Clayton Fletcher, and photographer Ronnie Sartors, whom you may see shooting Overton, West Rusk or heck, for Dave Campbell’s Texas Football from time to time, each went 15-8.
Our guest picker, KISD school board member and taxidermist Dereck Borders, went 14-9, and he’s getting warmed up. Dereck’s pretty good at this. Kilgore College student and our own photographer Alex Nabor, and my wife Jenna, who’s also our executive editor, each went 13-10 — we’ll give them another chance this week. And Dennis Jacobs, our Kilgore High School photographer for over 15 years and who normally wins these picks every year, just got a slow start. He went 12-11, but trust me; he’ll be in the thick of things this week.
On the season, Ronnie is a week behind. He didn’t start until last week, so he’s actually 15-8.
Overall: Joe Hale is 29-13. Mitch Lucas is 28-14. Ashtyn Lucas is 27-15. Clayton Fletcher is 26-16. Jacob Lucas is 25-17. Alex Nabor is 23-19. Jenna Lucas is 22-20. Dereck Borders is also 22-20. and Dennis Jacobs is 21-21.
Now, on to this week. Here’s the list of our local games, involving teams in the ETBlitz coverage area, and then the college and NFL games of interest, followed by the picks of our staff and some guests.
Have a great football weekend!
ETBLITZ.COM POWER PICKS!
WEEK THREE – Thursday, Sept. 12-Monday, Sept. 16, 2024
HIGH SCHOOL GAMES
THURSDAY’S GAMES
Gladewater (1-1) at West Rusk (1-1), 7 p.m., Bruce Bradshaw Stadium
FRIDAY’S GAMES
(ETBlitz.com-area teams in BOLD)
Kilgore (2-0) at Gilmer (0-2; 7:30 p.m., Jeff Traylor Stadium)
Henderson (1-1) at Jacksonville (1-1; 7:30 p.m., the Tomato Bowl, Jacksonville)
Sabine (2-0) at New Diana (2-0; 7 p.m.)
Tatum (2-0) at Newton (0-2; 7 p.m.)
Quitman (0-2) at White Oak (2-0; 7 p.m.)
Mineola (0-2) at Arp (1-1; 7:30 p.m.)
Harleton (1-1) at Troup (0-2; 7:30 p.m.)
Overton (1-1) at James Bowie (0-2; 7 p.m.)
Leverett’s Chapel (1-1) at Chester (0-2; 7 p.m.)
COLLEGE GAMES
New Mexico Military (1-1) at Kilgore College (1-0; Saturday, 3 p.m., R. E. St. John Memorial Stadium)
UTSA at Texas, 6 p.m., ESPN
Texas A&M at Florida, 2:30 p.m., ABC
North Texas at Texas Tech, 11 a.m., FS1
LSU at South Carolina, 11 a.m., ABC
Tulane at Oklahoma, 2:30 p.m., ESPN
NFL GAMES
THURSDAY’S GAME
Buffalo (1-0) at Miami (1-0), 7:15 p.m. Amazon Prime Video
SUNDAY’S GAMES
New Orleans (1-0) at Dallas (1-0), noon, FOX
Tampa Bay (1-0) at Detroit (1-0), noon, FOX
Chicago (1-0) at Houston (1-0), 7:20 p.m., NBC)
MONDAY’S GAME
Atlanta (0-1) at Philadelphia (1-0), 7:15 p.m. ESPN)
| MITCH LUCAS | DENNIS JACOBS | JOE HALE | DERECK BORDERS | JENNA LUCAS | JACOB LUCAS | ASHTYN LUCAS | ALEX NABOR | CLAYTON FLETCHER | RONNIE SARTORS |
| W. Rusk | W. Rusk | W. Rusk | G’water | W. Rusk | W. Rusk | G’water | W. Rusk | W. Rusk | G’water |
| Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore |
| Hendo | Hendo | Hendo | Hendo | J’ville | Hendo | J’ville | Hendo | Hendo | Hendo |
| ND | ND | ND | Sabine | Sabine | Sabine | Sabine | Sabine | Sabine | ND |
| Tatum | Tatum | Tatum | Tatum | Tatum | Tatum | Tatum | Tatum | Tatum | Tatum |
| W. Oak | W. Oak | W. Oak | W. Oak | W. Oak | W. Oak | W. Oak | W. Oak | W. Oak | W. Oak |
| Arp | Arp | Arp | Arp | Arp | Arp | Arp | Arp | Arp | Arp |
| Troup | Harleton | Troup | Harleton | Troup | Harleton | Harleton | Harleton | Troup | Troup |
| Overton | Overton | Overton | Overton | Overton | Overton | Overton | Overton | Overton | Overton |
| LC | LC | Chester | LC | LC | LC | LC | LC | LC | LC |
| KC | KC | KC | KC | KC | KC | KC | KC | KC | KC |
| Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas |
| Florida | A&M | A&M | A&M | A&M | Florida | A&M | Florida | A&M | Florida |
| Tech | Tech | Tech | Tech | Tech | N. Texas | Tech | Tech | Tech | Tech |
| LSU | LSU | LSU | LSU | LSU | S. Carolina | LSU | LSU | LSU | LSU |
| OU | OU | OU | OU | OU | OU | OU | OU | OU | OU |
| Miami | Miami | Miami | Miami | Miami | Miami | Buffalo | Miami | Buffalo | Miami |
| Dallas | Dallas | Dallas | N. Orleans | Dallas | Dallas | Dallas | Dallas | N. Orleans | Dallas |
| Detroit | Detroit | Detroit | Detroit | Detroit | Detroit | Detroit | Detroit | Detroit | Detroit |
| Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston |
| Philly | Philly | Philly | Philly | Philly | Philly | Philly | Philly | Philly | Atlanta |