ETBLITZ POWER PICKS! | We’re back & ready to go for the ’25 season; here’s who we think are this week’s winners
Can you believe it’s already time for football?
Well, heck YEAH, I can believe it! We’ve been writing previews for what feels like eight months!
Seriously, we’ve been counting the days here at ETBlitz.com until football season starts, specifically high school football season, and we’ve arrived. Or is it “arrove?” Whatever it is, we’re here.
And ETBlitz’s Power Picks are BACK.
Now, nobody panic; buckle up, keep your hands inside the car, and let’s lay some ground rules.
No. 1: We’re only picking who we think will actually WIN these games. And this is not based on who we like, send Christmas presents to, receive birthday gifts from, or anything else. It’s just strictly who we believe, for whatever reason, will win these 21 games.
Our picks are on the grid below, and we’ll meet our panel, and our special guest, in just a bit. Let’s talk about these games we’re trying to pick.
Thursday night — tonight — is the start of the 2025 high school football season for three of the programs in what we call our “coverage area.” Those programs in action tonight, all with 7 p.m. kickoffs set, are Tatum, Beckville and Gladewater. Tatum is playing at Winnsboro tonight; Gladewater, led by new head coach Jermaine Lewis, is playing at Daingerfield; and Beckville is at home, hosting San Augustine.
More on all three of those games in a preview that’ll hit ETBlitz.com this afternoon.
What’s on tap tomorrow?
Well, we have a couple of meetings between programs that we cover.
One of them is in Kilgore — more on that momentarily — and another is in Longview.
The Gilmer Buckeyes are looking to get 2025 started on the right foot by righting what they believe was a miscue last year: Gilmer opens the 2025 season at Pine Tree, at Pirate Stadium in Longview, on Friday night. Coach Jason Bachman’s Pirates spoiled Gilmer’s season opener and home opener a year ago, and the Buckeyes would love to return the favor.
The Henderson Lions open the season on the road, as well, at Athens on Friday night. It’s the beginning of the Ricky Meeks Era at Henderson; Ricky, the son of the late Dickie Meeks (they won a state championship together at Henderson in 2010), returns to one of the stops of his legendary father’s coaching career. Ricky will coach his first game as the HEAD coach of the Lions on Friday night at Bruce Field in Athens, where hopes are high and the Hornets are state-ranked.
Hopes are also looking bright in White Oak, as the Roughnecks went from no wins in 2023 to five in 2024. Coach Michael Ludlow will unleash what should be an impressive offense (with son Jaxsen Ludlow at quarterback once again) at Eustace on Friday night.
Also Friday: coach Cody Gilbert has a young roster, but they’ll dive into the 2025 pool at home against Spring Hill, an athletic program still on the high of winning a state baseball championship in June.
Rivals Arp and Troup, both 3A, Division II, and both state-ranked, are on the road on Friday night. Arp’s Tigers play at Harleton to open the season; Troup’s Tigers make the journey to Shelbyville
Overton, a program that’s won 20 games the last two seasons (and sent 2A power Mart its walking papers from the playoffs a year ago), opens on the road against Alba-Golden, and this is a 7 p.m. kickoff. The Mustangs felt like last year’s game against A-G should have been a win. It’s a different season, but they can return the favor on Friday.
And, did you know there’s a game at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium in Kilgore Friday night? 🙂
You might have heard that Kilgore, ranked third in the state in the Class 4A, Division I preseason poll, coming off an appearance in the state championship game, is hosting Carthage, the defending 4A-DII state champions, and owners of that No. 1 ranking since last August.
On Saturday, Leverett’s Chapel, the only six-man football program in the ETB coverage area, journeys to Greenville to face Greenville Christian, a 7 o’clock kick
Longview High School isn’t in our coverage area — yet — but coach John King and his Lobos host Lufkin Friday night in a matchup of tradition-rich schools. And our best wishes, our prayers, are with coach King, who disclosed early this week that he’s battling mouth cancer.
We’ll have a big crew on hand at Kilgore-Carthage, and we’ll also have coverage of all the other programs, as well.
Kilgore College, of course, opens its ’25 season on Saturday against a non-conference opponent from Louisiana in Community Christian College. Coach Willie Gooden’s Rangers are ranked No. 11 in the nation in the NJCAA’s preseason poll. That game is also at R.E. St. John in Kilgore, a 3 p.m. kickoff on Saturday afternoon.
We’ve also got picks from our panel today on college football, where there were games a week ago, a small schedule, but now the REAL season begins with just about everyone playing.
The marquee game of the day in college football is in Columbus, Ohio, where defending national champion Ohio State opens the season with a special guest: the nation’s No. 1-ranked team, the Texas Longhorns, a team Ohio State defeated on the way to winning the national title last year.
Also on our picks list: Stephen F. Austin trying to go in and get a win over the Houston Cougars; former Gilmer coach Jeff Traylor tries his hand at pulling an upset in College Station, as the Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners pay a visit to Texas A&M at Kyle Field; Auburn, an SEC power that hasn’t had much bite in a few years, tries to escape Baylor in Waco; we have the battle of the Death Valleys, as LSU visits Clemson in what could be a playoff preview; an old rivalry is renewed from the 1980s, as the Miami Hurricanes host Notre Dame; and TCU heads west to face coach Bill Belichick (boy, that sounds weird) and the North Carolina Tarheels.
Before the picks, our panel.
And our special guest this week…
WILL ESTEL
Will Estel is the current Director of Stadium and Football Operations for the Goodyear Cotton Bowl. The Kilgore High School alumnus is in charge of just as it says: all stadium operations for not only the Cotton Bowl, but for all college football games played at AT&T Stadium. The 2025 version of the Cotton Bowl — the 90th playing — will be Will’s 17th overall and fourth in a leadership role. The University of Oklahoma graduate has retired those yellow cleats he wore while playing KHS soccer, and now he and his wife Sydne (a member of the Cotton Bowl’s pageantry staff) live in Frisco with two daughters, Poppy and Wyatt. And Will is here to kick our butts. And he may very well do it! We’ll see.
Here are our picks for this week. Be kind in your comments; this is just for fun! If the picks grid gives you problems on your mobile device, turn it horizontally.
Will’s picks will follow ours.
| Games (8/28-9/1) | Mitch | Joe | Dennis | Jenna | Clayton | Ashtyn | Jacob | Alex | Jeremy | John | Billy | Dereck |
| Tatum at Winnsboro | Winnsboro | Winnsboro | Winnsboro | Tatum | Tatum | Tatum | Tatum | Tatum | Tatum | Tatum | Winnsboro | Tatum |
| Gladewater at Daingerfield | D’ainger’field | D’field | D’field | G’water | D’field | G’water | D’field | G’water | G’water | G’water | D’field | G’water |
| San Augustine at Beckville | B’eck’ville | B’ville | B’ville | B’ville | B’ville | B’ville | SA | B’ville | B’ville | B’ville | B’ville | B’ville |
| Overton at Alba-Golden | Overton | Overton | Overton | Overton | Overton | Overton | Overton | Overton | A-G | Overton | Overton | Overton |
| Arp at Harleton | Arp | Arp | Arp | Arp | Arp | Arp | Arp | Arp | Harleton | Arp | Arp | Arp |
| Troup at Shelbyville | Troup | Troup | Troup | Troup | Troup | Troup | Troup | Troup | Troup | Shelbyville | Shelbyville | Troup |
| Malakoff at West Rusk | Malakoff | Malakoff | Malakoff | Malakoff | WR | WR | Malakoff | WR | WR | WR | Malakoff | WR |
| Spring Hill at Sabine | Spring Hill | Spring Hill | Spring Hill | Sabine | Sabine | Sabine | Spring Hill | Spring Hill | Spring Hill | Spring Hill | Spring Hill | Sabine |
| White Oak at Eustace | White Oak | White Oak | White Oak | White Oak | Eustace | White Oak | White Oak | White Oak | Eustace | White Oak | White Oak | White Oak |
| Henderson at Athens | Henderson | Athens | Athens | Henderson | Henderson | Henderson | Henderson | Athens | Henderson | Henderson | Athens | Henderson |
| Gilmer at Pine Tree | Gilmer | Gilmer | Gilmer | Gilmer | PT | Gilmer | Gilmer | PT | Gilmer | PT | Gilmer | PT |
| Carthage at Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Carthage | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Carthage | Kilgore | Kilgore | Carthage |
| Lufkin at Longview | Longview | Longview | Longview | Longview | Longview | Longview | Longview | Longview | Longview | Longview | Longview | Lufkin |
| Community Christian at Kilgore College | KC | KC | KC | KC | KC | KC | KC | KC | KC | KC | KC | KC |
| SFA at Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | SFA | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston |
| Auburn at Baylor | Baylor | Auburn | Baylor | Baylor | Baylor | Auburn | Auburn | Auburn | Auburn | Auburn | Auburn | Auburn |
| Texas at Ohio State | Ohio State | Texas | Ohio State | Texas | Ohio State | Texas | Texas | Texas | Ohio State | Texas | Texas | Ohio State |
| UTSA at Texas A&M | A&M | A&M | A&M | A&M | A&M | A&M | A&M | A&M | A&M | A&M | A&M | A&M |
| LSU at Clemson | Clemson | Clemson | Clemson | LSU | Clemson | LSU | LSU | LSU | LSU | Clemson | Clemson | Clemson |
| Notre Dame at Miami | Miami | N. Dame | Miami | N. Dame | Miami | N. Dame | N. Dame | N. Dame | N. Dame | N. Dame | N. Dame | N. Dame |
| TCU at North Carolina | UNC | TCU | UNC | TCU | UNC | TCU | UNC | UNC | UNC | TCU | TCU | UNC |
WILL ESTEL’S PICKS: Winnsboro, Daingerfield, Beckville, Overton, Arp, Troup, Malakoff, Spring Hill, White Oak, Athens, Gilmer, Kilgore, Longview, KC, Houston, Auburn, Ohio State, A&M, Clemson, Notre Dame, and North Carolina.