THURSDAY or FRIDAY? | Who’s games have been moved, and who’s still playing under Friday night lights?
A lot of the school districts in the ETBlitz.com area have decided to be proactive when it comes to stormy weather and Friday night lights this week.
Several football games that had been scheduled for Friday have been moved up a day, and will now be played Thursday instead, due to inclement weather that many area meteorologists are expecting on Friday evening.
Carthage, ranked No. 1 in the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Class 4A, Division II state poll, was the first one to notify the area on Tuesday that its road game at Bullard would be played Thursday night at 7 p.m., rather than the traditional Friday night game. The school did so in various forms of media, including Facebook posts. Carthage (7-0 overall), the defending 4A-DII state champion, is 2-0 in District 8-4A, Division I, and has three games left, but all three of those teams (Bullard, Rusk and Brownsboro) have losing records.
Gilmer, whose Buckeyes host Pleasant Grove this week, will do so on Thursday night at 7 p.m., rather than Friday. The Buckeyes are in a place they’re not accustomed to: in third place in District 7-4A, Division II at best, behind PG (who is ranked second behind Carthage in the state poll) and Van in the district standings. Gilmer comes off a loss at Van last week, and the Buckeyes are a very UN-Gilmer-like 2-5 overall. They are, however, 1-1 in district play, and VERY much still in the playoff picture. The top four teams in each district make the playoffs.
Kilgore (7-1) sits atop District 9-4A, Division I, and the Ragin’ Red will also play Thursday. They’re at home at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium against Palestine, who have been what we like to call “football-challenged” this season: the Wildcats are 0-7 overall and 0-3 in district play.
Another big game in 9-4A is Chapel Hill at Pine Tree (4-3, 2-1). Coach Jason Bachman’s Pirates got a big road win last Friday at Henderson, and now PT hosts Chapel Hill. But it won’t be Friday. That game at Pirate Stadium in Longview will also be Thursday night, a 7 p.m. kickoff, a pivotal game in the district’s playoff race. Henderson, by the way, is 5-3 overall, 2-2 in district play, and has an open date this week.
Also Thursday night: Beckville (4-3, and 3-1 in District 10-2A, Division I) heads to Hawkins for a very important game. Beckville has just the one district loss, and is tied with Waskom, also with one district loss. But Waskom’s loss was to Beckville, so the Bearcats own that tiebreaker. Elysian Fields leads the district, and beat Beckville earlier this year.
Other games that have not been moved, or that look to still be scheduled for Friday night: Atlanta at Tatum, Jefferson at Sabine, White Oak at Liberty-Eylau, Overton at Alto, West Rusk at Troup in a HUGE game in 11-3A, and Leverett’s Chapel at home against Saint Jo.
If there are more changes, we’ll let you know here on ETBlitz.com.
Still to come, prior to kickoff of those games: district standings, later today.