WAKE UP! | State semifinals for Kilgore, Carthage, and Mount Enterprise: Here’s what to know.

EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s simple, but here it is: the three teams from our region still playing in the University Interscholastic League’s high school football playoffs, and you can guess ’em without us telling you: it’s Carthage, Kilgore and Mount Enterprise. And you can guess without us telling you who has the best coffee and tea every day in East Texas, too: well, it’s COZY COFFEE STATION, of course! Go see them at 755 Highway 271 North in Gilmer or at 110 Midtown Plaza in Kilgore, and check out their menu online here before you go: Home | Cozy Coffee Station. You’ll thank me!

Kilgore

UIL Class 4A, Division I, Region 1 Semifinals

(Winner advances to the 4A-DI state championship to face either Celina or Stephenville on Friday, Dec. 19 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington)

Kilgore (13-1) vs. La Vernia (13-1)

McLane Stadium (Waco, Texas, on the campus of Baylor University)

Friday, Dec. 12, 7 p.m.

Kilgore is the home team for the game.

Tickets are $13 and can be purchased here: High School Football | Kilgore vs. La Vernia | Baylor University.

All passes are accepted.

There will be an early dismissal of school for all KISD campuses at 1 p.m. Friday for those who’d like to attend.

The address for McLane Stadium is 1001 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Waco, TX 76704.

The stadium does have a clear bag policy.

Kilgore defeated La Vernia in last year’s semifinal on the way to the state championship game to face Celina.

ETBlitz.com will have a complete preview of Kilgore-La Vernia, Carthage-Brock and even Mount Enterprise-Shiner before this week’s games.

The game can always be heard on the radio, through the Ragin’ Red Broadcasting team of Don Hedrick, Doug Smith and Jason Smith. Listen on KDOK Radio on KDOK 105.3-FM, and online streaming at www.kdokradio.com. If you’d like, go right here to our home page, www.etblitz.com, click on it and scroll down to the Kilgore helmet. Click it, and it’ll take you right to their broadcast.

The NHFS Network (NFHSNetwork.com) will carry the game, but at this writing, the only link was to the La Vernia broadcast, and we didn’t paste that here, because quite frankly, we didn’t think anyone here would want that link. Later in the week when the game gets closer we’ll post the Kilgore link.

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Carthage

UIL Class 4A, Division II, Region 2 State Semifinals

(Winner advances to the 4A-DII state championship to face either Sinton or West Orange-Stark on Friday, Dec. 19 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington)

Carthage (14-0) vs. Brock (14-0)

Mesquite Memorial Stadium

Friday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m.

Carthage will be visitors for the game.

All tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the gate with a credit card only. To purchase in advance, though, do so here: Mesquite ISD (Mesquite, TX) Athletics.

The stadium is located at 2500 Memorial Blvd., Mesquite, TX 75149, and does have a strict clear bag policy.

Gates will open at 6 p.m. for the 7 p.m. kickoff.

Audio of the game will be broadcast live on KGAS as usual, and streaming video will be online at Victory+, which can be found here (VICTORY+). We’ll test it before Friday to make sure it works for you guys.

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Mount Enterprise

UIL Class 2A, Division II, Region 3 State Semifinals

(Winner advances to the 4A-DII state championship to face either Sinton or West Orange-Stark on Thursday, Dec. 18 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington)

Mount Enterprise (14-0) vs. Shiner (14-0)

New Caney ISD Randall Reed Stadium

Friday, Dec. 12, 7 p.m.

Mount Enterprise’s Wildcats will be the visitor for the game.

Randall Reed Stadium is located at 21360 Valley Ranch Parkway, New Caney, TX 77357.

Texas High School Coaches Association, district, senior citizen passes will all be accepted.

Advanced ticket sales end at 11:30 a.m. Friday; here’s that link: Shiner Comanches v. Mount Enterprise Wildcats Semi-Finals PLAYOFF FOOTBALL | newcaneyisd Box Office.

The game will be on NFHS Network for a fee: Here’s how to watch: 2025 UIL Football Semifinal – Mt. Enterprise Broadcast Shiner vs Mount Enterprise – 12/12/2025 | Live & On Demand

As mentioned, more on all three of these games this week.