High School Sports

Opinion: Football never sleeps in Texas; 6A girls soccer champion will be from DFW

By Brian Gosset

We are only two months away until high school sports are off for the summer.

Boys and girls soccer teams are getting set for the regional quarterfinals this weekend before going off to the regional tournament next week.

Baseball and softball teams are in the heated battle for district and the football spring season is coming up.

Three things I think



1. The girls soccer 6A state champion will come from District 5-6A or 6-6A, two of the toughest in the state. Flower Mound Marcus, Trophy Club Nelson, Allen and Southlake Carroll remain. The 5A champ will come from Region II and Highland Park is the clear favorite. In 4A, Midlothian Heritage and Kennedale face off in the regional quarterfinals and the winner has a good shot at going to state. On the boys side, 6A will not come from Region I, 5A will also come from Region II and 4A is up for grabs.


2. Cleburne baseball could be in for a long playoff run. The Yellowjackets are 21-1-1 and ranked the top team in Class 5A for the third straight week. Their two pitchers have been lights out. Landon Cody struck out 10 batters on Friday and Willie Rangel struck out 13 in Tuesday's win vs. Joshua. In their first seven district games, Cleburne has outscored their opponents 56-2. They have a big test on April 10 at Burleson Centennial.

3. Keller, Mansfield and Haslet Eaton softball won't lose again in the regular season. The Indians and Tigers are 22-1-1 and 20-0 respectively. The Eagles improved to 18-6 and 8-1 in District 6-5A after sophomore Jaden Middlebrook's walk-off RBI single in the eighth inning over Saginaw Boswell on Tuesday night.

Three things I know

1. Football never stops in Texas. Weatherford 2020 QB Ken Seals made trips to TCU and Oklahoma State on Sunday and Monday and still has plans on Texas A&M and Texas Tech. Colleyville Heritage 2019 WR Kam Brown and Aledo 2019 DB Jeffery Carter have plans to make official visits to A&M April 13-15. Nolan Catholic 2019 LB NaNa Osafo-Mensah will visit Texas May 4-6. Brock 2019 TE Baylor Cupp is a rising athlete, receiving multiple Power Five offers in the past week. Southlake Carroll 2019 RB T.J. McDaniel just picked up an offer from Air Force. Mansfield 2019 DB Miles Williams picked up an offer from Boston College.

2. Four regional quarterfinal games in girls soccer 6A Region I and 5A Region I will feature two teams from Dallas-Fort Worth. Mansfield vs. Keller Central, Flower Mound Marcus vs. Trophy Club Nelson, Allen vs. Southlake Carroll and Grapevine vs. FW South Hills. Keller beat El Paso El Dorado 2-1 and Colleyville Heritage beat Haslet Eaton 3-1 in penalty kicks to also advance. Allen and Carroll, which features two top 5 teams in the country, each have one loss. South Hills is making its first trip in program history.

3. No boys teams from Tarrant county left in 6A Region I. State runner-up Arlington Sam Houston, Keller, Euless Trinity, Keller Fossil Ridge and Arlington were all knocked out on Tuesday. Only Birdville and Aledo remain in 5A Region I. District 10-5A is well represented in Region II with Midlothian, Lake Ridge and first timer Waxahachie.

This story was originally published April 4, 2018 at 11:37 AM with the headline "Opinion: Football never sleeps in Texas; 6A girls soccer champion will be from DFW."

Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Get unlimited digital access
#ReadLocal

Try 1 month for $1

CLAIM OFFER