A state titan gets spooked, we jinx teams and Mansfield ISD has a ‘meh’ night

Abilene Cooper is like the great white shark from Jaws.

Stay with me.

When Class 5A boss Aledo first met Cooper in the third round of the playoffs in 2015, the Bearcats snickered their way to a 33-0 victory. In 2016, they had it just a bit harder, winning 56-35.

But this time around, the Bearcats had to scratch and fret for a 34-31 win. The margin of victory has gone from 33 points to 21 to a mere three.

Duh-duh. Duh-duh. Duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh ...

I predict that in 2018, Cooper will edge Aledo, then be in a lot of trouble after swallowing a scuba tank.

▪  Mansfield lost to Waco Midway, but the Tigers didn’t go gently into that good night. They pulled a really cool stunt that probably would have changed the direction of the game if it worked.

And it nearly did.

Maybe the Tigers were intimidated to face the guy who was coaching them literally just 19 months ago. Midway 48, Mansfield 17.

▪  It wasn’t a great night for the Mansfield ISD overall. Maybe we jinxed them.

Summit, which looked so peachy last week against Dallas Spruce, couldn’t find the handle against an admittedly ace Fighting Scots squad.

Highland Park downed Summit, 52-20.

At least Lake Ridge is still around! Cartraven Walker really hulked out in the Eagles’ game against Prosper’s ... Eagles. The senior running back had 250 yards on the ground and four touchdowns.

The Eagles beat the ... Eagles, 38-28, sending the Eagles packing their suitcases, while the Eagles will go on to try their luck against Highland Park in the state quarterfinals.

▪  Overall it was just a pretty meh kind of evening for Southeast Tarrant County. Kennedale did well and hung on against a gail-force rally from Midlothian Heritage to win 45-43. But Arlington Martin was shooed away by Allen, 48-25.

▪  Remember that theory that we’re jinxing people? Another piece of evidence — we just got done talking up Fort Worth All Saints just to see them lose to Plano Prestonwood, 55-48.

Please keep taking our phone calls, North Texas football coaches.

▪  Sports are all about rules, and they apply as much to the players as they do the coaches and fans. And the sportswriters.

There’s no crying in baseball, we all know that one. Apparently some people need to be reminded that there’s no cheering in the press box.

It got a little heated at Melissa vs. Gilmer:

This story was originally published December 2, 2017 at 12:34 AM with the headline "A state titan gets spooked, we jinx teams and Mansfield ISD has a ‘meh’ night."