By Kevin Lonnquist
NTX Varsity Sports Columnist
The thing about Black Friday is that if you get all the picks wrong in the regional semifinal round of the playoffs, it’s a double shade of black.
Like black as in you have no idea what you’re doing when it comes to reading the tea leaves of these games.
There’s no reason to expect that. But this weekly piece opens with a word of caution in case there is a worst-case scenario.
Of course, there is an out. I can blame it on the tryptophan from the Thanksgiving turkey along with the extras.
Well, let’s review several of the highlights from last week’s selections. I missed Malakoff, Mildred and Graham. Picked Malakoff and Mildred. They lost. Picked Lubbock Liberty over Graham. The Steers won.
Unfortunately for their fan bases, I was right about Athens over Krum, Seminole over Glen Rose and Midland Greenwood over Eagle Mountain.
My wild guess of Springtown over Panther Creek was right, of course. However, I was pleasantly surprised how well Pojo controlled that game.
Here we go at the halfway point of the playoff season. Another round of picks is coming your way.
The NTX Varsity Sports coverage area is down to six teams still chasing the dream. They are: Aledo, All Saints, Decatur, Graham, Paradise and Springtown.
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are prepared for the hectic pace of the holiday season.
Last week: 8-3
Overall: 20-3
All Saints (12-0) vs. Austin Regents (12-0); TAPPS 5A Division II State Semifinal, 1:00 p.m. Friday, McGregor: We’ve seen this story before between these two. The Saints beat the Knights in this holy war last year and in this round, 42-26. If there’s ever a chance for All Saints’ 26-game winning streak to end, this would be the week. However, I think Saints QB Gavin Beard is the difference.
Pick: All Saints
No. 2 Paradise (11-1) vs. No. 5 Tuscola Jim Ned (11-1); Class 3A Division I Region I Semifinal; 6:00 p.m., Friday, Abilene Wylie: What to do. What to do. Both teams are solid defensively. Well, the Panthers haven’t allow a point so far in the playoffs. Football is a week-to-week game. But the Indians too-close-for-comfort win over a sub-.500 team last week in the area round makes me wonder.
Pick: Paradise
Graham (9-3) vs. No. 4 Midland Greenwood (12-0); Class 4A Division II Region I Semifinal; 7:00 p.m. Friday, Mustang Bowl, Sweetwater: Well, Graham fans should be happy about this. I picked against the Steers last week and got burned. But when you’re playing a salty group in the Rangers, I just think this is where the road ends. Then again, that’s what I thought last week. Ahem!
Pick: Midland Greenwood
No. 7 Springtown (12-0) vs. No. 6 Alvarado (11-0); Class 4A Division I Region II semifinal; 3:00 p.m. Friday, Eagle Mountain: Buckle up for the track meet. That’s where this one could be headed. Pojo is averaging 49.8 points per game. The Indians are averaging 60 points per game. It could be like a game of horse where challenges the other with, “can you top this?”. But I believe Springtown presents the better defense.
Pick: Springtown
Decatur (8-3) vs. No. 1 Celina (12-0); Class 4A Division I Region II semifinal; 2:00 p.m. Friday, Pennington Field, Bedford: The growth of Eagle sophomore QB Rhys Ragan has been phenomenal (2,316 yards, 35 TD, 1 INT). And the Eagles have advanced further this year than last year. The Bobcats don’t appear to have been impacted by their off-the-field distractions. Granted, they’ve played easy opponents in the first two rounds (Pinkston, Eastern Hills).
Pick: Celina
No. 1 Aledo (12-0) vs. Arlington Heights (11-1); Class 5A Division I Region I semifinal; 1:00 p.m. Friday, Crowley ISD Multi-Purpose Stadium, (Radio: 92.1 FM): The Yellow Jackets are a great story. The deepest playoff run since 1973. They present a tremendous running back in 2300-yard rusher Carson James. But this is Aledo, which is 4-0 all-time against Arlington Heights and 37-2 all-time against the Fort Worth ISD. The Bearcats fronts are just different than anything the Yellow Jackets will encounter. Maybe the most physical Aledo team yours truly has seen in the 20 years covering them.
Pick: Aledo
Let’s win them all before the regional finals next week!
Finally, a perspective from last week’s state volleyball tournament in Garland. First, we hope you enjoyed the comprehensive coverage delivered by our staff led by Parker Burross. To use a term, they spiked it.
But if you noticed, District 7-4A produced both the Class 4A Division I state champion in Decatur and the Division II title holder in Eagle Mountain.
The results do not tell a fib. This was easily the best district below the Class 5A line. You could argue several of these teams could hold their own against 5A and 6A programs.
Eagle Mountain (38-11) was brilliant, never dropping a match after late August and blew away the competition. Plus, this program will go down in school annals as the first to win a state championship. The Lady Knights did it in only their second year of existence.
Credit Decatur (42-7) for rallying from a wobbly regular season finish. The Lady Eagles were the district’s third seed entering the playoffs. But here is this program with seven state titles and successfully repeating from 2024.
It didn’t stop there. Remember, Decatur had to get past district rival Springtown in the Region I championship to advance to the state semifinals. The Lady Pines enjoyed their most successful year in terms of both record (43-10) and deepest postseason run.
Fourth-place Krum should not be overlooked. While the Lady Bobcats (24-17) had their struggles in district play against Eagle Mountain, Decatur and Springtown, they proved their worth and used those matches to strengthen them in the playoffs. They knocked out a pretty good Brock team in the area round before falling to Canyon Randall in the Division II Region I semifinals.
We may never see this kind of district again. It carried some fascinating storylines throughout the summer and fall.
However, there’s nothing wrong with requesting an encore for 2026.