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La Vega’s Stephon Nickerson and the Pirates will be looking for a big breakthrough win over rival and No. 2-ranked China Spring this week.

DJ Ramirez, Chad Conine and Brice Cherry get together every week to chat about high school football.

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Breakdown: They may be hosting the reigning state champions but that does not mean expectations are going to be different for the La Vega Pirates.

“(It’s) the same thing with our kids — get out and play as hard as they can and do things right,” said La Vega head coach Don Hyde. “Take care of the ball and tackle and block, and hopefully we can find some success.”

After a tough three-week stretch earlier in the season, the Pirates are looking like the La Vega of old again, closing out nondistrict play with wins over Dallas Roosevelt and Yoakum prior to a district-opening victory over Waxahachie Life on the road.

“We’re starting to get healthy which is a big bonus,” Hyde said. “We struggled with some injuries and we’re getting some kids back week by week, and hopefully we’ll get one more back this week.”

The Cougars are also coming into this rivalry game with a district win under their belts, beating Alvarado in a game that saw China Spring score seven consecutive touchdowns. Cash McCollum continues to lead the offense under center with scoring threats all around him, including Tre Hafford, Tristan Exline and Kyle Barton.

“They’re a great football team, well-coached, do things right,” Hyde said of the Pirates’ opponent. “They've got great players on offense, they've got good players on defense and the move at quarterback was a huge add-on for them. It’s going to take everything we can to go out there and compete.”

• The game of the week is China Spring at La Vega, arguably the best rivalry in Central Texas over the last couple of decades. You know what they say about rivalries and records — China Spring is clearly the favorite as No. 2 and a defending state champion. But the Pirates are no slouches, riding a three-game win streak where they've allowed only 23 points. Who wins this one? D.J. Ramirez, Chad Conine and Brice Cherry get together every week to chat about high school football.

Breakdown: It’s regrouping time for Midway, coming off a 44-10 loss to Temple in which head coach Shane Anderson said the Wildcats “whipped us for four quarters and made us like it.”

Cove doesn’t possess the same level of talent as Temple, but the Panthers can’t afford to look everyone. They’ve also got to clean up some of their self-inflicted wounds, namely avoiding turnovers and eliminating the big play defensively, Anderson said. They’ve also got to shore some things up in their field goal unit, as they’ve had three kicks blocked in the past two weeks.

The Bulldawgs, under the guidance of first-year coach Tony Johnson, are still looking for their first District 12-6A win.

“They’re athletic, a typical Cove team,” Anderson said. “Coach Johnson is rebuilding that thing from the ground up in the junior high and subvarsity, doing a good job of getting a lot of kids in the program. They’ve got their backs against the wall a little more than us, just because of the Hutto win for us. But we’ve got to go out and play hard for four quarters.”

One guy who is emerging as a rising playmaker for Midway is junior receiver Ramone Conway. With Junior Thornton out for the year, the Panthers need some players to step up, and Conway made grabs of 41 and 39 yards last week against Temple.

“If he can keep doing that, that’ll loosen the box and open things up for Dom (Hill),” Anderson said. “He’s really come into his own lately.”

Breakdown: Losses sting enough, but injuries cut even deeper. The Rockets are currently dealing with a couple of defensive absences that head coach Mike Ludlow deemed “ginormous.”

“We’re having to move some kids around to fill those spots, so some kids are playing out of position, so to speak,” Ludlow said.

Even still, Ludlow liked the way his team fought in last week’s 33-24 district loss to Salado. The previous two years the Eagles had thumped the Rockets by a combined score of 131-7, and in this one they were right in the game until the end. Christian Lujan continues to get the job done in the ground game for Robinson, ranking among the area leaders with 812 yards and nine TDs.

Madisonville, coming off a bye week, will present a challenge with its overall team speed. Ludlow compared the Mustangs to University and Waxahachie Life in that regard. Just for the record: the Rockets won games against both of those opponents.

Ludlow also said that Madisonville likes to use a lot of different packages, so Robinson will need to make “quick and efficient” personnel changes to avoid any pre-snap errors.

Breakdown: District 8-2A Div. I seems to serve up plenty of intriguing matchups each week, and this one is no different.

Marlin gave third-ranked Crawford a battle, but ultimately took it on the chin last week, 33-20. The Bulldogs suffered a critical turnover on downs inside the Crawford 5-yard line, and while head coach Ruben Torres gave credit to the Pirates’ defense he also noted that his team must execute better when it gets that close to the end zone.

Marlin will also look to get back to the type of stingy, ball carrier-punishing tackling that led to only seven points allowed in a pair of district wins over Moody and Bosqueville. Sophomore linebacker Ty'Raun Bell, last year’s Super Centex Defensive Newcomer of the Year, averages 10.4 tackles per game and keys the defensive effort for his team.

Riesel survived a wild one last week in a 51-44 win over Valley Mills. Tyler Crow's Indians feature one of the more devastating blockers in Class 2A in Kolt Dieterich (6-6, 275), a Sam Houston State commit who also stars on the D-line. Dieterich will look to clear a path for a balanced running attack paced by Payton Hoelscher and Mason Heath, who have combined for 752 rushing yards in a near-equal split.

Breakdown: The Pirates positioned themselves nicely for the eventual No. 1 seed out of District 13-2A Div. II by surviving a showdown with fellow Top 10 team Bremond, 41-30.

In halftime of that game, first-year Chilton head coach Bennie Huitt told his players they had to be ready to “make a play” down the stretch, and the Pirates took his words to heart. In addition to returning stars like Markeydrick Taylor and Daylon Ford, Chilton has benefited from the arrival of Isaiah Redd at quarterback. Redd transferred in from China Spring before the school year, and has given the passing game another dimension, with 11 touchdown passes against just one interception.

Homestanding Bartlett was blanked by Milano last week, 48-0. The Bulldogs will have to pick it up offensively if they want to upend a Chilton defense that will be aiming for its second shutout of the season.

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Breakdown: It’s been a rough month or so since Waco High notched its only win of the season, a 45-27 victory over Dallas White on Sept. 2. Granbury thumped the Lions the next week, 45-3, and Waco High hasn’t got much closer to the win column in the subsequent four games.

The Lions’ Lazavier Amos scored on a first-quarter touchdown run last week against Red Oak, but the Hawks still jumped ahead, 35-7, by halftime. Red Oak poured it on in the second half for a 69-7 win.

Shoemaker had a bye last week after falling to Red Oak, 38-35, on Sept. 30. Before that, the Wolves defeated Lake Belton and Ellison in back-to-back games.

Shoemaker QB Malachi Jerome has passed for 1,286 yards and 12 touchdowns so far this season.

The Wolves are one of four teams in 4-5A Division I with a 2-2 mark in district. They need a win at home to keep pace.

Breakdown: West plays in a top-heavy district where the Trojans and No. 3-ranked Grandview appear to be miles ahead of everyone else. The last two weeks, West has stomped Oak Cliff Life and Dallas A-Plus Academy by a combined score of 119-7.

Maypearl comes to West this week with a little more muscle and some momentum after defeating Dallas Inspired Vision, 55-12, last Friday. One of the Panthers’ top priorities will be to try to keep West’s Zane Harper out of the backfield. Harper currently leads Central Texas with seven sacks.

West coach David Woodard said his squad is focused on taking care of business this week. If the Trojans do that, it sets up the annual showdown with Grandview next Friday. Last year, West won a classic over the Zebras, 28-20, in Grandview.

Breakdown: Crawford cleared a major hurdle in the race for the district championship by defeating Marlin, 33-20, last Friday.

Receiver Cash Bolgiano’s name popped along with other familiar Pirates like QB Luke Torbert and playmakers Breck Chambers and Camron Walker, all of whom contributed in the redemption win over the Bulldogs. In particular, Torbert returned a kickoff for a TD and Walker broke loose for a 92-yard touchdown run.

Oh by the way, the Crawford defense also got the key stops it needed to hold down Marlin.

Now the Pirates travel 17 miles down Texas Highway 317 to face a challenge from Moody.

The Bearcats were once 3-1 with a district win over Valley Mills. But that was mid-September. They’ve since been humbled by a lopsided loss against Marlin and a close one last week against Bosqueville.

Crawford’s defense will no doubt be tracking Moody’s dual-threat QB Ryder Hohhertz. He is one of the area’s leading passers with 698 yards and six touchdowns. But he also leads the Bearcats in rushing with 487 yards and six TDs.

Breakdown: Bosqueville has put itself in the hunt for a playoff spot by beating Bruceville-Eddy and Moody the last two weeks. The Bulldogs scored the only points in the fourth quarter last Friday to push ahead and ultimately defeat Moody, 32-29.

Likewise, Rosebud-Lott posted wins against Riesel and Bruceville-Eddy in its last two contests.

Now Bosqueville, Rosebud-Lott, Marlin and Riesel are all tied for second place in 8-2A Division I. That means there’s a lot to be gained in the standings when the Cougars and Bulldogs square off.

Rosebud-Lott’s depth of playmakers on defense might be a factor in this one. The Cougars have four players — Daniel Rodriguez, Johnnie Martinez, Preston Hering and Easton Fulton — who all have 40 or more tackles on the season.

Breakdown: Coming off a district win over McGregor, Lorena will head out to face a Rockdale team with a lot of speed.

“They've got a very powerful offense,” said Lorena head coach Ray Biles. “I think they can score points in a hurry. An awful lot of speed at the skill positions and a quarterback that’s a dual threat — he can run and he can throw as well. We're going to have to do a great job defensively containing them.”

Since their lone district loss to Cameron Yoe, the Leopards are honing in on takeaways and executing what they already do well. They’ll look to disrupt Rockdale QB Blaydn Barcak, who leads the Tigers rushing with 85.2 yards per game while also throwing for 185.5 yards per game. Robert Owens has been Barcak’s main target at receiver, bringing down 36 catches for 543 yards.

“We really haven't done a lot of things schematically any differently than what we've been doing. I just think the kids have made some big plays and some good plays in the last couple of weeks,” Biles said. “We talked about takeaways and setting the offense up for short scores and things like that. I think they've done a really good job for the majority of the year, obviously playing very tough, very stingy defense.”

Lorena QB Jackson Generals can rely on several offensive weapons on the ground in Braylon Henry and Kason Taylor, who is averaging 107.7 rushing yards per game. Jadon Porter has been his main man at receiver with an average of 95.1 yards per game.

 But offensively, the key for Biles will be to maintain the line of scrimmage.

“Our offensive line has improved drastically in the last month and I think that's a huge part of our offensive success right now,” Biles said. “That process is going to have to continue. They're going to have to continue to do a great job up front to give back some running space. Whenever your running game starts to click, then all of a sudden the passing game gets a whole lot easier as well.”

Breakdown: The University Trojans are looking to go 3-0 in district this week as they head out to face Elgin. Head coach Kent Laster said that he is satisfied with the game his team had against Pflugerville last week but the Trojans are still looking to have more of a complete game.

University will face a limiting defense in the Wildcats, who will work to halt the run and keep Trojan playmakers London Smith and Mekhi Sandolph from making explosive plays.

“They're the top rushing defense in the district and we are the top rushing offense in the district, so that's going to be a tough matchup,” Laster said. “They're well-coached and they're very disciplined and they run hard to the ball on defense and offensively. They have an athletic quarterback and they've got some athletes that they can get the ball to, and they're big up front.”

Elgin QB Nathen Lewis leads the Wildcats on the ground with an average of 69.1 yards per game and can also put it in the air with an average of 132.9 passing yards per game.

Meanwhile Sandolph heads up University in rushing with an average of 111.8 yards per game, while Smith has become Jashaun Manghane’s main target, bringing down 52.8 reception yards per game. According to Laster, the consistency shown by Smith and Sandolph thus far has been a strength for University.

“They’ve just been steady,” Laster said. “London in every game has had some big plays he’s been able to make, and Sandolph has been pretty steady every game, just being able to get the ball in his hands and create explosive plays. At the end of the day, that’s why they’ve been successful, because we’re creating explosives.”

• One of the best feel-good stories of the seasons is the resurgence of the University Trojans. Head coach Kent Laster has the Trojans at 2-0 in district play. DJ and Chad have both seen them play this year — what's working for the U-Dawgs, and is it sustainable in the long term? D.J. Ramirez, Chad Conine and Brice Cherry get together every week to chat about high school football.

Breakdown: Groesbeck is set to host another close rival as Fairfield crosses I-45 to take on a formidable Goats team after an overtime loss to Mexia last week.

“They’re a very good team just like a lot of teams in this district,” said Groesbeck head coach Jerry Bomar. “They played really good competition to start the year, bigger schools, and they’ve really kind of come on in the last few weeks.

"They lost a heartbreaker to Mexia they could have won very easily. They’re a real balanced team. For the first time they throw it well and they run it well, real physical on defense. So, this is going to be a really tough matchup for us. We're going to really have to play our best game of the year.”

Eagles quarterback Cameron Cockerell leads all Centex passers with 1,702 yards but also has given up 12 interceptions. His main target has been the shifty Jonathan Garcia, who has brought down 30 receptions for 516 yards. On the ground, Braiden Barrett takes the charge for Fairfield with 612 yards on 113 carries.

But Groesbeck isn’t planning on doing anything different against Fairfield. Since the loss of Allen Lewis at QB, Trent Platt has filled in effectively. The Goats have leaned into their running game, relying on Chris Cox to carry the load as the junior has posted 835 yards on 144 rushes.

“They’re real sound on defense and they’ve been explosive on offense,” said Fairfield head coach John Bachtel.

• The most competitive district in our area is the "Stone Age" district (hailing from Limestone and Freestone counties) of Groesbeck, Mexia, Teague and Fairfield. Malakoff seems like the top team in the district and Eustace and Kemp seem like they're in the cellar. That leaves three playoff spots for four local teams. Who do you see making the postseason? D.J. Ramirez, Chad Conine and Brice Cherry get together every week to chat about high school football.

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High school football predictions: See what the Trib sports staff thinks about every game this week. #txhsfb #TribFridayNight

La Vega’s Stephon Nickerson and the Pirates will be looking for a big breakthrough win over rival and No. 2-ranked China Spring this week.

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