timeout!

Washington knocks off Oregon. Polk will have chance for a national title. I'm happy for the kid. Transferring from Texas Tech to Washington was a great decision.

Wow!! Thought Carthage had control of that one. Happy for Gilmer though..I remember watching them lose a close one to Carthage last year. They get some redemption this year.

Some really good teams lost tonight. Forney and Lancaster had another classic.

Two teams that took some early season lumps. But continued to put in the work and improved.

I'm looking at all the possible scenarios for realignment. Lufkin being in a weak vs strong district and who we could possibly matchup with if we qualify for playoffs. The UIL will do UIL things and Lufkin will have to deal with whatever hand it's dealt. No matter how things shake out. Coach Quick and the team will have to beat some good teams. There is no way around that. You can take your medicine in district, during the playoffs or both. But you gonna have to prove yourself worthy at some point. The really good programs look forward to proving themselves worthy. They take on all challengers and never look for an easy route to success. Duncanville wants nothing more, than to get another crack at North Shore. I'm sure NS feels the same, and prob would prefer a crack at Desoto. Unfortunately for Desoto, they won't get a chance to play NS. But will have plenty of teams lined up to knock them out. Longview is much the same. Their fans would love to be in a district with Desoto again. No matter what happens with Lufkin. Everything will play out next year one way or another. Is it possible to miss the playoffs for a 4th straight year?

Preseason top 10 rankings? State title runs? I love the enthusiasm. And would mostly agree if this was 10 years ago. Everything on paper says all that could be possible, with the exception of questions at Qb and OL. If those two things come together, then we could be in for a great season. Unfortunately, nothing about this staff. Tells me they can turn a team around that has miss the playoffs the last 3 years and make it a state title contender. That would be a huge turnaround for a program. I don't have any data to back it up. But it would have to be some type of Texas HS record. For a program that has been mediocre for the better part of a decade, with the same coach and no big transfers coming in. I would be surprised if DCTF gave us top 10 preseason ranking. I noticed them start to pull back from showing Lufkin too much love, after we burned them a few times. Kinda got the feeling they didn't have much faith in the program. Even after we had big wins. Nothing ever changed much with our ranking. We didn't even crack the top 10 last year after starting 3-0 and defeating #3 A&M Consolidated. PN, I think the coaching staff has done you a disservice. Most of the talent you said this group would have, has been there. But the staff has mismanaged this group and done little to fix several issues. We were in a tough district and held our own. Could've beaten McNorth both times we played them. We played Lancaster close both games and could've easily won either. I think we beat Forney last year, if not for the mental fog the team was in after taking a butt kicking from Longview. And we had them on the ropes late in the 4th, with our stud RB forced into action to play Qb this year. So there is something there with this group. Just not sure we have the staff to get the most out of them.

Learned that firsthand when they put us in a Dallas district.😄

I think that would be a solid district for competition. Especially for the current state of Lufkin football. I still wouldn't put us down as a district champ or playoff lock just yet. Barbers Hill is looking good, they had young team this year. Crosby is usually pretty good. They struggle some moving up a classification last realignment. PAM has had some good teams the last couple of years and will be talented. What going on with Beaumont United? Thought they move up to 6A last realignment. It's hard to say how good or bad some of those teams will be. Just going on what I already know about a few. Things are always fluid near the bigger city schools. Coaches and kids are always on the move from one place to the next.

Fans calling for Kings head is crazy. But I can also remember some fans here calling for Outlaw head, after losses to SLC. The expectations are still high in Longview. It comes with any program that has a winning tradition. Not sure who their fans would want to replace him with. He's already one of the best coaches in the state. Felt the same way about Outlaw during the early 00s. The only thorn in is back was Todd Dodge/SLC at the time. Outside of swapping him out for Dodge, not sure you could find too many other coaches better than him.

I think they have pretty good idea how hard it is. They have made several runs and came up short. Before finally breaking through a few years ago. I believe they played Lake Travis consecutive year in the state title game in the old 4A classification. Never easy to win a state title in Tx at any level. One reason I have so much respect for the teams that have won multiple titles. It's a hard hill to climb, you gonna have to beat some really good teams to get there.

Great game between Longview and Lancaster. I tip my hat to both squads. Longview played well enough to win against a hot Lancaster team. And didn't come out discombobulated, like another team I know would've, after losing their star Rb last week. They stayed the course, played good defense most of the night and stuck to the running game. Horrible turnover and inability to score in second half did them. Tough loss for the Lobos. Have to give Lancaster their props. Those kids and coaches could've hung it up after some tough losses and losing their stud CB for the year. They could've easily lost and been sitting at home, had Lufkin pulled out the upset. But they didn't and rode that momentum right into the playoffs. And will now get rewarded with an opportunity to avenge a 1 point loss to Forney. Being resilient is something good teams do. Hats off to both programs.

Longview 24 Lancaster 10 Half

I sometimes forget Brown is just a 10th grader. He has lot more growing to do, physically and mentally. His game will continue to evolve over the next few seasons, which is scary. Parks has also improved this year. No shame in losing to those two teams. Lufkin still has some tough matchups against Shadow Creek, Silsbee and Jacksonville before district starts. So plenty of time and opportunity to get some things going before district.

Lufkin will take some lumps this year. I wish last years team could've played this schedule. We lost a lot of senior leadership and it shows. The new guys still adjusting to the speed of varsity and I think Brown was pressing the last two games. Didn't have a good shooting night in either. Lufkin will have to figure how to generate points when he having an off night. And we still have trouble handling the press. Thought they played better tonight than they did against Duncanville. The 4 star kid for Arizona was in street clothes tonight. Not sure if he was injured yesterday. They still had more than enough to win comfortably. I think Gavin should be given more minutes. He lacks some of the speed and quickness of the guy in backs up. But plays a lot more aggressively. He crashing the boards and goes up strong for baskets. Gave the team a spark late in the 3rd when he checked in. And can be a load to handle down low. Conditioning will have to improve as the year goes on. The kid is a winner and plays hard. Still a little down about him missing the football season.

Great competition will make them better. #1Duncanville got blown out by #4Stony Point this past weekend. They are not as good as last years team. Lufkin will prob still struggle to stay within in 20 points. Unless we play great ball and Duncanville comes in sleep walking. They still have a speed and size advantage over Lufkin. I would like to see Brown light up this game. Need Parks to put up more than the 10-15 points he usually gets. Would like to see him in the 20 point range for this game. Go Pack!

Never like to lose a player the caliber of Tatum. Longview will rally behind the guys stepping in. Unlike like Lufkin, they actually give their backups reps throughout the season. The system will take care of the rest.

Seeing those teams advance, is more of an indictment on Lufkin staff in my opinion. We played all them close except Longview. Lufkin coaches didn't come close to unlocking this years team full potential. I get sick to my stomach thinking about how good we could be under a competent staff. All we got was another wasted year of some exceptional talent.

Is he usually accurate or close?

Lufkin played well against Good Vision Academy a few days ago. Great competition for the Pack.

Is that what happened with Torres after Dr.Godfney left?

On paper the team should be solid. But they have to overcome bad coaching and an underachieving culture. It's like the team starts the year down 3 games because of it.

Is Quick contract on a per year basis like teachers?

Lol..if only Lufkin, well never mind. It is what it is. The thing that bothers me the most. Is that it didn't have to be this bad. No telling how many playoff games we have missed out on. Because leadership doesn't care.

You think about how well Lufkin played against Lancaster and how we had Forney on the ropes late in the game. Then all the other games that were winnable, except Longview. You can't help but to think about what could've been possible with a bit more polish. Just that extra that some programs always find to win. I could be wrong, but I don't think Lufkin would've beat LaPorte had we played them. Whatever Lancaster done to win that game. Lufkin wouldn't have had it.

Coaching matters..