timeout!

23 minutes ago, wolfpack4life said:

Not really.

We tend to do better in the highest classification, for whatever reason. 

5AD1 are the ones that'll have to deal with Aledo, HP, Desoto....good luck.

Have to agree with this. Lufkin has done nothing the years we have been in 4A/5A. Our last playoff run was in 6A..

7 minutes ago, PackAttack said:

Yep, compared to where TT is today and how Polk has grown at Washington is like night and day. We never used Polk enough here, just like Dez and other great players at Lufkin. 

And 2nd tier players like Titan Williams. 

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.

46 minutes ago, PackAttack said:

Gilmer beat Carthage 47-44 in overtime on a QB sack and fumble. Breaks Carthage 29 game winning streak.

A ton of great game match ups tonight, several really good teams ended their season. How tough it is to win a title.

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.

22 minutes ago, PackAttack said:

Forney 43 Lancaster 41  OT Final

AMC 24 Smithson Valley 31 Final

Huntsville 14 PNG 24 Final 

Good run by the Hornets.

Aledo 56 Abilene 21 Final

Forney and Aledo next week in the semifinals.

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

10 minutes ago, PackAttack said:

A&M Consolidated 17  Smithson Valley 14 Halftime

Lancaster 21 Forney  14 Halftime

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? 

10 hours ago, PurpleNation said:

I think DCTF is going to look at returning starters first and Lufkin will have a bunch of them and they will look at how competitive we were against some really good teams and I think they will rank us pretty high. Somewhere in the top 10. Rightfully so or not I think we will have high expectations. How many returning starters do we have is up for debate. I do know we had 10 under classmen that started on defense against Lancaster. Now Menefee was hurt so realistically 9 that saw extensive time and another 5 that say decent playing time like Alexander. Offensively You have 4 WRs that started games during the season. A QB that's not really a starter but played some games and we expect upgrades the position. Gavin returns in the back field and Chinn started several games at H-Back down the stretch who is a really good lead blocker. If you count Gio coming back that's 3 on the offensive line. You have like like 7-8 kids that have started on varsity. The expectations are through the roof next season for me. They have no business not winning that district and I'll be honest Longview shouldn't beat them next year. I can't think of time we ever returned this many starters. If DeSoto does indeed opt up. I think we have a legitimate chance to win the title. That should be the mindset. I'm just telling you SR heavy teams that return a ton of players typically do well. Think about it. We nearly beat Lancaster with 17 kids that started that will be back next season. Lancaster is now 1 game from the semi-finals and we had Forney on the ropes most of the game. No excuses next season  PA. 

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. 

4 minutes ago, LufkinPack said:

Yup. I think they just cater to certain areas more than others. We fit into their “who cares” category lol 

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

44 minutes ago, PurpleNation said:

My son sent me this earlier this morning that is circulating in their group chat. Pretty sure this is the Padilla projection. I like it. Lufkin should be a problem for all these guys next season.

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. 

1 hour ago, PackAttack said:

We would be too if we ever have a team like that again.  The mountain climb is hard enough, it has to be perfect, some luck and hope injuries don't happen to your key people. Hard to beat good teams twice. Fans are understandably pissed. They LOVE King until he loses, then they want his head on a platter,  even some extremist are say they should have never hired him. He has won a bunch there, more than any other Longview coach. I wouldn't argue if they were coaching here, it's hard to be a HS coach, even in Lufkin. 

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. 

11 minutes ago, Packfan49 said:

I was watching that LV game and quit at the half, thinking Lancaster was done. Man I was shocked to see the final. Coach King and the LV team had a good season, but they see just how hard it is too  win it all.

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

8 hours ago, PackAttack said:

This schedule will only help elevate this team to see the level they need to be to beat the Red Oak's and the Dallas Kimball's of the world. Goodyear Millennium HS was as well coached, fast and quick as I have seen in years against the Panthers.  I wasn't able to attend the Duncanville game.  Millennium knew exactly where to be on the court in almost any situation, as I said, well coached. Then again, Lufkin is too. Lufkin came out stronger in the second half and made a couple mini runs however the Arizona team always had an answer.  McManus doing a great job of throwing  these players into the teeth of the lions den.  Makes this team tougher both mentally and physically, helps them to learn to gauge  their game.  These teams make Austin Brown almost look normal.  

So, I do not see either one of these losses as detrimental to the season, just the opposite. It will help this team go through district smooth as butter, and will not see anyone better than the last two teams they've already played in the playoffs.  Much better days are ahead.

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. 

16 hours ago, PurpleNation said:

Do you know if Lufkin will broadcast the Duncanville game? Also that team from Arizona has the highest rated kid in the tournament. A composite 5 star. Lufkin will have their hands full tomorrow.

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. 

1 hour ago, PackAttack said:

Carl Padilla has his 2024 5A DI district alignment predictions out for 2024.   I don't have a subscription any longer, so maybe one you guys out there might have a subscription to the site.

Is he usually accurate or close?

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

12 minutes ago, mr. b said:

Actually the search firm selects who they see as the best fit.  Since they are probably paying that firm in the area of 50k, it would be ironic if an insider is hired.  Why pay 50k to find out stephens is the best fit? But I guess that wouldn’t surprise me either.  

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

20 hours ago, PackAttack said:

Well, first do not think any changes will happen anytime soon, and when they do happen the district will give it to someone who is already here. The circle will continue to be the same. We may be in a more compatible district the next two years, so we may make the playoffs, there is no guarantee of much else, which will only pacify the Admin. If PN is right, next year may be a big year, that wheel is spinning. In the mean time, it's  off season again.

I have to say, It will be nice to have an RPO QB again, really want to see what Javion Johnson can do the next two years. Maybe Wallace comes home. There is that potential on paper to have a really good team. It's the other side that I don't trust. If they have convinced the board they are coaching their best and its the lack of talent, then the admin are as dense as a box of rocks. LOL. I'll tell ya later where I heard that phase. 

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.

9 minutes ago, PackAttack said:

Yea, never mind is right, for like the 6th year in a row. There is really nothing to say. For myself?, there are some decisions to be made by me on whether I contine to follow Panther football.  It's just a terrible disappointment to our Community that this continues year after year, and nothing is ever done.  How many fans are the district leaders finally willing to lose before they see a need for change? Are we expected to accept and endure this continued failure to make the playoffs? From the outside looking in, it really does seem the district leaders are fine with the current situation. Unless, they can't do anything, and are contractually bound. Much as they were with Superintendent Torres. I know the team was closer in key games this year, but it didn't use to be that way around here, it is now. Close was never good enough. It's just a real mess, and the players, and especially the Panther fans are paying for it. Literally!

Is Quick contract on a per year basis like teachers? 

44 minutes ago, Dawg78 said:

I hear ya', but don't think a team that is supposed to be far superior should struggle too much with travel. My point is that LaPorte has been at best a 5-5, but mostly 2-8 football team over the past 6 or so years, so what made the difference...it wasn't travel? I listened to an interview of their superintendent of schools and how he and the board are committed to winning at all sports. They were used to winning and could not stomach losing so they went after a top tier coaching staff and did not play a home game all year because they tore down their 65 year old stadium and are in the process of building a state-of-the-art facility, with bond plus their own money. He went on to say how he and the board traveled to different stadiums to get an idea of what that should look like. Lancaster faced a young but talented team with a school, school board and community that wants them to win and putting their money where their mouth is. That used to be Lufkin. The LaPorte QB is a soph and his backup is a freshman...they play the most talented...hmmm.

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.