Dawg78

Lufkin wins Game #1 6-4 Here is a better broadcast https://www.meridix.com/event/249851

R16 Porter (24-6-1) Vs. T15 Texas High (15-9) Porter 1 Texas High 0 Porter 7 Texas High 3 (PORTER ADVANCES)

W16 Lufkin (20-7) Vs. F15 Mt. Pleasant (18-9) Lufkin 8 Mt. Pleasant 1 Lufkin 2 Mt. Pleasant 1 (LUFKIN ADVANCES) R13 McKinney North (19-5-1) Vs. T14 Ennis (15-11-2) McKinney North 2 Ennis 0 Ennis 5 McKinney North 3 McKinney North 3 Ennis 0 (MCKINNEY NORTH ADVANCES) W15 Whitehouse (23-7) Vs. F16 Huntsville (16-13) Whitehouse 9 Huntsville 0 Whitehouse 1 Huntsville 0 (WHITEHOUSE ADVANCES) R15 Hallsville (19-9) Vs. T16 Kingwood Park (22-9) Kingwood Park 4 Hallsville 3 Hallsville 4 Kingwood Park 3 Hallsville 2 Kingwood Park 1 (HALLSVILLE ADVANCES)

Thank goodness not in 11-6A

For sure. Although I played for LaPorte, I'll continue to be in support of the Panthers 100%....

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.

By my standards? Lancaster was ranked a top 10 team pretty much all year, even with their losses because of who they lost to and their talent and history. I know who Lancaster is and they have been a force for a while. This LaPorte team hasn't seen a PO since 2017 (went through 3 of 4 coaching changes). The score could have easily been 20-20 in the 4Q except for dropped TD pass by LP. I did watch the game. As it turned out Lancaster went on to score to end it. Obviously, a win is always good if even only by +1 and don't believe I made any reference about being statistically close meaning anything? Don't believe in moral victories. LaPorte probably wasn't the #1 team in 8-5A and got there by virtue of PAM losses and a win early in the season over Barber's Hill. I'd say Barber's Hill was probably the strongest at the end, ask Mac North. I believe it's only year #2 or #3 for their new coaching staff so I'd say that's pretty remarkable. Played for LaPorte under Coach Carroll Lundin back in the day so naturally I was pulling for them since there was no Pack team to follow. Been a Lufkin season ticket holder for over 30 years and been attending Panther games for 40+ years. I appreciate your comments and they are true, but Lancaster, which is full of D1 talent and a huge size advantage had their hands full with a very young, unknown upstart LaPorte team. I honestly thought LaPorte was going to get blown out...so forgive me if I praise a team that showed up to play! You should have watched it, it was a good game and only decided late in the 4th.

Towards the end of the season Barber's Hill was hitting their stride. They play Richland next and I saw a couple of Richland games in Birdville and they are pretty good - ought to be a good game. LaPorte pretty much shut down Lacey; however, Lancaster shut down the Bulldog running game, as they did ours. Lancaster had about 5 or 6 unsportsmanlike penalties, it got pretty chippy, and LaPorte had a few really bad calls that went Lancaster's way and gave them an edge late. It was a good game and the score does not reflect how close it really was. I think LaPorte has 14 sophomores on Varsity including their starting QB, they are very young and gave Lancaster all they could handle. LaPorte brought in an elite coaching staff and it's making a huge difference as this is their first PO appearance since 2017.