ARLINGTON, Texas — The road to AT&T Stadium has been mapped out. Who will make the journey, and claim a state championship?
After the strangest high school football season to date, the playoffs are finally set in 5A and 6A. In six weeks, we'll be crowning state champions.
Will we see another Duncanville-North Shore classic in 6A-Division I? Who is the favorite in a wide-open 6A-Division II? Can Denton Ryan finally take that final step, and claim their first state title since 2002? And will the winner of Ennis-Aledo have enough left in the tank to finish the job in 5A-Division II?
Or how about the gauntlet in 5A-Division II's Region III, with No. 3 Fort Bend Marshall, No. 4 Huntsville, and No. 5 Texarkana Texas High all likely to face one another in the regional semis and regional finals.
Will it be Manvel or Cedar Park in the state semifinals in 5A-Division I? Or can someone spring an upset?
Is there a better region in Texas than Region III, across the top four divisions?
We break it down
Tuesday at 2:30 p.m., our TEGNA Texas team will break down the postseason, as 64 teams from each division gear up for what they hope will be a six-game run to a championship.
Matt Musil from KHOU in Houston, Jeff Jones from KVUE in Austin, Joe Reinagel from KENS in San Antonio, and Mike Leslie from WFAA in Dallas will dive into the best matchups and the top teams in each region, and give their picks for who will walk away with a state championship.
In 6A-Division I, it is wide open. No. 2 Duncanville and No. 1 North Shore are the favorites to return to the title game, sure.
But they will both have incredibly difficult paths to get there. The top-ranked Mustangs will likely have a path something like this, just to get to the state semifinals: state-ranked Pearland Dawson team in the second round; the winner of No. 16 Cy-Fair and No. 6 Katy Tompkins in the third round; and state-ranked Atascocita in the regional final.
Plainly put, Region III is absolutely stacked.
Duncanville, meanwhile, likely will have to contend with 17th-ranked Spring Westfield, and whoever survives the bottom half of the bracket, between No. 18 Rockwall, No. 11 DeSoto, and No. 15 Spring.
Region II is no picnic.
Region I features a quartet of ranked teams, and some major question marks, too. Will No. 19 Southlake Carroll have superstar quarterback Quinn Ewers back from injury? Can No. 4 Allen play enough defense to get back to the state semis? Could No. 14 Arlington Martin or No. 23 Euless Trinity spring an upset and get a state semifinal?
And in Region IV, there is a juicy rematch of district rivals looming in the regional final, as we could see No. 3 Austin Westlake and No. 5 Lake Travis square off for a berth in the semis.
And that's only if No. 24 Round Rock or Cibolo Steele don't stand in their way.
Breakdowns like this, and more, for each of the top four classifications, plus, we're talking about the small schools as well, as 1A thru 4A gear up for their state semifinals.
Kurtis Quillin from KCEN in Waco will join us to help diagnose the Final Four, as the eight smallest classifications crown a champion over the next two weeks.
