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Texas high school football is back, and programs in the Dallas-area will begin taking the field this week.
Here are 10 Dallas-area players to watch during Week 1 of the 2024 Texas high school football season.
McKinney at Frisco Emerson, 7 p.m. Thursday at the Ford Center at The Star
The five-star Ohio State pledge is the No. 2-ranked linebacker in Texas and had an extraordinary 125 tackles as a junior to go with eight sacks. He will be facing an Emerson team that averaged 51.9 points per game — best among area 5A schools — and 450.8 yards of total offense during a run to the Class 5A Division II state semifinals.
Sachse at Coppell, 7 p.m. Friday
The Baylor pledge threw for 288 yards and five touchdowns in last year’s 44-41 win over Sachse, and he had four touchdown passes in the second half. This could be another high-scoring affair, as Sachse ranked fifth among area 6A teams in passing (271.6 yards per game) and returns five-star Texas pledge Kaliq Lockett, the nation’s No. 3-ranked wide receiver who had five catches for 154 yards and a touchdown against Coppell last year.
Lake Highlands at Forney, 7 p.m. Friday at City Bank Stadium
The four-star junior is rated the fourth-best running back in the nation in the Class of 2026 after he ran for 2,204 yards and 38 touchdowns as Forney reached its first state semifinal since 2002. Forney has moved up to Class 6A in realignment, and its first game in the new classification will be against a Lake Highlands team that is coming off a 9-3 season — the third time in four years that it has won at least nine games.
Argyle at Frisco Lone Star, 7 p.m. Friday at the Ford Center at The Star
Lone Star four-star running back Davian Groce gets a ton of attention, and rightfully so after he had a combined 1,796 yards and 22 touchdowns rushing and receiving as a sophomore last year. But Jones, a four-star Texas Tech pledge, is rated the 12th-best wide receiver in Texas and had 64 catches for 1,092 yards and 15 touchdowns in an offense that ranked fourth among area 5A teams in passing yards per game (244.8).
Red Oak at Colleyville Heritage, 7 p.m. Friday at Mustang-Panther Stadium
The four-star Baylor pledge had six 100-yard games en route to amassing 80 catches for 1,251 yards and 14 touchdowns. There should be plenty of fireworks in the passing game, as Colleyville Heritage ranked second in passing yards per game and Red Oak was third among area 5A teams last year.
Ennis at Waxahachie, 7 p.m. Friday
Going into the 103rd meeting between these teams, the all-time series is tied 50-50-2 in the “Battle of 287.” Harris, an Oklahoma pledge who is the fifth-ranked wide receiver in the Dallas area, will try to help Ennis end a two-game losing streak in the series.
Aledo at Denton Guyer, 7:30 p.m. Friday at C.H. Collins Complex
The four-star Oklahoma pledge makes his Guyer debut after transferring from Carl Albert (Okla.), where he accounted for 42 touchdowns for Oklahoma’s Class 5A state champion. He will face an Aledo team that has won back-to-back Class 5A Division I state titles and beat Guyer 48-45 last year on a field goal on the last play of the game.
South Oak Cliff at Galena Park North Shore, 7:30 p.m. Friday
Phillips had 95 tackles, 22 tackles for loss and 14 sacks as a sophomore and has picked up offers from Ohio State, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas A&M, among others. He will look to slow down a prolific North Shore offense led by star quarterback Kaleb Bailey, who accounted for 52 touchdowns and 4,244 yards of total offense for last year’s Class 6A Division I state runner-up.
North Crowley vs. Lancaster, 2 p.m. Saturday at the Ford Center at The Star
The North Texas pledge is one of the state’s most dangerous dual-threat quarterbacks, as he showed last year when he threw for 3,092 yards and 40 touchdowns and ran for 1,105 yards and 12 touchdowns to lead North Crowley to its first state semifinal since 2003. Jimerson accounted for at least three touchdowns in 11 of North Crowley’s 15 games, and he had one game with seven touchdown passes and two other games in which he accounted for six touchdowns.
Creekside (Ga.) at DeSoto, 5 p.m. Saturday
The four-star Texas A&M pledge has had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons despite missing five games and getting only 137 carries last season during an injury plagued junior year. He is healthy now and makes DeSoto’s offense even more explosive than a year ago, when it averaged 53.4 points and 516.2 yards of total offense while winning its second straight Class 6A Division II state title.
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When the betting lines opened for Notre Dame’s trip to Texas A&M for the season opener, the Aggies were favored by 1.5 points by most outlets.
Last week our very own Mason Plummer took a look at how the betting line had swelled to 3 points and examined why money was seemingly coming in like crazy on Texas A&M.
Having just took a look at FanDuel upon posting this Sunday night, that number has shrunk a hair as Texas A&M is now listed as a 2.5-point favorite in Saturday night’s showdown.
The following odds are courtesy of Fan Duel as of 10:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 25.
The Line: Texas A&M -2.5
Total: 46.5 points
Moneylines: Texas A&M -146, Notre Dame +122
The drop from 3 to 2.5 would indicate that more money began coming in on Notre Dame after the line climbed to three in Texas A&M’s favor. It’s important to remember the sportsbook isn’t looking at exactly what they think is going to happen, but instead what number draws equal money on both sides to guarantee victory for them.
Notre Dame and Texas A&M square off on Saturday night, Aug. 31 at 7:30 p.m. ET in a game that can be seen on ABC.
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Texas at the 2024 LLWS: Meet the Boerne Little League team
Meet Team Texas from Boerne. Discover its journey from a small town to the grand stage in Williamsport at the 2024 Little League World Series.
Rise and shine, Texans: Boerne Little League has one more game at the 2024 Little League World Series.
After an impressive 4-0 start to the tournament, Texas lost to Florida in the United States title game Saturday afternoon and falls into the third-place game. The Southwest Region champions, who had a double-digit win streak snapped yesterday, will play the Latin America champions, Venezuela. Cardenales Little League won games Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to make the international title game.
Then Venezuela lost to an undefeated Chinese Taipei team to land in the early game Sunday. Florida and Chinese Taipei will play Sunday afternoon for the 2024 Little League Baseball World Series crown.
WATCH THE LLWS FOR FREE ON FUBO
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But you can still follow along with the Texas team Sunday. Caden Guffey could be tapped to pitch after ace Julian Hurst will be required to rest (he left the mound Saturday with reported shoulder pain but remained in the lineup as a batter).
Scroll down for live updates for Boerne Little League vs. Cardenales Little League:
Updates coming soon…
Who: Boerne Little League (Southwest Region champions) vs. Cardenales Little League (Latin America champions).
What: Little League World Series Game 37.
When: 9 a.m. Sunday.
Where: Williamsport, Pa.
TV: ESPN2.
Streaming: Watch ESPN.
Boerne LL will play it’s last game Sunday morning. It will try to avoid the same fate as last year’s Southwest Region champion out of Needville, Texas. The Houston-area team made it to the U.S. final then lost twice to end it’s run in Williamsport.
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Kaleb Christ
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Gray Collins
Dylan Burke
Aiden Muñoz
Gage Steubing
Kole Newson
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Julian Hurst
Ben Burkhart
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Caden Guffey
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The coaches are Jonathan Collins and Bert Muñoz. Justin Newson is the manager.
Boerne, a city in Texas Hill Country, is about 30 miles northwest of San Antonio and 90 minutes southwest of Austin. The Kendall County city has a population of about 20,000.
Texas has only made the finals of the LLWS once since 2001, with Lufkin LL finishing as the tournament runner-up in 2017. The last time Texas won the title was in 1966 with Westbury LL, a team based out of Houston. Last year, the Needville, Texas team lost in the U.S. finals.
The LLBWS has two brackets, one for the 10 United States regional champions, and one for the 10 International Regional champions.
All game listed in CT
Game 37: Texas vs. Venezuela, 9 a.m. ESPN2
Game 38: Florida vs. Chinese Taipei, 2 p.m. ABC
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