Central Texas High School Football Tour

This week marks the return of high school football to Texas. As a football junkie, I love spending Fall Friday evenings going to high schools to watch the incredible talent displayed on the field each week. For this year, I plan to attend a game in the Austin/San Antonio area each week and use this blog as a forum to discuss that game and Texas high school football in general. A key piece of this blog's success will be your contributions. If you have scores, comments, photos, videos, or articles relevant to high school football in Central Texas, please post them. *Note: As author of this blog, I reserve the right to remove or block content that I deem inappropriate and/or irrelevant. That being said, the first stop on my tour will be at Vandegrift High School on Friday evening for their showdown with Elgin. If last season is any indication, this game has potential to be a good one. Vandegrift enters the game ranked No. 9 in the AP Texas High School Football Preseason Poll coming off a 12-3 season last year making it all the way to the 5A D1 semifinals before losing to eventual runner-up Temple. Replicating last season's success will not be easy as the Vipers will compete in a loaded District 25-5A which includes fellow Leander ISD rivals and perennial powerhouses Cedar Park (5A D2 runner-up) and Vista Ridge. The Vipers play Cedar Park on October 16 in what could be an instant classic. In addition, the Vipers' non-district schedule includes road trips to Abilene Cooper and Killeen. Elgin, meanwhile, is coming off a 7-5 finish that saw them advance one round into the 5A D2 playoffs before losing a close one to Brenham. Like Vandegrift, Elgin will be competing in a loaded District 17-5A which includes perennial powerhouses Hutto and Temple. Fortunately for the Wildcats, they get to face Hutto, Temple, and local rivals Manor at home.

Roswell upsets Wheeler

A short clip of first-half action from last Friday's Region 5-AAAAAA showdown in Roswell in which the home-team Roswell Hornets beat the visiting perennial powerhouse Wheeler Wildcats 58-57. This video was taken with the video camera on my Droid Razr HD, hence some of the shaky spots. 

Johns Creek Rolls Over Woodstock in Season Opener

High school football kicked off in Georgia Thursday night with the Johns Creek Gladiators traveling to Towne Lake to take on the Woodstock Wolverines.  For Johns Creek, the season got off to a very promising start with a 28-0 rout of Woodstock.  The Gladiators used their tremendous size advantage to run the ball almost at-will while shutting down Woodstock's offense. Quarterback Skye Overton ran for 151 yards on 18 attempts and scored three touchdowns while completing 9 of 19 passing attempts for 104 yards.  Running back Matt Azemar also scored a touchdown on a 50-yard carry in the second quarter.  Senior defensive back Max Keeton was the lone bright spot for Woodstock blocking three Johns Creek field goal attempts.

Max Keeton blocks his first of 3 FG attempts

Johns Creek QB Skye Overton trying to shake off Woodstock defenders

Woodstock will look to bounce back from their defeat next Friday when they host Harrison.  Johns Creek has a bye next week before traveling to Milton on September 7.

High School Football Returns to Georgia on Thursday Night

While many football teams in Georgia are still holding scrimmages this week, the Woodstock Wolverines will kick off their regular season at home Thursday night against the Johns Creek Gladiators. Kick-off is at 7:00pm Thursday with a delayed telecast beginning at 7:30pm on WSB TV-2. Woodstock High School is located at 2110 Towne Lake Hills South Drive Woodstock, GA 30189.

The Wolverines are coming off a 4-6 finish last season in which they only won one region game. Following GHSA realignment, the Wolverines will compete in Region 5 of the newly formed class AAAAAA. Despite the change in classification, Region 5-AAAAAA closely resembles last year's Region 5-AAAAA except that Marietta will be in Region 4-AAAAAA and will be replaced by Roswell and Milton. This year's schedule will be tough for the Wolverines as they will face perennial powerhouses Kell, Walton, and Lassiter on the road and back-to-back with a bye week between the games at Kell and Walton.  After a three-game home stand that includes Cherokee, Roswell, and arch-rival Etowah, the Wolverines will finish the season on the road against Wheeler and Milton.

Woodstock Wolverines 2012 Football Schedule:

08/23 Johns Creek
08/31 Harrison
09/07 @ Kell
09/21 @ Walton
09/28 @ Lassiter
10/05 Cherokee
10/19 Roswell
10/26 Etowah
11/02 @ Wheeler
11/09 @ Milton  

The Gladiators, meanwhile, finished 9-2 last season losing to Flowery Branch in the first round of the AAAA playoffs.  This year the Gladiators will likely experience growing pains as they move up to Region 6-AAAAAA.  The Gladiators' schedule will feature several familiar opponents as Lambert, South Forsyth, and arch-rival Chattahoochee will also move up from the old Region 7-AAAA.  New region opponents include Alpharetta, Roswell Centennial, West Forsyth, and North Forsyth. In addition to their opener at Woodstock, the Gladiators' non-region games include contests at Milton and at home against Roswell. In all, six of the Gladiators' opponents made the playoffs last season.

Johns Creek Gladiators 2012 Football Schedule:

08/23 @ Woodstock
09/07 @ Milton
09/14 Roswell
09/21 Centennial
09/28 @ Chattahoochee
10/12 @ West Forsyth
10/19 Lambert
10/26 South Forsyth
11/02 @ North Forsyth
11/09 Alpharetta