Here are five storylines to watch in Week 6 of the Texas high school football season. Several schools have their bye this week, including the top three Class 6A teams in the area — North Crowley, Duncanville and DeSoto — as well as five-time state champion Allen.
Top two teams in the state collide
Denton Ryan and Aledo have met four times in their history, and each time the winner went on to reach the state championship game that season.
That bodes well for the winner of Friday’s highly anticipated showdown when No. 1 Denton Ryan plays at No. 2 Aledo at 7 p.m. in a matchup of the top two Class 5A Division I teams in the state.
Denton Ryan and Aledo met for the first two times in their history in regional final playoff games in 2002 and 2003, with Ryan winning both times. Ryan went on to win the 4A Division II state title in 2002 and lost 43-35 to La Marque in triple overtime in a legendary 4A Division II state championship game in 2003.
Aledo’s first win over Denton Ryan was 35-21 in a district game in 2022, and Aledo went on to win the 5A Division I state title. Aledo beat Ryan again last year, 25-19 in district play, during a 16-0 season that ended with Aledo winning its UIL-record 12th state championship.
Aledo (4-1, 3-0 District 3-5A Division I) enters this week’s game having won 122 district games in a row, and four-star running back Raycine Guillory Jr. is averaging nearly 100 yards per game on the ground and four-star wide receiver Kaydon Finley has 28 catches for 488 yards and eight touchdowns. Denton Ryan (4-0, 2-0) has been extraordinary against the run, allowing just 26 yards per game, and overall its defense has been one of the best in the area, allowing 13.8 points and 146.5 yards of total offense per game.
Elite quarterbacks go head-to-head
It is only the second week of district play in 5-6A, but Friday’s game between Coppell (4-0, 1-0) and Denton Guyer (3-1, 1-0) at 7 p.m. at the C.H. Collins Complex in Denton could end up deciding the district title. Coppell won a district title last year and has won 13 district games in a row.
Two of the top quarterbacks in the Dallas area will go head-to-head, with Oklahoma pledge Kevin Sperry of Guyer ranked No. 2 at his position in D-FW and Baylor pledge Edward Griffin ranked No. 8. Griffin has thrown 13 touchdown passes, tied for fifth-most among area 6A players, while Sperry has 10 touchdown passes.
Grueling stretch for Melissa
Melissa, ranked No. 6 in the area in 5A, will play four area-ranked teams in a five-game stretch. That began Friday with a 21-18 win over Anna, now ranked No. 14 in the area, as Melissa forced three turnovers and three-star quarterback Noah Schuback threw two touchdown passes to Brett Pool.
This week, Melissa will play at No. 10 Lovejoy at 7:30 p.m. Friday in a matchup of two of the most prolific offenses in the area. Lovejoy, with quarterback Jacob Janecek accounting for 19 touchdowns (16 passing) in four games, is averaging 50.5 points and 449.5 yards of total offense per game.
Melissa averages 45.8 points and 471.4 yards as Noah Schuback has thrown 17 touchdown passes and Jacob Nye has 25 catches for 494 yards and nine scores. Melissa will play at No. 8 Frisco Emerson on Oct. 25 and will host No. 7 Prosper Walnut Grove on Nov. 1.
A sweep of those four games would likely give Melissa (4-1, 3-0) the District 4-5A Division II title. Melissa, Walnut Grove (4-0, 2-0) and Lovejoy (2-2, 2-0) are all unbeaten in district play.
Expect a lot of fireworks
One of the highest scoring games of Week 6 could be Jesuit at Richardson Pearce, 7 p.m. Friday at Eagle-Mustang Stadium. Pearce is averaging 339 passing yards per game — second-most among area 6A teams — as Presley Harper has thrown for 1,326 yards and 13 touchdowns, with only one interception.
Harper accounted for five touchdowns and 474 total yards, including 422 passing yards, in last week’s 55-49 loss to Lake Highlands. Jesuit quarterback Charlie Peters accounted for five touchdowns in last week’s 49-20 rout of Irving, and he has 42 touchdown passes since the start of the 2023 season.
Jesuit (2-2, 1-0) is expected to challenge Lake Highlands (2-2, 1-0) for the District 7-6A title, but a win by Pearce (2-2, 0-1) on Friday could shake up the district race.
Creekview has shot at school history
The feel-good story of the 2024 season has been Carrollton Creekview, which is 5-0 under new head coach Dusty Ortiz after finishing 0-10 last season and entering this year with a 21-game losing streak. Creekview needs three more wins to tie the school record for most victories in a season — set by the 2001, 2014 and 2015 teams — and it has a shot at its first district title since 2015.
Creekview is 3-0 in District 6-5A Division I and is tied with West Mesquite (5-0, 3-0) for first place, with Carrollton Newman Smith (3-1, 2-0) a half-game back and W.T. White (4-1, 2-1) one game behind. Creekview has a critical game against W.T. White at 7 p.m. Thursday at Standridge Stadium, but then doesn’t play West Mesquite (Oct. 24) and Newman Smith (Nov. 8) until its final two games of the regular season.
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