23 high school football playoff tidbits for the regional semifinal round | Duncan

Four area high school football teams will be playing past Thanksgiving.

Benjamin is two-fifths away from defending its Class A Division II title, while Rider is the last WFISD team standing. There’s guaranteed to be one area team remaining next week because No. 7 Holliday and No. 9 Jacksboro square off in the Region II-3A Division II bracket.

All four will be continuing their 2023 season on Friday. In their honor, here are 23 area and regional playoff notes to impress your family at the dinner table and get you ready for the action.

1) Rider will be making its fifth regional semifinal appearance in the past six years, and the Raiders are 4-0 since 2018 in this round, having beaten Canyon Randall twice (2018, 2020) and Wichita Falls High School (2019) and Canutillo (2021) once each.

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2) The Raiders didn’t break through to the state quarterfinals until 2004 under Scott Ponder. If Rider gets past Frisco Emerson on Friday, it’ll mark the 11th time in the past 20 seasons the Raiders have gone four rounds deep.

3) Holliday is no stranger to lengthy postseason runs, either. This marks the seventh straight year the Eagles are playing in the regional semifinals. They are 4-2 in the past six with the losses coming against Gunter in 2017 and an Eastland team in 2020 quarterbacked by current Texas Tech starter Behren Morton.

4) Jacksboro’s last regional round appearance occurred in 2017 when New Diana edged the Tigers 49-48 at Frisco’s Star. The last time the Tigers advanced to the state quarterfinals was in 2001 when they lost to Van Alstyne 47-21, although they needed to win two games to get to the quarterfinals that season.

5) By throttling Bells, Jacksboro improved to 12-0. It’s the first time the Tigers have won 12 games in a season since a 14-1 mark during their 1971 state championship. That team lost to Azle in the regular season so this year’s Jacksboro squad is the first to win 12 straight since the 1969 state semifinalist Tigers (13-1).

6) All-area meetings in the third round or later at the 11-man level are rare. The last time it happened was the Rider-WFHS matchup in 2019. Before that was the Munday-Windthorst state quarterfinal thriller in 2011.

7) The city has been spoiled with quality football recently as this year marks the second time in the past six seasons only one WFISD team advanced three rounds deep. Rider was also the only team standing at this point in 2020, too.

8) Pigskinprep.com is predicting three close games on Friday. Emerson is an eight-point favorite over Rider, while Holliday is a two-point favorite over Jacksboro and Benjamin is a one-point underdog against Jayton. Sixmanfootball.com has Benjamin as a five-point favorite.

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9) Emerson is a second-year program with three playoff games in its school history — last year’s first-round loss to Colleyville Heritage and this year’s wins against Grapevine (34-24) and Canutillo (44-0). Meanwhile, Friday will mark Rider’s 76th playoff game (46-28-1 all-time) and coach Marc Bindel’s 30th postseason matchup since he took over in 2014. Bindel is 20-9 in those elimination games.

10) This is the third playoff meeting between Holliday and Jacksboro. Two years ago, the Eagles whipped the Tigers 63-12 in the first round in Graham. The schools also tied 21-21 in a 1991 bi-district meeting with Holliday advancing on penetrations, 4-3.

11) Rider holds a 1-1 record this year against teams still alive in the postseason, having beaten Decatur 38-14 and lost to Stephenville 21-20 in non-district. Jacksboro, Holliday and Benjamin are all 1-0. The Tigers have a 30-22 district victory over Comanche, while the Eagles own a 19-0 non-district win over Idalou. Benjamin has a 72-27 rout of Abilene Christian, which is playing Lucas Christian in the TAPPS Division II semifinals this week.

12) Graham, which recorded double-digit wins for the eighth time since 2007, has two victories over teams still alive (Springtown, Glen Rose). Other eliminated schools with a win over a current playoff team include Iowa Park (Clyde), Nocona (Tioga) and Knox City (Westbrook).

13) Much of the Raiders’ offensive success has had to do with Kenji Johnson (1,510 yards, 16 TDs) and Elijah Jackson (700 yards, 18 TDs) running behind a stellar offensive line. One impressive stat is that neither has fumbled the ball in a combined 269 carries. But the fact that the Raiders are outrushing their opponents by 174 yards per game may be the most impressive stat.

14) With 284 passing yards against Bells, senior quarterback Lando Belcher became the second area signal-caller to eclipse the 9,000-yard career mark, joining Graham’s Case McCoy (10,475 yards from 2006-09). Belcher’s 3,508 yards in 2023 are the fifth-most in an area single season, trailing only Graham’s Tucker Horn (4,271 yards in 2017), McCoy (4,237 in 2009), Rider’s Blake Szymanski (4,083 in 2004) and Graham’s Ben Davis (3,837 in 2013).

Belcher’s favorite target — junior Cannon Valenzuela — has 1,276 receiving yards, which is four yards shy of cracking the single-season area Top 10 list. Rider’s David Nelson, who later won two national titles at Florida, has the most yards in a season with 1,634 in 2004.

15) While not as prolific as Belcher, Holliday’s Grant Cox is having a special senior season, having thrown for 2,431 yards and 30 touchdowns after not playing football a year ago. Cox’s yardage total is presumed to be an Eagle single-season school record. His career passing stats before this year: 5 of 11 for 32 yards.

16) Hirschi’s heartbreaking 37-36 loss to Seminole was the second time in two weeks a WFISD school was eliminated after holding a double-digit halftime lead. The Huskies were 7-3 over the past three seasons in the playoffs with an impressive 28.3-point average margin of victory and two narrow setbacks (38-35 to Stephenville in the 2021 semifinals is the other). Hirschi’s program finishes with an all-time playoff record of 27-28-1.

17) Benjamin’s 112-84 win last week over Newcastle was not only the highest-scoring six-man game this season, it also marked the first time the Mustangs had to play the entire 40 minutes. During Benjamin’s 26-game winning streak, only one other occasion has the Mustangs not won via the 45-point mercy rule — a 61-30 non-district victory over Loraine in 2022.

18) Roscoe’s 50-22 victory over Windthorst ended the Trojans’ streak of four straight seasons with a regional semifinal appearance. It also kept Chris Tackett from achieving a coaching milestone. Tackett will enter 2024 with a 99-52 record in his 12 seasons leading the Trojans.

19) No. 1 Gunter’s 83-6 victory over City View was the biggest margin ever seen in an area playoff game. However, it's not the most points an area 11-man team has allowed in the postseason. Iowa Park surrendered 88 points to Brownwood in a 2010 bi-district matchup.

20) Eleven of the 12 state champions from last year are still alive to defend their title. China Spring (4A Division I) is the exception after the Cougars lost to Anna 45-21. Only two of the 11 aren’t double-digit favorites this week according to pigskinprep.com — Carthage (one-point favorite vs. Pleasant Grove) and Benjamin.

21) Memorial Stadium hosts its fifth playoff game of 2023 when Abilene takes on Justin Northwest at 7 p.m. Friday. Red Oak’s 35-28 last-minute victory over Amarillo on Saturday was the closest of the first four. Abilene’s last appearance at Memorial was a memorable one as the Eagles should have upset eventual 2016 6A Division II champion DeSoto, allowing two late touchdowns in a 49-45 heartbreaker.

22) Vernon hosted two blowouts with similar scores last week — Bushland whipped Whitesboro 60-19 and Paradise routed Dalhart 61-14. Now the No. 5 Falcons and No. 9 Panthers will return to Lion Stadium at 6 p.m. Friday in what should be a much closer game.

23) Multiple former area head coaches are guiding teams into the third round with one 6A Division II showdown headlining the group. Former Hirschi coach Antonio Wiley has Coppell 12-0 for the second time in program history. The Cowboys will face Byron Nelson, led by Travis Pride (WFHS head coach from 2006-08) in a 3:30 p.m. Saturday game at Arlington’s Choctaw Stadium.

Keith Ivy (Seymour/Electra) has Aubrey in the third round for the fourth straight season as the Chaparrals take on Gilmer in Region II-4A Division II, while Gordon’s Mike Reed (two titles with Throckmorton) has his top-ranked Longhorns playing No. 3 Abbott in the 1A Division I quarterfinals.

It’s also worth noting Clyde standout quarterback Blake Carr is the son of Jayme Carr, a Rider grad who served on Jayson Lavender’s Old High staff. Clyde gets Brock in the first Friday game at Graham.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: 23 high school football playoff tidbits for Wichita Falls area | Duncan