NORTHEAST TEXAS FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS

HOOKS (8-2) vs. WINNSBORO (6-4)

SITE, TIME: Pittsburg’s Pirate Stadium, 7:30 p.m.

AT STAKE: Class 3A, Div. I bi-district championship.

GAME FACTS: Hooks averages 37.0 points per game and gives up an average of 21.5 points. Winnsoboro has given up an average of 20.1 and is scoring 32.5 points per contest. The Hornets are averaging 271.2 rushing yards per game and 123.8 yards through the air. Hooks runs a spread offense and a 4-3 defense.

COACH’S COMMENTS: Hooks’ Chris Birdwell—

“Winnsboro has good size and will probably be the biggest team that we’ve played. They mirror us a lot. They have some tough kids, and they get after it on defense. We are familiar with one another; it will be a good game. They run the Wing-T and Slot-T offenses. It’s uncommon for a team to run both. They don’t throw it much and try to keep their offense on the field by grinding it out.

“Our main concentration on defense will be to try to get Winnsboro in a third-and-long. We want to make the play on first and second down to get them to do what they don’t really want to do. We are not going to change much. We are just gonna work on getting better with what we’re doing. The kids are excited. Most of them have been to the playoffs. They’ve handled it well, and the seniors have done a great job in leading us. It will be business as usual.”

NEXT ROUND: Winner will face either Madison or Rains in the area round.

HUGHES SPRINGS (8-2) vs. GLADEWATER (7-3)

SITE, TIME: Pine Tree’s Pirate Stadium, 7:30 p.m.

AT STAKE: Class 3A, Div. I bi-district championship.

GAME FACTS: Hughes Springs is averaging 31.3 points per contests and gives up an average of 18.3. Gladewater is giving up 21.2 points on average and is scoring 27.9 points. The Mustangs offense is centered around the run. Hughes Springs runs a multiple Slot-T offense and a 4-2-5 defense.

COACH’S COMMENTS: Hughes Springs’ Chris

Edwards—“The word was that Gladewater struggled early in the year, but they’ve really put it together down the stretch. They are physical. They are going to do what they do, and they do it well. They will come right at us downhill and make us play good defense. On defense, that is where they hang their hat. Gladewater tackles well, lines up well, is aggressive and their line is as good as we’ve seen.

“Because of discipline issues, we lost a starter. We had another kid who got two personal fouls in our last football game. In my opinion, the second one was not a personal foul. But I had to wonder why he got the first one. He will not be playing in this game. At one of our team meetings, I challenge each player to rise up. They can’t keep their heads in the mud and be sad about it. We have the opportunity that 56 other teams don’t have; that is to play another week. Making the playoffs is special and a blessing. I pointed out that each player can do one thing that is better such as being aggressive every play and not just when you’re feeling good. Find a groove and stay in it. I think we have come a lot closer as a team this week.

“Tuesday’s practice was fantastic and everything went well. We aren’t intimidated or scared. We are going to get off the bus and give Gladewater our best football game and see what happens.”

NEXT ROUND: Winner will face either Van Alstyne or Life Oak Cliff in the area round.

PAUL PEWITT (9-1) at CORRIGAN-CAMDEN (6-4)

SITE, TIME: Bulldog Stadium,7:30 p.m.

AT STAKE: Class 3A, Div. II bi-district championship.

GAME FACTS: Paul Pewitt has scored an average of 42.7 points per game and gives up 20.1 points on average. Corrigan-Camden is giving up 20.9 points on average and is scoring 22.8 points. The

Brahmas average 424.8 rushing yards per game. Pewitt runs a spread offense and a 3-4 defense.

COACH’S COMMENTS: Paul Pewitt’s Triston Abron—

“Corrigan-Camden is young at some spots, but, up front, I am impressed with their size. Their defensive line and linebackers play really well and fast. They have a couple of running backs that they roll through that have their own dynamic to bring to the offense. I think they are a very sound football team. They do a good job schematically, from an offensive standpoint, to try to outflank teams. They will move bodies around on the offensive line and will try to move their backs around. Corrigan-Camden tries to create creases so the backs can do what they do. Overall, they play physical and fast.

“We’ve worked all season to get to this point. We aren’t going to do anything differently. We are going to do what we do; that is our approach. We hope that it leads us to success and more success down the road.

“We are in a really good spot. Recently, we haven’t got past the first round. This year, we are more mature than we have been. We have some key players that can help do some things that can help us be successful. As long as we execute the game plan, we will be fine. The key word is execute. We are going to focus on staying healthy. The game is going to be on a grass field, and it was torn up last week; that is a concern of mine. If we play with a good base underneath us, take care of the football, and do a good job tackling, we’ll be just fine.”

NEXT ROUND: Winner will face either Harmony or Whitewright in the area round.

JAMES BOWIE (4-6) vs. CUMBY (7-3)

SITE, TIME: Mount Pleasant’s Sam Parker Field,7:30 p.m.

AT STAKE: Class 2A, Div. II bi-district championship.

GAME FACTS: James Bowie puts up 23.5 points on average and gives up 30.7 points. Cumby is giving up 20.5 points on average and is scoring 32.2 points. The Pirates’ offense hinges on the run and is the Slot-T offense. James Bowie earned its first playoff win since 2013 last season under Coach May.

COACH’S COMMENTS: Jame

Bowie’s Eddy May—“Cumby is 7-3 for a reason; they’re good. We’re going to have our hands full. They have a quarterback that can throw it and run it. He is a four-year starter. We played against them when he was a freshman. We are going to have to play very well in order to stop him. If we can control and contain him—keep him from making some long runs and deep passes—I believe we will have a shot to stop them. If we can’t contain him, it will be a long night for us.

“We are going to do what we do. The hard part about our offense is that sometimes we don’t know how the defense is going to line up against us. Our opponents don’t usually see the type of offense that we run. We don’t have any film on Cumby so we don’t know if they’ve played a Slot-T team. We have be preparing for different defensive fronts. We are going to keep it simple, try to control the football and try to keep that quarterback from running the ball.

“Being in the playoffs is big for our team. We lost 12 seniors so this was kind of a new experience for a lot of the kids. They had to get used to playing every down. Winning bi-district championships doesn’t come around very often. I told the seniors that they have a chance to win a bi-district championship two years in a row; to the best of my knowledge, that has never been done here. The kids are excited. If the kids play hard and do what they have been taught, we’ll be in the game. I think the outcome could come out our way if we play hard.”

NEXT ROUND: Winner will face either Grapeland or Frost in the area round.