The big off-season move for TAPPS was a massive realignment that resulted in the elimination of the Division IV classification in favor of a more competitive alignment for Division II and III. Now in both Division II and Division III, no district has less than six teams, thus making the district schedule more meaningful towards the race for the post-season. Much like that of Division I's District 1, Division II's District 2, could easily be considered as one of the state's toughest districts. Of the eight teams in District 2, all eight of them saw action in the playoffs in either Division II or Division III a season ago.
As far as the overall view for District 2-D2 goes, the big favorite is Dallas Parish Episcopal, which has one of the state's more elusive rushers in Zack Shelley, DB Tre Vance and
DE Colton Uzelac. Tyler Grace will be counting on Blake White, who is one of the best quaterbacks in the private school ranks, and wideout Garrett Newman. If things pan out as they should for both Parish Episcopal and Tyler Grace Community, their Week 10 regular season finale in Tyler will loom very large in the Division II playoff race. Aside from the district race, the one match up that is on the Parish Episcopal slate is its opening week contest with the controversial Prime Prep Academy.
The Dallas Christian Chargers, also in the district, could be one of the more dangerous teams in all of Division II with 2,000+ yard rusher D'Andre Cannon and WR Justis Nelson on the offensive side of the ball. Defensively, the Chargers will have one of the top sophomore prospects in the state in LB Preston Nix. How Nix performs in 2012, will determine his chances at playing at the next level.
If there is a defacto top team outside District 2, look for Houston Northland in District 4 and Midland Christian in District 1 to fit the bill. Northland comes into 2012 with one of the more experienced teams in the state with 19 returning starters off an 11-2 squad from last season. WR Carter Odenweller and DE Zach Mitchell are expected to be the keys to the Cougars success in 2012. Midland Christian, the defendng Division II Champion, returns its all-state rusher Christian Whigham, who gobbled up nearly 2,350 yards and a whopping 46 touchdowns. Plus, the Mustangs also returns QB Mason McClemdon and OL Caleb Thomas.
Over in Division III, a pair of teams to watch includes The Woodlands Christian, Cypress Christian, Shiner St. Paul, Garland Christian and Dallas First Baptist. The Woodlands Christian comes off an 8-5 season and reaching the Division IV semifinals. The Warriors will count on the WR duo of James Bento and Cray Noah to guide them offensively thropugh the newly muscled up Division III. They should have a much improved dedense led by DB Jeffrey Chen, but the question is how far can it take them this year. New distrct foe Cypress Christian will be hot on their tails. Cypress Christian junior DB Michael Boyd may be one of Division III's top underclassmen.
Garland Christian, much like The Woodlands Christian, gets moved up into the new Division III after a trip to the state quarterfinals in 2011. Cody King at wide reciever and Caleb Peterson at linebacker are expected to produce the big numbers once again for the Swordsmen. And then there is Dallas First Baptist, which returns 20 starters and drops into Division III from DIvision II. But the question is whether the experience and drop down will translate to a Saints squad that not only competes for a district championship but a deep playoff run. The Saints certainly have the athletes to compete with a winning formula. QB Max Partlo could be in for an even bigger year than he had last season and going above and beyond the 2,000 yard mark again is doable. |
1 |
Houston Northland |
2 |
Midland Christian |
3 |
Fort Worth Christian |
4 |
Dallas Parish Episcopal |
5 |
Arlington Grace Prep |
6 |
Houston Second Baptist |
7 |
Tyler Grace Community |
8 |
Dallas Christian |
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