High School

With about 3 weeks left in district play for UIL high school teams, it’s time to get serious about playoff contenders. There’s the obvious hot topic of the top UIL teams like Duncanville, Denton Ryan, and North Shore. But I think it’s time we show some love to the private schools playing in the TAPPS division, specifically Nolan Catholic out of Fort Worth. The team is currently 6-0 with wins against big names like Prestonwood Christian, and Bishop Lynch who ended their 2-round playoff run last year.

After a 31-17 win against Parish Episcopal, the Vikings moved up 10 spots in the state rankings to now sit at 11^th in the state of Texas. This is important for seeding purposes since the game against Parish was their final chance to earn their ranking before heading into playoffs next week.

In case you’re not familiar, the TAPPS bracket is set up with a total of 4 rounds, including the title game. Nolan Catholics regular season success has earned them a bye for this week, which means next week they will play the winner of John Paul II and Concordia Lutheran.

College

This week I’m on the fence with my ‘Trevor Lawrence for Heisman’ campaign, as I look towards another solid contender emerging, Kyle Trask. The Florida quarterback had 5 touchdowns in the first half against Arkansas to take the team to a 63-35 win. Yes, I did say first half. He ended up finishing the night with 356 yards, 6 touchdowns, and a completion percentage of 79%. While this past week was arguably his best game, putting up impressive numbers is not an anomaly for the Redshirt Senior. His season average completion percentage is 70%, and so far, he’s accumulated 2,171 yards with 28 passing touchdowns.

Which brings me to my next point, a public apology: Kyle Trask if you’re reading this, I’d like to personally apologize for not acknowledging your excellence sooner in the season. As we move forward in the upcoming weeks, I hope we can move past this embarrassing miscalculation.

But don’t get ahead of yourself just yet, I’m still rolling with Lawrence. Let’s just say I’m actively looking at other options.

NFL

After a Cowboys bye week, the former TCU Quarterback, Andy Dalton has been cleared from concussion and COVID 19 protocols. If you remember from a couple weeks ago, Dalton stepped in for Dak Prescott after a gruesome leg injury, and then became concussed after a nasty hit from Washington Football Teams, Jon Bostic.

While the team did not practice last week due to COVID 19 protocols, they held practice Monday and Dalton was a full participant according to reports from Head Coach, Mike McCarthy and Stephen Jones. While, McCarthy has not explicitly told the public that Dalton will be the starter against the Vikings this Sunday, I would still expect a start from the quarterback. The Cowboys have not won a game since Ben DiNucci or Garrett Gilbert have stepped into the quarterback position, so it would only make sense to give Andy Dalton another shot at victory.