VYPE's Citywide Spring Football Preview; Top 10s; #Trending

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The 2012 Spring Football Preview

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The Top 10 Teams Entering Spring Football

Class 5A               

1. Katy Tigers

Backfield Led by Adam Taylor and Rodney Anderson; Matt Dimon Anchors Defense

2. Manvel Mavs

Big Step to Class 5A, but the Mavs are Loaded

3. La Porte Bulldogs

Hoza Scott on Defense and Keith Whitely on Offense Make Dawgs Bark

4. Cy Falls Eagles                

Skill-Wise the Eagles are Top-Notch. It Will Depend on Defense

5. The Woodlands Highlanders

Huge Offensive Line Should Propel Highlanders to District Title

6. Klein Oak Panthers

Larenzo Stewart, Jaylon Brown will Follow OL Reid Najvar, D is Young and Talented

7. Cinco Ranch Cougars

Hop on the James' Train

8. Klein Collins Tigers

Secondary are all College Prospects; Goodson Must Come Through

9.North Shore Mustangs

Offensive Line is Solid; QB Returns and so does Nasty Defense

10. Dekaney Wildcats

Still the Champs; D'Juan Hines to Lead Squad

Others to Watch Closely: A&M Consolidated; Alief Taylor; Chavez; Cy-Fair; Cy Woods; Deer Park; Hightower; Lamar; Lufkin; Langham Creek; Pearland; Port Arthur Memorial and Westfield

Class 4A

Pearland Dawson Eagles

James White has a Great Supporting Cast

Terry Rangers

Derrick Griffin and Victor Davis Headline Potent Crew

Angleton Wildcats

Young and Hungry; Following up Great 2011

Brenham Cubs

Cupboard Not Bare in Brenham

Summer Creek Bulldogs

QB and WRs are Team's Strength

Tomball Cougars

Move to Class 4A Make Coogs a Player

Kingwood Park Panthers

Solid, Stable, Well-Coached Program

Stratford Spartans

Spartans Should Cruise in District Play

Marshall Buffs

Raw, Raw, Raw Athletes on Both Sides

Friendswood Mustangs

New Coach; Same Big Numbers on Offense

Teams to Watch: Crosby; Dayton; Lamar Consolidated; Montgomery; Sharpstown and Texas City

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THE AUDIBLES

Realignment Storylines

By Ahmard Vital

As the school names went up on the screen at the U.I.L. realignment meeting last February, there were some gasps followed by whispers. Then pandemonium broke loose as head football coaches began to put their schedules together in New York Stock Exchange fashion.

Two months later VYPE sifts through carnage of realignment, processes it and evaluates what happened.

Thoughts on Class 5A

State Contenders, Same District?

Many saw the growth that was happening at Manvel for several years now so the bump up to Class 5A is no shock. But it was interesting to see that the state runner-up Maverick team is now in the same district as recently crowned Class 5A Division I state champions Pearland. Could this turn into a brief rivalry? Perhaps, but it’s likely that one of these two programs will be taking the district crown home next season.

Humble ISD Programs Move to the SEC

Of course we are not actually saying that high school programs will be taking on an SEC schedule, but there is a consistent notion that college football’s premier conference is the Southeastern Conference. But with Humble, Kingwood Park and Summer Creek in the Class 4A ranks, it made the most sense that Atascocita and Kingwood would team up with the other North Houston programs from the Spring and Klein ISDs. But now that road to the postseason just got much tougher. District 13-5A is one of the toughest in the region.

Thoughts on Class 4A

Tomball, ‘Ridge and Marshall in an Ideal Place

Numbers have been consistently low for the Missouri City area schools and now both are in a place where the programs can compete based on the numbers. With the addition of Ridge Point in Fort Bend ISD, the 4A move has happened. That new District 22 features nearly all the Spring Branch schools and both Tomball programs as well. The Cougars moving down makes them more competitive and a playoff stable. This should make for some interesting district battles.

Tougher Road: District 23 or 24-4A?

This is a tough call at least at first sight. In District 23, Angleton and Terry are traditionally strong while District 24 has Dawson, Friendswood and Texas City. Not sure which district will be tougher to get out of, but know that the first-round of the playoffs may feature a game that would be one to expect in a later round.

Thoughts on Class 3A

 La Marque an Early Favorite?

In Class 4A, the Cougars were highly competitive despite their low enrollment numbers. Now with the drop to 3A, La Marque seems to be the team to beat. In fact, there are only a handful of teams on paper that can knock off the Cougars in the region. Could this be the year that the Coogs get back in the state title game?

HISD in All Classes

So many of the Houston ISD programs turned in low enrollment that dropping in classification made plenty of sense. For the district it works out as travel will be about the same and the teams can be much more competitive lining up against schools with similar numbers come playoff time.

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Coaching Changes

While realignment was the big story, so was the Houston-area coaching carousel. Several interesting changes took place in the offseason that will impact the landscape of the city's high school football scene.

Most notable were the hires of Lydell Wilson at Seven Lakes, Craig Stump at Atascocita, John Snelson at Dickinson and Barry Campbell at Kingwood.

Wilson bring a state championship ring and a fresh out look to the Spartan program, while Stump and Campbell have been thrown into the fire of their new realigned district. Snelson is a perfect fit at Dickinson following legend Warren Trahan.

School                         In                                Out

Alvin                           Trey Herrmann            Jeff Dungen

Atascocita                   Craig Stump                Dean Colbert

Bellaire                        Trey Sissom                 Trey Herrmann

Brazosport                   Not Filled                    Brian Welch

CE King                      Don Price                    Lydell Wilson

Crosby                         Jeff Riordan                Kevin Flanigan

Cy Springs                  Rick Cobia                  Roland Gonzalez

Dickinson                    John Snelson               Warren Trahan

Friendswood               Robert Koopman        Stan Van Meter

Houston Christian       Max Bowman             Mike Johnston

Humble                       Charles West               Walt Beasley

Kingwood                   Barry Campbell           Dougald McDougald

Klein Forest                Not Filled                    Kenny Hammock

Lufkin                         Todd Quick                 John Outlaw

Oak Ridge                   Not Filled                    Bob Barrett    

Pasadena Memorial     Chris Quillian              John Snelson

Pasadena Rayburn      Not Filled                    Chris Bussey

St. Thomas                  Tim Fitzpatrick            Donald Hollas

Strake Jesuit             James Clancy                  Ron Counter

Texas City                   Tim Finn                      Leland Surovik

Seven Lakes                       Lydell Wilson                      Kevin O'Keefe

Waller                                   Brad Wright                        Jason Morley

Willowridge                        Shaun McDowell              J.C. McDonald                  

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#TRENDING

1. HUDL -- This coaching tool has changed the way football highlight films are built and distributed. It gives the athletes the ability to make their films and send it out. College coaches have completely bought into this online film distributor.

2. High School Avatars on Video Games -- VYPE has seen some of the coolest avatars of local high school football players on worldwide football video games.

3. Twitter Accounts -- It really started with #AggSwagg. Klein Forest's Matt Davis, who is now enrolled at Texas A&M, build a giant social following through Twitter. Thousands of Aggie fans began following him as he updated the recruiting process of him and his future teammates, and his everyday exploits. But be careful.

4. Anything Baylor -- Three years ago, Baylor was completely off the grid. Now it's the hottest place to go to school. From Robert Griffin III winning the Heisman Trophy, leading the Bears to a bowl game to 6-foot-8 hooper Brittany Griner. The Bears are getting a new athletic facility and their florescent uniforms are super hot.

5. Half-Calf Socks -- Back in the day it was high socks that covered the entire leg. Then it went to the no-show socks that covered nothing. Now if you don't have half-calf Nike Elites you are out of the loop. The half-calfs are now as big as the skull caps under your helmet.