Nearly everyone in action for the formal Week 1. A couple of fun rivalries get the season in high gear after last week featured a couple of classics as well. Looking a little, and stress a little, cooler for Friday evening this week. We are keeping an eye out for the first TAPPS fair catch kick so let us know if your game has one. Good luck and safe travels!
This Week: (Season: 4-2)
Fort Worth Christian @ Dallas Christian -- The Chargers and Cardinals meet on the field for the 70th time in one of TAPPS original rivalries. The series actually predates TAPPS by over 15 years. Dallas Christian opens 2026 this week after a pair of scrimmages. A season ago Lubbock Christian bested the Chargers in the State Championship game ending a run of four consecutive titles. Climbing the mountain again is always a challenge, but DC has almost always been a contender and likely will be again. The Cardinals opened the season last week with a dominant win over Bishop Lynch, 40-0. FWC fell to the eventual champions, All Saints, in the 2nd round a season ago. A 9-3 season was a hopeful stepping stone for the Cardinals, but how anyone gets past All Saints right now is the hard question. Preparing with a big rivalry road game should be a good bench mark for Fort Worth Christian. The early season brings a share of mystery and particularly with 0-0 records. I think we know the leanings of this space, but the Chargers offense has a tall task to answer the bell of the jump this season. DC wins a classic opener, 33-30.
Arlington Pantego Christian vs. League City Bay Area Christian @ Madisonville -- The Panthers secured a notable opening victory in Week 0. Pantego stifled a usual top offense from Colleyville Covenant to secure a 33-14 win and a 1-0 record. PCA has typically been strong starters to a season, opening 2025 with an 8-0 mark. They dropped their final 3 as part of a 1st round exit. The win last week could prove huge as both Pantego and Colleyville Covenant figure to be in the mix for 3rd place in their district and Division III's single wild card playoff spot. The Broncos are always a fun squad to include in the weekly column. They also opened in Week 0 with an excellent defensive outing, defeating Westbury 35-0. Bay Area Christian finished a 7-3 non-aligned season a year ago and return to Division III play in 2026. That makes this another massive wild card points game with the Broncos figuring to be in the mix for 4th place in District 3 and the possible wild card playoff berth. So both defenses need to answer the bell again for a 2-0 start. The Panthers seem to be the favorites here based on past history, but this should be a competitive contest. Pantego wins a defensive battle, 20-7.
Argyle Liberty Christian @ Fort Worth All Saints -- The Saints are clear holders of the current TAPPS championship belt. A 29 game win streak that includes 3 wins over the winners of 6 of the last 7 Division I titles and 2 wins over the most recent Division I runner up pretty much makes you the kings. The trouble with being the kings is that someone is always looking to knock you off the throne. The Warriors are actually the last squad to take down the Saints, defeating All Saints 45-17 en route to the Division II State Championship for 2023. The Saints opened last week with a squashing of Parish Episcopal, 31-11. The Warriors started hot, holding 28-0 and 35-7 leads over Midland Christian before losing a 66-63 thriller. The game included a game saving forced fumble at the 1-yard line and the last play field goal for the win. Another classic to add to the MCS-LCS rivalry (or Midland-denton as a long time member of the old TXPS message board would have referred to it). This space is going to have to go with TAPPS longest ever 11-man winning streak until it ends (or it plays DC). Saints win but the Warriors score a few more than Parish did. All Saints gets to 30 in a row, 42-21.
Dallas Parish Episcopal @ Houston Kinkaid -- The Falcons fell in their opener to one of the top teams from Colorado. They didn't get blown out but also weren't particularly close to winning. Kinkaid has won the last two SPC 4A titles and figure to be in that mix again. We'll know very quickly just how good they are with their home opener against the TAPPS Division I Champions from a season ago. The Panthers were underwhelming in their opener against All Saints, but of course who wouldn't be these days. The offense though is going to have to step on the gas to contend on the road against the Falcons. Eleven points will not win this one. The Falcons have to get their offense in gear early or they'll be left behind as they were last week in the Rockies. This space likes home teams and the Panthers seem to have some growing pains early this season. I have no doubt they'll be difficult to get out of the Division I playoffs come November, but this is still August. Falcons win 37-22.
Fort Worth Southwest Christian @ Fort Worth Trinity Valley -- The Battle of Bryant Irvin is always a fun early season contest. MaxPreps has the series at 8-7 in favor of the Trojans since 2008. The Eagles took last season's meeting, 28-25. This was part of a 5-5 season for Southwest that ended with four consecutive losses and a 1st round exit. The Eagles opened the 2026 season with a 45-0 thrashing of Lake Country Christian. The Trojans 4-5 campaign in 2025 went the opposite way. They started with four losses before winning four of their last five. That left them just outside of the top two format used by the SPC last season. This year a 4-team playoff would have included in the Trojans. So both squads figure to be on the fringe of contending in their respective conferences. A win here could be a nice catapult to an upstart campaign. Should be a close one, but I think the Eagles are little ahead in 2026. Southwest Christian wins 35-21.
Regents School of Austin @ Bryan Brazos Christian School -- Many birds find their way into the picks, so we check in on another Eagles. Brazos Christian rolled off a 12-0 start for a 2nd straight season last year and lost the State Championship game for a 2nd straight season. They move into Division III this year and would seem to be ready to challenge the "big 3" of Lubbock Christian, Dallas Christian, and Holy Cross. Their district slate starts with Geneva and Holy Cross so we'll have a pretty good idea where things stand before we even get to October. This is a tall task with Division II stalwart Regents on the other side. The Knights have won 10 or more games every season since 2016. They're dominance of the regular season is 2nd to none, having lost just 6 games before the playoffs in the same time period. Regents has fallen in the semis to the undefeated All Saints Saints each of the last two seasons. So this is a meeting of the squads that have been close to the title but unable to grasp it lately. Its a road game for Regents in a new environment, and the Eagles will take the field for game 2 while it will just game 1 for the Knights. A 54-6 win over Tyler All Saints doesn't tell us much about this week's contest. I think the depth of the Knights gets them across the finish line for a road win. Regents wins 42-28.
Honolulu (HI) Damien Memorial @ Arlington The Oakridge School -- The Owls have certainly found the most interesting opponent of Week 1. I generally shy away from out-of-state opponents given the lack of knowledge, but the chance to talk Hawai'i football was too good to pass up. Oakridge enters after finishing 10-0 and the SPC 3A Champions a season ago. They allowed just 17 points per game en route to the title, but also had several close calls along the way. The Owls should be very good again this year and are certainly one of the contenders for title again. The Monarchs are 0-2 on the season but likely still point toward the playoffs. They were seeded 4th of 6 playoffs teams in the HHSAA's Division I bracket a season ago but lost in the semifinals to the Kapa'a Warriors. MaxPreps has the Monarchs as the 12th ranked squad in Hawai'i. I don't expect a laugher here, but I think the Owls are the better squad and should find a comfortable win. Oakridge wins its opener, 40-14.
Quick Hits: (Season: 7-3)
Austin St. Michael's over Dallas Covenant
Dallas First Baptist over Tyler Grace Community
Bullard Brook Hill over Brownsboro
Lubbock Christian over Lovington (NM)
Bellaire Episcopal over Houston St. Thomas
Houston St. John's over Houston Second Baptist
Houston Lutheran South over Houston Christian
The Woodlands John Cooper over Sugar Land Fort Bend Christian
Sutter Union (CA) over Dallas Bishop Lynch
Midland Christian over Wayne Hills (NJ)
