The playoffs are certainly off to a noisy start with Argyle Liberty ruled ineligible and the Division I playoffs delayed by a week. Just a 3 week run to the titles this year wiht the smaller brackets. Division II's split brackets creates an opening for a champion we did not expect. Should be a fun month on our way to 5 TAPPS 11-man champions. Parish Episcopal can win their 6th in 7 years and might be favored now that Liberty is out of the playoffs. Fort Worth All Saints is the dominant program in TAPPS right now, even if the long win streak was broken this year. A repeat seems likely for them, but they do have the tougher bracket of Division II. The Small School DII bracket will give us a new champion, The Woodlands Christian has a great shot as the only district champion in its bracket. Division III could have a title rematch in the semis between DC and Lubbock Christian. Brazos Christian on the other side we'll be a tough opponent down the road. Dallas First Baptist looks to be a cut above in Division IV and a favorite for a repeat title. We'll mix in some SPC and 6-man down the line. Good luck and safe travels on the road to State!
Division III
Boerne Geneva @ Dallas Christian -- The Chargers pointed to a district title game against Covenant all year and secured the win 38-17. The speed and big play ability proved too much on the night. Now the mystery of opponents sets up an interesting postseason. DC enters at 8-2 losing only to a very good Life Oak Cliff squad and SPC 3A favorite Oakridge. The Eagles are 9-1 and averaging over 45 points per game. The much less forgiving playoff format sends them on the road in Round 1. The lone defeat to Brazos Christian was not a close loss at 49-23 and that is just part of the Geneva defense being susceptible to allowing more than a few points. The games that decided the playoff spot saw the Eagles allow 33 and 43 to Bay Area Christian and New Braunfels Christian, but they outscored their problems those nights with 52 and 57. The DC offense should score enough in this one, but the Chargers defense may have a challenge keeping up. The eight team brackets create some great playoff openers and this is one of them. Chargers win a classic with a pile of points. DC wins 48-40.
Arlington Pantego Christian @ Lubbock Christian -- On paper this is not one of the best matchups that await us this week, but sometimes that's where the surprises await. The Eagles won the 2025 Division III crown and that title game rematch would seem to be on offer next week. At 8-1 only Bushland has outscored Lubbock Christian and the Eagles still put up 40 that night. Only Lubbock Trinity got to more than 14 since the calendar turned to October. The Panthers secured a nice 7-3 record and that gave them enough wild card points to gain the last playoff spot. Those three losses though were to the three playoff teams they played and they were not close in any of them. So challenges await to reverse the trend for Pantego. Speaking of trends, the last two meetings between these were 40-8 and 38-0 in favor of Lubbock Christian. So not sure where the path to victory lies for the Panthers. Eagles win comfortably, 42-14.
League City Bay Area Christian @ Lubbock Trinity Christian -- One of the longest road trips in TAPPS awaits the bottom half of the bracket. The Lions are just 4-5 thanks to a difficult non-district schedule out West, but were 3-1 in the district slate. The bracket slotting did them a bit of a favor by playing a 3rd place team so that its a home game in Lubbock rather than a neutral site contest. Trinity was much more competitive with Lubbock Christian than most opponents, but also allowed 28 to a scuffling Lake Country team. The Broncos are faced with a 557 ride to the South Plains after dropping the key games to Brazos and Geneva. They've scored a bunch of points this year with over 46 points per game. Honestly if not for the road trip, I'd lean heavily toward Bay Area in this one. The Lions do seems to play well at home and have improved throughout the season. So a close one, but I think the Broncos are too good for this one. Likely an interesting rematch with Brazos Christian in the semis. Broncos win 34-22.
Dallas Covenant @ Bryan Brazos Christian -- The Eagles have been a leading contender in Division III since realignment was released last year. At 9-1 they've lived up to that billing. Only Division II contender Regents bested the Eagles this year. Only 2 of the 9 wins saw the opponent reach double digits. The Eagles offense has averaged over 45 points per game. How will the Knights respond to the home loss in the district title game last week. Covenant is definitely good enough to threaten. Notably playing First Baptist to a 13 point game on the road. That's an FBA squad that beat Brazos for the Division IV crown last year. So the Knights should be in this one, but the Eagles and a road trip is tough mountain to climb. Eagles win at home in a similar fashion to the DC's win over the Knights last week. Brazos to the semis, 30-20.
The Rundown
If you read this space, you know that mascots are the order of the day at all times. We love interesting ones and dislike boring Eagles and Bulldogs. So I always open the playoffs with my own tradition of previewing the mascots that will contest Dallas Christian's division. Since I did one of these before I started the picks this will be rundown #13. So without further ado:
Just 3 weeks separate these squads from the title this year, so a bit shorter rundown to tackle just 8 teams. There are always too many Eagles and even with a smaller field the sky is full of 3 squads of Eagles searching for the crown. Best of luck on their crowded journey. Each of the remaining 5 has their own slice of the pie. Just a couple of big cats looking for the title this season. Good luck to the Lions and Panthers. Just a few more to wish good luck. First, the Broncos ride in for a return to the playoffs and look to buck the top contenders. After sharing with others last year the Knights ride into battle alone. As always we aren't completely sure if they're a knight, a horse, or maybe a lightning bolt, but we always finish with the best of luck to the Chargers!
Division II
Midland Christian @ Bullard Brook Hill -- The Guard are the lone undefeated squad in TAPPS largest 3 divisions but their location makes us wonder how they stack up with the big contenders in Division II. The way it shakes out is that District 2 has been weaker than District 1, but 10-0 can not be ignored. They absolutely dominated district play and will be a strong squad. They get stuck with Midland Christian and All Saints in their half of the draw while Tyler Grace gets a bye and two 3rd place finishers. The Guard offense is averaging over 51 points per game. The Mustangs have had a very good season, but just 6-4 on the record board. Notably the Week 0 win over Argyle Liberty, 66-63, was a huge headline but they lost 3 in a row after that. They scored 39 against defending champion All Saints, but allowed 70. So the offense is there but the defense has allowed their share across the season. 70, 63, and 42, represent some big numbers allowed by the Mustang defense. So how does it shake out at the end? Probably with a defensive showdown... But I'll play the odds of home team and points. Guard win a thriller, 63-56.
Houston Second Baptist vs. Austin Hyde Park @ La Grange -- The Eagles are usually the strongest side in District 4 of Division II but The Woodlands Christian knocked them from that perch this season. A 7-3 season has SBS in contention but really just one notable win over UIL East Bernard. The dominant win over Concordia is noteworthy for the margin. Even with those couple of blowouts, the Eagles scoring is a 33-19 game on average this season. So the Panthers get there shot at earning a rematch with Austin Regents. They are having a remarkably similar 7-3 season to the Eagles with dominant wins over the lower half of District 3 but dropping the close games to Central Catholic and St. Michael's before being blown out by Regents. With two similar squads and a neutral site this looks to be a close game. These two have played just 5 times in the MaxPreps era with Hyde Park winning the last three. However, they haven't played since 2017 when the Panthers took a 20-9 playoff victory. There should be more points than that and the recent history suggests the Eagles are the stronger program, but should be a good game. Second Baptist wins 34-21.
Season Record: 45-27
Quick Hits: (Season: 79-31)
Grapevine Faith Christian over Arlington Grace Prep
Brownsville St. Joseph over Victoria St. Joseph
Dallas First Baptist over Tomball Rosehill Christian
Shiner St. Paul over Waco Live Oak
Tyler All Saints over Hallettsville Sacred Heart
Temple Central Texas Christian over Muenster Sacred Heart Catholic
Magnolia Legacy Prep over Schertz John Paul II
El Paso Cathedral over Austin Brentwood Christian
Houston Kinkaid over Houston St. John's
Bellaire Episcopal over Houston Christian
Arlington Oakridge over Fort Worth Country Day
Episcopal School of Dallas over Austin St. Andrew's
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