Thus far in the season, the Tigers are 4-1. Their next opponent is Pine Tree High School, being the first district game for either team. The Pine Tree Pirates will definitely put up a fight, but the Tiger defense should be able to hold their own, allowing for several Tiger touchdowns.

On paper, the Pirates look like a fairly strong team. They are currently 3-2 averaging 73.6 tackles and 309.6 yards per game. However, their lineup so far has been back and forth with terrible teams and great teams. The two games that Pine Tree has lost to were Kilgore and Nacogdoches, both of which are nationally ranked.

On the other hand, the three games that the Pirates have won were against Van, Center and Lindale, all of which are poorly ranked. Therefore, it’s hard to gauge how they will do against a team like the Tigers.

The Pirates offense isn’t the best, but they are definitely able to put up points. Senior Pine Tree quarterback Dalvin Manns has completed 82 of his 137 pass attempts, making him fairly reliable, but he wasn’t able to play well against the harder teams. Manns’ best receiver is junior Mason Hayes, who has caught eight of the 13 touchdown passes thrown by Manns this season. With a total of 712 yards, Hayes is a strong opponent, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him pick up another touchdown this weekend.

The defense for the Pirates is less than qualified to combat the Tiger offense. They have been able to fend off schools like Center and Van without much hassle, but when confronted with talented teams, they fall short. When the Pirates faced off against Kilgore High School, they ended with a huge loss to Kilgore 56-7. The only defensive player that is a true threat to the Tiger offense would be senior defensive back Carlos Johnson with an average of 11.3 tackles per game.

Overall, The Texas High defense should be able to force quite a few conversions and prevent much yardage being made for the  Pine Tree offense. Furthermore, the Tiger offense shouldn’t have a hard time scoring a few touchdowns against the Pirate’s defense with senior running back Trey Walker, and all of the receivers stepping up their game.
I predict the final score to be 24-7 Tigers starting of district strong.