Monday, July 29, 1996

Stephenville, Permian picked again in poll

By Associated Press

HOUSTON - If the Texas Sports Writers Association preseason high school football poll is right, Stephenville and La Marque will meet for the third time in four years in the Class 4A finals.

Defending state champion La Marque is ranked No. 1 and Stephenville, which beat La Marque for the championship in 1993 and 1994, is rated No. 2.

This is the first time that Class 4A will be divided into two brackets, and both could go into the small school division, but that will depend on which other two teams come out of their districts. But both must finish in the top three in their district to qualify for the playoffs.

Permian is the No. 1 team in the Class 5A poll and the only District 4-5A member ranked in the top 15. Sweetwater is rated No. 7 in Class 4A; Ballinger is tied for eighth in Class 3A; Goldthwaite is No. 11 in Class 2A and De Leon No. 12; while Munday, at No. 7, is the only ranked Class A team.

Stephenville returns only three starters on offense and two on defense, but the Yellow Jackets had a strong junior varsity team last year and the players got an extra four weeks of practice by reaching the quarterfinals before losing.

Sweetwater has six offensive and four defensive starters back from its 11-1 team, while Ballinger returns four offensive and four defensive starters from an 11-2 team.

Goldthwaite has six offensive and seven defensive players back from its quarterfinals team of last year after winning two straight Class 2A state championships. Bangs, picked to win District 12-2A over the Eagles, isn't ranked. De Leon has seven offensive and five defensive regulars from its District 8-2A tri-championship team.

Munday welcomes back seven offensive and eight defensive starters from its 8-3 team.
ere is the Texas Sports Writers Association Texas high school football poll with the number of first place votes and total points (10 for first, 9 for second, etc.):
CLASS 5A
1. Odessa Permian (8)<n>186
2. North Mesquite (10)<n>182
3. Converse Judson (2)<n>159
4. Tyler John Tyler (2)<n>132
5. Houston Yates (1)<n>119
6. Aldine<n>87
7. Marshall<n>83
8. San Antonio Roosevelt<n>61
9. Austin Westlake<n>35
10. North Shore<n>30
11. Flower Mound Marcus<n>23
12. Aldine Eisenhower<n>22
13. El Paso Irvin<n>21
14. Dallas Carter<n>20
15. San Antonio Marshall<n>17
CLASS 4A
. La Marque (19)<n>222
2. Stephenville (2)<n>175
3. Waxahachie (1)<n>133
4. Grapevine (1)<n>99
5. Southlake Carroll<n>92
6. Calallen<n>90
7. Sweetwater<n>66
8. Denison<n>63
9. Jasper<n>61
10. Clear Lake<n>47
11. Sherman<n>44
12. West Orange-Stark<n>36
13. Corsicana<n>34
14. Alice<n>16
15. Texas City<n>15
CLASS 3A
1. Sealy (14)<n>209
2. Atlanta (7)<n>186
3. Columbus<n>148
4. Cuero (1)<n>128
5. Rusk<n>80
6. Vernon<n>79
7. Coldspring<n>77
8. (tie) Tatum<n>71
Ballinger<n>71
10. Newton<n>59
11. Liberty28
12. Mexia (1)<n>22
13. Boyd<n>14
14. Robinson<n>12
15. Forney<n>11
CLASS 2A
. Alto (16)<n>22
2. Celina (4)<n>191
3. Refugio (3)<n>156
4. Groveton<n>140
5. Schulenburg<n>103
6. Elysian Fields<n>76
7. Italy<n>75
8. Arp<n>71
9. Iraan<n>60
10. West Texas<n>51
11. Goldthwaite<n>18
12. Pilot Point<n>17
13. De Leon<n>12
14. Hemphill<n>11
15. Panhandle<n>10
CLASS A
1. Granger (8)<n>176
2. Windthorst (5)<n>158
3. Burkeville (2)<n>129
4. (tie) Celeste (1)<n>110
Springlake-Earth (4)<n>110
6. Bremond (2)<n>108
7. Munday (1)<n>103
8. Sudan<n>91
9. Overton<n>84
10. Bartlett<n>60
11. (tie) Wink<n>18
Tenaha<n>18
13. (tie) Kress<n>12
Shamrock<n>12
15. (tie) Rankin<n>11
Wheeler<n>11