District 4 - 3A Standings

[Blk&Gold4ever]

Overall
Team W-L
SNYDER 3-0
CLYDE 2-1
MERKEL 2-1
SWEETWATER 2-1
WYLIE 2-1

Snyder vs. Midland Greenwood (snyder)

Clyde vs. Brady (Clyde)

Merkel vs. Ballinger (Merkel)

Sweetwater vs. Andrews (Sweetwater)

Wylie vs. Vernon (I'm from Clyde i have to go with Vernon. i just have to)

predictions?

[wildstangs]

Everyone is looking good so far. I remember back in 2001, Sweetwater, Wylie, Merkel and Ballinger all started out 5-0. I think Clyde was 4-1 too. Lots of tough games on the schedule this week, with a little luck though, I think 4-3A has a shot at going undefeated.

[Johnny Moxen]

My predictions below,

Snyder vs. Midland Greenwood (Snyder)

Clyde vs. Brady (Brady)

Merkel vs. Ballinger (Merkel)

Sweetwater vs. Andrews (Sweetwater)

Wylie vs. Vernon (Wylie)

[sirhc11]

Snyder vs. Midland Greenwood (Snyder)

Clyde vs. Brady (Clyde)

Merkel vs. Ballinger (Ballinger (upset))

Sweetwater vs. Andrews (Sweetwater)

Wylie vs. Vernon (Vernon)

[wildstangs]

District 4-3A living up to its reputation so far

By Ron Howell/The Reporter Sports Editor
Since the current District 4-3A was formed in early Feb-ruary as part of the University Interscholastic League's latest realignment, the conventional wisdom has been that it would be one of the toughest, if not the toughest, Class 3A football districts in the state.

When Sweetwater was placed in the same district with Wylie, Snyder, Merkel and Clyde, head coach Kent Jackson compared it to a favorite breakfast drink.

"The travel is less (than before)," he said, "but it's like orange juice -- it's really concentrated. The potency has gone up."

"Potent" certainly describes the way all of the Mustangs' district foes have looked three games into the 2004 season. The other four members of Dis-trict 4-3A are off to a 9-3 start and all have winning records.

But as Jackson alluded to in February, that's hardly surprising because Wylie, Snyder and Merkel all advanced to at least the third round of the playoffs a year ago -- as did Sweetwater, by the way. And Clyde, the one team that didn't make the postseason, handed Wylie its onlydistrict loss in 2003.

Although I have reservations about sending three teams to the playoffs in every district from Class 2A and up, the fact is that at least one very deserving team in District 4-3A will be left at home this season.

That, plus the fact that most of the schools are already long-time rivals with each other, only heightens the anticipation and excitement about the district race that will be fast and furious. It gets started on Oct. 8, and ends on Nov. 5 after a mere four games -- plus an open date -- for each school. Sweetwater is off on Oct. 29, the week before hosting Merkel to end the regular season.

Most of Sweetwater's non-district foes -- Pecos being the only exception -- are also play-ing at least one other team in District 4-3A.

That could make it a bit easier to gauge the Mustangs' stan-ding among their fellow district heavyweights until they start butting heads against each other in less than a month. Here's a closer look at how each of the other four 4-3A schools has fared so far in non-district:

Wylie (2-1): Until they were derailed 42-28 by ano-ther perennial power, Aledo, last week, the Bulldogs were ranked No. 8 in the state and looked as if they might be the early district favo-rite. And they may still be, though it's certainly not a clear-cut thing.

Quarterback Case Keenum threw for 444 yards and Mi-chael Kiger ran for 327 in Wy-lie's first two games as the Bull-dogs disposed of two potential playoff squads -- Class 4A San Angelo Lake View (38-20) and Class 3A Midland Greenwood (27-0) -- in impressive fashion.

But the big two were held in check last Friday. Keenum was 13-of-27 for 173 yards with two interceptions, and Kiger rushed for only 41 yards on 16 carries.

Wylie will host Sweetwater to start district, but the Bulldogs must first survive their remain-ing non-district schedule. After going to Vernon this week, Wy-lie plays a pair of state-ranked teams in Class 3A -- Graham (No. 6) and Decatur (No. 4).

Even if Wylie loses all three, which would give it a sub-.500 record entering district, it may not mean much. Remember, the Bulldogs actually lost four straight games a year ago, including their district opener to Clyde, before reeling off sev-en consecutive wins and advan-cing to the Division I semifinals, where they fell to eventu-al champion Gainesville.

Snyder (3-0): Here's where comparisons can get interesting, because Snyder has almost the same non-district schedule as Sweetwater.

Levelland, Lubbock Cooper, Midland Greenwood, San An-gelo Lake View and Andrews all scheduled games with both the Mustangs and Tigers.

So far, the only common op-ponent has been Lubbock Coo-per, which beat Sweetwater 17-14 in its season opener but lost to Snyder 20-14 this past Fri-day. But Snyder hosts Midland Greenwood -- which is still winless after falling to Sweet-water, 52-25 -- this week and travels to Lake View on Sept. 24. The Chiefs (0-3) lost to Sweetwater, 14-7, in Week 2.

The game with Lubbock Coo-per was the first real test for Snyder, which smashed Level-land (53-15) and Lubbock Esta-cado (33-0) to open the year. The Tigers typically don't start out this well, but if their early form holds, a 6-0 non-district record isn't out of the question -- assuming they can beat An-drews at home on Oct. 1.

Merkel (2-1): Now that the Badgers have ended their long playoff drought -- they made it for the first time since 1963 this past season -- they are eager to make it an annual event.

And with Riley Lambert, last season's District 3-3A MVP, at quarterback, Merkel certainly can't be overlooked. So far, the team has close wins over Class 3A Monahans (27-19) and 2A Colorado City (28-21), with the only defeat coming last week in a 21-14 setback to Holliday, the No. 2-ranked team in Class 2A.

Merkel's next three non-dis-trict games all appear winnable as the Badgers entertain Ballin-ger this Friday, then travel to Breckenridge on Sept. 24 and to Lake View on Oct. 1. Merkel then has an open date before starting district against Wylie.

Clyde (2-1): Clyde has the same record as Wylie, as well as the same nickname, and last year's head-to-head win proved that the Bulldogs from Calla-han County could hold their own against the Taylor County version. But Clyde hasn't made the playoffs since 1996, and will be the clear underdog in its new district despite recent progress.

Clyde, which was 5-5 a year ago, has beaten both of its Class 2A foes (Ballinger and Bangs) so far while losing to Class 3A Breckenridge by a single point. But Ballinger and Bangs aren't exactly run-of-the-mill 2A foes. Ballinger was in the same 3A district with Clyde for many years and is a perennial playoff team. And Bangs has made it to the Class 2A state champion-ship game the past two seasons.

Clyde has a chance to really turn heads if it can win its next three games and equal its 2003 victory total. It goes to Brady (3-0) this Friday, then travels to Coahoma and hosts Vernon. But the real test will be how the Bulldogs perform against Sny-der, Sweetwater, Merkel and Wylie, in that order.

[oh well]

Go overview wildstang great info

[Blk&Gold4ever]

great article.\

that's a keeper

[wildstangs]

I am going to have to give Ron Howell of the Sweetwater Reporter the credit for that article.

[Black_Magic]

Originally posted by wildstangs
I am going to have to give Ron Howell of the Sweetwater Reporter the credit for that article. Good Idea wildstangs!:clap: :clap: LOL

[oh well]

Isn't that you wildstang???????????