(Guadalupe County) – The 2021 edition of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine, widely known as “the Bible of Texas high school football”, holds a promising forecast for each of the area’s high school teams and a few of its individual players.
The magazine predicts Seguin’s first season under new head coach Craig Daily to produce the program’s fourth consecutive berth in the UIL playoffs with a fourth-place finish in District 12-5A-Division I.
The Matadors’ senior defensive end Ian Box is the publication’s choice for pre-season Defensive MVP.
Dripping Springs, ranked No. 19 in the state, is picked to win the district championship. The Tigers’ junior quarterback Austin Novosad is the pre-season choice for Offensive MVP.
DCTF has New Braunfels-Canyon finishing second in its first season under former Seguin coach Travis Bush, with Buda-Johnson claiming the No. 3 playoff seed. The 5-8 spots, in order, go to San Antonio-Veterans Memorial, Harlandale, Kyle-Lehman, and San Antonio-McCollum.
Manvel is the pick to win the Region III title in 5A Division I, with Denton-Ryan tabbed to repeat as state champion.
The publication predicts Navarro to finish second behind defending Region IV champion Wimberley in District 14-4A-Division II.
The Panthers’ senior defensive end Brody Whitson is the pre-season pick for Defensive MVP in the district, while the Texans’ senior running-back Moses Wray is the Offensive MVP.
Both programs show up in the DCTF state rankings, with Wimberley checking in at No. 3 and Navarro tabbed at No. 19.
Wimberley is picked to win its third straight Region IV title, with Carthage the favorite to successfully defend its 4A Division II state championship.
Manor-New Tech and San Antonio-YMLA are expected to claim the third and fourth playoff seed in Navarro’s district, with Austin-Achieve finishing fifth. Austin-Eastside Memorial, a member of the district last year, will not field a football team in 2021.
The DCTF forecast for District 14-3A-Division I has Marion finishing third, with senior linebacker Kross Kelso picked as the pre-season Defensive MVP.
Poteet, ranked No. 21 in the state, is the choice to win the district championship, while No. 23 Jourdanton is picked to finish second. Poteet’s All-State running-back Ernest Davila is the pre-season Offensive MVP.
The magazine has Randolph finishing fourth to complete the playoff field. Lytle, San Antonio-Cole, and Cotulla are forecast to finish 5-7, in that order.
The writers name Vanderbilt-Industrial as the favorite to claim the Region IV championship in 3A Division I, and pick Tuscola-Jim Ned to emerge as state champion.
Lifegate Christian School in Seguin did not field a varsity football team in 2020, but the magazine still picks the Falcons to claim the TCAL Six-Man championship this fall, as they did in 2018 and 2019. Smoking For Jesus Ministry out of Burnet won the 2020 title and is ranked No. 2 behind Lifegate going into the upcoming season.
The publication also previews NCAA Division III’s American Southwest Conference in its college football section, and predicts a fourth-place finish for Texas Lutheran this fall.
Mary Hardin-Baylor is picked to win the ASC title, with Hardin-Simmons finishing second and East Texas Baptist taking third place ahead of TLU.
The rest of the ASC’s predicted order of finish is as follows: 5) Howard Payne, 6) McMurry, 7) Belhaven, 8) Sul Ross State, 9) Austin College, 10) Southwestern.
Seguin, Navarro, and Marion report for the first day of fall practice on Monday, Aug. 2. The first day of full contact drills Aug. 7.