i know its still very early (football in texas doesnt really have a season does it?), but im already trying to peice together a prediction for the season. unfortunately, its one of those "come and take it years". the power house teams of recent (achs, dc, bracken, hill country, and kerrville) have all had significant losses to there roster. this year i think the trophy is more up for grabs than it has been in a very long time. there is no clear cut favorite. all that to say, i still would like to voice my humble opionion (no computer analysis involved) and see what yal think. i cant even guess on a top five, so ill give a shot at top four...

4.) Watauga Harvest -- coming off a few years of learning, this team of experienced upper classmen finally has a chance to prove themselves. they easily have the talent to make their mark in tapps div 1, but it will come down to discipline and execution (both of which have been lacking the past few years)

3.) Bracken -- though the older achilles has come and gone, eli has an opportunity to come out from behind the shadow of his older brother. a strong well rounded player, eli will have the support of what was a young team last year, but potentially a matured group of boys this year.

2.) Abilene Christian -- this is a hard pick. clearly they will not compare to the team they were last year, but watching the state game it was made clear that the show was not all about the seniors (just mostly). with a surrounding class and a continuation of good coaching, this panther team has the experience and strength to repeat.

1.) Dallas Covenant -- even harder than the former pick, this is a shot in the dark. like achs, this covenant team lost a very strong and unified group of seniors, but also like the panthers, their state run was not solely based on these older players. constantly getting subbed in at both the semi final and championship games, were a handy group of sophmores (now juniors) who were able to not only keep up with the older boys, but show them they werent far from making their own name in tapps.

DC and ACHS both will need to follow the leadership of their coaches to replace the losses of a very very solid group of graduates. if all goes right for these teams, and offseason work is succesfull, i think we may end up seeing a repeat of last years championship game. because of more younger guys getting experience last year, i think dc has a slight edge and will FINALLY cross over that hump. who knows, maybe its been the field this whole time. they sure put on a clinic at zephyr last year!

Panthers have plenty of talent and big contributors from last year left, but the loss of those 3 seniors is still a big one. Time will tell if others will step up and fill the holes. It's hard to replace an experienced QB, a GREAT athlete in #3 AND #17's play both ways as well as his team leadership. There are plenty of incoming seniors and others that have the potential to fill those shoes, but I hope we're not still talking about "potential" by the time the middle of the season rolls around. I hope we're talking about results. Only time will tell. I know Coach Coley and crew are up to the task.

You never know which players will transfer in or out too, so that could be a factor. It was a great playoff last year with the top 4 or 5 teams being so strong. I think it will be another tight playoff between the top few teams. The overall strength may be down SLIGHTLY, but maybe not. There are some of last year's underclassmen that will step up big, I'm sure - on all teams. I wouldn't even try to predict a ranking right now. If I did it would just be a guess. Gonna have to see who steps up and who stumbles. Doggone it! They're gonna have to play the games on the schedule, I guess.

My son is an incoming freshman (QB), so maybe he'll get a little playing time here and there. I'm ready for fall and ready to see how it unfolds. I'm also ready for deer season and cooler temps! Sitting here in the heat, as our a/c compressor went out a couple hours ago. Hoping to get it fixed in the morning.

Coach Coley didn't do this years team (ACHS) any favors with the schedule. First game againt Cherokee, second againt Newcastle then Rotan, Water Valley. Then throw in Watauga and Midland Trinity. Going to be baptism by fire for our boys. Not going to be nearly as dominant as last year, but still think they can make a deep playoff run.

both achs and dc have a deadly predestrict schedule. dc has abbot, aquilla, t rock, and valley. but as we saw last year, the two teams with the "hardest" regular season schedule did the most damage come playoffs. we will see how it pays off for them this year though.

It's definitely better to play good teams. It's hard to get better if you don't play against tough competition. Looks like DC has a great schedule. That's gonna prepare them well.

the championship bracken team three years ago proved that theory wrong as their regular season schedule was a little on the low end (possibly how they went undefeated). but over all i would definitely agree. beyond getting better as a team, being able to beat the best (in all divisions) proves that this team is the best. and everyone knows that respect for private schools is something that is relentlessly sought after. achs and dc have a huge opportunity to do that this year, just as they did last year.

So Bracken beat Dallas, Rockwall, Kerrville (twice), Austin Hill Country, Marble Falls and Tomball......sounds weak??????
And then they ran the table again thru the regular season last year 26 or 27 game winning streak again beating Austin Hill Country (twice), Kerrville and undefeated Houston Emery.
They had team speed, great blocking and a great head coach.
Abilene last year was a great team (the best team) beat Bracken and Dallas to win the championship, to say anything negative would be a sour grape.
And for the same reasons, great speed, great blocking and great coaching.
Sounds like the Eagles nest has a rotten egg!

there is no doubt in my mind that bracken was the best team of the 2010 season in tapps div 1. but imo, a "hard" regular schedule does not consist of tapps playoff wanna be's. it consists of power house teams from every division of football. look at abilene and covenants loss record from the past few years. i see alot of state champions or very serious playoff contenders from div 1 public schools. i have absolutely zero ill feelings for bracken. it is true that their team from the last two years has been much more well rounded than people have given them credit for, BUT they did not beat respectible teams during their undefeated season until playoffs hit. i am not in any way saying they wouldnt have been able to compete with these public school power houses, all i am saying is that they didnt. like i said, 2010 bracken was the exception to the trend of the teams with the hardest schedules continuing on into november and december. there is no way you can argue that the warriors had a "harder" schedule than dc and abilene from the past year, and look what happened. thats why 2010 was the exception. dallas had the "harder" schedule on paper, but in the long run bracken still came out on top. no "sour grapes" here, just facts.

Bracken Sports, calm down. He said nothing bad about the actual Bracken team or their skill level. And to argue that their schedule that year was as tough as the state champion and state runner up of last season is just plain silly.

So if they play Bracken they are "wanna bes" and if they play DC then they are "contenders". The bias in your words is kind of one sided, you will give Bracken props but quickly followed by a disclaimer. I dont think you have ill feelings and I am calm just thought your (imo) is bias.
2012 lets see how it plays out !Happy 4th and NOBAMA I think the health care bill has a new tax on hotdogs and popcorn served at games.

I don't know about Bracken's 2010 schedule, but I do know that Ira was the only team (of all the really great teams) that ACHS faced last year that MIGHT have been tougher than Bracken. There wasn't much difference at all. GREAT teams - both of them.

Good points from all sides, now lets shift focus back to thoughts on the upcoming season

like i said, bracken was a great team 2010 and 2011. no question. and they deserved no less than how they ended that 2011 season. we will end with that. now someone please give another prediction, this year is wide open.

I think 3 of the 4 teams mentioned earlier will make it deep in to the playoffs, I know nothing about Watauga. If the north teams play the north teams in early rounds then advantage Bracken.If it shakes out like last year then the edge goes to DC.If Bracken meets DC first (game takes too much out of both) I think edge to ACH, only reason I dont have ACH with back to back automatic, they lost several horses.I think over all the north has more qaulity teams and as always 1 injury can kill a team, not sure I buy into playing RS and Throck. Only reason small schools play big schools at the next level is for the money, North Texas doesnt play Texas to get better, its for $$$$$$.With that said the top 3 in Tapps would be in the late rounds of the playoffs in UIL too. Until someone beats ACH they should be ranked #1

TAPPS Division I is going to be tough yet again. Abilene Christian, Bracken Christian, Dallas Covenant, Austin Hill Country, and Kerrville OLH have all bern strong recently. They've played some great playoff games over the years. I think there has to be something to be said aboit going out scheduling strong non-district opponents to make you better. Those teams don't only have to be UIL. You can play top quality teams in non-district in TAPPS, TCAL, TCAF, or Independents as well. But, certainly goes along way when you can compete with UIL programs like Hil Country did with Richland Springs, Dallas Covenant against Throckmorton, and when Abilene Christian played Ira last season. Plus, I think the last two years Bracken could hold their own with anyone in state regardless of division public or private.

Interested to see the first rankings here in about a month or so and how they play oit during the seadon. One thing about rankings is computers don't play the games 15,16,17, and 18 year old kids do.