
Marcus and Allen will battle Friday to break a tie atop the District 8-5A standings.
Graphic by Ryan Escobar. Photos by Lonnie Erickson/Dan Wozniak
Most of this week's Top 10 Games of the Week have championship implications. That includes the Alaska large school title, which will be decided Saturday.
Service (Anchorage) will play crosstown rival South (Anchorage), a team it blew out by 35 points during the regular season. This is the third trip to the state finals in four years for the Cougars.
Meanwhile, nationally ranked Buford (Ga.) can wrap up an 11th consecutive region championship with a win over unbeaten Greater Atlanta Christian (Norcross). Across the border in Alabama, No. 23 Daphne hopes to extend its 23-game winning streak and get the upper hand in the 6A Region 2 title chase when it plays at undefeated McGill-Toolen (Mobile). In suburban Chicago, the Catholic Blue Conference champ will be decided when Loyola (Wilmette) hosts St. Rita (Chicago).
There is a two-way tie atop the standings in our season-long predictions contest. Last week's 7-3 effort allowed Steve Montoya to make up a three-game gap between he and Kevin Askeland, who lost sole possession of the top spot after picking only four out of 10 games correctly. Jamie DeMoney and Stephen Spiewak are tied for third place just one game off the pace. A disappointing 2-8 week knocked Mitch Stephens back into last place, but still only four games behind the leaders.
You can track our overall results and standings all season long by clicking
here.
Here's a look at this week's Top 10 games of the week along with predictions by MaxPreps staff writers and contributors Mitch Stephens, Steve Montoya, Stephen Spiewak, Kevin Askeland and Jamie DeMoney.
MAXPREPS TOP 10 FOOTBALL GAMES OF THE WEEKNo. 11 Allen (Texas) at Marcus (Flower Mound, Texas)Allen
was nearly upset each of the last two weeks. The 7-0 Eagles had to come
from behind to beat both Plano East and Plano West, a pair of district
opponents whose combined record is 7-7. Alabama-committed quarterback
Alec Morris had over 300 combined passing and rushing yards with five
touchdowns in the win over Plano West while Missouri-bound running back
Jonathan Williams ran for over 160 yards and a score.
Marcus
is also undefeated and shares the lead in district 8-5A with Allen.
Like Allen, the Marauders trailed in the second half last week before
knocking off Plano, 28-24. Senior
Jeff Smiley ran for more than 100 yards and had a key interception late in the game to help seal the victory.
Mitch Stephens: Allen 42, Marcus 28
Steve Montoya: Marcus 28, Allen 27
Stephen Spiewak: Allen 35, Marcus 28
Kevin Askeland: Marcus 28, Allen 27
Jamie DeMoney: Allen 34, Marcus 17