It’s easy to forget about Newton this time of year, but all the Eagles do is win.
District play never presents much of a challenge to Newton. The Eagles have won their league games this season by an average of 60 points.
Newton is now rising up the rankings as teams above them have started losing. Meanwhile, there’s a shake up at the bottom of the rankings, too, as multiple District 10-3A-I teams reappear.
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At the Enterprise, our top 10 isn’t based on who would win head-to-head. In the UIL classification system with varying school sizes, it wouldn’t make sense to judge Southeast Texas teams that way.
Instead, we build the top 10 with a power ranking approach. A team’s ranking is based on its performance relative to their classification, not a hypothetical head-to-head game.
With that in mind, here is this week’s Enterprise Top 10:
1. Silsbee (9-0, 5-0)
The Tigers followed up their big win over Hamshire-Fannett by blowing out Bridge City. This Silsbee team is showing no signs of slowing down, and is a serious contender to make a state title run. The regular season finale against Jasper will be a tough test, but the Tigers have been up to every challenge so far this season.
2. Newton (7-0, 5-0)
Here’s that Eagles team I was taking about. Newton beat Kountze 61-6 last Friday and will end the regular season with a road trip to New Waverly this week. Expect another huge margin of victory for Newton before the playoffs begin.
3. Port Neches-Groves (8-1, 6-0)
PN-G stays steady at the third spot in these rankings. The purple and white took down Mid-County rival Nederland without much trouble. Now, Port Neches-Groves can secure the outright district title with a win over Galena Park. PN-G has already earned the No. 1 seed of out District 9-5A-II.
4. Port Arthur Memorial (8-1, 6-1)
Not much went right for Memorial during a 52-23 loss at Barbers Hill. That’s the bad news. The good news is that Port Arthur still has plenty to play for, and could find itself in a three-way tie for first place in District 8-5A-I if things go in their favor next week. And yes, I’m well aware that Memorial beat PN-G in the season opener. That was a long time ago, and remember, these ranking aren’t always based on head-to-head results.
5. Hamshire-Fannett (9-1, 5-1)
A great regular season has come to end for Hamshire-Fannett. The Longhorns will be the second seed out of District 9-4A-II and should be a huge playoff threat to any opponent. A job well done for coach Mark Waggoner and company, but Hamshire-Fannett isn’t even close to done yet.
6. Deweyville (8-1, 4-0)
The Pirates huge victory over Sabine Pass was nice, but a much bigger challenge awaits this week. Lovelady is undefeated on the season and will host Deweyville on Friday night with the district title at stake.
7. Lumberton (6-3, 4-0)
Many local football fans, including myself, might have written off Lumberton after an 0-3 start to the season in September. The Raiders have now won six games in a row and just beat Little Cypress-Mauriceville for what basically amounted to the district championship game. Lumberton will host Livingston to wrap up the regular season.
8. Jasper (6-3, 4-1)
The Bulldogs are getting hot at the right time. They’ve won three straight games and just destroyed Hardin-Jefferson. Jasper biggest game of the year comes this week against Silsbee. If the Bulldogs can pull off the upset, it would certainly shake up these local rankings heading into the playoffs.
9. Kirbyville (8-2, 5-1)
The Wildcats are the surprise team this season in Southeast Texas. They beat Orangefield last week and secured the top seed out of District 10-3A-I because of their previous win over East Chambers. Kirbyville has a bye this week to end the regular season.
10. East Chambers (7-2, 4-1)
Here’s another team trending in the right direction. East Chambers looked great during a Thursday night win over Hardin, 35-0. The Bucs are getting healthy and playing well as the playoffs approach. They’ve travel to Orangefield in the regular-season finale.
Dropped from the rankings: Orangefield, Little Cypress-Mauriceville
