Corsicana — Hubbard at Italy

7:30 p.m. Friday

At Gladiator Field



RECORDS: Class 1A DII Hubbard (2-1).   Class 1A DI Italy (1-2).

PLAYERS TO WATCH: Hubbard: LB Ashton Hawthorne, WR/DB D’Warren Simmons, OL Ben Freeman, OL Davis Bailes. Italy: RB/LB Ryheem Walker, QB Eric Carson, OL/DL Adrian Reed, OL/DL Zach Boykin

UPDATE: Last week Hubbard bounced back from its first defeat with a 36-0 shutout of Class 2A Rio Vista ... after opening with a 41-14 win over Class 2A Maypearl, Italy has dropped consecutive games to Class 2A Malakoff (64-36) and Class 2A Sunnyvale (21-14) ... the Gladiators upended Hubbard 36-22 at Jaguar Field last season before the Jags reeled off seven straight wins ... Hubbard may be without the services of all-state RB Bradley Walker for the second straight outing ... Jags FB Trey Henderson has picked up the slack nicely with 451 yards over three games while averaging nearly 10 yards a carry ... Italy senior RB Ryheem Walker (6-1, 210) has put up gaudy numbers thus far with 521 yards and five touchdowns ... Hubbard’s defense led by Jordan Johnson, Kez Williams and Bryan Walker among others held Rio Vista to just 11 yards of total offense last week ... for Italy, Walker is also his team’s leading tackler with 19 stops per game.

— Don A. Sims









Dawson at Axtell

7:30 p.m. Friday

At Ellison Field



RECORDS: Class 1A Dawson is 0-3. Class 1A Axtell is 0-3.

PLAYERS TO WATCH: Dawson: QB/DB Lane Dotson, OL/DL Jared Bruce, RB/DB Alex Ruiz, RB/DL Robert Davis. Axtell: QB Justin Stranacher, DE Lucas Helleck, RB Michael Milburn, OL Garrett Wilson.

UPDATE: Dawson hopes to rebound from a 51-0 homecoming loss as it hits the road for the first time this season … both the Bulldogs and Longhorns are looking for their first win of the year … Axtell also was blanked last Friday night, falling 28-0 to Crawford … Dawson freshman RB Ian Norwood led the team in rushing a week ago with 39 yards on 14 attempts in the absence of RB Dalton Long … QB Brandon Cehand had his most productive passing performance of the season, connecting 6 times on 13 attempts for 54 yards … junior Ty Skinner was on the receiving end of most of those passes, catching five for 49 yards … last year the Longhorns steamrolled Dawson, 52-0 … the Bulldogs gave up five first-quarter touchdowns in that meeting … three of those first period scores came on kickoff or punt returns … Axtell RB Milburn was responsible for each of those special teams goals … the Longhorns racked up 255 yards on the ground in the 2011 contest … Axtell managed just 48 yards of total offense in last Friday’s loss.

— James Ratliff







Cross Roads at Wortham

7:30 p.m. Friday

At Bulldog Field



RECORDS: Class 1A DI Cross Roads is 1-2. Class 1A DII Wortham is 1-2.

PLAYERS TO WATCH: Cross Roads: RB Derek Whitely, LB Shawn Himes, OL Seth McGlaun, DL Tye Jenkins, QB Chad Sherrill. Wortham: QB Witty Busby, RB Kyle Goerner, NT Cameron Lewis, OT Skylar Jordan, WR Chris Lee.

UPDATE: Cross Roads gave up 551 rushing yards in a 55-42 loss to Rice last week ... Whitely had a big game in the loss, rushing for 252 yards on 18 carries ... Brad Wallace is in his first year at Cross Roads, taking over for former Kerens assistant Steve Almuete ... Sherrill passed for 111 yards in the loss to Rice ... Himes had 103 tackles last season ... Wortham has offered up an up-and-down start to the season, last week bringing a 35-7 loss to a talented Cayuga squad ... everyone that lives in Wortham has a rushing attempt this season with 16 ballcarriers ... Goerney is the leading rusher with 157 yards on 18 carries ... Busby has passed for 52 yards per game ... Lewis leads the Bulldogs with 1 1/2 sacks ... Goerney and Tyvon Freeman each have two interceptions ... Wortham has 18 fumbles as a team but has lost only six of them ... the Bulldogs are 7 of 25 on third downs.

— Todd Wills



Grand Saline at Kerens

7:30 p.m. Friday

At A.J. Godley Stadium



RECORDS: Class 2A DI Grand Saline is 1-2. Class 1A DI Kerens is 1-2.

PLAYERS TO WATCH: Grand Saline: RB Torrey Ollison, TE Dean Latta, OLB Jake Bennett, QB Austin Truett, LB Brian Davis. Kerens: QB Nate Betts, WR Brett Anderson, OL/DL Dylan Woods, OL William Pugh, DB Zack Duncan.

UPDATE: Both teams have played a common opponent in Edgewood ... Grand Saline lost last week to the Bulldogs 29-6 while Kerens lost 43-14 to Edgewood in Zero Week ... Ollison has 329 yards and 4 TDs ... Truett has completed 44 percent of his passes (15 of 34) for 171 yards and a TD and 4 INTS ... Bennett has 30 tackles while Ollison has 28 ... turnovers have killed the Bobcats with nine turnovers in their losses ... Kerens had five of them in last week’s 44-28 loss to Malakoff ... the Bobcats average 215 yards per game on the ground with the yardage spread out ... last week it was Betts who had 81 yards on 18 carries ... TB Rayvon Faulk is the team’s leading rusher with 216 yards on 31 carries ... Anderson has six receptions for 132 yards and a TD ... LB Mike Kline has 34 tackles.

— Todd Wills