Friday night football wrapup: Sept. 18

Two Southeast Texas football teams made major statements Friday night, giving fans reason to dream about the season that lays ahead.

For one, Class 2A Newton showed its worth with a thrilling victory at Silsbee, a Class 3A school thought to be a district championship contender. In another game, Jasper looked to be the real deal in a surprising 23-13 victory over West Orange-Stark, thought of as a state championship contender before the season.

The victory for Jasper was its second straight against a team ranked in The Associated Press top 10 state rankings. Most striking in those victories for the Bulldogs has been their 11 takeaways, four against WO-S and a whopping seven two weeks earlier in a 31-22 victory against Kirbyville, then the No. 4 team in Class 2A.

Next for Jasper is a trip to Hamshire-Fannett before a final district tune-up at home against Silsbee. After then, Jasper might be sitting with a surprising 4-1 record as it enters District 18-3A play against Diboll.

As for Newton, the Eagles picked up a second straight victory against a Class 3A team. They needed a last-second field goal try by Silsbee to bounce off the crossbar to seal the victory, but a win is a win, no matter how you slice it.

What Newton has now is a 4-0 record and an eye on a third straight Class 3A opponent, Orangefield, which will provide another stiff test. Those battles will do nothing but help Newton — ranked No. 6 in Class 2A — prepare for a District 22-2A race that looks to be getting tougher by the week.

One week after the Little Cypress-Mauriceville football team snapped a 16-game losing streak that stretched through one season and in parts of two others, the Battlin’ Bears have another kind of streak: A winning streak.

In a whichever-team-has-the-ball-last kind of game, LC-M snagged a 39-36 victory over Cleveland, a strong 3A school. LC-M’s Hunter Gonzales scored four touchdowns, two passing and two rushing. He also completed 14 of 24 passes for 249 yards.

Coupled with last week’s victory against Bridge City, LC-M takes a two-game winning streak into a district opening game against Port Neches-Groves. Play in District 20-4A will be a bit tougher than what LC-M has faced in recent weeks, but the Bears still have good reason to be confident.

Two good things to take from the West Brook football team’s near-comeback loss to Houston Eisenhower:

One, the Bruins fell a failed two-point conversion shy of going to overtime after they scored two touchdowns in the final two minutes. The team’s never-say-die approach should give coach Craig Stump something to build upon.

Two, the two-point loss came against an Eisenhower team that lost by 16 points to Galena Park North Shore, the No. 7 team in the Class 5A state rankings. West Brook and North Shore end the District 21-5A season against each other, and there’s reason to think the Bruins have the potential to keep the game closer than the 41-13 margin by which they lost last season.

The Nederland football team used third-string quarterback Adam Atterberry in a 42-7 loss to Friendswood. Starter Tyler Smith missed the game with the flu. Atterberry became Nederland’s third starting quarterback in as many games. The season-opening starter, Kirby Bellow, is out for the season after he suffered a ligament injury in the opener.

Watch for Orangefield to be a party crasher in a district thought to have been sewn up before the season began.

The preseason prediction that would give the District 21-3A title to the winner of the Oct. 9 game between WO-S and Silsbee might go out the window if Orangefield continues its impressive play.

The Bobcats, who won just once last season, now have a three-game win streak after a 52-0 victory over Cleveland Tarkington. In all, the Bobcats have played well enough to give reason to think they might be good enough to knock off either or both off the preseason district favorites.