Here's a rundown of the four Kirk Herbstreit Classic games to be played Monday at Cowboys Stadium. The first two games will be broadcast on Fox Sports Southwest Plus and the last two will be on Fox Sports Southwest.
Arlington Bowie (1-0) vs. New Orleans Edna Karr (0-1), 10 a.m.
Bowie rolls into the Classic coming off a huge 50-7 win over Odessa in Zero Week.
Bowie boasts a balanced attack from quarterback Kolby Listenbee, a TCU commit, and running back Russell Hansbrough, an Arizona State commit who will share carries with a platoon of runners.
Edna Karr is the New Orleans Class 4A state runner-up and comes to Arlington after losing its season opener.
No. 3 Dallas Skyline (1-0) vs. Cocoa (Fla.) (0-1), 1:15 p.m.
Dallas Skyline came into last season’s Herbstreit Classic with a new, young quarterback to face St. Thomas Aquinas out of Florida, a team that spent time last season as the FAB 50 No. 1 team. Needless to say, it became obvious early that the game was moving just a little too fast for the inexperienced Devante Kincade in the 31-3 loss.
With a year under his belt, Kincade will lead the Skyline offense against another Florida powerhouse, Cocoa, in the second game of the afternoon.
Cocoa is making its second out-of-state trip in as many weeks after losing to Colerain (Ohio) on ESPN last week, snapping the school’s 38-game win steak. Cocoa’s option-based offense will be put to the test against a very strong Skyline defense led by Texas commit Peter Jinkens at linebacker.
If Skyline can shut down Cocoa’s run game like Colerain did last week, it will be hard for Cocoa to stay in the game without much of a threat through the air.
No. 7 DeSoto (1-0) vs. Oklahoma City Douglass (3-0), 4:30 p.m
After losing star quarterback Ryan Polite, DeSoto’s offense has gone under some renovation to fit the talent returning this season.
Polite, a very strong passer, led a spread, pass-happy offense to the state quarterfinals in 2010. This season, coach Claude Mathis has committed to the ground game, running options among Devin Rushing, Desmon White and Dontre Wilson and new quarterback Raheem Wilson.
The new system worked for a 43-3 win against Leander in Zero Week, but it will surely be put to the test against Douglass, the defending Oklahoma 4A state champion.
No. 10 Denton Guyer (1-0) vs. Cedar Hill (0-1), 8 p.m.
Last year’s Herbstreit Classic gave area high school football fans a taste of the 2010 playoffs in Week 1.
Cedar Hill edged Denton Guyer, 42-41, in the Classic, only to be bounced from the playoffs in the area round of the 5A Division II playoffs back at Cowboys Stadium by the same Denton Guyer team that would be a state finalist.
The teams square off again in the prime-time slot of this year's Classic.
While the jerseys on the field my look identical to both games last season, these teams are very different, most noticeably at the quarterback position.
J.W. Walsh carried the Guyer offense all the way to the state finals last year on his dual-threat ability, but has since moved on to Oklahoma State. Taking his place is sophomore quarterback Jerrod Heard, who pulled in his first win as a starter against another potential playoff contender Garland, 24-21, in Zero Week.
New Cedar Hill starter Andre Anderson wasn’t as successful in his first game of 2011, losing to ESPN Dallas 5A No. 1 Allen, 28-13, at the Tom Landry Classic. Cedar Hill’s offense struggled to get anything going until late in the game and will face another strong defense Monday to test any adjustments made over the past week.