5 Dallas-area football storylines to know for Week 5, including big tests for Little Elm, Richland

Here are five storylines to check out as we go into Week 5 of high school football season.

Game of the week

This week’s Rockwall vs. Rockwall-Heath game lost a bit of its glamor on Friday when Rockwall lost 52-31 to Highland Park after moving up to 6th in the Class 6A state rankings.

A Rockwall team that averaged 58.7 points through Friday only managed seven points in the second half against Highland Park. Rockwall didn’t look like the same team that won their first three games averaging 28 points while playing one of the toughest non-district fixtures in the state.

But the District 10-6A opener between Rockwall vs. Rockwall-Heath is still by far the best game in the Dallas area in week 5. Rockwall-Heath (3-1) is ninth in the state and its only defeat was 36-35 to put Southlake Carroll in 3rd place.

This game will likely be decided by the quarterbacks.

Mississippi State Promise Braedyn Locke was spectacular in half of Rockwalls Games. He threw 919 yards, 10 touchdowns and only one interception in victories against the areal Jesuit and the state-rated Austin Lake Travis. But in the other half – a 13-point win over area-rated Cedar Hill and the loss to state-rated Highland Park – Locke managed a total of 256 yards, one touchdown pass, and five interceptions.

Indiana pawns Rockwall-Heath’s Josh Hoover, who takes second place among the 6A quarterbacks at the passing yards (1,219), and he has 13 touchdown passes and only two interceptions. He’s thrown at least three touchdown passes in all four games for a Heath team averaging 55.8 points per game in the 6A range.

Big test for Richland

Richland started 3-0 to win their first winning season since 11-3 and become a regional finalist in 2017. Dual-three quarterback CJ Nelson, who is a wide receiver for SMU, has thrown 582 yards and eight touchdowns and leads Richland in rushing with 249 yards and five touchdowns.

Richland, a Class 5A team, has beaten three 6A teams – Haltom, Fort Worth Paschal and Keller Timber Creek. But the combined record of these three teams is 4-8.

Richland will get its first big test on Friday when it plays its District 4-5A Division I opener against Colleyville Heritage (2-1), number 7 in the state. Richland’s defense must find a way to contain heritage quarterback Weston Smith, who threw 652 yards and seven touchdowns, and wide receiver Hogan Wasson, who received an average of 108.7 yards per game.

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Can Little Elm go undefeated?

Little Elm is 4-0 and 16th in class 6A. It has already had its overall wins over the past two seasons together, and it takes two more wins to celebrate its first winning season since the 7-3 in 2017.

But it faces a challenging District 5-6A prelude that has to travel to Prosper (3-1), ranked 14th in the region. Prosper’s only loss was Southlake Carroll, number one in the area.

Little Elm ranks second among the 6A area teams with an average of 52.8 points. John Mateer threw 774 yards and 12 touchdowns, Jalen Sessions stormed 381 yards and seven scores, and Vashawn Thomas II and Cameran Taylor-Butler together scored nine touchdowns.

Strength of 5-6A

District 11-6A is perhaps the “District of Doom” and with Duncanville, DeSoto and Cedar Hill the best district in the area. But a record-breaking 5-6A was the best local 6A district so far.

The seven teams in 5-6A are a combined 24-4. Denton Guyer, Little Elm, and McKinney Boyd are all 4-0, and Allen, Denton Braswell, McKinney, and Prosper are all 3-1. The only other local 6A district with more than one 4-0 team is 4-6A with Southlake Carroll and Keller.

The district game begins on 5-6A with Little Elm playing for Prosper, Denton Guyer playing for McKinney, and McKinney Boyd playing for Denton Braswell. Allen, ranked 15th in the state, is not there, but after the bye week he has games against the three undefeated teams in a row – Boyd, Little Elm and then Guyer.

Rivalry game in Flower Mound

The “Mound Showdown” is this week when Flower Mound (1-2) plays rival Flower Mound Marcus (2-1) on Friday at 7pm in District 6-6A Opener for both teams.

Marcus has won the last two games, including 55:14 last season in the crookedest game in the series’ history. That surpassed Flower Mound’s 59-21 victory in 2018.

The teams have been playing some thrillers lately. Marcus won in overtime in 2016 with 48:45 and in 2019 with 34:31.

Marcus’ Dallas Dudley ranks second in yards among Area 6A players with 482, while Jaxxon Warren threw for 842 yards and eight touchdowns. Florida’s Pledge Nick Evers of Flower Mound has hit 1,147 yards (933 passes) and 10 touchdowns (seven passes), and Walker Mulkey has 24 catches for 387 yards and two scores.

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