What They're Saying in Dallas About the San Angelo Central Bobcats Versus Mansfield Playoff

SAN ANGELO, TX — Friday is the Texas UIL Area playoff game between the San Angelo Central High School Bobcats (11-0, 6-0 in district) who are traveling to Mansfield in the DFW area to face the Mansfield Tigers (10-1, 7-0 in district).

The game starts at 7 p.m. at Vernon Newsom Stadium.

In the Dallas area media, the favorite to win is Mansfield. Matt Stepp at Dave Campbell’s High School Football wrote that San Angelo Central’s best hope is that the Mansfield defense fails to shut down Central’s running game. “If it turns into a track meet, Mansfield [is] out of its element, Central has a shot here,” he wrote. But if Central’s “smallish” defense gets worn down by Mansfield’s running churn led by a massive offensive line, Central loses. Mansfield’s star wide receiver is Baylor commit Jackson Gleeson. On the Mansfield defense, the star is Cam’ron Jones, a UCLA commit who Stepp credits with leading the effort to hold last week’s opponent, Keller Central, to just 94 yards of total offense. All four sports writers at Campbell’s High School Football picked Mansfield to win.

Friday Night Glory multimedia journalist Marc Henry (On Da Marc, Marchen44 on Twitter) interviewed Mansfield Head Coach Daniel Maberry after their bi-district playoff win over Keller Central last week. He noted that the Mansfield O-line in front of RB Theo Owens (#21) owned the line of scrimmage. “He’s been our finisher all year long. We put him in in those goal line situations and he’s been able to finish a lot of runs. So, that’s been huge for us all year,” Coach Maberry added.

WATCH:
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Among the other writers in the DFW area, unanimously, they chose Mansfield:

San Angelo LIVE! writer Sam Fowler predicted a Central win. Fowler notes that the Mansfield air game is weaker than Central’s, and we have star junior QB Maverick McIvor who has racked up nearly double the passing yards that Mansfield has throughout the 2017 season. McIvor is four yards short of 3,000 yards passing this season. He called the Central pass offense “video game numbers.”

Fowler notes that the stout Mansfield defense will be a challenge. Over the past five games, it has allowed its opponents only 5.5 points average per game.

Despite this, Fowler wrote, “I still don’t think Mansfield wins Friday.” He predicts a close game, with Central squeaking by with a field goal, 34-31 Central.

Matt Stepp tweeted that the picks are no surprise. Local sports writers know where their bread is buttered. Unless there is a wide disparity in team statistics, local writers will always pick the local team.

The San Angelo Central band and football team are departing San Angelo Stadium at 11:30 a.m. Friday. San Angelo Central Band Director Joey Ashbrook said supporters of the Bobcats should line Knickerbocker Road from S. Bryant Blvd. to the stadium to show support for the team, band, cheerleaders, and TexAnns drill team.

If you are traveling to the game, the stadium is located at 3700 E. Broad St., Mansfield, TX 76063.

Belinda Willis, Communications Director for the City of Mansfield said road construction on E. Broad St. between U.S. 287 and SH 360 could cause traffic delays to the stadium.

She suggested taking either SH 360 north from U.S. 287 or taking the Heritage Parkway from northbound U.S. 287 to SH 360 and then north to the stadium.

The fastest route to Mansfield from San Angelo avoids all this. The best route appears to be U.S. 67 to TX 206 north at the intersection south of Coleman, then to get on I-20 east in Eastland. In Arlington, exit SH 360 and proceed south. Newsom Stadium is on the southeast side at the intersection of 360 and Broad St. The alternate route, driving in all the way on U.S. 67 involves too many stoplights and speed traps in small towns. Trust me.

Here are driving directions on a map. (32.578987, -97.077113)

Tickets at the gate are $8. You can purchase them online for $7 here.

The National Weather Service forecast is for a sunny Friday in Mansfield with a high of 76 degrees F. Friday night it will be mostly clear with temperatures dropping to 48 overnight. Winds will be out of the south 5 to 10 mph.

If you are staying home, San Angelo LIVE! will provide continuous updates on the score via our Scores pages and offer live commentary via Facebook Live and Soundcloud, as available.

The winner of this area playoff game will face the winner of the area playoff game between Waco Midway and Byron Nelson that starts at 8 p.m. at nearby AT&T Stadium in Arlington Friday night. The regional playoff game will be held Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m., Dec. 2, at Darrell K. Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium on the campus of The University of Texas in Austin.