Defending state champions
Aledo,
Anna and
DeSoto will kick off the 2024 high school football season in Texas this week with compelling matchups. Those are just part of a monster opening weekend that will include over 650 games involving teams from the Lone Star State.
Aledo, which has won 30 in a row entering the 2024 campaign and captured the Class 5A Division I title a year ago, will go on the road Friday to face Class 6A heavyweight
Denton Guyer. Aledo won last year's matchup 48-45, one of its only close calls during an unbeaten season where it won by an average of 34 points per game.
Reigning Class 4A Division I champion Anna is welcoming Tennessee powerhouse
Oakland (Murfreesboro) to Texas in another Friday night matchup. The visiting Patriots, who already have a 35-0 win over
Independence (Thompson's Station, Tenn.) under their belt, won three state titles from 2020-22 and another in 2018 under head coach Kevin Creasy. Anna is 28-2 over the past two seasons and expects to keep riding high behind junior quarterback
Ziondre Williams, who threw for 2,930 yards and 39 touchdowns as a sophomore.
Finally, nationally-ranked DeSoto – No. 5 in this week's MaxPreps Top 25 – takes on
Creekside (Fairburn, Ga.). While the Seminoles have a history of trekking around the country to take on powerhouse programs, they will have to be on their game to hang with the loaded Eagles, who have won 23 in a row.
Read on for a look at the rest of our top 10 games of the week.
Click here for this week's complete statewide scoreboard.
Syracuse commitment Byron Washington is part of a star-studded returning cast for defending Class 6A Division II state champion DeSoto. (Photo: Freddie Beckwith)
