Vidor picked to win league
By Tom Halliburton
The Port Arthur News
September 24, 2009 11:52 pm
— Vidor has added another pre-district championship to its Texas Football magazine selection as this year's District 20-4A football winner.
Coach Jeff Mathews' Pirates were picked this week in a secret vote of District 20-4A head coaches, conducted by The News.
All eight league coaches were requested to rank the other seven teams from top to bottom, leaving their own team out of the selection process. Vidor collected four of eight first-place votes and amassed 44 total votes.
Lumberton and Beaumont Central finished in a flat-footed tie for second with 39 total votes apiece and two first-place votes. Port Neches-Groves followed in fourth place at 34, with Nederland out of the playoff picture at 27, Livingston in sixth with 18 total points, followed by Little Cypress-Mauriceville and Beaumont Ozen.
That coaches vote suggested that Babe Zaharias Stadium just off I-10 should be a hot spot tonight when Vidor and Central open the 20-4A race against each other. Two familiar champion-level clubs also collide in another one as Lumberton's Raiders travel to Livingston. Both Mid-County stadiums also feature home outings with PN-G meeting LC-M and Nederland entertaining Ozen on homecoming night.
"It's going to be exciting, and that's what you play for," Vidor head coach Jeff Mathews said Thursday. "Really as balanced as our league has become, it could be this way every week."
Stepping into the voting booth for his first time as a head coach, veteran Central mentor Andrew Washington changed a few of his prediction decisions during his process.
"This is so hard to do because so many of our district teams play about the same in so many ways," Washington commented. "Any of those top four or five teams can win it all and I think we're sitting about where we would like to be sitting."
Alvin Credeur has viewed 20-4A from both Lumberton and PN-G in recent times. The Raiders head coach is used to seeing one or two squads emerging from the pack after a few weeks. Credeur is not so certain such a trend is going to continue this fall due to the league's overall competitive balance.
"It sure seems as if everyone is on such equal ground," he said.
Nederland's Larry Neumann fully understood that any number of possible playoff combinations might result from such balance.
"This competitive balance could really upset the applecart and may throw it into a completely different kind of mix," Neumann forecasted.
PN-G's Brandon Faircloth saw his team barely get through the pre-district loop unscathed. Emotion and intensity have been riding high on The Reservation. The Indians intended to sustain that level through seven league games.
"These are the seven most important games of their careers, and we've been talking to our kids for two weeks about the fact that everybody is 0-0 right now," Faircloth said. "Our effort and enthusiasm has been the key to our success so far."
Livingston's Randy Rowe could see how a turnover, an injury or any unexpected development could unscramble the whole mess.
"Lumberton and Nederland have been right there most years," Rowe said. "Faircloth has a great resume' at PN-G and Vidor has everybody coming back. We have a young team with 10 sophomores and we will find out a lot more about our club this week when Lumberton comes over here."
All the voters begin to start examining their election returns tonight at a stadium near you.
Mathews has been impressed with his team’s ability to get better week after week this season.
