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By Tommy Mann Jr.

Special to The Orange Leader

 

The Little Cypress-Mauriceville Battlin’ Bears are district champions of District 10-4A D1 and are the No. 1 seed. As such, they will host the Lindale Eagles, the No. 4 seed from District 9-4A, at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 15 at Battlin’ Bear Stadium in Orange.

The Bears have won eight consecutive games since losing the first two games of the season to No. 9 state ranked Hamshire-Fannett, 13-7, and to Silsbee, 27-14. The LC-M offense rounded into form when Coach Eric Peevey and staff made the decision for Braylon Lewis to handle quarterback duties full time. Since then the Bears offense has been more dangerous with the dual threat at quarterback.

The Bears offense has been averaging 30 points per game for the season. Along with Lewis, opposing defenses must account for the Bears other offensive weapons in Jonah Fuller, Evan Worster and J’Lynn Morris.

The LC-M defense has proven to be one of the most physical in the area and has held opponents to 19 points per game on the season. The Bears defense held No. 9 state-ranked Hamshire-Fannett to its lowest offensive output of the season, as it did with Vidor and Bridge City and handed Huffman-Hargrave its only loss of the season as the unit kept the Hawks out of the end zone in the fourth quarter.

The Lindale Eagles secured the No. 4 seed in District 9-4A with a 45-0 shutout of Henderson this past Friday night. Although the Eagles record looks subpar, this Lindale team should not be underestimated.

Lindale defeated 5A playoff team Hallsville, and lost a nailbiter to No. 7 state-ranked Gilmer (Class 4-A D2), 37-36, as well as a close contest to Van, 28-23, which is a playoff team as well. The Eagles only losses were to the other three playoff teams from District 9-4A, which included taking district rival and No. 7 ranked Pine Tree to the limit in a 13-7 loss in Week 10.

Lindale averages 29 points per game on offense, while its defense has been allowing 20 points per game on average this season.

 

The regular season of the 2024 high school football season has come to an end and now it is time for the playoffs. All five Orange County teams have qualified for the post-season and are set for the bi-district round.

An interesting note for this year’s playoff games featuring Bridge City, LC-M and Vidor is that its district, which is District 10-4A Division 1, made an agreement with District 9-4A D1 at the start of the season to allow first place and second place teams to host bi-district round playoff games, while the third and fourth place teams must travel. Class 6A and Class 5A teams already do this every year under UIL guidelines, but the majority of Class 4A and lower classifications play at neutral site locations.