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By Tommy Mann Jr.

Special to The Orange Leader

 

For the second time in three years, the Orangefield Bobcats are district champions and will be the No. 1 seed headed into the bi-district round. The Bobcats will play the Fairfield Eagles, which is the No. 4 seed from District 9-3A D1, at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 15, at Wildcat Stadium in Splendora.

Under first year head coach Jeff Breaux, the Bobcats switched to the spread offense after more than a decade of the Slot-T rushing attack. The first few non-district games showed some growing pains, but the team rounded into form just ahead of district play and reeled off seven consecutive wins.

The Bobcats offense averages nearly 34 points per game on the season behind the arm of quarterback Carson Gonzalez and running back Mason Manning, while the Orangefield defense has rounded into form and is limiting teams to 16 points per game for the season as linebacker Kaleb Menard controls the middle and defensive back Zach Morrow has limited opposing quarterbacks.

The Eagles finished in a three-way tie with Diboll and Teague for second place in District 9-3A, but they received the No. 4 seed based on a points tie-breaker system between the three schools.

Fairfield averages 38 points per game on offense for the season, but the Eagles have been allowing 30 points per game on defense for the year.

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.