Sorry for the lack of updates this week. For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to move the same week as the start of the playoffs. What was I thinking?

The regular season may be over, but our high school fantasy football game has one more week remaining. As you can see by the standings below, I’m holding onto a comfortable lead, though with some of the point totals we’ve seen this season, it’s hardly a guarantee I’ll be victorious.

Standings
1. Joshua Buckley — 851 (81 last week)
2. Ian White — 817 (67)
3. Corey Roepken — 788 (75)
4t. Evan Mohl — 766 (131)
4t. Kevin Cox — 766 (56)

This week we only had six playoff teams to draw from — Ball High, Dickinson, Clear Springs, Friendswood, Santa Fe and Hitchcock. With Ball facing a brutal match-up against Hightower, it made it that much harder.

One of the positives from a shallower draft pool was that we saw a few new players make an appearance. Congrats to Friendswood’s Keith Canada, Dickinson’s Tyrell Preston and Springs’ Dmitri Donald for making their first appearances of the season. Those three have been pretty solid in recent weeks, and this is a good reward for that production.

So here they are, the final teams of the season. I also included the top point getters heading into this week. I’ll post an update on this later this weekend.

PHOTOGRAPHER KEVIN M. COX
QB: Morris Tuck, Hitchcock (1)
RB: Darius Dotson, Hitchcock (3)
WR: Jonathan Johnson, Friendswood (2)
DEF: Ball High (4)
WC: Scotty Williams, Hitchcock, WR (5)

KEVIN’S TAKE: Kevin decided to take a cruise this week (I hate him!) so I (Buckley) picked his squad. As you can see, Kevin’s hopes of finishing out of last place rest squarely on the performance of the Hitchcock Bulldogs. That’s not a bad thing this week.

Of course, if you decide to take vacation on one of the busiest weekends of the year, you are going to get hosed in some way. Our way of rewarding Kevin — he got Ball’s defense against Hightower. Sorry Kevin. Maybe next year you’ll pick a different time to hit the high seas.

SPORTS WRITER EVAN MOHL
QB: Peter Maetzold, Friendswood (1)
RB: Dominique Brown, Ball (5)
WR: Deche Milburn, Springs (2)
DEF: Springs (3)
WC: Keith Canada, Friendswood (4)

EVAN’S TAKE: Finally, I was rewarded with a big week. 131 points, to be exact. It may be too little, too late to do much more damage, but hopefully I can end this season out of the cellar with some respect. Or maybe not.

With my first pick, I snatched Pete Maetzold. I saw him last week, and he’s really growing up. He’s consistent, completing more than 60 percent of his passes and throwing to a lot of different receivers. With Andrew Cole’s role in question and slim quarterback pickings this week, I like Maetzold for another 30-plus point performance.

I quickly grabbed Deche Millburn next. It’s been awhile since I had Millburn on my team, but he may have the most upside of any receiver this week. He’s one of the most talented in the county, and I’ll take him on my team.

Next, I selected Springs defense, much to the laughter of some of my colleagues. I know Elkins has a great offense, but I’m going on more than stats here. I like the Chargers at home, and I think their defense is the most capable of scoring and creating turnovers. I took a bit of a risk here, but I got to go big.

Lastly, I took Dominique Brown. Ball High has the toughest matchup, no doubt. But Brown will get carries and chances. I like that. And he always finds a way to score in big games.

FORT BEND SUN SPORTS EDITOR COREY ROEPKEN
QB: Phillip Miller, Springs (1)
RB: Andrew Cole, Friendswood (2)
WR: James Cunningham, Springs (3)
DEF: Dickinson (4)
WC: Domingo Morales, Santa Fe, WR (5)

COREY’S TAKE: Once again I find myself holding strong in third place, and I’m confident I’ll improve my final standing this week.

I got my No. 1 QB and my No. 1 RB, though Cole often doesn’t have big games when he’s on my team. Let’s hope for Friendswood’s sake that trend ends tonight. I also got my No. 1 defense after three others had been selected. I couldn’t believe that at first, but then I realized the guys playing against me don’t know the Fort Bend ISD teams at all. Willowridge could score some points, but its players are new to the playoff stage. Heck, they know what it’s like to lose 18 games in a row. The postseason may bring more nerves than they can imagine.

Clear Springs’ Deche Milburn has the biggest numbers of the wide receivers, but Cunningham easily could have a big night. I’ve seen the Elkins defense plenty this season. It has done well in spots, but it also has looked porous at times. Clear Springs has the offense to make it a long evening for the Knights.

APPLAUSE EDITOR IAN WHITE
QB: Clay Honeycutt, Dickinson (1)
RB: Corey Thomas, Dickinson (2)
WR: Dmitri Donald, Springs (4)
DEF: Friendswood (3)
WC: Tyrell Preston, Dickinson, RB (5)

IAN’S TAKE:

SPORTS EDITOR JOSHUA BUCKLEY
QB: Garet Davidson, Santa Fe (5)
RB: Joseph Walton, Santa Fe (2)
WR: Devonte Provost, Hitchcock (1)
DEF: Santa Fe (3)
WC: Trevon Randle, Springs, RB (4)

BUCKLEY’S TAKE: Well obviously picking fifth isn’t a good thing when there the draft is four quarterbacks deep this week. Although, I say that, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Davidson could post a solid double-digit performance.

With the big name QBs gone, I decided to take Walton and Provost. As you can see below, they finished the regular season as the top scorers at their positions. Provost is especially impressive, considering he only played in seven games this year.

With my wild card, I went with another boom or bust selection. It won’t surprise me to see Randle get quite a few carries for the Chargers in the second half, especially around the goal line. With the draft pool not being very deep this week, I think that was a good chance to take.

I’m confident these guys will be more than enough to hold off any challengers and help me retain the crown as Galveston County high school fantasy football champion.

Here were the top scorers for our game in the regular season

Quarterback
1. Phillip Miller, Springs — 303
2. Morris Tuck, Hitchcock — 270
3. Clay Honeycutt, Dickinson — 244
4. Jarryd Garza, Creek — 241
5. Peter Maetzold, Friendswood — 218
6. Emanuell Williams, La Marque — 187

Running back
1. Joseph Walton, Santa Fe — 244
2. Corey Thomas, Dickinson — 208
3. Justin Branch, Texas City — 191
4. Andrew Cole, Friendswood — 182
5. Tim Wright, La Marque — 146
6. Darius Dotson, Hitchcock — 144

Receiver
1. Devante Provost, Hitchcock — 181
2. Jonathan Johnson, Friendswood — 166
3. Deche Milburn, Springs — 163
4. C.J. McElroy, Creek — 143
5. Michael Gilmore, La Marque — 124
6. James Cunningham, Springs — 121