Gridiron Gumbo

Eight Spots Taken, 20 Still Open: The SETX Playoff Picture After Week 9

Illustration of a night stadium with a bracket of eight glowing gumbo pots above the field and a big shrimp gumbo pot in the foreground

Written by

T-Rohn

in

Texas (UIL) ,

By T-Rohn
Gridiron Gumbo | Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026

Four teams clinched Friday and three were eliminated, but the number worth chewing on is how little September told us about who’s in.

Seven Southeast Texas districts are now in the home stretch, and there are 28 playoff spots to hand out, four per district. As of this morning, eight are taken and 20 are open (Gridiron Gumbo’s count of every remaining win-loss outcome, with tiebreakers not modeled). Friday clinched La Porte, Port Arthur Memorial, West Orange-Stark and Port Neches-Groves. It eliminated Galena Park, Santa Fe and Sabine Pass.

Now the part that might surprise you. District play is its own season, and this year the September scoreboard was a poor guide to it.

The September reset (our math)

Six of the eight clinchers are in 3A through 5A: La Porte, Memorial, WO-S, PN-G, Orangefield and Anahuac. Together they are 26-2 in district play and 10-11 against everybody else (the records are CONFIRMED from SETXsports and MaxPreps; the subtraction is ours). PN-G, for one, lost three of its four non-district games and is 4-0 in 10-5A-DII.

Now flip it around. Five teams in a top-four slot (or tied for first) have losing overall records: Dayton (3-6), Bridge City (4-5), Huffman (4-5), Kirbyville (2-6) and Woodville (3-5). Together those five are 3-18 outside district and 13-9 inside it (same method). Meanwhile Buna is 6-3 overall after going 4-0 outside district, yet sits fifth in 10-3A-DI at 2-3.

TAKE: None of this is a knock on anybody, and 11 teams is a small sample. It just says that the September schedule is history, and the district record is the only one the playoff bracket reads. Every team in these seven districts gets a fresh start in October.

District by district

9-5A-DI. La Porte (6-0, 6-2 overall) and Port Arthur Memorial (5-1, 7-1) are in. La Porte beat Beaumont United 56-27 and holds the head-to-head over Memorial, 51-27. SETXsports lists Memorial’s 13.3 points allowed per game as the best average in its coverage area. Look closer and you’ll find the real story: in its five district games other than the La Porte one, Memorial gave up 21 points total, with two shutouts, including Friday’s 16-0 win at home over Baytown Sterling (CONFIRMED: MaxPreps schedule and SETXsports).

The other two spots are a scramble. United, West Brook and Lufkin are all 3-3. West Brook started 0-3 in district, with losses by seven, three and 14 points, and has since won three straight by a combined 138-44, including 55-7 over New Caney Friday (CONFIRMED, MaxPreps and SETXsports).

Counting all 256 ways the district’s last eight games can finish (a count of outcomes, not a forecast), United is in on wins alone in 76, West Brook in 73 and Lufkin in 73. Sterling is in on wins alone in 12.

10-4A-DII. WO-S is alone at 3-0 and in after a 48-14 win at Shepherd. Silsbee’s 31-30 win dropped Hamshire-Fannett to 1-2, tied with Hardin-Jefferson for fourth, and Silsbee and Shepherd are both 2-1. A Silsbee win over Hardin-Jefferson clinches Silsbee, and a Shepherd win at Hamshire-Fannett clinches Shepherd. Hamshire-Fannett can’t be eliminated with a win. Our companion story on Hamshire-Fannett’s margin has the details.

10-5A-DII. PN-G is in at 4-0 after beating Nederland 27-24 in overtime (KFDM; 12NewsNow reported the same score). Texas City (3-1) and Nederland (3-1) meet Oct. 30, and the winner clinches. Dayton (3-2) and Baytown Lee (2-2) are still alive. Galena Park and Santa Fe are out.

9-4A-DI. Little Cypress-Mauriceville (3-1) and Vidor (3-1) lead after Vidor’s 70-42 win over Huffman. A Vidor win at Livingston clinches Vidor, and the Bridge City-LC-M winner clinches too. The Lumberton-Liberty loser is eliminated. KOGT reported that Bridge City’s defense scored twice in the first half against Liberty, with Joel Williams returning a blocked punt (Bryce Breeden’s block) and a fumble for touchdowns in a 55-28 win (REPORTED: KOGT only; KFDM confirmed the score).

10-3A-DI. Orangefield (4-0) and Anahuac (4-1) are in. East Chambers (2-2) and Kirbyville (2-2) are best placed for the last two spots: each is in on wins alone in 32 of 64 outcomes, Buna in 16 and Tarkington in four. East Chambers beat Coldspring-Oakhurst 59-0, and its two district losses were by seven points each, to the two teams that clinched. Buna beat Tarkington 46-0, according to MaxPreps and Sports Illustrated (SETXsports, KJAS and the Odessa American had listed 43-0).

12-3A-DII. Four teams are tied at 2-1, and head-to-head runs in a circle. Woodville gets to play two of the co-leaders. Our companion Woodville story has the full tangle.

12-2A-DII. Colmesneil and West Sabine are in, and it doesn’t depend on Hull-Daisetta’s forfeits. Both are 3-0 on the field with two games left, and 4-0 once the forfeits count. Hull-Daisetta canceled the rest of its varsity season Sept. 11 for lack of players (KFDM), and ABC13 reported that each missed game is recorded as a forfeit that gives the opponent a win. MaxPreps lists Colmesneil’s Oct. 9 forfeit as a 1-0 win, while SETXsports’ table leaves forfeits out. We didn’t find a UIL rule on how district standings treat them, so we ran it both ways, and the answer is the same. West Hardin (3-1) beat Deweyville 44-12 and Evadale beat Sabine Pass 21-0. Sabine Pass is eliminated. Colmesneil and West Sabine meet Nov. 5 or 6: MaxPreps lists Thursday, Nov. 5, and SETXsports lists Friday, Nov. 6.

What’s still to be decided

  • Oct. 30 matters most: La Porte at New Caney; Port Arthur Memorial at United; West Brook at Lufkin; Texas City at Nederland; Vidor at Livingston; Bridge City at LC-M; Buna at Kirbyville; Hardin at Woodville; Newton at Kountze; West Sabine at West Hardin.
  • Who gets the last 9-5A-DI spots: United, West Brook and Lufkin could end in a three-way tie, and the district’s tiebreaker would decide it. We haven’t found that procedure, so we don’t model ties.
  • Timing: UIL’s tentative 2026 calendar lists district certification Nov. 7 and the first playoff round Nov. 12-14. (UIL’s online manual page still says Nov. 8, which is a Sunday this year, so we’re using the dated 2026 calendar.)
  • Tiebreakers: There’s no statewide rule. Each district sets its own, and 12-3A-DII’s has not been published where we could find it.

Records and standings are as of Saturday morning, Oct. 24, after Week 9. “Clinched” and “eliminated” are Gridiron Gumbo’s own win-loss math. Friday’s scores were checked against SETXsports (a user-submitted scoreboard) and MaxPreps (user- and coach-reported), plus KFDM and 12NewsNow where noted. Buna-Tarkington is 46-0 per MaxPreps and Sports Illustrated and Gridiron Gumbo’s editor decision; SETXsports, KJAS and the Odessa American had listed 43-0.

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