Game of the Week Preview: Arlington Heights vs. Brewer High School

Well, get ready for Thursday Night Lights. Fox 4's final game of the week is Arlington Heights versus Brewer. And here to talk about it is Chris Mycoskie. Chris, thanks so much for being with us today. Always good to be with you. It's hard to follow up looking in space what they're doing there. Well, this is pretty important, obviously. Let's talk a little bit about Arlington Heights, right? So they're going to wrap up an unbeaten regular season and an outright district title tonight. If Brewer wins, how does that change the district picture, would you say? Okay, so it is a slightly complicated tiebreaker system if Brewer wins. We're assuming that O.D. Wyatt is going to win its game this weekend. They're playing Polytechnic, who has not won a game this year. So, again, Arlington Heights wins. Obviously, they're undefeated. They are the district champs. If Brewer wins, all right, Bears win. By one to six points, then the tiebreaker will put Wyatt as the number one seed in the district. If Brewer wins by seven or more points, then it's the Bears who are the number one seed and will host a playoff game. It goes by positive points when you look at the results, if all the teams are tied at one win apiece. One win, one loss against the other teams in that three-way tie. So because of the margins of victory, Brewer will need to win by seven or more to get that number one seed in the home playoff game. Thank goodness you're here to explain and walk us through all of this. It is a little complicated. You did a great job explaining it. I was reading about these teams before we came on the air and trying to brush up on some info here. I want to talk about one of the standouts, Carson James. So he's rushed for nearly 1,600 yards or something like that this season. What do you think makes him so tough to stop? He is just a freight train, really tough kid who is headed to UTEP next season and joining one of his brothers who's already on that Miners team. He'll be at nearly 6,000 yards by the time this season is over in the course of his career. Been doing it since a freshman at Arlington Heights. His dad is the head coach. So obviously when you have that Father-son relationship, the work ethic that he put into him, and beyond anything else, I'm sure Carson, as any good running back, will tell you, it's all about the big boys up front. They can move people, create those spaces, and allow him to do some great work. Yeah, the big boys up front, they have an important role to play. There's no doubt about that. So Brewer has put up, what, 56 points in three straight games. What do you think has been working for the Bears when it comes to offense? Well, we're going to focus a lot on the running back versus running back aspect of this one tonight. James is the key player for Arlington Heights. Cameron Coleman, the running back for Brewer, will be the person we focus on. For the Bears, he's had 24 rushing touchdowns this season through the first nine games, one of the area's most explosive running backs, and he is headed to Wyoming for Division I collegiate football. That's a Cowboys program that really started recruiting him very early on, stayed dedicated to him, and he loves that family aspect that he has felt there in Laramie. Now, what he has not been through is winter. In Laramie, so we'll see how much he likes it once he gets to that point of the year. Yeah, it gets a little cold up there. So I think you have to kind of get your thicker skin, I suppose, to deal with those colder temperatures. All right, last question I've got for you. If you're watching the first few series tonight, what is one matchup that could tell you how this game is going to go? Like I said, it all comes down to the lines. Let's watch those lines on those opening drives. Are both offensive lines able to gain that penetration and move the people across the way, creating space for their running backs? If they can't do that and allow those superstar runners that are behind them to cause a little space and penetrate, then... You're going to have a hard time. But based on what we've seen from both teams this year, I think we're going to see a lot of success in the running game. And at the end of the game, I'm really curious to see. Let's just say Brewer is up by a couple of points. Now, normally you would be conservative. You would try to run the clock out, get that victory. But considering that they need to win by seven or more, they could have to get more aggressive, have some risky plays, and that could allow Arlington Heights. To come back late because of that tiebreaker. Man, so much is on the line. I know we're talking about a big game here. Lots of excitement leading up to it. Chris Mycoskie, thank you so much for being here. Always appreciate having you on Dallas News Live. Thank you, sir. Thank you.