The 4A playoffs start this week and Dripping Springs is one of the favorites to make the trip to San Marcos after an impressive week in which they took down New Braunfels and NB Canyon to capture District 27-4A, the 4A version of the District of Death. Pictured from left are (front row) Megan Tuck, Casey Kinkade, Kristen Sumner, Shea McBrearty, Katy Mackey, Lander Peerman; (second row) Coach Beard, Kasey McBrearty, Tarrah Hendrickson, Briane Crow, Bryna Howard, Ingrid Peel, Renee Brooks, student trainer Misty Flett, coach Ballinger; (back row) head trainer Mark Gardner, head coach Jeff Coward.

The Texas Top 20

October 26 — Finally. The regular season comes to an end this week and now the real action begins. Many of the privates already have their playoffs under way and the 4As begin playoff action later this week while everyone else gets in a playoff warm-up match or two.

At this point we need to make our annual disclaimer about warm-up matches: yes, we consider them in our rankings. They count against a team's won-loss record so they count in our standings.

A few important district championships will be decided this week - either on the court or by coin toss. In Houston, three top districts still have to be settled:

In the District of Death, Cy Falls and Cy Creek are tied for the 17-5A lead with final district matches tonight. Falls plays Langham Creek while Creek is at Cy Fair, so this one is far from settled.

In 22-5A, Humble and Kingwood split their matches and are tied entering tonight's final matches. Kingwood has Spring and Humble has PA Memorial, so both should finish tied.

It's the same situation in 23-5A where Dobie and Deer Park are tied and should finish that way.

Out west, Lubbock Coronado has already clinched a share of the district title and Amarillo should clinch the other half tonight. That one will also be settled by coin toss.

Which brings us to our rankings, where Coronado and Amarillo took all the headlines last week. Coronado's win over Amarillo coupled with a sweep of Tascosa sent a statement that coach Brandi Cantrell's team is for real. However. Amarillo has won two of three meetings with Coronado. Teal Clark, who has been out with an injury, is working out again and should be back for the playoffs so the Sandies stay ranked above Coronado – for now. (Remember, Coronado fans: it’s not where you are ranked right now. It’s where you are at the end of the season. And the season is just now starting.)

Meanwhile in North Texas, Lake Highlands continued its downward spiral, losing a setter to an ankle injury then losing matches to Carrollton Creekview and Newman Smith. As a result, the Wildcats spiral right out of the rankings. Lake Highlands has a relatively easy half of the playoff bracket so they have an opportunity to get their game back on before running into the Central Texas powers.

Elsewhere, the state's #1 and #2 showed no signs of taking it easy. Churchill had little trouble in its showdown with Reagan while Austin Westlake ramped up for the playoffs by outscoring Bowie and Akins an average of 25-13 per game.

With Lake Highlands taking a tumble, we considered moving Plano West into the rankings but the loss to Marcus is still too recent so it will take a good performance in the playoffs for the Wolves to crack the Top 20. We also considered Elkins, but again this is a team that will have to show some consistent play in the playoffs. Another team to watch - Cinco Ranch. We've thought from the start of the season that this is a team capable of causing playoff turmoil, but every time we get ready to put them into the rankings the Cougars come up with a very puzzling loss. Last week's win over Katy shows exactly what they are capable of doing.

The new addition to the ranking is Hebron, which has been on Waxahachie's heels in the TGCA 4A rankings since the Judson Northwest tournament. We can't wait for this one.

Which brings us to this week’s ranking of the 20 best teams in Texas. We aren't providing commentary on each team this week. There are only so many ways you can say one team swept another and the top teams had their brooms out all over the state last week.

The Top 20

1. Churchill (1)

2. Austin Westlake (2)

3. SA Clark (3)

4. Arlington Lamar (5)

5. Amarillo (4)

6. Lubbock Coronado (7)

7. Dulles (6)

8. Houston Stratford (9)

9. Arlington Martin (10)

10. Cy Falls (11)

11. Cy Creek (12)

12. Deer Park (13)

13. Dobie (15)

14. Round Rock (16)

15. Katy (8)

16. Kingwood (17)

17.Cedar Park (18)

18. San Antonio Reagan (19)

19. Waxahachie (20)

20. Hebron (NR)

Teams to Watch

Boerne

Cinco Ranch

Cy Fair

Dripping Springs

Dumas

Elkins

Floresville

Lake Travis

Plano West

San Antonio O’Connor