The Houston High School football team opens district play tonight with one of the top-ranked teams in the state.
The seventh-seeded Tigers travel to Mountain-View Liberty in the opening round of the Class 2 District 3 tournament. Kickoff is 7 p.m.
The teams will play each other in back-to-back weeks for the second time in three seasons. Liberty won last week’s matchup 55-6.
Other first-round games in the district tonight are:
- (8) Pleasant Hope at (1) Strafford
- (6) Ash Grove at (3) Fair Grove
- (5) Diamond at (4) Willow Springs
Strafford edged Liberty in the final week of the season to take the top spot in the district. The move was fine with Tigers coach Billy O’Neil.
“I think Liberty has a more quality program and a coach that has more character,” O’Neil said. “When Liberty gets up on somebody, they play their JV. Strafford won’t because this year they’re trying to prove a point against the SCA.”