By Chris Moore

Special to The News

Both Port Neches-Groves and Memorial advanced to the area round of the Texas high school football playoffs this week after dominating in the bi-district round Friday.

Port Neches-Groves had a convincing 43-20 win over Hallsville and will take on Kaufman at Randall Reed Stadium in New Caney. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Thursday.

The Lions (7-4, 5-2 in District 6-5A-II) are coming off a 49-21 win over Hillcrest. The Lions finished third in their district, outscoring opponents 399-278. Kaufman’s last loss came at the hands of district champs Midlothian Heritage in a 38-20 contest. The Lions also suffered a 31-24 loss to Crandall, who finished second in the division. Both teams are still in the playoffs with Crandall taking on Texas High School, who knocked Nederland out in the first round.

PNG enters the week with a three-game win streak and winning 25 of their last 26 games dating back to last year. The Indians have not lost a playoff game since the state championship game in 2022.

The winner of Friday’s contest will face the winner of the game between Texas High School and Crandall.

For Memorial, the Titans will take on Angleton. The Wildcats (10-1, 6-1 in District 11-5A-I) finished second in their district. The game will be played at Pridgeon Stadium in Houston. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday.

Angleton has outscored opponents 458-132 on the season. The Wildcats are coming off a 35-28 win over Weiss in the first round. Their only loss on the season came in a 35-28 game against district champion La Porte earlier this month.

To say the Titans are coming off a blowout win might be an understatement. Despite finishing in fourth place in their district, Memorial defeated District 10 champs Galena Park 70-0 in the opening round of the playoffs. The point total was the most for any Titans team in a playoff game in the 23 years the team has been in existence.

The winner of Friday’s game will face the victor out of the contest between district foe Lufkin and College Station.

It is also worth noting that all four teams from Memorial’s district won last week.