One of the rivalries in high school sports is renewed on Friday night, this time on the hardwood. The Flower Mound Jaguars travel to the north side of Long Prairie Road to take on the Marcus Marauders in an early District 6-6A game that could have big time playoff implications when the boys get closer to February.

Both teams are expected to compete for one of the four District 6-6A playoff berths. Flower Mound sits at 1-0 thus far in district after beating the Plano Wildcats last Friday night. Marcus is 0-1 after a loss to the Allen Eagles. Marcus will look to right the ship as well as take down the rival Jaguars before heading into the Winter Break.

Flower Mound also looks to snap a two game losing streak against Marcus after dropping both competitions to the Marauders last year. In those two games, Marcus received a big help from Xavier Adams who had 21 points and 18 points in the two games against Flower Mound. “The X-Man” has since departed to play at the University of New Mexico. That is good for the Jags, as they will no longer have to worry about Adams’s playmaking ability.

Marcus senior Michael Mayhew has also earned himself a reputation as a “Jaguar Killer”. Mayhew scored 19 points and four three pointers in the five point win over the Jags last January 14. Mayhew also is averaging 15.5 points per game, the best on the Marauder team. A big part of how Friday’s game goes relies on whether or not the Jags can slow Mayhew down.

Another question mark is how many people can Flower Mound get to contribute to the offensive cause. If the Jags are going to win, senior guard Jake Feickert is going to need to contribute on offense like he has been able to in the past. The Jaguars have missed Feickert’s three-point shot, as he has been kept virtually silent from behind the arc in recent contests. If Feickert can add to the offensive side of the ball, then it would take a huge load off of junior guard Isaiah Brown, who carried the Jags over the Plano Wildcats. 15 points from Brown and 15 points from Feickert, along with some help from the rest of the Jaguars will make Flower Mound coming away on Friday night with the win.

There will be no trophy on the line as there was in when the two schools met on the gridiron in October, but there are bragging rights up for grabs. So far this year, the only sporting event the Jags have lost to the Marauders was the football game. Flower Mound took both volleyball games, the Duel in the Pool, and, most recently, the Ryder Cup last week between the two school’s golf teams. Students from both schools would love to take down the other any chance they get. That is why the Mound Showdown, no matter which sport is being played, is one one of the best rivalries in Texas. Anything could happen when Flower Mound and Marcus get together.

Tip off is set for 7:30 PM in the Marauders’ new arena. The game will be streamed live on YouTube by Flower Mound Sports Network. Fans can find their channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSGhNnv04Tn_xH5CbKoX-4Q/feed.