PORT ARTHUR — With the Port Arthur Memorial football team one week into preseason drills, it’s a good time to preview  their competition in District 21-5A. It’s not the same mix of teams as last year, as realignment impacted 21-5A by bringing in perennial playoff team Deer Park into the district mix.

How will that addition affect this year’s teams?

La Porte appears to be the class of this district before any games have been played, and may be one of the most dangerous teams in Class 5A period. The Bulldogs return a big-time running back in Keith Whitely, who rushed for almost 1,500 yards and 15 TDs last season.

Add in a stout defense, led by one of the best junior linebacker prospects in Hoza Scott, and the Bulldogs appear to have all the ingredients to repeat as district champ: experience, high-end talent and a shutdown defense.

North Shore fell off last year after being picked to win the district title. Part of that was the injury issues that quarterback Micah Thomas went through. Thomas only played in six games last season and his loss was felt by a team that had trouble keeping up with the higher-paced offenses of Memorial and La Porte.

Still, the talent of the Mustangs is deep and seemingly regenerates every single year. Counting them out based on one bad season isn’t something any of the other coaches in 21-5A will be doing this year. But, the gap between North Shore and the third team on this list is very small. In fact, all three of these teams have a chance to take home the district title if things break right.

After having the best season in school history, it’s natural to expect a letdown year for Port Arthur Memorial. The Titans lost a ton of key talent on offense that will be hard to replace, including first team all-state quarterback Terrence Singleton.

Those concerns for the replacements don’t seem to concern Singleton, however, who predicted his backup last year Ricky Fisk will throw for 1,400 yards with 500 rushing yards this year as the new starter at QB. Fisk will be set up well to do just that with a deep core of receivers, including John Leday, Brandon Leday, Albert Jacobs and Roderic Rucker.

The defense should also be very good, which could help keep the Titans in the playoff hunt early, as a deep secondary will give a  good defensive line, led by defensive tackles Walter Oliver and Matthew Romar, plenty of time to pressure the quarterback.

The newcomer in this district is Deer Park. The Deer should round out the playoff teams from 21-5A, featuring a big offensive line and a new quarterback to the mix. Junior Connor Means will likely start at QB, and will have to learn quickly with some tough defensive groups from La Porte, North Shore and Memorial facing him. He has a good group of targets on the outside, but needs to develop quickly if the Deer want to play past Week 10.

The defense should take some pressure off Means, though, as the Deer return a handful of starters on that side of the ball. The competition level will be up a bit from their last district, though, and there’s a chance that Deer Park gets upended by either West Brook or even Baytown Sterling for that fourth and final playoff spot.

West Brook is welcoming a new head coach in Crosby’s Kevin Flanigan. With it, they’re also ushering in a new offense that’s reminiscent of many of the new-look college and high school units worried about “space and pace.” The Bruins under Flanigan will be worried about running as many plays as possible, not running out the play clock each down.

That’s going to put some pressure on opposing defenses, and should help the transition to a new starting quarterback for the Bruins. Last year’s starter Joshua Stump is lost to graduation, along with high-profile defensive recruit Caleb Bluiett. That doesn’t mean the Bruins will be without talent completely, though, as receiver LaDarius Spearman should keep some explosiveness on offense.

Still, West Brook will be in a dog fight for that final postseason spot and will need some younger players to step up this season if they want to get there.

Baytown Sterling could be a surprise team here. Of course, going .500 in district play may register as a surprise for a team that was 0-10 last year. It’s been a tough transition for head coach Troy Addudell, but he’s got a returning QB in Jamie Acosta who showed quite a bit of guts last season as he took hit after hit. Still, it’ll take quite a leap to get into that playoff picture, and Sterling may need a surprise district victory early on to gain some much-needed confidence. Heck, they may need a win, period early in the season to show that last year is behind them.

Channelview may have been last year’s surprise team that just missed the playoffs, but it will be hard for them to repeat that success. For one thing, they lose quarterback Averion Hurts, who ran that offense so well. In his place, the Falcons could very well start a freshman, which means 2012 may be a rebuilding year for Channelview.