No "no respect" card here

Just arrived at my home office from a visit to Pearland High School for a feature on the Oilers defense I'm writing for later this week.
So often in high school sports you get the "no respect" card dragged out before any game, let alone a regional final, in which Pearland plays Hightower at 2 p.m. Saturday at Tully Stadium. I did chat with one player (I'd say who but my recorder was off) about why so many seem to be picking Hightower and why Pearland hasn't created a huge buzz, and I really couldn't say exactly why.
I myself have picked against them (Hightower) the past two weeks and have come up short each week.
But here's the bottom line: No one's really talking about Hightower either. Among the 5A-Division I teams, all year the chatter's been about North Shore and Cinco Ranch; North Shore because of its lengthy regular-season winning streak (which has no bearing in the playoffs) and Cinco because everyone thought this was the year they dethroned Katy (done) and made a deep playoff run (not done). Well, both those teams are done. That's not to mention The Woodlands, which lasted just two rounds into the Region II playoffs.
Hightower's behind a Berlin Wall of sorts out in Fort Bend County because all it gets is one non-district game, then it's all-FBISD sorting things among itself until the playoffs. I can't come up with nearly as good a reason why Pearland isn't talked about more. Really, the best I can come up with is that members of the local media tend to forget there's good ball played down south of I-10 (which is where I live). Other than Hurricane Ike-related stories, I'd love to know how many stories were devoted to Clear Creek, Pearland, etc. as opposed to the Kleins, Cy-Fairs, Katys and North Shores.
I won't make any picks here for Saturday's game, partly because I'll be covering it, but suffice it to say whoever wins this game will be a team not many expected to be in a state semifinal.