GAMES
RANKINGS
Duncanville quarterback Maximus The Great Denson will look to get the Panthers over the .500 mark this week facing Crowley.
The Top 10 Games to Watch in Week 8 of DFW High School Football
Thursday, Oct. 15
Dallas Highland Park at Carrollton Creekview at Standridge Stadium
Highland Park goes on the road again in district play, riding a 3-game winning streak. The Scots sit alone in District 6-5A Division I and will face a 1-5 Creekview team. Interestingly enough, both teams are coming off wins against Carrollton R.L. Turner. The Mustangs beat Turner, 21-7, two weeks ago and were idle last week. Highland Park posted a 62-7 win last week against Turner. Got to give the edge to the Scots in this one.
Allen at Prosper Rock Hill at Children’s Health Stadium
Allen will roll into this game as the new No. 1 team in Class 6A in the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football/Associated Press, and MaxPreps has the Eagles ranked the No. 1 team in the entire country. The Eagles (6-0, 3-0 District 6-6A) are led by sophomore quarterback Ty Snell, who has thrown for 1,155 yards with 18 touchdowns and only two interceptions. Rock Hill is 3-3 and 1-2 in district, losing the past two against Prosper Walnut Grove and Prosper.
Denton Ryan at Keller Fossil Ridge at Keller ISD Athletic Complex
After two weeks of District 3-5A Division I play, the Raiders from Billy Ryan High School are in first place with a 2-0 mark. Five teams are 1-1, while Saginaw is winless. The Raiders, 5-1, will travel to face a 1-5 Fossil Ridge squad. Ryan has won four in a row, with the first of that streak a loss that was flipped to a win following the Lewisville eligibility issue. New coach Shane Tolleson, who came over from Waxahachie, will look for the Raiders to extend their 7-game winning streak against the Panthers.
Friday, Oct. 16
Carrollton Hebron at Lewisville at Max Goldsmith Stadium
The winner of this game will have a share of first place in the District 5-6A race. The two teams, along with Denton Braswell, are tied for first place with 3-0 district marks. Even with changes in personnel on the offensive side of the ball at quarterback, Lewisville (3-3, 3-0) is still producing. Six different players have at least one touchdown catch and seven different players have scored a rushing touchdown — though no rushing touchdowns were scored in last week’s 42-7 win over Guyer. Hebron (4-2, 3-0) has a defense that has 6 interceptions and 10 forced fumbles this season.
Red Oak at Waxahachie at Stuart B. Lumpkins Stadium
The District 11-6A standings heading into this week show North Crowley at 3-0 and then four teams at 2-1 — including the two in this matchup. Waxahachie fell from No. 1 to No. 10 in the state poll this week following a 42-17 loss to North Crowley last week. The Indians struggled to pass the ball last week and the run game was also bottled up by North Crowley. Red Oak went 5-5 last year, but is 4-2, and its last two wins were by a combined 4 points. QB Tuhran Square II should surpass the 1,000-yard passing mark this week, entering with 971 yards and 11 TDs. The senior is also the team’s leading rusher with 455 yards and 2 TDs.
Fort Worth All Saints Episcopal at Grapevine Faith at Grapevine Ford Field
The Saints take a 6-2 record into their penultimate game of the regular season at Grapevine Faith. The winner of the past two TAPPS Division II State Championships might be even better this year; if not, they are deeper. Running back Brayden Boults, a transfer from Sumter, South Carolina, has run for 1,074 yards and 13 TDs. The sophomore has offers from Georgia, Texas Tech, Florida and SMU, to name a few. Both teams are coming off wins against Fort Worth Southwest Christian. All Saints won 56-13 while Grapevine Faith won 56-35 on Oct. 2. The Lions are coming off a bye week and will look to snap a 4-game losing streak to All Saints.
Mansfield Summit at DeSoto at Eagle Stadium
There is a new all-time rushing leader at DeSoto RB SaRod Baker eclipsed the career rushing mark set by current Texas A&M running back Deondrae “Tiger” Riden Jr. in last week’s win vs. Lancaster. The Texas Tech pledge ran for 177 yards and 2 touchdowns last week — his fourth straight game over 100 yards and with at least one touchdown. He has 4,546 yards in his career, clearing Riden’s 4,412 yards. DeSoto is 4-2 with four straight wins. Mansfield Summit is 3-3 and winners of two in a row. Sophomore WR Gabe Evans has caught 33 passes for 395 yards and 6 TDs.
Aledo at Arlington at Maverick Stadium at UT-Arlington
A logjam for second place in District 3-6A will be somewhat settled after this game, as both are 2-1 in district games. Arlington is 4-2 and Aledo is 3-3 — very unlike the Aledo of old. The Bearcats are balanced, with a rushing game that has gained 986 yards and the offense has passed for 933 yards. Colby Thompson and Kane Lanier both have 4 receiving touchdowns. The Arlington Colts have been more of a running team this year, with five different players with more than 100 yards on the ground. QB Canon Cambron has 327 yards rushing and 9 TDs, team highs in both categories.
Crowley at Duncanville at Panther Stadium
Crowley is coming off a 29-28 loss last week against Red Oak. The Eagles are 2-4 overall and 1-2 in District 11-6A. Dating back to 2004, this is the first showdown between the two teams. Duncanville won last week, 45-7 over Mansfield, to even the record at 3-3. Quarterback Maximus The Great Denson has thrown for 804 yards and 8 touchdowns, while rushing for 308 yards. RB Brayden Arnold has accounted for 9 of the team’s 17 rushing touchdowns.
Keller at Southlake Carroll at Dragon Stadium
The Indians have surpassed the win total of last year and at 6-0, it is the best start since 1967. Quite the turnaround done by Coach Carl Stralow, but a big challenge looms this week: the Dragons. Keller has an overall record better than Carroll’s 4-2 mark, but the Dragons have won four in a row since losing back-to-back games to North Crowley and Allen. Both teams are 3-0 in District 4-6A, so the battle for first place could also secure a No. 1 seed for the winner. Carroll holds a 16-0 record in the series dating back to 2004.
Lewisville one of the surprise teams in the area
THE TAKEAWAYS: 5 Storylines in Week 3
Another week of Texas high school football provided another week of standout plays, big wins and some good old-fashioned trash talk between Houston and Dallas schools when North Crowley met Summer Creek.
For many teams, Week 3 was the final non-district game. Now, the hunt for the postseason officially begins.
Don’t have a win? At this point, even a team like South Oak Cliff is winless.
Sometimes, the grind to start the season pays off later in the year. Just look at DeSoto last season. The Eagles started 0-2, then won 13 of their next 14 games to capture a state championship.
Here’s a look at some of the things we noticed this week.
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Thriller in Dallas, Part I
The inaugural Roland Parrish Classic took place Saturday at the Cotton Bowl.
DeSoto rallied to beat Duncanville, 21-20, behind a three-touchdown performance from SaRod Baker. The Texas Tech pledge ran for 122 yards, but perhaps the biggest storyline was where he lined up.
Baker is now QB1 instead of RB1.
He has played quarterback at times in the past, but it will be interesting to see where this goes moving forward.
Baker finished 7-for-13 passing for 86 yards and three interceptions, while Wyatt Davis led the DeSoto rushing attack with 131 yards on 18 carries.
You want your most talented player to have the ball in his hands as much as possible. This is certainly one way to make that happen.
Duncanville trailed 21-7 before scoring twice in the second half, but a blocked PAT ended up being the difference in the game.
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Thriller in Dallas, Part II
North Shore dominated when it had the ball — and, perhaps most importantly, didn’t turn it over.
The times they did, however, allowed South Oak Cliff to hang around.
Eventually, the Golden Bears surged back to take a 21-17 lead early in the fourth quarter.
But on the ensuing drive, the Class 6A Division I state champions rallied to take the lead on a touchdown pass from JaVoris Taylor to Demont Jones.
The Mustangs then came up with a fourth-down stop in the final seconds to hold on for the win.
Two great games. Four elite teams. And, unfortunately, almost no one got to see them.
It would’ve been great to have these two marquee games available for the fans who wanted to watch four elite teams play.
Maybe next year?
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Who Would’ve Guessed?
The early portion of the schedule always brings a few surprises — teams and players doing things some of us probably didn’t see coming.
Here are two of them:
Denton and Arlington Sam Houston are both 3-0.
The Denton Broncos are 3-0 for the first time since 2016 after blasting North Garland, 49-6.
Kaiden Credit ran for three touchdowns and caught another in the win.
The Broncos were 4-6 last season and will have a chance to match that win total this week when they face Garland Naaman Forest.
David Beaty, the former Kansas head coach, is turning around a program that went 2-8 before his arrival last year.
Incidentally, Beaty got his coaching start at Naaman Forest back in 1994.
He’s been at Rice, Kansas, Texas A&M, Texas, Florida Atlantic and the Houston Gamblers of the UFL before landing at Denton.
The other 3-0 record we probably didn’t see coming belongs to Arlington Sam Houston.
The Texans — who might have the best old-school logo in the area — blasted Cleburne, 62-0, to improve to 3-0.
This week, they face the Arlington Colts.
Sam Houston was 1-9 last season and 2-8 in 2024. In 2023 and 2022, the Texans went a combined 0-20.
According to veteran journalist Ken Costlow, this is the Texans’ first 3-0 start since 1977.
The Texans haven’t had a .500 season or better since 2014, when they finished 6-5.
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Who Would’ve Guessed? Part II
Three weeks into the season, there are some surprising W-L records across Texas.
We mentioned two above. Here are a few others worth noting at this point:
- Lewisville: 3-0
- Highland Park: 1-2
- DeSoto: 1-2
- Duncanville: 1-2
- South Oak Cliff: 0-2
- Allen: 3-0
- Southlake Carroll: 1-2
- Keller Central: 3-0
- Aledo: 1-2
- Birdville: 3-0
- Nevada Community: 3-0
- The Colony: 3-0
- Prosper Richland: 3-0
- Joshua: 3-0
- Fort Worth Carter-Riverside: 3-0
Some of those records will obviously change once district play gets rolling.
But that’s what makes this time of year so much fun.
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Dropping 100
Dallas Life Oak Cliff rolled to a 105-14 win over Bonham on Friday.
Yes.
105 points.
By quarter, the Lions scored 35, 29, 22 and 19.
And get this: In the first two games of the season, against Rains and Cedar Hill Trinity Leadership, Life Oak Cliff scored a combined 105 points.
Quarterback Camren Phillips was nearly unstoppable, completing 18-of-26 passes for 459 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Three different receivers topped 100 receiving yards, while six different players hauled in a touchdown pass.
That’s one way to put up a 100-spot.