Dallas/Fort Worth area Texas high school football roundup

DFW Week 6 Roundup

Lovejoy vs. McKinney North: 48-45 McKinney North

A heart-pounding game in McKinney’s Ron Poe Stadium that saw seven lead changes in the second half. Lovejoy (3-3, 1-2) have now lost three of their last four games since quarterback Bowman Sells was injured thus giving the starts to defensive back, and backup quarterback, Dakota Michaels. Michaels (24-46, 518 yards, 5 total TDs) led his passing offense against the rushing attack of McKinney North. For McKinney North junior running back Ronald Jones led the attack with 325 rushing yards and six touchdowns as neither defense could find an answer for Jones or the quarterback receiver combination of Dakota Michaels to Chochy Luce (11 rec, 284 yards, 1 TD). Michaels led his team down to the 16-yard line of McKinney North late in the fourth quarter, a drive that started from the Lovejoy own 23-yard line, but after a false start penalty the ball was placed at the 21-yard line. This would be a good time to mention that senior kicker Mick Ellis made a 31-yard field goal as time expired in the first half to give Lovejoy the lead 23-21. However, with :41 seconds Ellis kicked the 38-yard attempt wide giving the ball, and victory, to McKinney North (3-3, 2-1).

Mesquite Poteet vs. Dallas Highland Park: 41-26 Dallas Highland Park

One of our Games of the Week and Dallas Highland Park certainly played like it, Highland Park opened the game with a 28-0 shutout which they kept until :03 seconds left in the second quarter when Lane Novy found Deandre McNeal for a 10-yard touchdown pass. More praise for the Highland Park defense as they did something no other team has done yet. Hold Mesquite Poteet under forty points. That didn’t stop senior quarterback Lane Novy (21-42, 273, 3 TDs, 2 INTs) from finding the stat sheet or his favorite target, senior receiver Kody Edwards (12 rec, 209 yards, 2 TDs). Highland Park junior quarterback Brooks Burgin also threw the ball well (26-38, 331 yards, 3 TDs) but his impact came on the ground rushing for 92 yards and two touchdowns, leading all rushers in the game. Poteet ended up outscoring Highland Park 20-13 in the second half, but with the slow start Highland Park was already well in front. As Highland Park (5-1, 3-0) stays unbeaten in district and Mesquite Poteet (5-1, 2-1) not only suffers their first lost in district, but their first loss of the entire season.

Plano East vs. Allen: 62-17 Allen

One of our featured rivalry games this week “The Battle of the Sledge” went to the top team in the state for the fourteenth time in a row as they certainly made a statement entering district play scoring on their first six possessions. The Allen offense put up ridiculous numbers again as junior quarterback Kyler Murray continues to shred defenses (18-24, 276 yards, 3 TDs) he now totals just over 1500 yards passing for the season. One knock on this Eagles team is that they don’t have consistent play from the running back position (Murray leads the team with 377 yards rushing) which held true on Friday when running back Jaelen Barlow led the team with nine carries, however those nine carries went for 135 yards rushing as the Eagle offense had 290 yards on 34 total carries, certainly there is strength in numbers. While the Eagles offense put up 62 points in three quarters (no points scored in the fourth) the Allen defense held the Plano East offense to -14 yards rushing, but sophomore quarterback Miles Thompson (21-33, 243 yards, TD, INT) still had a respectable performance. What ended up killing the Wolves was their inability to protect Thompson. Thompson was sacked seven times, six times in the first half, as the Wolves first four possessions of the game were all negative yardage.

Mansfield Timberview vs. Desoto: 55-20 Desoto

A top 5 team in the state that had a tough matchup this week, tough enough for our Games of the Week, was Desoto, who didn’t make it look so tough. Mansfield Timberview, who averaged 144.8 yards allowed per game (62 rush and 82.8 pass) had that number inflate to 192.7 after this game thanks to the 432 yards Desoto put up as an offense, which was expected. What wasn’t expected was that Timberview led 13-7 at the end of the first quarter thanks to a heads up play by Ryan Dean in the endzone to recover a fumble to go up 6-0. After a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and a 20-yard run by running back Nicholas James (7 rush, 90 yards, TD) Timberview found themselves up 13-0. However Desoto would respond with a 12-yard run by Jaimon Peterson (10 rush, 64 yards, 3 TDs) to end the first quarter 13-7 Timberview. This would be Timberviews last lead as Desoto would take over for the rest of the game. The big number in this game was nine, there were nine turnovers, six by Timberview and three by Desoto. Senior quarterback Desmond White, who was relatively quiet by his standers in the first half, threw his first interception of the season, but that didn’t stop him from exploding in the second half. White only completed 6 of 16 passes for 146 yards, but did have a 52-yard touchdown to receiver Kadarrian Nixon. Where White excelled was on the ground rushing for 218 yards with a 68-yard and 59-yard touchdown. What hurt Timberview were the turnovers, specifically four fumbles that took them out of good field position.

Grand Prairie vs. Duncanville: 58-46 Duncanville

A game that Grand Prairie was suppose to roll over and take a beating against Duncanville nearly became an upset for the Gophers. The Gophers made a statement early after Duncanville kicker Eric Carrasco made a 21-yard field goal. The Gophers Cole Pitts took the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown. These two teams went back in forth trading leads seven times. The momentum shifted to Duncanville in the third quarter when Grand Prairies senior quarterback Jaylen Fails (18-25, 278 yards, 3 TDs) left the game with a knee injury and junior Matt Moreno stepped in at quarterback, Moreno threw three interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns by Za’Carrius Green (20 and 27-yard returns). This allowed Duncanville to pull away as Jeremiah Drake (30-44, 451 yards, 5 TDs) threw a 59-yard touchdown pass to senior Derrell Haynes which ended up being the dagger for this Gopher squad who now drop to 1-5 and 0-3 in District 7-5A, while Duncanville continues to rise now 4-2 and 2-1 in District.

Keller Timber Creek vs. Keller Central: 38-20 Keller Central

A 38-20 game wouldn’t necessarily be all about the defense, but Keller Centrals defense looked outstanding in a game where practically no player totaled over 100 yards, except Keller Central quarterback Jake McClurg who threw for 81 yards and rushed for 85 yards. Keller Centrals defense had a field day with Keller Timber Creek quarterback Anthony Millsap who completed 7 of 20 passes for 60 yards one touchdown, but had six total turnovers. The Central defense came to play early forcing Timber Creek to throw an interception in their first four possessions, one of which was returned 20 yards for a touchdown by Justus Locke. Central has now shutout a team in the second half for the second straight game. The Central offense scored 28 straight points in the second half thanks to running backs K.T Smeby and Justin Manuatu who each scored twice in the second half. Central is now even at 3-3 and are now 2-0 in District 4-5A while Timber Creek continues to struggle now 1-5 and 0-3 in district.

by William Russell
Lone Star Gridiron Intern
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