Skip to main content

Tag: Texas HS Football

Duncanville Panthers win Nail-biter 28-21 Margin, Win State Championship

Written by Russell Dowden on . Posted in HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL.

Coach Samples Wins Historic Victory For his 1st State Championship. They say the 3rd time is the charm, and same goes for the Duncanville head coach in the 2022 Div I 6A State Title Game last weekend. With more than 300 victories on his resume’ none are more dear to coach “Reggie” than this past weekend when his Duncanville Panthers defeated arch nemesis Galena Park North Shore with a 28-21 victory at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. (Panthers / Mustangs III)

In a rare historical feat this year both Duncanville and DeSoto, of the 11-6A district, are only the second district mates ever to win Texas state championships in the same season. Only LaMarque and Texas City, achieved this feat only a few years ago in 2019.

RB Caden Durham rushed for three touchdowns and the Panthers held off the Mustangs 28-21 in the Class 6A Division 1 state championship. Durham was named offensive MVP of the game and was overcome with emotion at the end the states Championship weekend!

RB Caden Durham was overcame with emotion at the end of the game. He will forever be a Texas High School Football State Champion
Photo: Stan Martin

Texas Sports Monthly teams up each Holiday season with our friends at TexasHSFootball.com to compose their annual State Championship Book. This year Duncanville was honored as the State Champion team.

Three of the four state championships between Duncanville and North Shore have now been decided by just one possession.

Westlake Chaps win 2019 6A DIV II State Title

Written by River Tompkins on . Posted in HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL.

Two teams would enter only one would emerge victorious as the 6A DII Texas UIL Football State Championship was underway with the Westlake Chaparrals taking on the Denton Guyer Wildcats. Both teams had risen to the top of their division due to their physicality and run game and both were prepared to out-muscle and out-work the other. In a surprise upset Westlake shut out Denton Guyer 24-0 in a game with many twists and turns.

Both teams are no strangers to the big lights at AT&T stadium with a combined total of 13 championship appearances including tonight. Guyer won its two titles back-to-back in 2012 and 2013. While Westlake’s victories were much further apart with one in 1996 and the other in 2019. Coincidentally, Denton is 0-2 against the Dodge family (Todd Dodge – Westlake and Riley Dodge – Southlake Carroll) this season and 14-0 against everyone else.

“There’s no doubt that they are ready to play. They’re ready to go after a state championship and we’ve got a tremendous opponent in front of us, but we’re gonna have fun tonight,” said Westlake head coach Todd Dodge of his team.

“On the way here, I wore the Drew Brees jersey that Sam wore in the Sugar Bowl, the Westlake one. I kinda got in my mojo, but it’s awesome. When I was a freshman, I was behind [Ehlinger], and it’s really cool to have him here and have him watch us win state,” said Westlake quarterback Kirkland Michaux.

Westlake received to start the game and as they always did they looked to assert their physical dominance. Starting off with two straight power runs it proved unfruitful as the wildcats matched the Chaps physicality. Westlake than took to the air and exploited a defensive weakness as Westlake quarterback Kirkland Michaux would complete a series of passes, 18-yards, 35-yards, 11-yards, and a 5-yard touchdown pass to Jake Misch who was wide open in the end zone.

Guyer electrified the crowd as their speedy kick returner brought the ball all the way to the house. However a flag was thrown and it was called back due to holding, the fans excitement soared then plummeted. The Wildcats would have to slog it out getting down field as they went through three 4th down conversions. They then suffered a major casualty with the loss of star quarterback Eli Stowers due to injury. Stowers, a four-star recruit committed to Texas A&M is reported to have torn the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in his left knee. With Wildcat fans shocked, silent and heartbroken, freshman qb Jackson Arnold bravely took the field. Arnold whose hands were visibly shaking, understandably having been thrown in to the un-fillable shoes of Stowers, attempted his his first throw, which was intercepted by defensive back Michael Taffe in the end zone.

The game from here on out would be a defensive one. Guyer continued that trend forcing Westlake into a three and out. Jackson Arnold would than fumble the snap and get sacked on the ensuing play by Westlake defensive end Austin McClendon once again forcing them to punt.


Denton Guyer got the ball back after a Westlake punt and star running back Kaedrick Cobb went to work weaving and juking his way through defenders for a pickup of 26-yards. Than the pressure came as Westlake defensive back Michael Taff came roaring into the pocket and dropped Arnold for a loss.

Westlake would put together a long drive aided by 4th down conversions and somewhat lucky penalties. The highlight was a 10-yard catch by Ryan Lindley and Kirkland Michaux being sacked in the backfield by Dotun Olanipekun. Then on 4th&18 from the 33-yard line the Chaps went for it, what seemed to be a terrible decision was in motion. Michaux rolled out to his left and fired a missile down field to Mason Magnum for a 33-yard score. The Westlake fans erupted.

Guyer would intercept Michaux’s pass before halftime but nothing would result. Westlake did everything fairly well in the first half, they were lock-down on defense and the passing game was roaring, the number one thing was to get Zane Minors going. For Denton Guyer it was about getting the offense going, especially through the air, they had 15 passing yards through the third quarter and that would simply not due against a strong Westlake defense.

Coach Dodge had this to say going in to halftime,”We’re not running the ball well enough right now. We’re making some explosive plays in the passing game. We got to do a better job of protecting the quarterback, the second half. Got to get a little bit more out of our run game.”

Coming out of halftime Guyer quarterback Jackson Arnold just did not want to be pummeled by players 100 pounds heavier than him. Sadly, his wish did not come true. On the first drive he was sacked twice by Austin McClendon and Will McConnell. The Guyer defense would continue to generate pressure on the quarterback but it was no help as the offense was essentially a stationary turret that was out of bullets and the secondary was a piece of armor that was hit one too many times.


Westlake took advantage of this as Kirkland Michaux found a wide open Jackson Coker down the field for a 39-yard touchdown. Westlake put the game on cruise control only scoring a field goal from there on out, but still managing to stay on top. 

Westlake defensive back Henry Smogur would get an interception putting him in company with Michael Taffe (1 int, 1 sack) who won defensive MVP. Michaux completed 20 passes for 285-yards and won the offensive MVP of the championship. His favorite target was Ryan Lindley (7-65) who went out with a hand injury as well as Mason Mangum (3-79-1).

“We have a very physical football team,” said Dodge when asked about the physicality of his players. “We have a bunch of kids that the worst thing that can happen to them is, to come to video on Saturday morning and have their team see them being soft or less than physical or giving less than great effort and that’s such a great peer pressure in our locker room.”

Westlake held their opponents to a scoreless game with a 24-0 victory. Westlake brings the title back home to Westlake/Austin which has not been done since their first state championship trophy in 1996, known as the Drew Brees era. After being eliminated multiple times by North Shore (2019 6A D1 state champion) they finally brought one back, symbolizing a banner year for Todd Dodge where he achieved 200 career wins and a Texas 6A DII State Championship.

“What a tremendous job that they’ve done all year long and I just, I am so happy. I’m so happy about the state championship,”commented Dodge on his team’s victory.

Jackson Coker had this to say about the team’s journey,”It’s unbelievable. This is something you know we’ve been working for, you know some of these guys I’ve been friends with since I was about two years old, and just to come out here and play the way we played is just, I’m at a loss, it’s unbelievable. It means everything, you know, we have a tradition of winning and I’m just glad that we could come out and uphold that to the potential that you know we held ourselves at.”

Northshore Mustangs victorious over Duncanville.

Written by River Tompkins on . Posted in HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL.

A rematch. A battle. A fight. This is the 2019 Texas UIL Football State Championships at AT&T stadium in Arlington. Two teams would face off in front of 47,818 fans, winner take all including the title best 6A DI football team in Texas, the pressure was on. The North Shore Mustangs took on the Duncanville Panthers in a match up to remember. This time just a year ago these teams went head-to-head in the state championship with North Shore throwing a Hail Mary in the final seconds to win the game. If there were any doubts of who the dominant team is, North Shore erased them when they won 31-17 over the Panthers.

Up to this point, both teams had taken on tough advisories with Duncanville stampeding through Southlake Carrol and Rock Wall while North Shore sailed past Lake Travis and Katy. Combined the teams had a point differential of 1054 points.

Duncanville received to start the game, as a redshirt freshman quarterback Chris Parson would lead the Panthers out in his first-ever start, filling in for the injured Ja’quinden Jackson who was out with a torn ACL. The Panthers immediately asserted the running game as junior running back Rodrick Daniels cut up the defense for a 16-yard gain. The freshman quarterback would not keep up as Parson’s next two passes were incomplete forcing a Panthers punt.


The Panthers made a field goal in the dying seconds of the first half tying the game up 17-17. Both teams needed to step it up in the passing game. To this point North Shore only had 27 passing yards and if you took the giant 62-yard pass away from Duncaville they had 29 passing yards. Yes running wins games but you need to be able to pick up the 3rd and longs.

Coming out of halftime it was anybody’s game, both teams still fighting for the crown of best team in Texas and both doing it without their biggest offensive play makers. The Panthers would fold under the pressure straight out of the gate as their punter fumbled the snap, than recovered it and fumbled again. North Shore recovered at Duncanville’s 20-yard line.

After Mustang reciter Syncere Green made 14-yard on a catch Rodger Hagan would capitalize with a 1-yard running touchdown. Roger Hagan took it upon himself to pick up the slack with Zachary Evans out, through the first three quarters Hagan had 87-yards rushing and two touchdowns.

Duncanville followed with yet another slip up as freshman quarterback Chris Parson tried to fight for more yardage but ended up putting the ball on the turf. Luckily for them North Shore was unable to do anything with the ball just giving it right back. The Panthers would come so close once again but every time they would fall just short. A pivotal moment on 4th&1 the Panthers were stuffed on the goaline turning the ball over to the Mustangs.

North Shore knowing it would be a slug-out did the same thing asserting their ground game with four straight runs amassing a total of 27-yards. Dual threat quarterback Demetrius Davis would than scramble out of the backfield following his blockers and using pure athleticism to earn him a 30-yard touchdown run.



“We’ve been running the ball the last couple weeks really well, so that was the game plan – to make sure we came out and got the run game going”, said North Shore offensive coordinator Willie Gaston.

Duncanville would not change its ways, they were committed to the ground game and it would stay that way. The Panthers would run the ball six times for 28-yards relaxing any nerves the young quarterback had. Parson would than find Rodrick Daniels on a flat route, after an electric juke he burst up field for 11-yards setting up Daniels for his own 25-yard TD run to tie the game up.

If you did not get the sense already you will get it now, this was a ground and pound game. By halftime both teams were over 100-yards rushing while both attempted under 10 passes. North Shore would march down field aided by an offsides penalty on 4th down, they gradually moved downfield thanks to their running game, North Shore would than settle for a field goal.

Duncanville would get the ball and as they had all season they would be electric. Starting with a 23-yard run by Roderick Daniels who was leapfrogging over defenders. Than a spectacular catch by Marquelan Crowell who mossed the defender on a 34-yard gain. The drive would be capped off by a 6-yard quarterback keeper.

North Shore running back Roger Hagan scored on a 2-yard touchdown run. All the while fans were noticing the absence of 5-star running back Zachary Evans who was nowhere to be seen. North Shore head coach Jon Kay would not go in to detail on reports that Evans had been held out due to disciplinary reasons and would not play in the game.



“We talked about in our staff meeting about just kind of some third quarter woes that we’ve had here recently and I think a lot of the fingers get pointed to the defensive side but the reality is we’ve had huge special teams errors that have put us in bad positions we’ve had turnovers on offense that have put us in bad positions so it was a collective discussion about what we can be doing better coming out of the third quarter and you know we met long and hard on that as a staff to try and make some adjustments which you know I give credit to our coaches the fact that, you know, here we are heading into our second state championship game and, they’re still searching for ways to improve and take the next step,” said North Shore head coach John Kay when asked about his goal line stop.

“Again I think that leadership spills over into our kids. Our defense has been much maligned lately, all of a sudden people feel like North Shore forgot how to play defense because we’ve been playing some explosive offenses. In situational football sometimes you step back and allow some things to happen, knowing that you know, what difference does it make if you win by seven or if you win by 57 when you’re talking about the postseason, that’s just the nature of the beast.

“To see those kids come out in the second half, and shut out an offense, like Duncanville. The kid [Ja’quinden Jackson] is phenomenal, they’re dripping with talent and they’re extremely well coached. For these kids to come together and make those adjustments and execute on the largest stage, I think, all the credit goes to them and coaches,” said John Kay.


At this point in the second half both teams were having trouble holding onto the ball as North Shore was once again forced to fumble giving the Panthers yet another chance to intrude on their one score lead. Duncanville had seemingly no offense whatsoever as they were forced to punt again.

This time the Panthers would not be let off the hook as Davis found receiver Charles King wide open in the end zone for a 44-yard touchdown to give the Mustangs a two score lead. The Panthers would try to comeback but all attempts were futile as North Shore’s defense was just too dominant.   

The Mustangs claimed a clear victory with a win of 31-17 in a game decided by turnovers. A win that also marked the start of a dynasty. North Shore has won two state championships in a row and will bring star quarterback Demtrius Davis back for his senior year as the Mustangs look to make it a three-peat.

THE PRIDE of Cedar Park

Written by Steven Ryan on . Posted in HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL.

TSM: Your head coaching career began with 28 straight wins and a state title. When you first got into the profession, did you imagine your first head coaching job getting off to this good of a start?
Coach Abseck: I don’t think anyone would imagine getting off to that type of start to begin their head coaching career, however by no means was I able to do that by myself.  I have a great staff of men who joined myself, Brent Brittain and Rob Schoenfeld on that first staff and we were blessed to have a talented, experienced, and very hungry group of seniors to help lead our team that year.  Having fallen short the previous season in the championship game, they were very motivated to redeem themselves and our program and we were fortunate to fight our way to a championship.  I am very blessed to be the Head Coach at Cedar Park High School, the community, school administration and our kids are so fun to work with and are driven to be successful.
That 28-game win streak y’all had going got snapped in the regional semifinals last year with a 47-35 loss to Manvel. What did y’all learn from that defeat?
We learned that if you do not play as well as you are capable of, and or make mistakes in a big game against a talented team that the result is probably not going to be in your favor.  We were able to use that game as a huge motivator throughout the off-season and summer and it is easy to point out several seemingly small mistakes that had major consequences to our success or failure as a team in that particular game which I believe will pay dividends for us this season.
How do you feel about what y’all return on offense going into the season?
Obviously we are blessed to have one of the best, most experience quarterbacks in the state back to lead our offensive unit for the 3rd year in Mak Sexton.  Additionally, we have 3 starters back on the offensive line in Jonathan Kelly, Mason Brooks and Trajaan Chase, and our top 3 receivers in Drew McDaniel, Payden Sawicki and Carson Neel, all returning as well.  That gives us a really nice nucleus of experience to build around and we have a lot of competition for playing time and for those remaining jobs fighting it out which should bode well for our offensive success.  Some of those include, Brant McDonald, Will Lipscomb, Ibri Leal, Josh Walker, Carlos Woolery, Mitchell, Venincasa, Sammir Alzer, Braeden Hufford, Jacob Gross, Nicholas Lannan, Hunter Parks, Brandon Breed and Dalton Hayek. I feel like we are ahead of where we were this time last year and believe that with their work ethic we have a chance to be one of the best offenses we have had at Cedar Park High School.
How do you feel about the state of the defense with the season-opener right around the corner?
I believe that we will continue to be one of the better defensive units in the state in class 5A.  We have a great group of coaches that work tirelessly in preparing our young men to be successful.  We return 2 very good inside linebackers in Keegan Nichols and Jackson Buckingham to build around, Gunnar Chriswisser, Hunter Henry, and Austin Hewitt all return with experience in the secondary and we have several guys fighting for playing time on the defensive line, outside linebacker and cornerback.  Some of those include, Allen Grones, Levi Bell, Ben Bell, Jacob Munoz, Logan Mayou, Bradly Lovell, Chigozie Onyia, B.J. Jones, Aries Ramos, Eric Shine, Desmond Brink, Cole Hollen, and several others.
You’ve said before you worked under three great head coached who groomed you for this job in Wichita Falls icon Leo Brittain, and Cedar Park’s Chris Woss and Joe Willis. What did you learn from each of them that helped you get started?
I started my career as an assistant under Coach Brittain at Wichita Falls and I couldn’t have been luckier as a young coach because of his knowledge and willingness to share and the staff was much the same way.  Attention to detail, organization, dealing with athletes, leadership training were some of the things that I remember vividly from working under him. I find as I get older as a coach, that many of my philosophies as a coach were very much influenced by what I learned from Coach Brittain.  Coach Ross is such a student of the game, always working to find new ways, schemes, to attack defenses, I really learned to study our opponents and being prepared for whatever they might bring to the table to try and stop us offensively.  Coach Ross is a great communicator, teacher of the game, and I believe I am better in those areas after coaching with him for over 14 years.  Coach Willis is a master motivator, very much a thinker, always tinkering with what we did to improve it and make it more difficult to defend.  I don’t think he was ever satisfied with doing things the same way and is always thinking about how to make things difficult for your opponent.  I was always impressed with his knowledge of the game on both sides of the ball, much like Coach Ross, and I felt like he really tried to involve everyone in the process of game planning for our opponent.  Most of all I think all three of those men believed that family was important and allowed you as a coach to be involved with your kids and take care of your family as much as possible, and I always appreciated that and try to do the same for my staff.
Y’all start the season playing a Waco Midway squad that’s won seven straight district titles (five outright, two shared). What are you most looking forward to in that matchup?
I look forward to seeing our team continue to grow, improve and how are younger less experienced players react and step up while playing on Friday nights.  It is also a match up of two teams led by very talented quarterbacks and I look forward to seeing how they compare.  We have won 5 straight District Titles, one shared, and 7 in the last 8 years, so our kids are accustomed to being successful, understand the work that is required for success and expect to be successful.  Midway is a very well coached, talented group, with several Division 1 commits and others with offers so it will be a tremendous challenge for our team and will be a great gauge for us to see where we are currently and what we  have to improve on  to reach our goals for the season.  We schedule tough games that will help us grow and mature so that we can be successful when it matters most which is district, and then hopefully the playoffs.  We will be battle tested when we hit that part of the schedule for sure.