The Dallas area will have three teams competing for UIL state football championships at AT&T Stadium in Arlington this week. Duncanville (6A-I), DeSoto (6A-II), and South Oak Cliff (5A-II) — all within 12 miles of each other in the southern section of Dallas County — each captured semifinal wins over the weekend.
6A Division I: Duncanville 41, Prosper 0
A nearly two-hour rain delay early in the first quarter did not stop Duncanville from rolling to a 41-0 rout over Prosper on Saturday at SMU’s Gerald J. Ford Stadium.
Duncanville (14-0) running back Caden Durham ran for 206 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries while resting for the entirety of the fourth quarter. It was Durham’s third straight 200-yard game, as Duncanville outgained Prosper 408-14 on the ground.
Prosper (13-2) entered the matchup allowing only 127.6 yards per game on the ground, but Durham had racked up 138 yards and two touchdowns by halftime, including a 67-yard touchdown run with 3:43 left in the first half that made it 14-0.
Dakorien Moore, Texas’ top recruit in the class of 2024 according to 247Sports, hauled in a 59-yard touchdown catch from Keelon Russell on Duncanville’s ensuing series for a 21-0 halftime lead.
Moore struck again in the third quarter with a 40-yard run to the Prosper 2-yard line, setting up Durham’s third touchdown of the game on the next play to make it 27-0 and crush the last of Prosper’s hopes.
Prosper reached the state semifinal for the first time since winning the 3A Division I state title in 2008. Quarterback Harrison Rosar had thrown for 3,276 yards and 43 touchdowns in Prosper’s first 14 games, but he was stifled by Duncanville, going 12-of-28 for 118 yards and an interception.
Duncanville will play for a state championship for the fourth time in five years and face Galena Park North Shore (15-0) for the fourth time in five years.
The teams met in the Division I state final in 2018, 2019, and 2021, with North Shore winning each time. That included a 41-36 victory in 2018 on a 45-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass on the game’s final play.
Duncanville will be trying to win its first state title since 1998 and give legendary coach Reginald Samples his first state championship.
6A Division II: DeSoto 47, Denton Guyer 28
DeSoto ended Denton Guyer’s undefeated season with a stunning 47-28 victory on Saturday at The Star in Frisco.
DeSoto’s offense was nearly unstoppable, outgaining Guyer 560-361, including 437-140 on the ground, while holding Guyer to its lowest point total of the season.
Sophomore running back Deondrae Riden, who has already garnered 15 scholarship offers, torched Guyer’s defense for 224 yards and two touchdowns.
DeSoto averaged 7.8 yards per rush attempt as junior quarterback DJ Bailey (78 yards, two touchdowns), senior Texas commit Tre Wisner (78 yards) and junior Jaden Trawick (53 yards, two touchdowns) also had productive days on the ground.
DeSoto (13-2) led 19-7 at halftime after a scoreless first quarter and opened the scoring in the third with a 5-yard touchdown run from Riden to make it 26-7.
While Guyer added three second-half touchdowns, its defense could not stop DeSoto, which scored touchdowns on seven of its 14 drives, including three in the fourth quarter to close the game.
For Guyer (14-1), the loss was not only the first since falling to Austin Westlake in the 2021 6A Division II state championship last season, but it also ended the illustrious career of five-star quarterback Jackson Arnold.
Arnold finished the contest with 221 yards passing and two rushing scores, but he was held to just 39 yards on the ground. The Oklahoma commit was also sacked five times.
The loss also ends the Guyer careers of four-star safety Ryan Yaites, an LSU commit, and five-star safety Peyton Bowen, a Notre Dame commit.
DeSoto will play Austin Vandergrift (14-1) in the 6A Division II state championship game on Saturday. It is DeSoto’s first trip to the state championship since its 6A Division II title win in 2016.
5A Division II: South Oak Cliff 14, Argyle 6
South Oak Cliff emerged victorious on Friday in a 14-6 defensive slugfest over Argyle at Crowley ISD’s athletic complex in Fort Worth.
SOC (12-3) relied on its lockdown defense, as it has all season, and just enough production from its offense to eke out the victory and earn a chance to defend its 5A Division II title.
SOC held an Argyle offense that averaged nearly 400 yards per game, including 250 rushing yards, to just 188 total yards and 87 yards on the ground.
SOC opened the scoring on its first possession of the game on a Jayvon Thomas 29-yard touchdown run. The two teams would not score for the remainder of the first half, with SOC taking the 7-0 lead into halftime.
Argyle nabbed the momentum in the third quarter on Devon Owen’s interception that gave his team the ball at the SOC 28-yard line. However, Argyle had to settle for a field goal and could only cut the SOC lead to 7-3.
SOC threw a second consecutive interception late in the third, with Argyle’s Grant Mirabal coming up with the takeaway at the SOC 33. But again, Argyle had to settle for a field goal despite reaching the 2-yard line, narrowing its deficit to 7-6 early in the fourth.
After a third quarter of nearly no production from its offense, SOC drove down the field and capped it with a 1-yard touchdown run from Danny Green with 2:53 remaining to set the final 14-6 score.
Argyle (14-1), the state’s top-ranked 5A Division II team, was in its first year at the 5A level and, despite the loss, showed it belonged at this level.
SOC will have the chance to win its second state football title in school history and become the first-ever Dallas ISD school to win back-to-back UIL state championships. It will face Port Neches-Groves (13-2) for the championship on Friday night.