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Deondrae Riden Jr., DeSoto outlast Waxahachie in battle of area-ranked district rivals

Riden rushed for 206 yards and a pair of touchdowns, leading DeSoto to a 39-24 victory over Waxahachie on Friday.

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WAXAHACHIE — A perk for the big statistical night enjoyed by DeSoto senior running back Deondrae Riden Jr. is getting Saturday morning congratulations from the Texas A&M staff.

The 5-11, 180-pound Riden, verbally committed to the Aggies, rushed for 206 yards and a pair of touchdowns, leading DeSoto to a 39-24 victory over Waxahachie in a District 11-6A matchup a pair of the area’s top 10 teams Friday night at Lumpkins Stadium.

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“Usually I’ll get a message, but I’m going to the game tomorrow [A&M plays Arkansas at AT&T Stadium] and I’ll see them in person,” Riden said, who fell short of his career-high game by only 19 yards.

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DeSoto (4-1, 2-0 in 11-6A), the two-time defending 6A-DII state champion, is No. 3 in The Dallas Morning News’ Class 6A area ranking, No. 4 in The Associated Press’ 6A state poll and No. 20 nationally by MaxPreps.

Waxahachie (2-3, 0-2), No. 10 in the area ranking, finished third in perhaps the most challenging district in the state each of the last two seasons and a fifth consecutive playoff trip is still well within reach.

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DeSoto scored on four of its first five possessions, mixing the darting runs of Riden and the efficient passing of Kelden Ryan, a 6-2, 210-pound senior verbally committed to Virginia Tech.

Riden finished off two touchdown drives on runs of 24 and 3 yards. Ryan, who completed 17 of 25 passes for 218 yards, demonstrated his arm strength on a 74-yard scoring connection with senior Daylon Singleton, verbally committed to SMU. Singleton led all receivers with 120 yards on five catches.

Sophomore running back Myson Johnson-Cook bulled his way 11 yards for the final DeSoto touchdown for a 29-13 halftime lead.

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Waxahachie began the second half with a long drive but settled for Ethan Guillen’s 26-yard field goal to climb within 13 points, 29-16. DeSoto needed just two plays to answer on a 45-yard run by Johnson-Cook to expand its lead to 36-16.

Waxahachie sophomore quarterback Jerry Meyer III, a transfer from Las Vegas, engineered touchdown drives of 73 and 72 yards in the opening half, the first capped on a 5-yard run by Wade Lemons and the second on senior Trenton Kidd’s catch at the back of the end zone on Meyer’s 13-yard pass.

Meyer, who has already received eight college offers, lofted another touchdown strike at the end line in the fourth quarter, this one to Tristian Gardner covering 22 yards, to finish a 77-yard scoring drive. Kohen Brown’s conversion run brought the Indians within 12 points, 36-24, with 8:36 remaining. Gardner had eight catches for 113 yards.

DeSoto’s Destine Onyechukwu added a 28-yard field goal midway in the fourth quarter to stretch the lead to 39-24.

“We had some really good moments but we missed too many tackles,” said Waxahachie coach Shane Tolleson. His team faced Duncanville last week.

“We played then back-to-back last season, too. We can’t let it hurt our confidence,” he said.

DeSoto stretched its series winning streak to seven with Waxahachie’s last victory coming in 2005.

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