Here are five thoughts from Week 5 of the Texas high school football season.
No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown
The top two Class 5A Division I teams in the state will clash next Friday when No. 1 Denton Ryan plays at No. 2 Aledo in a 7 p.m. game that could decide the District 3-5A Division I title.
Aledo (4-1, 3-0) and Richland (5-0, 3-0) lead Ryan (4-0, 2-0) and Azle (4-0, 2-0) by a half-game, and 12-time state champion Aledo has won 122 district games in a row as it seeks a third consecutive 5A Division I state title. Aledo was 16-0 and outscored the opposition 797-254 last year, but it needed a touchdown and two-point conversion with 1:35 remaining to beat Denton Ryan 25-19.
Denton Ryan has won every game by double digits this season, and it routed Granbury 63-20 on Thursday as quarterback Quin Henigan was 12-for-14 for 237 yards and seven touchdowns and Braeden Mussett and Jose Melendez combined for five touchdown catches. Aledo also won in a blowout, beating Keller Fossil Ridge 63-3 as Gavin Beard threw four touchdown passes and four-star wide receiver Kaydon Finley had four catches for 141 yards and three touchdowns.
Duncanville vs. DeSoto is looming
Teams in District 11-6A have their bye next week, and that gives nationally ranked DeSoto and Duncanville an extra week to rest up for their highly anticipated district showdown at 7 p.m. Oct. 11 at DeSoto.
Duncanville is ranked No. 4 in the nation by MaxPreps and DeSoto is 20th, and both schools have won back-to-back state titles — Duncanville in Class 6A Division I and DeSoto in 6A Division II. The game of the year in Texas lived up to the hype last season as DeSoto won 49-35 against a Duncanville team that was ranked No. 1 in the state, ending Duncanville’s 22-game winning streak and 47-game district winning streak.
DeSoto also ended Duncanville’s five-game winning streak in a series matching two powerhouse programs that are nine miles apart. Four-star SMU pledge Daylon Singleton had six catches for 179 yards and two touchdowns and also returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown in that game as DeSoto beat Duncanville for the first time since DeSoto’s state championship season in 2016.
Both teams won Friday, but Duncanville struggled for a quarter before pulling away to beat Skyline 63-14. It was 14-14 at the end of the opening quarter, but five-star Alabama pledge Keelon Russell, the top-rated senior quarterback in the state, threw for 474 yards and six touchdowns on 27-for-32 passing for Duncanville.
Five-star Oregon pledge Dakorien Moore and three-star receivers Ayson Theus and Zach Turner all had more than 100 receiving yards, and they combined for 22 catches for 400 yards. Theus and Turner each had three touchdown catches.
Russell was shaken up in last week’s 41-17 win over Waxahachie, taking a hard hit late in the third quarter, limping off and being replaced by junior J’Coryon Rivers for the rest of the game. Russell said after that game, “I got hit and kind of got dizzy. It’s nothing serious,” and after Friday’s huge game he has thrown for 1,437 yards and 20 touchdowns while averaging 359.3 passing yards per game for a 4-0 team.
DeSoto (4-1 overall) is tied with Duncanville and Lancaster for first place in 11-6A at 2-0 after beating Waxahachie 39-24. Four-star Texas A&M pledge Deondrae “Tiger” Riden Jr. ran for 206 yards and two touchdowns.
Lewisville, North Forney pull surprises
There were a couple of stunners Friday, as Lewisville beat area No. 14-ranked Flower Mound Marcus 27-21 in overtime and North Forney rallied for a shocking 35-31 win over rival Forney, ranked No. 11 in the area in 6A.
Lewisville forced overtime on a game-tying 59-yard touchdown run by Aiden Evans midway through the fourth quarter, then won it in overtime on a 5-yard touchdown pass from running back Derrick Martin to Landon Bogany. Tenel Hill ran for 166 yards for Lewisville, and Evans got his first two carries of the season as Lewisville (2-2 overall) won its District 5-6A opener.
Forney led 24-14 in the third quarter before North Forney rallied as quarterback Legend Bey ran for 176 yards and three touchdowns and threw two touchdown passes. Bey scored the winning touchdown on a 7-yard run with 3:21 left in the game.
Friday night thrillers
Lancaster had one of the most dramatic wins in the area Friday, beating Cedar Hill 41-35 in overtime on a 19-yard touchdown run by Izayah Lee. Lancaster trailed 20-7 in the second quarter and 35-28 with less than two minutes left in the game but tied it 35-35 on a 56-yard touchdown pass from three-star Nevada pledge Carter Jones to four-star Oklahoma pledge Emmanuel Choice with 1:28 remaining in regulation.
Mansfield Summit needed overtime to beat Grapevine 25-22 on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Demarus Bird to Ian Gebhardt. Mansfield scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to come back from a 13-point deficit, capped by Teddy Clark’s 12-yard touchdown run with 2:53 left in a 41-40 victory over Fort Worth Boswell.
Lake Highlands also played a thriller, beating Richardson Pearce 55-49 as Christian Rhodes ran for 216 yards and four touchdowns. Presley Harper threw for 422 yards and accounted for five touchdowns for Pearce, which trailed 34-14 at halftime before closing to within six on a 1-yard touchdown run by Harper with 2:37 left.
In a battle that may determine second place in District 4-6A, No. 13 Euless Trinity rallied to beat No. 9 Trophy Club Byron Nelson 31-28 as quarterback TJ Tupou scored on a 7-yard run with 6:51 left. JT Harris ran for 201 yards and two touchdowns for Trinity, and Byron Nelson was stopped on a fourth-and-1 play from the Trinity 14-yard line with 1:05 remaining.
Dual-threat star sparks Lone Star’s 5-0 start
San Francisco 49ers dual-threat wide receiver/running back Deebo Samuel has called his position “wide back,” and if recruiting services had such a position for high school players, Frisco Lone Star’s Davian Groce might be ranked No. 1 in the nation. As it is, the four-star junior will have to settle for being the No. 2-ranked running back in America in the Class of 2026.
Groce showed once again Thursday night that he is much more than a running back, catching three passes for 57 yards and returning a punt 46 yards for a touchdown while rushing for 101 yards and a score on five carries in a 48-7 win over Frisco Heritage on Thursday.
Lone Star (5-0, 3-0 District 5-5A Division I), ranked No. 3 in the state in 5A Division I, has won 14 regular-season games in a row and 17 district games in a row. Groce has only 21 carries — an average of 5.3 per game — but is averaging 15.3 yards per carry, has run for 321 yards and two touchdowns and has been one of the top receivers in D-FW with 21 receptions for 391 yards and four scores.
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