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.
“I got hit and kind of got dizzy. It’s nothing serious,” Russell said after that game. 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.
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