DUNCANVILLE, Texas — They made some big mistakes and had to overcome a second-half deficit.
But with the game hanging in the balance, Duncanville stepped up when it mattered most, leading the Panthers to a 28-24 win over Maryland powerhouse St. Francis Academy in Saturday night’s game at Panthers Stadium/Reginald Samples Field.
Duncanville is the reigning two-time UIL 6A Division I state champion and was the No. 1 team in Texas and No. 4 in the nation as of Saturday, while St. Francis Academy was ranked No. 23.
Here are four takeaways from Duncanville’s win.
“Get it.”
Duncanville (2-0) made a string of mistakes, including a fumble in the end zone that allowed a touchdown to SFA, a missed punt that hit a Duncanville player and allowed a touchdown to SFA, a missed field goal and an interception with 4:36 left that allowed a touchdown to St. Francis and gave SFA a 24-21 lead.
But the Panthers remained unfazed, putting together an efficient six-play drive from their own 13-yard line.
On second down from the SFA 22, Duncanville University quarterback Kieron Russell, who plans to attend the University of Alabama, found receiver Zach Turner sprinting toward the end zone. Turner caught the pass with 1 minute, 57 seconds left, but was alone in the end zone.
Before that attack, Duncanville coach Reginald Samples basically gave his players three pieces of advice.
“Just go for it, work hard,” Samples said. “We’ve been practicing really hard. What I always tell the kids is, believe in your practice. I believed that if you practice hard, you’ll get through it in the end.”
Russell completed 20 of 26 passes for 265 yards and three touchdowns, and also rushed for 40 yards and a touchdown.
“That’s the kind of guy he is. He’s a good quarterback and he doesn’t get that notoriety for no reason, he gets it because he’s a good player,” Samples said.
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Duncanville’s defense, especially senior linebacker Nehemiah Borner, protected the lead late in the game.
Borner recorded not one, not two, but three sacks on St. Francis’ final drive, including consecutive sacks on third and fourth downs, giving Duncanville the lead with under a minute left and allowing the home team to run out the clock as St. Francis ran out of timeouts.
“We have a little scheme going on, and he’s pretty hard to get off the block, so we make the same call every time and he makes the play,” Samples said of Borner.
Grab and Go
Duncanville won despite senior standout receiver DaCorine Moore, who is bound for Oregon, only having four catches for 34 yards, but Turner had 11 catches for 131 yards and junior receiver Ason Theus had five catches for 101 yards and two touchdowns.
“We have a lot of good players on offense, which is a good thing,” Samples said. “We’re trying to spread our offense out, so when the time comes, they’re ready to play.”
Carrying luggage
The Panthers got big yards from senior tailback JaQuaron Armstrong, who gained 88 yards on 21 carries, 70 of which came in the second half.
Armstrong’s biggest run came when he went for a 28-yard gain to the St. Francis 37 during Duncanville’s victory-clinching drive.
“I knew I had to get the team into the red zone and I had the team on my back,” Armstrong said. “I knew if I went in there and fired the team up, we’d have an advantage in the box. We were down going into halftime, but we picked our heads up, fired the team up and just kept going. We just did what we were supposed to do.”
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Texas high school football Week 3:
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— Buck Ringgold | buck@scorebooklive.com | @SBLiveTX