High school football: In battle of defending Texas state champions, No. 2 North Shore uses big plays to knock off No. 17 Shadow Creek

Texas high school football was all the way back Friday night as the state's large schools hit the field. The premier game in the entire country was played near Houston, where the No. 2 North Shore (Houston) hosted No. 17 Shadow Creek (Pearland) at Galena Park ISD Stadium in a battle of defending state champions.

North Shore struck first when Brannon Davis Jr. burst up the middle for a 16-yard score with 5:09 left in the first quarter. a 56-yard completion from Davis to Charles King set up the score.

Shadow Creek came right back as Kyron Drones fired a short slant over the middle to Carlton Guidry who did the rest, sprinting 52 yards right down the middle of the North Shore defense, making it 7-7 with 4:00 left in the first quarter. Dematrius Davis and King hooked up again for the Mustangs, this time with a 9-yard touchdown, a short swing pass where the nifty receiver did most of the work with some good downfield blocking, making it 14-7 early in the second quarter.

Once again Shadow Creek immediately answered and again it was Guidry who returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for the score, tying the game at 14-14.

In response, another long pass from Dematrius Davis to King helped the Mustangs get the ball inside the 10. Shadow Creek held and a short field goal try missed.

Drones then led the Sharks right down field and it appeared they would take their first lead when a pass went off a receiver's hands inside the North Shore 10. The ball popped up and Harris made a juggling interception, returning it 90 yards for a score.

The 14-point swing gave North Shore a 21-14 lead.

Again Shadow Creek responded, driving all the way to the Mustangs' 1-yard line, where it fumbled. North Shore recovered and ran out the clock to take a 21-14 lead into intermission. North Shore took the second-half kickoff, traveled 80 yards before Daveon Ford finished off a 9-yard touchdown by fighting off a big hit to give his team a 28-14 lead.

The Mustangs had a golden opportunity to take command when the Shadow Creek punter's knee hit the ground at its own 25. North Shore drove inside the 10, but then Shadow Creek held and on fourth down a trick play went no where. Two plays later, speedy junior running back Kelvon Brown sprinted 81 yards for a touchdown, closing the lead to 28-21 with 31 seconds left in the third quarter. 

Dematrius Davis drove the Mustangs right down the field before Andres Montes-Zamora made a 31-21 lead early in the fourth quarter. The North Shore quarterback then put it away with his beautiful, cutting touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter.

He's trying to lead North Shore to a third straight 6A-1 championship, which would match Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray, who led Allen to three straight from 2012-14.

This was opening week for the 6A and 5A classifications in Texas, delayed due to COVID-19 concerns. The state's smaller schools began play four weeks ago.

Shadow Creek moved up to 6A in 2020, so these teams could face off again in the playoffs. The state finals won't be played until the first or second week of January.