High School football: No. 20 North Shore beats No. 8 Duncanville third time in four years for Texas 6A-1 championship

Without some familiar faces, the North Shore (Houston) football team won another big-boy division Texas football championship Saturday against a very familiar foe. A 39-yard touchdown pass from freshman Kaleb Bailey to David Amador with 2 minutes, 53 seconds remaining lifted the 20th-ranked Mustangs to a 17-10 win over No. 8 Duncanville in the 6A Division I title game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

Duncanville, after its first title since 1998, had a chance to tie or go ahead, but a Solomon James pass was intercepted by Jayven Anderson and the Mustangs (15-1) ran out the clock for their third title over the Panthers in four seasons and fifth title overall.

This was a rematch of the 2018 and 2019 6A-1 finals, both won by North Shore.

After both teams exchanged field goals in the third quarter to tie the game at 10-10, Bailey connected with Amador one play after a fair catch by Evan Jackson on a punt and a 15-yard penalty on the Panthers.

Bailey had replaced graduated Dematrius Davis Jr. who along with Shadrach Banks were four year-starters and mainstays. But under coach Jon Kay, the Mustangs did not regress in the least.

They responded immediately to finish 15-1 while winning their fifth championship in Texas' largest division with other titles in 2003, 2015 and the back-to-back starting in 2018. The won Saturday despite gaining only 242 yards, including 135 on the ground led by Xavier Owens (19 rushes, 72 yards) and Bailey (14, 57), who threw only 13 passes, completing 10 for 107 yards and both touchdowns.

The North Shore defense was equal to the task, giving up just 191 total yards and 3.31 yards per rush. Duncanville's Malachi Medlock led all rushers with 22 carries for 112 yards, but he was held out of the end zone.

The first half was a clean defensive struggle with no turnovers, three penalties, 10 first downs and less than 200 total yards, neither hitting triple digits.

North Shore took a 7-0 lead on its only sustained drive of the half, 12-play for 53 yards capped by a 3-yard pass from Kaleb Bailey to Jhalyn Bailey giving the Mustangs a 7-0 lead with 2:55 left in the first quarter. A 23-yard run by Xavier Owens was the big play on the drive.

Duncanville answered immediately with a massive 18-play, 87-yard drive, finished off a 1-yard TD plunge from Jordan Crook to tie the game at 7-7 with 8:15 left in the half. The Panthers converted a fourth-down play on a 10-yard completes from Solomon James to Marcus Vinson. A 20-yard gain on third down from James to Lontrell Turner also keyed the drive.

The rest of the half featured eight punts.

North Shore took a 10-7 lead on a 33-yard field goal by Carlos Dominguez with 5:52 left in the third and Duncanville immediately responded, on a 32-yard field goal by Armando Benitez, to tie the game at 10 just 1:30 later. A 43-yard burst by Medlock keyed the game-tying drive.

There was no big threats or bursts until Bailey's game-winning pass to Amador.

It was another heart-breaking finals' loss for Reginald Samples and his Panthers, who surprised most by even getting to the finals. They started the season with a 45-3 loss to national No. 1 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), but then responded in resounding fashion, winning 13 straight by a 698-120 count, including a rather stunning 35-9 semifinal win over Southlake Carroll last week. Duncanville looked like it had a title locked up in 2018, but Davis fired an improbable 45-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass to Ajani Carter on the game's final play to give North Shore a stunning 41-36 victory. That went down as one of the most famous plays in Texas championship football history. 

The following year, 47,818 fans anticipated another Instant Texas Classic, but the Mustangs once again prevailed behind Davis, who accounted for 206 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-17 triumph.