With the Eagles holding on to a 51-44 lead in the final seconds, they came up with a huge goal line stand as
Angelo Renda tried to run it in but was tackled inside the one-yard line with four seconds remaining. Baker capped off his tremendous afternoon with a 99-yard touchdown run to seal the 57-44 victory.
The biggest play came early in the fourth quarter when
Jordan Stevens returned an interception 86 yards for a score to cut the deficit to 37-35. Baker punched in the two-point conversion to tie the game. After the teams exchanged touchdowns, DeSoto took its first lead since the first quarter, after Baker punched it in from one yard out.
Ethan Feaster made a ton of big plays on offense but his two biggest plays came on defense during DeSoto's goal line stand. He broke up back-to-back passes when the Dragons had it first and goal at the two in the final minute.
In the UIL 6A Division 1 semifinals,
Duncanville punched its ticket to the state championship game for the sixth time since 2018 with a 31-9 win over No. 24
Allen. The Panthers will face a familiar foe in
North Shore (Houston) after the Mustangs beat
Lake Travis (Austin) 28-6 in the other semifinal.
This will be the sixth state championship meeting between the two Texas powers since 2018 and the Mustangs hold a 3-2 edge, but Duncanville has won the last two.
Tulane-bound quarterback
Trace Johnson completed 17 of 20 passes for 247 yards and four touchdowns. Junior tight end
Luke Gazzaniga hauled in two scores while the defense had a dominant showing holding the Spartans to 180 total yards. The Eagles closed out the season winning six games in a row and held all six opponents to 14 points or less.
The Bulls responded by scoring 10 unanswered points, capped off with a
Calvin Russell Jr. one-yard touchdown run to give Northwestern a 16-7 lead with 10:24 left.
Raines answered back and after a 36-yard field goal from
Dan Duong,
Geterius Brown intercepted a Lawrence pass to set up the Vikings with great field position.
Timothy Cole scored from 10 yards out to give Raines a 17-16 lead with 2:32 remaining.
Northwestern answered right back, and Lawrence connected with
Nicholas Lennear for a 62-yard touchdown to take a 22-17 lead with 1:51 left.
On the Vikings ensuing drive, they converted a fourth-and-10 at the Northwestern 28 and on the next play, Cole threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to
Tadarius Washington to take a 23-22 lead with 10 seconds left.
No. 2
St. Frances Academy (Baltimore) made its claim for the No. 1 spot with an impressive 37-20 win over No. 23
Corner Canyon (Draper, Utah) on Wednesday in the Overtime Nationals in Baltimore. The Panthers showed why they have one of the best defenses in the country as that unit did not give up any points until the game was out of hand in the fourth quarter.
St. Frances Academy jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first quarter after
Jae'Oyn Williams connected with
Destin Mitchell for an 11-yard score.
Jaylen Burke extended the lead to 14-0 in the second quarter with a nine-yard score. Williams threw his second touchdown of the first half connecting with
Michael Nnabuife for an 18-yard score.
The Panthers started the second half with a six-plus minute drive capped off with Williams' third touchdown pass from 14 yards out to
Jesse Legree to make it 28-0.
Corner Canyon got its first points after a fumbled punt attempt was recovered in the endzone by
Eli Borg late in the third quarter.
After a
Jaoquin Rodriguez interception set up the Chargers at their own three, five-star safety
Jireh Edwards flew in for a tackle for loss that resulted in a safety to make it 30-7. Legree housed the ensuing kickoff to extend the lead to 37-7.
Bronson Evans threw two fourth quarter touchdown passes to cut the deficit to 37-20.
Three-star West Virginia signee
Jyron Hughley got the scoring started with a 69-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter to give Cardinal Newman a 7-0 lead. The Lions answered right back after a long run from
Lee Prince Jr. to set up a one-yard rushing score from four-star Texas signee
Derrek Cooper.
Hughley connected with
Ethan Holland for a 35-yard touchdown late in the third quarter to take a 14-7 lead. The Crusaders turned a
Malik Leonard fumble into three points to extend the lead to 17-7 with 6:35 left.
The Lions cut the deficit to 17-14 after a second Cooper rushing score with 48 seconds remaining. Cardinal Newman recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock to win its first state title in school history.
Hughley was named MVP of the game after finishing with 20 carries for 111 yards and a touchdown to go with 69 yards passing and another score.
In North Carolina, No. 12
Grimsley (Greensboro) won its 30th straight game with a 24-14 win over
Clayton to repeat as Class 7A state champs. Five-star quarterback
Faizon Brandon threw for 126 yards and a touchdown to go with 65 yards on the ground and another score.
In Louisiana, No. 8
Edna Karr (New Orleans) won its 28th straight game with a 49-14 win over
St. Augustine (New Orleans) in
the Division I Select state championship. The Cougars capped off their second consecutive 14-0 season and won 12 of those games by double digits.
MaxPreps Top 25 National Scoreboard
Idle
Wednesday, 7 p.m. (All times local)
Saturday, 2 p.m. at Newsom Stadium
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