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From: Dallas South News.
Story By R. Lamar Brooks, Photos by Byron Watters
Florida pretty much dominated a series of recent high school football games against Texas, winning 5 of 6 contests with three games being blowouts. The Abilene/Cocoa and Skyline/Glades Central games could have gone either way. And of course, the lone victory for Texas belonged to DeSoto in what DeSoto Head Coach Claude Mathis termed the “best high school football game I have ever been a part of.”
Upon further examination, the top teams in the lower classifications in Florida are capable of beating the larger classifications in Texas. An example of that was 2A Florida defending champs Cocoa knocking off Texas 5A kingpin Abilene and recently beating defending Mississippi 6A champs Olive Branch, 14-7. This is generally unthinkable in Texas, outside of 7-on-7 football.
As an aside, Florida has 8 classifications all the way up to 6A with Texas having 5 classifications through 5A (though the UIL governing body for Texas High Schools is leaning towards a 6A class soon).
In the Dallas South News Monster Game of the Week, Dallas Madison took on Miami Central as part of the Texas vs. Florida football showcase at DeSoto’s Ben Dial Athletic Complex. Madison Head Coach Ronald Johnson Described the game as as “a test for our players to see where they stand.”
Madison showed fight throughout, with it being evident that their skill position players including Eric Horsley, Jamon Brewers, and Marquise Smith can compete with any opponent in any classification. Overall, however, the 6A powerhouse, Miami Central team was just too strong of a challenger.
As is the trend in high school football these days, Central lines up 4 wide nearly every play and forces you to either put pressure on and sack the quarterback or succumb to their dizzying array of playmakers, who simply spread the field and…well….make plays. By the end of the 1st half, Miami Central had racked up 395 yards of offense and 23 first downs to Madison’s 173 yards of total offense.
The 2nd half would not be any kinder to Madison as their offense could only muster an additional 43 yards against the hard charging, speedy Central defense. In the end, Central would show a balanced attack with 28 runs and 25 passes for 508 yards of total offense to Madison’s 216.
DeSoto’s game against defending state champs Miramar was all that the event promoter C&B National Sports Marketing could have hoped for. Miramar’s defensive back Tracy Howard said “I can’t remember a game like this.”
DeSoto landed the first punch with a scintillating 86-yard opening kickoff return from the excellent Dontre Wilson, a sophomore whom will leave his mark on the DeSoto program for years to come. And just like that 7-0, DeSoto . Down 21-7 at the half, Miramar found their stride in the 2nd half and played what the team termed “Patriot football” to keep DeSoto from salting the game away.
Tied 35-35 going into overtime, DeSoto completed a 20-yard touchdown to WR DeMarcus Thompson from QB Ryan Polite to go up 42-35. Now with pressure squarely on their offense, Miramar’s WR Danel Harris scored on a 25-yard pass from QB Cameron Hudge on the team’s first play in overtime to creep to within a point, 42-41.
Coach Damon Cogdell had a decision to make and he opted to go for the jugular, lining up for a two point conversion. Central attempted a pass into the back of the end zone that was caught albeit out of bounds. And with that, DeSoto could finally exhale as they proved to be the one local team in the Texas vs. Florida series of games to overcome Florida’s penchant for winning on Texas soil in 2010.
Story By R. Lamar Brooks, Photos by Byron Watters
Florida pretty much dominated a series of recent high school football games against Texas, winning 5 of 6 contests with three games being blowouts. The Abilene/Cocoa and Skyline/Glades Central games could have gone either way. And of course, the lone victory for Texas belonged to DeSoto in what DeSoto Head Coach Claude Mathis termed the “best high school football game I have ever been a part of.”
Upon further examination, the top teams in the lower classifications in Florida are capable of beating the larger classifications in Texas. An example of that was 2A Florida defending champs Cocoa knocking off Texas 5A kingpin Abilene and recently beating defending Mississippi 6A champs Olive Branch, 14-7. This is generally unthinkable in Texas, outside of 7-on-7 football.
As an aside, Florida has 8 classifications all the way up to 6A with Texas having 5 classifications through 5A (though the UIL governing body for Texas High Schools is leaning towards a 6A class soon).
In the Dallas South News Monster Game of the Week, Dallas Madison took on Miami Central as part of the Texas vs. Florida football showcase at DeSoto’s Ben Dial Athletic Complex. Madison Head Coach Ronald Johnson Described the game as as “a test for our players to see where they stand.”
Madison showed fight throughout, with it being evident that their skill position players including Eric Horsley, Jamon Brewers, and Marquise Smith can compete with any opponent in any classification. Overall, however, the 6A powerhouse, Miami Central team was just too strong of a challenger.
As is the trend in high school football these days, Central lines up 4 wide nearly every play and forces you to either put pressure on and sack the quarterback or succumb to their dizzying array of playmakers, who simply spread the field and…well….make plays. By the end of the 1st half, Miami Central had racked up 395 yards of offense and 23 first downs to Madison’s 173 yards of total offense.
The 2nd half would not be any kinder to Madison as their offense could only muster an additional 43 yards against the hard charging, speedy Central defense. In the end, Central would show a balanced attack with 28 runs and 25 passes for 508 yards of total offense to Madison’s 216.
DeSoto’s game against defending state champs Miramar was all that the event promoter C&B National Sports Marketing could have hoped for. Miramar’s defensive back Tracy Howard said “I can’t remember a game like this.”
DeSoto landed the first punch with a scintillating 86-yard opening kickoff return from the excellent Dontre Wilson, a sophomore whom will leave his mark on the DeSoto program for years to come. And just like that 7-0, DeSoto . Down 21-7 at the half, Miramar found their stride in the 2nd half and played what the team termed “Patriot football” to keep DeSoto from salting the game away.
Tied 35-35 going into overtime, DeSoto completed a 20-yard touchdown to WR DeMarcus Thompson from QB Ryan Polite to go up 42-35. Now with pressure squarely on their offense, Miramar’s WR Danel Harris scored on a 25-yard pass from QB Cameron Hudge on the team’s first play in overtime to creep to within a point, 42-41.
Coach Damon Cogdell had a decision to make and he opted to go for the jugular, lining up for a two point conversion. Central attempted a pass into the back of the end zone that was caught albeit out of bounds. And with that, DeSoto could finally exhale as they proved to be the one local team in the Texas vs. Florida series of games to overcome Florida’s penchant for winning on Texas soil in 2010.
