DeSoto Eagle football leads from start to finish, thoroughly defeats Mansfield Legacy
MANSFIELD — DeSoto had its best game of the season, in terms of points, at the expense of Mansfield Legacy on Friday night.
The reigning Class 6A Division II champions scored four times in the first quarter to set the tone in a 64-3 win at Vernon Newsom Field.
Every player that traveled to the game got playing time for the Eagles (5-0, 3-0 District 11-6A) and seven different players scored in the contest for them. By halftime, the score was 50-0 and the outcome was already decided.
“The kids played well and had a great week executing in practice, and we came out there and did a heck of a job in all three phases tonight,” DeSoto head coach Claude Mathis said. “The kids deserve it because they practice hard all week and then you try to pull it back because the score is getting out of hand. I’m glad it worked out well and they understand. It is hard, but I have great kids.”
The only blemish for the night for DeSoto is another injury to Deondrae Riden Jr. The running back had a pair of first-quarter scores but left with 2:34 left in the first with an injury and never returned.
In his place, Marvin Duffey and Kingstin McAdams picked up the offense, running the ball. Sam Houston State pledge Darius Bailey threw a pair of touchdowns for DeSoto.
Riden’s 1-yard touchdown with 10:04 left in the first capped off the opening drive of the contest — but came after what appeared to be a big play early on.
DeSoto had a wide receiver catch the ball near the goal line and reach out for the white stripe.
The ball popped loose and a defender for Legacy (2-4, 1-2) picked it up and returned it — albeit with a Legacy fumble mixed in — near the 30-yard line.
“That might’ve given us a little juice,” Mansfield Legacy head coach Jeff Hulme said. “I thought it was a bang-bang (play), one of those thing you let it play out.”
The Broncos struggled to get much going offensively and, to add to that, Antonio Pride Jr. returned the first punt for Legacy back 84 yards for a score.
Bailey hit freshman Ethan Feaster for an 18-yard score to cap the scoring in the first quarter with DeSoto up 29-0. The Eagles followed up with 28 points in the second quarter.
Duffey scored twice and McAdams added another touchdown on the ground. DeSoto averaged 6.4 yards per carry and had 206 total on the ground.
“We try to make the most of the plays, even if we have short drives,” said 6-foot-7, 340-pound lineman Byron Washington. “We look at the opponents like they are faceless; whether it is a big-time game or a little game, we want to come out and execute.”
Bailey’s second touchdown pass went to Daylon Singleton. Feaster, Singleton, Washington and Riden are all scheduled to be at the Red River Showdown on Saturday to watch the Texas Longhorns play.
Legacy was held to only 100 yards of total offense and was held to 34 yards on 21 yards rushing against a stout defensive line. The only points on the night came on Jeremiah Kieffer’s 22-yard field goal in the third quarter. That score was set up by a 34-yard pass to Kaidan Johnson, which got the ball inside the DeSoto red zone for the only time in the night.
“It is hard to play them,” Hulme said. “Claude does a great job. It’s not that they are talented, because they are, but they play hard. That is one thing to be talented but if you don’t work hard and play hard, you waste that talent. He has them playing really hard now and they have years. It is one of those things we get better or we keep on sinking.”