Fort Worth Dunbar cruises past River Oaks Castleberry to secure fifth District 6-4A D1 win

When the Dunbar Wildcats came to Clark Stadium, they were looking for a win on their homecoming night against the Castleberry Lions.

Dunbar, the top-ranked team in District 6-4A D1, took care of business and secured a 59-9 victory over the Lions on Friday.

“It’s homecoming and they were able to get their focus in on the game and went out there and did what they’re supposed to do,” Dunbar head Coach Todd Lawson said.

The Wildcats are now 5-0 in District and 6-2 overall.

“Right now, we’re sitting in first place so we’re trying to stay paced,” Lawson said.

They have a few key players that have kept their pace this season. Freshman Detrick James leads the team in receiving yards per game, averaging 35.7 yards. Senior Ben Smith leads the team in rushing yards, averaging 74.4 yards per game.

But there was one player that really stood out for Dunbar in the game against Castleberry. Lawson said his standout player of the night was running back Ja’marion Garett. Garrett led the Wildcats’ domination of the first half of the game by scoring four touchdowns.

“It’s probably going to be Ja’marion Garett number 21 running back, he did a great job,” Lawson said.

As Garret continued to score, all he was thinking about was his team.

“Just put the team on my back and…let’s roll,” Garrett said.

That’s exactly what he did. Garret kept his team together and in action.

His first touchdown of the night came with 9:54 remaining in the first quarter. This put the Wildcats up 7-0. Just a few minutes later, the Wildcats scored another touchdown and led 14-0 over the Lions. Then Garrett had back-to-back-to-back touchdowns in the first and second quarters. Going into intermission, the Wildcats were leading 40-0.

The lone touchdown for Castleberry came in the fourth quarter when Demetrius Valadez took it into the end zone to get his team on the board. The final score of the night occurred when the Lions’ Riley Bentley ran back a Dunbar missed an extra point for two points.

While the Wildcats won 59-9, Coach Lawson said there are still things to work on during the final two regular season games.

“We just got to improve…It’s just some of the small things where we lost our focus right after halftime,” Lawson said.

Lawson said they will need to remain focused for the next two weeks.

“We’ve got Lake Worth next week, that’s going to be a big game, and then after that Kennedale, so the next two games are very important,” Lawson said.

The Wildcats’ next game will be Friday, October 27 against Lake Worth at Lake Worth. Lake Worth comes into the game against Dunbar after beating Western Hills 49-21 Thursday night.

Up next for Castleberry is a matchup against fifth-ranked Eastern Hills on Friday, October 27. Eastern Hills also won their previous game against Fort Worth Carter-Riverside 36-14.