South Oak Cliff blanks Lucas Lovejoy, advances to face Frisco Emerson in semifinal

ARLINGTON -- Senior Danny Green rushed for 186 yards and three touchdowns as two-time reigning 5A DII champion South Oak Cliff punched its ticket to the state semifinals after a 42-0 domination of Lucas Lovejoy Saturday at Choctaw Stadium.

“I just did my part,” said Green, who has eclipsed the 100-yard plateau in each of SOC’s four playoff wins. “Great team win. Our running game was working. Defense was lights out.”

Green opened the scoring on an electric 69-yard TD run -- breaking several tackles along the way -- with 2:46 left in the first quarter to stake SOC to a 7-0 early lead.

“He is a workhorse,” said South Oak Cliff Head Coach Jason Todd. “He comes up huge in big games.”

After the Bears defense forced a three-and-out on the ensuing Lovejoy series, Green capped a six-play 43-yard drive with a four-yard scoring ru set up by his 16-yard reception from quarterback William Little on the preceding play to push the lead to 14-0.

Lovejoy opted to gamble on a 4th-and-3 at its own 37 with 5:03 before halftime. An incomplete pass gave the ball back to the SOC offense, which took advantage. Marching 37 yards in five plays taking 2:18 off the clock, SOC running back Khalil Ewell grabbed a seven-yard TD pass from Little, who was the offensive MVP in last year’s state title game, to extend the margin to 21-0.

Lovejoy still had an opportunity to get on the board prior to the break. Highlighted by a 28-yard Alexander Franklin completion to junior Daylan McCutcheon, the Leopards reached the Bears 10-yard line. On 4th-and-7, Lovejoy initially lined up to gamble again. After a timeout, the team decided on a 27-yard field goal attempt, which failed. SOC took a comfortable 21-0 lead at intermission.

Lovejoy seemed to be gather a bit of momentum coming out of halftime. Taking the second-half kickoff, the Leopards marched to SOC’s 16, but failed to convert on fourth down, which would be a recurring theme in the second half.

After the Leopards defense forced a three-and-out, they regained possession at the Bears 36. Lovejoy faced a fourth-and-goal at the one-yard line, and the Bear defense again stiffened, denying a run off tackle.

“We were determined to keep them out of the end zone,” said sophomore linebacker Jamarion Phillips, who recorded several sacks in the game, and came in leading the team with 8 sacks and 15 TFLs. “We made a statement today. Now it is on to the next round.”

Starting at its own one-yard line with 4:08 left in the third stanza, Little engineered a 16-play 99-yard drive that culminated in a Kahalil Ewell five-yard TD scamper with 8:20 remaining in the game -- a 7:48 methodical clock-chewing march.

Twice more in the final quarter, SOC would take advantage of fourth-down defensive stops in Lovejoy territory. Taking over at the Leopards’ 45, Green -- after his seven-yard run -- bolted for a 38-yard TD.

SOC took over on downs at the Lovejoy 28 on the ensuing series, with Little connecting with Eli Baesa, an Arizona State pledge, on the series first play, to round out the scoring.

“Last year, we got up on them early, and they came back on us,” said Coach Todd. “We were determined not to let that happen again. ... I wish I could bottle this up and carry over to next week. We will be ready. Already looking forward to it.”

SOC outgained Lovejoy 413-224 in total offense.

Green needed just 19 carries to reach his 186 rushing yards. Ewell added 78 yards on the ground in 16 attempts.

Little completed 10 of 16 passes for 121 yards and 2 TDs, with one interception. Rickey Evans had a team-leading 58 receiving yards on five catches.

Beginning the season with a 1-2 record might raise some red flags for most teams.

South Oak Cliff is not most teams. Those two losses were to defending 6A champions Duncanville and DeSoto. And the South Oak Cliff Bears are not just any team. They are the two-time reigning 5A Division II state title holders.

A brutal four-game non-district schedule began with a blowout loss to Duncanville. Then came a decisive 42-21 victory over Lancaster, which just fell in a 5A DI region final on Friday.

A decisive loss to DeSoto followed. Then the Bears got untracked. A 49-14 thrashing of Parish Episcopal, which just won its fifth straight TAPPS DI state championship Friday afternoon, set the tone for a seven-game winning streak to end the regular season.

“That early season stretch helped prepare us for the rest of the season and the playoffs,” said Coach Todd. “Just look at how those four teams did this season.”

After a rout over Everman to begin the playoffs, SOC knocked off Melissa -- the former number one team in the state -- 38-30 and then eliminated previously-unbeaten Midlothian Heritage 42-31 a week ago in the region semifinals.

South Oak Cliff (12-2) advances to the 5A DII state semifinal next week, squaring off against Frisco Emerson (12-2). South Oak Cliff has now won 16 straight playoff games.

SOC is now one victory away from making its third straight -- and overall -- state title game appearance, and seeking a three-peat championship as well.

Lucas Lovejoy quarterback Alexander Franklin totaled 127 yards passing, completing 12 of 23 passes, and was under duress from the SOC defense all game long. McCutcheon had a game high 80 receiving yards on five receptions.

Wide Receiver Parker Livingstone, a Texas commit, had three catches for 28 yards. Livingstone had not played since suffering a foot injury in the first quarter of the second game of the season. He had registered 12 catches for 252 yards and three TDs in Lovejoy’s season-opening win over defending 5A DI state runner-up College Station.

Lovejoy (12-2) came into this region final having won 10 straight games, and seeking its first state semifinal in its 16-year history.

Lovejoy, which had won 10 straight, was seeking to reach to the state semifinals for the first time in its 16-year program history. The Leopards have now reached the region final for the fourth time but have yet to get past that hurdle. Lovejoy fell in the region final two years ago to South Oak Cliff and in 2020 to Aledo, both which went on to win state titles. The Leopards lost in the 2009 -- in its second year of existence -- region final to Wylie.

The only loss this season was an early-season 43-20 setback to Class 6A school North Crowley, which was undefeated heading into its region final on Saturday versus Allen.

This is the third consecutive year Lovejoy has been knocked out of the playoffs by South Oak Cliff, the only times the two schools have met on the gridiron. The Leopards fell to the Bears 42-37 in last year’s second round, after South Oak Cliff claimed a 42-20 region final victory two years ago. These three playoff matchups are the only gridiron meetings between the two schools.

Lovejoy has made the playoffs in 15 of its 16 seasons, with 2016 the lone year it failed to make the post-season.