South Oak Cliff’s second half surge defeats Frisco Emerson in Class 5A D2 State Semifinal
Senior Danny Green exploded for two long touchdown runs early in the third quarter as the two-time defending 5A DII champion South Oak Cliff Bears punched their ticket to their third straight title game.
The Bears, seeking a threepeat, knocked off the Emerson Mavericks 36-24 Friday night at the Ford Center at The Star, winning their 17th consecutive playoff contest.
The first half was a struggle for the two-time reigning champs, though they never trailed in the game. It was tied at 10-10 at intermission.
“Give Emerson credit,” said South Oak Cliff head coach Jason Todd. “They came out with a great game plan. We just hung in there, and got things going in the second half.”
Junior Jayden Shelton, on the second play of the game, returned an interception -- off a deflection -- 22 yards for a touchdown to stake South Oak Cliff to an early 7-0 advantage.
“I was just in great position,” said Shelton. “I saw the ball pop up. Grabbed it and headed for the end zone. We knew we would have to make some plays defensively in this game.”
It was just the third pick thrown by Hawkins, an Oklahoma commit, this season. Emerson got on the board with a Pedro Pacheco 24-yard field goal less than two minutes into the second quarter.
South Oak Cliff’s Marcell Gipson returned the ensuing kickoff 75 yards to set the Bears up at the Mavericks nine-yard line, but had to settle for a Diego Varela 26-yard field goal to push the lead to 10-3.
Michael Hawkins would march Emerson for the tying score, engineering a 10-play 44-yard drive scoring on a four-yard scamper on fourth-and-goal. The Mavericks had converted a fourth-and-three at the SOC 11 on a five-yard run by Kameron Lockhart three plays earlier.
South Oak Cliff was fortunate to be even at 10-10 at intermission. The Mavericks’ defense held the Bears without a first down in the opening half. Emerson ran 46 first-half plays to just 14 for SOC, outgaining the Bears 244-17.
Coach Todd said at halftime to talked to his team about “leadership, adversity, and everything we had been through. We just needed a chance to get our offense going.”
And Green did just that. The senior scampered 62 yards on the first play from scrimmage coming out of the break, and the missed PAT left the Bears with a 16-10 lead.
On the ensuing Emerson offensive possession, the Bears’ Brandon Jackson recovered a fumble on the first play at the SOC 30. Green then raced 70 yards for a TD on the very first snap, and after a failed two-point conversion attempt, SOC held a 22-10 advantage.
“We obviously came out slow in the first half,” said Green. “We wanted to start fast in the second half, and play like we are capable of playing.”
Emerson responded with a 10-play, 75-yard drive that culminated in a 12-yard TD run -- on a fourth and three -- by Izzy Bills to narrow SOC’s lead to 22-17.
That would be as close as the Mavericks would get.
SOC quarterback William Little tossed a pair of fourth-period TD passes -- 14 yards to Daveon Ennis and 15-yards to Rickey Evans -- to build a 36-17 cushion.
Little had kept the former TD drive alive with a 14-yard scramble on fourth-and-seven from the Emerson 29.
The latter TD pass was set up by a Dewalon Butler fumble recovery for SOC at the Emerson 15 yard line.
Michael Hawkins connected with Kylen Evans on a 12-yard TD aerial with 2:06 left in the game to round out the scoring.
Green, who transferred from Lancaster before his junior season and helped SOC to its second straight state title a year ago, had a game-high 164 rushing yards on 18 carries and the two TDs. Green has eclipsed the 100-yard rushing plateau in each of the five playoff wins.
William Little, the offensive MVP of last year’s state title game, finished with 68 passing yards on five completions and two scores.
South Oak Cliff (13-2), with a victory next week, will become the 20th UIL school to win three straight 11-man football state titles.
“We look forward to the challenge,” said Todd. “We will celebrate this win, and then get ready for next week. One more victory to go.”
Frisco Emerson (12-3), which finished third in 3-5A DII Region 1 during the regular season (its two losses were to district foes Argyle and Lake Dallas on back-to-back weeks), was led by Hawkins, who finished with 150 passing yards on 11 of 17 passing with one interception. He added 55 rushing yards on 19 carries.
Senior Izzy Bills had a team-leading 129 rushing yards on 18 attempts while Kameron Lockhart added 95 yards on the ground on 10 carries. Kylen Evans, a Texas State pledge, had a game-high 70 receiving yards on three receptions.
Hawkins, a transfer from Allen, has been nothing short of phenomenal this season. Entering the state semifinal, the No. 98-rated state recruit has passed for 2878 yards and 40 TDs with just 2 interceptions, while churning out 1108 rushing yards on 107 carries (10.4 average per attempt) and 13 scores.
Emerson’s 44-0 second-round playoff win over El Paso Canutillo was the first shutout posted by the team in its two-year existence.
Emerson finished 9-2 a year ago, losing 35-14 to Colleyville Heritage in the opening round. It began each season with seven consecutive wins, before that streak was snapped both years by district foe Argyle.
Frisco Emerson was attempting to become the first Frisco ISD school to win state crown in football.