Inside the Texas high school football rivalry between Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston areas
The Dallas Fort Worth-area and Houston areas extended their rivalry in the 2023 Texas high school football state championships at AT&T Stadium.
Dallas-Fort Worth got the best of Houston, with Duncanville and DeSoto bringing home the Class 6A D1 and D2 state titles, respectively. Although Dallas-Fort Worth schools didn’t record the three-game sweep, they did outscore the Houston-area teams 140-67 on the day.
Duncanville and Houston North Shore are at the forefront of the regional rivalry, and the two schools have a storied history. They’ve played in five of the last six Class 6A State Championships.
They have consistently fought to be named the biggest, baddest team in the state’s largest classification.
Duncanville defensive end Colin Simmons, a five-star prospect committed to Texas, said the Panther-Mustang rivalry is important to both the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston areas.
He mentioned he can see the ways Duncanville’s success has impacted his community. Simmons said he can tell how much Texas football matters to Dallas when people acknowledge him at the grocery store, which makes his “heart smile.”
To start the rivalry in 2018, North Shore got the best of Duncanville with a last-second, Hail Mary pass that led to a miraculous 41-36 victory.
North Shore then continued its dominance with title wins over Duncanville in the 2019 and 2021 seasons. It was clear then that the Mustangs and Houston played the best high school football in Texas.
In 2022, however, the Duncanville Panthers finally overcame North Shore to win their first state in over two decades.
That’s when the momentum skyrocketed north, and it’s been all Duncanville and DeSoto ever since.
In the Class 6A D1 State Championship on Saturday, Duncanville got the best of North Shore again to seize control of the rivalry and keep the gold in North Texas.
This time, it wasn’t necessarily close. Duncanville running back Caden Durham, an LSU commit, rushed for 213 yards and three touchdowns while leading his team to a sizable 49-33 victory.
Duncanville beat North Shore by 16 points. Unlike the tight, hard fought battles from years past, the Panthers showcased that they were the clear cut better team.
The elite performance makes Dallas-Fort Worth’s claim as the hot spot of Texas football even stronger.
A win for the Houston area
In the Saturday, 11 a.m. slate, Port-Neches Groves defeated Dallas South Oak Cliff 20-17 in the Class 5A D2 State Championship and prevented the SOC Bears from further asserting its dominance. A controversial pass interference call fizzled SOC’s momentum and the stifling PNG defense was too much to overcome.
“I got more text messages this week than you’d believe from people in our area,” PNG head coach Jeff Joseph said of the regional rivalry. “Just that ‘good luck. Bring it home. Represent southeast Texas type messages. For us, it’s nice to do that. But we all play for each other. ... It’s about our team and our community.”
The Class 5A D2 title game was certainly about the PNG Indians, who got the best of the Bears. SOC head coach Jason Todd said PNG did a “great job” and to “take nothing away from them.”
“At the end of the day, congrats to PNG,” Todd said. “They did more in order to win the game.”
Todd said that SOC, a Dallas ISD school, has the greatest story in all of Texas football. He discussed people saying the inner city kids “weren’t smart enough and didn’t have enough discipline.”
The SOC Bears were 4-points shy of the three-peat, and that’s something many thought was unthinkable. SOC’s championship in 2021 was Dallas ISD’s first since 1958.
“There needs to be a movie about these kids and what they overcame,” Todd said.
The Houston area and PNG won that battle. But did it win the war?
DeSoto Eagles leave their mark
The 2023 Texas high school football season ended with DeSoto thoroughly dismantling Houston Summer Creek 74-14 in the Class 6A D2 State Championship.
DeSoto’s Deondrae Riden Jr., who scored a touchdown in the big win, said Dallas-Fort Worth area isn’t only the best in Texas, but the best in the country. The 74 points in a title game certainly back up his statement.
“We (Dallas-Fort Worth) tried to go three for three,” Riden Jr. said. “Unfortunately, we lost one today but we bounced back for ‘em.”
Saying the DeSoto Eagles “bounced back” for Dallas-Fort Worth is an understatement.
Summer Creek only had one loss prior to the title game to an outstanding North Shore team. DeSoto and head coach Claude Mathis throttled the team on the grandest stage as if the Bulldogs were an unworthy district play opponent.
DeSoto, the kingpin of the Dallas Fort Worth-area with a regular season victory over Duncanville, ended the high school football season with a statement. The complete thrashing made one thing clear: Dallas-Fort Worth proved it has superior high school football in the 2023 season.
“DFW ball and Houston ball are two different things,” said DeSoto defensive end Keylan Abrams, the Defensive MVP of the Class 6A D2 State Championship. “It proved it today from Duncanville against North Shore and it proved it from us and Summer Creek. It’s two different brands of football being played. It’s always competition, but there was no competition here today.”
The big question: How long will Dallas-Fort Worth be at the top of Texas high school football?
This story was originally published December 17, 2023 at 3:25 AM.
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