Fort Worth Arlington Heights’ second-half surge overpowers Chisholm Trail

Going into Week 5, Fort Worth Arlington Heights was undefeated and had not allowed a single opponent to score all season.

That streak was broken Thursday, as the Chisholm Trail Rangers got on the scoreboard against the Yellow Jackets, though Heights dominated the second half to earn a 32-14 victory at Farrington Field.

Heights (5-0, 3-0 District 4-5A Division I) had put up 254 unanswered points until facing the Rangers. Chisholm Trail’s Xavier Rodriguez was the one to bust Heights’ streak, with his touchdown with 36 seconds left in the first quarter. The extra point was good, and Chisholm Trail (2-3, 1-2) took a 7-0 lead.

The Rangers kept the momentum going when Tavion Franklin caught a pass for a 5-yard touchdown with 1:54 left on the clock in the second quarter. Chisholm Trail was up 14-0.

The Jackets didn’t want to go into intermission without a score. TJ Johnson caught a 58-yard pass, putting Heights back into the game. Arlington Heights went for the two-point conversion, and Carter James brought the score to 14-8 with 33 seconds left on the clock.

Heights took halftime to refocus.

“We just told our guys to believe,” Heights defensive coordinator Pat Jones said. “We have something called adapt and overcome, and that’s what we try to do. We had some mistakes in the first half. The best thing we were able to do was go in there and make adjustments, and our players believed in one another.”

Chisholm Trail received the ball to start the third quarter. Early in the second half, the standout players for Heights worked together to take the lead. Carter James had a sack for the Jackets. Carmello Carter got his team a 32-yard gain, which gave Heights a first down.

Then Carson James scored with a 7-yard touchdown. The conversion was good, putting Heights in the lead for the first time in the night. With 7:09 left in the third, the score was 16-14.

The next three possessions saw penalties, and neither team was able to score. Then, Heights got back into its groove. Carson James was forced out of bounds just short of the end zone. But then, James was able to take it to the house.

With 2:45 left on the clock in the third quarter, Arlington Heights led 24-14. Players like Carson James, who scored two touchdowns, took time to self-reflect during intermission.

“I was looking back on my performance in the first half, and I was just realizing I wasn’t running like I usually do, and something clicked, and I just had to get better,” James said. “I had to do better, I had to run hard, and I started producing.”

The Jacket defense continued to make some big plays. Isaiah Schuman had a sack, and Chris Harris was able to recover a fumbled Rangers’ ball.

Arlington Heights then scored again. The Yellowjackets scored 24 points in the third quarter, which gave them a 32-14 victory over the Rangers.

“The biggest thing for us is practicing better, so understanding that the game is four quarters,” Chisholm Trail head coach Marvin Nash said. “For about three of these quarters we played decent football. The third quarter we came out flat, and it showed.”

Next week, Chisholm Trail will face Arlington Heights’ rival, Paschal, on Friday, Oct. 3, at home, and will take lessons learned from Thursday.

“It opens our eyes and helps us realize that this last stretch of five games are very important for us moving forward,” Nash said. “It lets our guys know that the next opponents are all very beatable, just like every other opponent; we just need to play good football.”

Arlington Heights will play Polytechnic Thursday, Oct. 2, at Scarborough-Handley Field.

Editor’s note: This story was produced by members of FW Southwest High School’s advanced media program.

This story was originally published September 25, 2025 at 11:54 PM.