‘Hold your heads high’: Carter-Riverside ends historic season with lopsided loss
Head coach David Lara knew the mammoth challenge his Fort Worth Carter-Riverside Eagles faced in the team’s first playoff game in 30 years.
The unbeaten Alvarado Indians scored at will in handing Carter-Riverside a 77-0 shellacking in the Class 4A Division I bi-district round Thursday at Farrington Field.
After the game Lara focused on what his team had accomplished this season.
“I told our players how proud I was of them,” said Lara, in his first year guiding the program. “That they had a tremendous season. Hold your heads high.”
A Carter-Riverside alum himself, Lara knows what it meant to the program and the players in making the playoffs.
“The kids bought into what we were trying to do as a team,” Lara added. “Obviously not the outcome we would have wanted in this game, but nonetheless a successful season. This team made great strides as the season progressed. And this is something we can build on.”
Carter-Riverside senior running back Deandre Fields, a transfer from Saginaw, was a major contributor in the Eagles making the playoffs. Fields had a team-leading 55 rushing yards on 22 carries against Alvarado. Fields amassed 1,502 rushing yards during the regular season, including eight of 10 games with 100 yards or more on the ground, scoring 15 TDs.
“Deandre Fields was a huge factor for us this season,” Lara said. “He is such a hard worker. Never missed a single practice. He will be greatly missed.”
Lara and the Eagles will have another Fields to help the team move forward. Freshman Bobby Fields, who ran for 484 regular-season yards and two TDs, will be asked to handle a bigger workload next season.
Bobby Fields had the biggest highlight against Alvarado, coming up with a second-half interception. Indians quarterback Kam Jenkins had not thrown a single interception all season long, having tossed 35 TDs before this contest.
Despite the loss, it was a gratifying experience for Carter-Riverside, which reached the postseason for the first time since 1995, when it fell to Denison 48-0 to open the playoffs.
Carter-Riverside reached this year’s playoffs after a 36-34 regular-season finale win over Fort Worth Western Hills a week ago, as its Wing-T offense rolled up 465 yards total offense, all on the ground, while attempting one pass.
It was also the seventh playoff appearance overall for Carter-Riverside, which dates back to 1931 when the school opened. The Eagles first playoff win came in 1958, a 6-0 4A bi-district triumph over Dallas Jefferson. Its deepest playoff run came the following year in 1959, winning a pair of playoff games before a 27-7 loss to Wichita Falls in the 4A state semifinals.
Alvarado (10-0), No. 3 in the Star-Telegram final regular-season 4A/private area rankings, and No. 6 in Dave Campbell’s Texas Football state 4A DI poll, has been an offensive juggernaut all season, averaging 65.8 ppg while surrendering just 13.6 ppg.
That was entering the playoffs. Round one in the postseason only increased that scoring average.
Standout senior Demarcus Belton had a monster game for Alvarado, accounting for a career-high eight touchdowns. Belton recorded four receiving TDs — covering 38, 57, 58 and 60 yards — while adding rushing scores of two and 23 yards, plus a pair of punt return TDs (61 and 55 yards).
Belton finished with 251 receiving yards on six grabs, adding 32 rushing yards on just three attempts. Belton needed just 20 receiving yards to become the second player in UIL 11-man football history to record 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving in the same season.
The versatile star achieved that milestone with his first reception in the game. His offensive coordinator, Daniel Spencer, is the only other player with that distinction, having done so for Grandview in 2010.
Jenkins racked up 383 passing yards, completing 14 of 16 passes, and five TDs — the four to Belton and a 31-yarder to Schyler Dethorne, who scooped up a fumble and returned it 13 yards for a TD late in the game to cap off the Indians’ scoring bonanza. Paul Rios chipped in with a 4-yard scoring run.
Alvarado, which has yielded just one field goal in its last five games while posting four shutouts, advances to the area round to face Sulphur Springs (10-1) at a date, time and location to be determined. Alvarado defeated Sulphur Springs 42-39 in last year’s regional semifinal before having its unbeaten season ended in a regional final loss to eventual state champion Celina.
The Indians set a school single-game record by allowing -5 yards total offense in 48-0 win over Castleberry two weeks ago. That came on the heels of allowing just 16 yards against Life Waxahachie.
Alvarado established a new single-game scoring record with its 86-13 win in Week 7 over Carrollton Ranchview. The previous school record for points scored was 79, set in 2022 and 2024, both against Life Waxahachie.
This story was originally published November 13, 2025 at 11:37 PM.