High school football: Decatur trounces Castleberry in bi-district round

The seniors for Decatur had a memorable first three trips to the playoffs.

The fourth, now, is off on the right foot thanks to a 63-14 win against River Oaks Castleberry in a Class 4A Division I bi-district game on Thursday.

The Eagles dominated most facets of the game, held at Birdville ISD Fine Arts/Athletic Complex, and advanced to the area round for the third year in a row. The win allowed the Eagles to match last year’s win total with seven.

In 2022 and 2023, the Eagles ran through the bracket on the way to a state semifinal berth.

Decatur lost a 3-point game in the area round to Aubrey last year and went home earlier than what had been the recent norm.

“It means a lot for the team, especially me,” running back Jake Milligan said. “I was hurt last year in the Aubrey game. So to be able to be healthy and play in that second-round playoff game means a lot.”

The Eagles (7-3) needed only four plays to set the tone.

Milligan capped a short opening drive with a touchdown run only 1 minute, 49 seconds into the contest.

The next time Decatur had the ball, Jamari Fletcher had a 20-yard run for a touchdown to cap a brief 3-play drive that was highlighted by a 45-yard completion from Rhys Ragan to Wyatt Dunn.

Decatur’s next drive? It took only one play to score.

Ragan kept it and ran untouched for a 58-yard touchdown — but a penalty negated the touchdown.

But four plays later, Milligan scored his second touchdown on a 2-yard run at the 11:20 mark in the second.

Quick scores and short drives were the story for Decatur throughout the game. On the other hand, Castleberry (6-5) used long sustained drives with Isaiah Ford getting the lion’s share of the work by carrying the ball.

The lone scoring drive in the first half for the Lions featured 17 plays and nearly 8 minutes ticked off the clock. Ford scored on a 3-yard run at the 4:36 mark.

Castleberry converted two fourth-down plays on the drive. Punter Caleb Castaneda kept it on a fake punt and got the yardage to move the chains. On 4th-and-9, Ethan Chappell connected with Brian Ceniceros for a 32-yard gain down to the Decatur 13.

Decatur needed only 16 seconds to respond.

Fletcher got the handoff and dashed his way for a 62-yard touchdown only seconds after Castleberry’s score.

That was the night in a nutshell for both teams.

Decatur made it 35-7 at the break when Ragan threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Chase Berg.

Ragan tossed two more touchdowns in the third, a 35-yard score to Dunn and a 7-yard toss to Jett Jenkins.

“He’s come a long way,” Milligan said of Ragan. “Beginning of the year, being a young guy and nervous leading the offense as a sophomore. That’s a tough thing to do. He’s come a long way, and we’re really proud of him. I’ve seen the growth as far as him definitely being able to sit in the pocket and throw has improved a lot.”

Dunn added a 63-yard touchdown run on a jet sweep in the third and Decatur’s final score was a 13-yard run by Cooper Duncan.

Ford capped his senior season with a touchdown run in the fourth to give him 20 on the season. He had more carries in the first half of this game (25) than he had in each of the past two games.

“That was one of the main concerns coming into the game, you knew they could take the ball away from you,” Decatur coach Steve Huff said. “They made it hard at times.”

Once former district foes, Decatur improved to 5-0 vs. Castleberry since 2004 — but this was the first meeting since 2011.

Up next for Decatur is a game against either Paris or Dallas Lincoln, depending on bi-district results. That game is on Friday, Nov. 14.

“It’s a one-game season here on out,” Huff said. “So you know, for us we enjoy this win and get back and focused and get ourselves ready for next week.”

This story was originally published November 13, 2025 at 11:53 PM.