North Shore stops Duncanville, freshman QB, to win state title; Panthers fall again
There were two questions entering the Class 6A Division 1 championship on Saturday afternoon.
Whether Duncanville could avenge its devastating loss to Galena Park North Shore in the title game last year.
And whether freshman quarterback Chris Parson would be able to adequately sub for Texas commit Ja’Quinden Jackson at quarterback.
While Parson did perform well, the Panthers’ were not able to overcome two second-half turnovers and a hard charging defense from North Shore as the Mustangs pulled away for a 31-17 win before 47,818 at AT&T Stadium.
“He did a good job considering that he’s a freshman and I’m really proud of him,” said Duncanville coach Reginald Samples, who has now lost back-to-back title games to North Shore. “I can’t say enough about his work ethic and the time he’s put in. I’m proud of the way he played tonight.”
Duncanville (15-1) has now made three trips to the championship game with its only win coming in 1998.
“I just told him to be Chris Parson and don’t be nervous about the stage that you’re on,” said Jackson, who tore his left ACL in the Panthers’ 56-14 drubbing of Rockwall a week ago. “Just focus and maintain. It was real hard to watch and not be able to help.”
Duncanville was held to 253 total yards of offense.
The teams battled to a 17-17 tie at the half. And despite turning the ball over twice to start the third quarter, Duncanville had a chance to tie the game late in the period.
A mishandled punt snap gave North Shore (15-1) the ball at the Panthers’ 20. Three plays later running back Roger Hagan darted in from the 1 to give the Mustangs a 24-17 lead.
Parson fumbled the ball back to North Shore on the Panthers’ ensuing drive, but this time the Duncanville defense stepped up and forced a three-and-out.
Following the punt, Roderick Daniels raced 47 yards to the North Shore 12. But facing a fourth-and-1 at the 3, North Shore Defensive Most Valuable Player Corey Flagg and Caleb James stuffed Trysten Smith for a 1-yard loss, turning the ball over on downs.
North Shore quarterback and Offensive MVP Dematrius Davis put the game out of reach with a 44-yard bomb to Charles King with 2:33 left that gave the Mustangs a 31-17 lead. Davis had opened the scoring for North Shore with a 30-yard TD run on the Mustangs opening drive.
Hagan, who rushed for 105 yards on 27 carries with two scores, was filling in for North Shore star running back Zach Evans who didn’t play due to disciplinary reasons. Evans is rated as the top running back in the nation.
The Houston Chronicle reported earlier this week that Evans, who rushed for 96 yards in the Mustangs’ 41-36 thriller against Duncanville a year ago, violated team rules regarding cell phone usage.
Parson guided the Panthers to 17 first half points, but couldn’t find any offensive rhythm in the second half.
Daniels picked up a lot of the slack from Jackson missing the game. The junior rushed for 133 yards on eight carries and caught two passes for 54 yards.
Daniels tied the game at 7 with a 25-yard scoring run with 4:46 left in the first quarter.
Parson capped Duncanville’s next drive to take a 14-10 lead with a 6-yard TD run. Parson completed 6-of-10 passes in the game for 100 yards.
Ulises Lara booted a 46-yard field goal with two seconds left in the half to tie the game at 17.
“I thought we had a great season and I’m really, really proud of these guys,” added Samples. “They played well all year. North Shore just played better down the stretch and we made some mistakes and we couldn’t recover from them.”