Cedar Hill, Salter outduel DeSoto, Collier as state powers collide in district battle
In a battle of District 11-6A powerhouses, dueling senior quarterbacks Kaidon Salter of Cedar Hill and Samari Collier of DeSoto put on an offensive show with the Longhorns prevailing in the end, 49-42, Friday night at Longhorn Stadium.
Cedar Hill, No. 10 in the Class 6A state rankings, improves to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in district. DeSoto, No. 6, drops to 4-1 and 2-1. The Longhorns, who beat the Eagles for the third straight season, will play for a zone district championship next week against No. 2 Duncanville.
DeSoto will play a zone seeding game for a playoff spot.
Salter, a 4-star Tennessee commit, sealed the victory for Cedar Hill with a 48-yard dash to the end zone with just under two minutes left to play to extend the Longhorns’ lead to 49-35.
Collier decided to show more of his skills by directing the Eagles down the field for another score in the waning moments of the game.
Salter ended the game with four rushing touchdowns and two through the air. His final stat sheet showed 167 yards rushing on 20 attempts while passing for 206 and completing 13 of 19 passes. Before the final TD run, Salter scored from 3 yards out in the third quarter.
In the first half, Salter scored twice on runs of 1 and 12 yards as the Longhorns built a 28-20 lead at intermission. His passing touchdowns in the first half were 18 yards to Jayden Moore and 35 yards to Kevin Young.
Young also scored on a 27-yard run in the third quarter.
The game had all of the makings of a scoring fest from the start with the only notable defensive plays coming on two stops by Cedar Hill that resulted in missed DeSoto field goals, one in the first half and one in the second.
DeSoto’s Mike Murphy had an interception return for a score in the first half for the Eagles from 34 yards out until Cedar Hill’s defense asserted itself midway through the second quarter with a defensive stand that resulted in a missed field goal by the Eagles.
Murphy had returned a Longhorn kickoff 62 yards to Cedar Hill’s 20 before stalling.
Collier gamely kept DeSoto in the game. After a slow start passing in the first half, he found his rhythm in the second half. A slightly heavier model of the same height and speed of Salter, Collier ended the night with 231 yards passing on 16 of 30 passing and one TD, a 19-yard strike to Johntay Cook.
Scoring on the ground for the Eagles was Chris Henley with two second-half touchdowns from 1 and 38 yards. Collier scored twice on runs of 1 yard.