Duncanville mounts thrilling comeback victory led by standout player Keelon Russell to avoid shocking upset

DUNCANVILLE — The Texas High School Coaches Association doesn’t like its faculties taking part in out-of-state opponents, particularly personal faculties, as a result of it worries that Texas athletes will probably be recruited by their opponents.

But for Duncanville, there are few different choices throughout nondistrict play. That’s as a result of only a few Texas groups are keen to play a juggernaut that has gained back-to-back Class 6A Division I state championships and is ranked No. 4 within the nation.

That’s why Duncanville didn’t have a Week 1 sport this season, and it’s why Saturday night time it hosted St. Frances Academy from Maryland in a matchup of nationally ranked powerhouses at Panther Stadium. It marked the seventh straight season that Duncanville has performed an out-of-state opponent, and St. Frances traveled practically 1,400 miles to battle the No. 1 workforce in Texas.

It took a dramatic comeback for Duncanville to avoid an upset. It was no shock that five-star Alabama pledge Keelon Russell spearheaded the rally.

Russell capped an 87-yard drive by throwing a game-winning 22-yard landing move to Zach Turner with 1:57 left to give Duncanville a 28-24 win and its thirty first victory in its final 32 video games. Lamar pledge Nehemiah Borner clinched the win with three consecutive sacks, together with one on fourth down, to finish St. Frances’ ultimate drive.

Duncanville beats out-of-state opponent St. Frances Academy

St. Frances nearly pulled off a shocking win thanks to a rare defensive play.

With Duncanville (2-0) driving for a attainable game-clinching rating, Auburn pledge Blake Woodby jumped a route, made an interception and returned it 76 yards to the Duncanville 6-yard line. Five-star Duncanville broad receiver Dakorien Moore, one of many quickest gamers within the nation, chased down Woodby to save a landing, however Maurice Medley gave St. Frances a 24-21 lead with 4:26 left on the subsequent play, an 11-yard landing run and profitable two-point conversion run.

Russell began Duncanville’s comeback from 16-7 down with a 4-yard landing run with 5:26 left within the third quarter, then threw a go-ahead 60-yard landing move to three-star broad receiver Ayson Theus with 22 seconds left within the quarter to put Duncanville forward 21-16. The nation’s third-ranked senior quarterback completed 20 of 26 for 265 yards and three touchdowns, and additionally ran for 40 yards and a rating.

Few groups in America could make Duncanville look mortal. DeSoto is the one workforce to beat Duncanville for the reason that begin of the 2022 season, profitable 49-35 final 12 months to finish Duncanville’s 22-game profitable streak and 47-game district profitable streak.

But Duncanville’s solely scoring within the first half got here on a 5-yard landing move from Russell to Theus on the primary drive of the sport. Duncanville gained 71 yards on that drive however had simply 76 yards the remainder of the half, punted thrice and trailed 9-7 at halftime after Syracuse pledge Haleem Muhammad returned a fumble 25 yards for St. Frances’ solely landing of the primary half.

St. Frances (2-2) dominated in dashing yards within the first half, outgaining Duncanville 135-50 as Jaylen Burke ran for 129 yards on 14 carries. Duncanville held Burke to 24 yards within the second half.

St. Frances took benefit of one other turnover within the third quarter after recovering a muffed punt that hit a Duncanville player. On the primary play of the following possession, Bryce Deas — an Auburn pledge rated the 54th-best linebacker within the nation — raced 39 yards for a landing to prolong the St. Frances lead to 16-7.

Moore, dedicated to Oregon, is the No. 1 broad receiver within the nation within the Class of 2025 and was typically matched up towards Woodby, a four-star recruit who's rated the Thirteenth-best cornerback within the nation. Moore was held to 4 catches for 34 yards, however Turner had 11 catches for 131 yards and a landing and Theus caught 5 passes for 101 yards and two scores.

St. Frances is a personal college workforce filled with major-college recruits that performs a nationwide schedule. In its final journey to Texas, St. Frances crushed DeSoto 47-7 in Fort Worth in 2022, handing DeSoto its worst loss since a 45-0 area-round playoff loss to Irving Nimitz in 1996.

That 2022 DeSoto workforce went on to win the primary of back-to-back 6A Division II state titles.

St. Frances is completely satisfied to play anybody within the nation, and the nation’s Twenty second-ranked workforce performed video games in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and California this season earlier than coming to Texas. Six days after dealing with Duncanville, it's scheduled to play at Mater Dei (Calif.), the No. 1 workforce within the MaxPreps nationwide rankings.

The St. Frances offensive line is extra large than many in faculty soccer, averaging 6-3 and 312 kilos for the 9 linemen on the roster, and three of these gamers have FBS affords. Four- and three-star recruits dedicated to Auburn, Tennessee, Indiana and Syracuse are unfold throughout the protection for the Baltimore-based program, and quarterback Tristan Sabb and broad receiver James Branch, each sophomores, have already got a mixed 10 FBS affords, with Branch holding one from defending nationwide champion Michigan.

Duncanville is 5-2 towards out-of-state opponents since 2018, with its largest victory a 35-14 win in 2019 towards St. John’s College, a Washington, D.C., personal college that was No. 16 within the nation. But Duncanville was overmatched towards two groups ranked No. 1 nationally on the time, dropping 41-14 to Florida’s IMG Academy in 2020 and falling 45-3 to Mater Dei (Calif.) in 2021.

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