DALLAS — The Texas high school football season is almost here.
The season begins on Thursday, followed by a full Friday night slate on Aug. 30, and several more games on Saturday as well. And amidst it all, we will kick off the 2024 season of Friday Night Football on WFAA+.
We'll be in Waxahachie, for the 103rd installment of the "Battle of 287," as Waxahachie and Ennis play for the 86th consecutive year. And in advance of our first opportunity to broadcast that great rivalry, we wanted to take a look back at some of the greatest games we've had the privilege to broadcast since we first came on the air in the Fall of 2018.
No. 5 - Desoto vs. Cedar Hill (2019)
We have had the esteemed pleasure of broadcasting a number of great games involving Desoto, Cedar Hill, and Duncanville over the last six years, as the three have taken turns being the top dog in the I-20 corridor.
But of all those games we've done, the best of the bunch came in October of 2019 – the second time we carried the "Battle of Belt Line." This was a Thursday night game, back in the days when that's all we were allowed to broadcast live – and it was an epic.
The game was back-and-forth all night, with Cedar Hill scoring mid-way through the fourth quarter to take a 28-21 lead. Then, with just 55 seconds left in the 4th, trailing by seven, Desoto quarterback Samari Collier launched a deep ball to LJ Arnold who made the grab at the 17.
Then, after a sack on the next play, it seemed the clock may have expired, leading the Cedar Hill sidelines to empty onto the field in celebration. The officials sorted things out, put time back on the clock, and gave Desoto one final snap with :02 left.
Collier hit Arnold again, this time for a touchdown to make it 28-27. Desoto head coach Claude Mathis decided to roll the dice and go for two, rather than tying the game and forcing overtime. The play design was there, but the execution wasn't – a wide receiver screen to Arnold, with blockers there to usher him into the endzone ... but Arnold dropped it.
Game over. Cedar Hill wins a thriller.
No. 4 - Allen vs. Prosper (2021)
Coming into this game, the Allen Eagles hadn't lost a district game since Kyler Murray was in eighth grade.
Seventy-two consecutive wins in district play, dating back to 2010. That ended on this night in Prosper, as the Eagles got a terrific performance from Harrison Rosar – 335 passing yards and three touchdowns – and got the stops they needed down the stretch to hang on for a 28-23 win over Allen, to etch their names in the history books.
No. 3 - Whitesboro vs. Brock (2022)
If we were only judging off of nuttiest games we've ever seen, this one might have to go to the top of the list.
This game was insane.
Whitesboro scored a touchdown early in the 4th on a Mac Harper touchdown pass, to take a 35-27 lead on a 10th-ranked Brock team that played in the state title game the year prior. But Brock would come back, scoring to make it 35-33 on a Jett Jones touchdown reception.
And on the ensuing kickoff ... madness.
The ball checked up short of the Whitesboro kickoff returners, looked like it might bounce out bounds, but instead hung right on the hashmarks. And Brock's Brett Tutter was in the right place at the right time to pounce on it, and give the Eagles another chance with the ball.
A few plays later, the Eagles were in the endzone and led 39-35. But this one wasn't done.
Whitesboro would drive down the field over the final 90 seconds or so (the clock literally broke, so we weren't sure what the official time was, as the referees kept the time on the field).
Mac Harper, the Bearcats stud senior quarterback, would have one last ditch effort on the final play, rolling to his right, taking off on the run and trying to get to the goal line. He was a foot short. Brock wins, 39-35.
No. 2 - Denton Ryan vs. Frisco Lone Star (2021)
I'm an offense guy. I like points. I played quarterback myself, love to sling the football around, and love to watch games that get into the 30s and 40s. It's just who I am. But this was the single most exciting, gripping, nerve-wracking, and thrilling 7-6 football game I have ever seen with my own two eyes, at any level.
Denton Ryan was the defending champs in 5A-Division I. Lone Star was a perennial threat themselves. This game was for the district title. And it was enthralling.
The Raiders scored a touchdown on the game's first possession. There were no more touchdowns the rest of the night. The national leader in touchdowns scored per game, to that point of that season, Frisco Lone Star's Ashton Jeanty, was terrific in this game. Carry after carry, one bruising run after another, he was sensational.
But Denton Ryan's all-world linebacker Anthony Hill met him time and again, all through the night. It was incredible. And it was Hill who got the last laugh, just as it looked like Jeanty may have put Lone Star in position to kick a third a deciding field goal in the waning minutes. A burst up the middle from Jeanty got Lone Star into field goal range. But on the very next snap, as Jeanty fought for extra yards, Hill got an arm around the football and ripped it from Jeanty's grasp, creating a turnover and sealing the win for Ryan.
No. 1 - Anna vs. Celina (2023)
Less than a year ago, we saw the best game yet on Friday Night Football, as Anna and Celina, two schools that don't like each other a whole lot, played a wild one at Bobcat Stadium.
Anna beat Celina the year prior on two occasions – regular season and playoffs. The regular season win marked the first win for Anna over Celina in 50 years, dating back to 1972.
Celina came prepared to get revenge.
Anna controlled the first half, leading 23-9 at halftime. But Celina would find a comeback, scoring a pair of second half touchdowns to even things up at 23. Anna would steady themselves, as Ziondre Williams would hit Sean Steens over the middle for a lead-taking touchdown midway through the 4th. But with under 90 seconds left, Celina's Knox Porter hit Kaleb Hill for a 71-yard touchdown pass to tie the game again at 30 and force overtime.
The overtimes were their own brand of insanity. The first overtime went scoreless, as Anna threw a pick and Celina missed a field goal short. The second overtime had plenty of controversy, as the two-point conversion for Anna's Williams was ruled good, but replays showed it was at least questionable, if not outright short. Finally, in the fourth overtime, Celina made the stop on Williams as he tried to match the Bobcats score in the top half.
Celina wins, 42-40, in the longest game we've ever had on Friday Night Football.
Honorable mentions
Stephenville vs. Decatur - 2023
While we're talking about long games, this one is in a category all by itself.
A three-hour, 20-minute lightning delay nearly wiped out the second half of this game entirely.
Instead, the teams decided to play on, restarting the game just before midnight. Then, Stephenville came back from 28 points down to tie the game at 49 and lead 56-49. Decatur rallied, driving the length of the field to score a touchdown as time expired. Deciding the night had been long enough already, they went for two and the win. Stephenville got the stop. 56-55 Yellowjackets, in the most ridiculous night we've ever had.
Malakoff vs. Grandview - 2020
The first game we ever had go to overtime on Friday Night Football, and it came in the first game that ever truly was FNF. The first game of the wacky 2020 COVID season, and two small school powers played an epic that Grandview won in overtime, 31-24.
Denton Guyer vs. Denton Ryan - 2020
This was, for that particular week in early October 2020, the single biggest high school football game in the country.
Both teams were nationally ranked in at least one of the polls, and both had bonafide state championship aspirations. Ryan, who would go on to win state that year in 5A-Division I, showed just how ridiculous they were that year, by knocking off the 5th-ranked 6A team in Guyer.
Duncanville vs. Desoto - 2023
The largest viewership we've ever had for a Friday Night Football broadcast, with well over 100,000 people tuning in. Desoto knocked off Duncanville in a battle of the reigning 6A state champs.
This year, we have the privilege of bringing you this game again – now with both schools standing as the two-time defending champs at their levels.
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