High School

10 things we learned in Texas high school football Week 11

Drama clears UIL playoff pictured cleared up in final week of regular season

Cody Thorn

Arlington Bowie's Darrion Bowers.
Arlington Bowie's Darrion Bowers. / Cody Thorn

Week 11 of the 2024 Texas high school football season is in the books and though there were big upsets, plenty of storylines emerged.

SBLive examined 10-plus takeaways from the weekend in Texas high school football:

10 THINGS WE LEARNED IN WEEK 11

1. Hail Mary lifts Dobie to playoffs

Looking at the final score, Dobie won by 20, which probably doesn’t raise a lot of eyebrows.

The why importance of the 20-point win meant the playoffs for Dobie. 

Willard Joiner III threw a Hail Mary 38-yard touchdown to Tariq Riley to account for the final score. Dobie needed to win by 17 or more to reach the playoffs in a tiebreaker scenario. Because of that play, Pearland Dawson saw its season end.

Dawson had beaten Dobie by 15 earlier in the season, but the win by the Longhorns turned into a three-way tie for third place and a playoff berth.

Dobie, Manvel and Dawson all went 5-3 in District 22-6A.

Alvin Shadow Creek was the No. 1 seed out of the district and Pearland was 2.

2. 6-man district uses Big 12 bet as tiebreaker

Did we lose our minds? Maybe, but oddly enough this Big 12 clash in Lubbock had playoff implications in Class 1A—or 6-man football.

The Aspermont Hornets went 6-3 and 3-1 in District 8-1A Division II. That set up a first-round game with the Benjamin Mustangs – the District 7-1A Division II champion.

Greg Tepper with Dave Campbell’s Texas Football laid out the details of the playoff game this upcoming. Most schools were pretty quick either late Friday or early Saturday to release times and locations.

These two schools? They essentially bet a home game on the results of the Big 12 game. If there was an even number of points scored, Aspermont will host. If it was odd, the defending state champions would be the host.

And …. with 68 total points scored, Aspermont will get one of the more bizarrely decided playoff games. Who needs a coin flip or rock-paper-scissors when you can have the outcome decided by Coach Prime or flying tortillas?

Texas high school football, amirite?

3. Bastrop rides late TD to district title

At one point this year, the Bears were 1-2 with losses to China Spring and TAPPS power Plano Prestonwood Christian Academy.

Bastrop rattled off seven straight wins and won the District 11-5A Division II title on Friday in what was a de facto championship game in the final week of the season – great job schedule makers. Liberty Hill – a semifinalist last year – and Bastrop were both 6-0 in district play.

Junior Brent Carter scored with less than a minute left to give the Bears the win — and also their first district title in 15 years.

4. Hamshire-Fannett finishes strong

Ty Bryson connected with Pierce Pirtle for the game-winning score late in the fourth to help pull away and secure the district title in a messy and muddy field.

The Longhorns led 14-7 at the break and then it was 21-7 in the four before West Orange scored with 8 minutes to play to make it a one-score game.

Hamshire-Fannett capped off its eighth straight win and went 5-0 to win the District 9-4A Division II title. Both teams were undefeated in district play heading into this tilt.

The last time the Longhorns won a district title was 28 years ago – in 3A.

5. Spring Klein's late gamble pays off with playoff berth

It was a win-and-move-on scenario for Magnolia entering this game in District 15-6A. For Klein, the result didn’t matter much, as they would not make the playoffs.

But, if they won, Klein Collins would move on and Magnolia would stay home.

Not only did the Bearkats win but how they could provide nightmares for years to come. Quarterback Carter Lattelle hit Grant Stratta for a touchdown with 16 seconds left.

Magnolia led 31-30.

The Kick the PAT to tie it and go to OT? Essentially, follow the route Tampa Bay took Monday night against the Super Bowl champions in Kansas City.

Klein went big and made some history. Klein went to its bag of tricks and a handoff turned into a shuffle pass to Stratta, who then threw to a wide-open Lattelle – yes the quarterback – for the 2-point conversion and the win. A double-dagger by Lattelle and Stratta in seconds.

6. Dominant El Dorado reps El Paso well

While the lopsided score doesn’t tell much, here are a few numbers that will.

The Aztecs finished 10-0 and went 6-0 in District 1-5A Division I – winning the district championship. The next best records in district play were Parkland and Americas – both 3-3.

Last year, El Dorado went 1-9.

Quite a turnaround.

Oh…. The biggest note here? It was also the first time in program history they finished the regular season undefeated since the school opened in 2006.

7. Wild world of 6-man football strikes again

Another 6-man game, because crazy things happen with 6 or 11 players on the field.

This was a Twitter find as Leman Saunders pointed out that the Perrin-Whitt Pirates won 56-6 in a game on Friday. But an ineligible player competed for the Pirates and the win turned into a loss after it was self-reported.

This was kind of a weird scenario to begin within the 5-team district, Saunders posted. Newcastle and Perrin had a coin flip prior to the last game of the regular season. If both won on Friday, Newcastle would be the No. 1 seed and Perrin-Whitt would be No. 2.

8. Prosper Rock Hill's late push spells postseason

In a Thursday night game, the Hawks won, which clinched the first winning season in the school’s brief 5-year history.

But that win and Allen taking care of Plano East, helped the Hawks clinch a playoff in District 6-6A for the first time in school history. McKinney still made the playoffs despite the loss.

Rock Hill got the No. 4 seed and improved to 6-4 on the year – pretty good considering the program had a 12-26 record the four previous seasons.

Also, it means Prosper, Prosper Walnut Grove and Rock Hill all made the playoffs for Prosper ISD. The first time that happened for the northern suburb town.

9. Palestine Westwood completes perfect regular season

The Panthers closed out the regular season with a shutout and claimed the District 9-3A Division I title.

With the second-place team having 3 wins in district play, the Panthers had already locked up the district crown. However, the 5-0 district record was a nice achievement.

However, the 10-0 regular season record?

Well, it’s the first time the happened since the school started playing football in 1961. How long ago was that? John F. Kennedy was the president and the NFL-AFL merger was still 5 years away.

10. Stamford topples Hawley in battle for district crown

This was another of the de facto district championship game.

Stamford was No. 1 in the state rankings; the Hawley Bearcats was No. 5. Both were 9-0.

Last year, Hawley escaped with a 34-30 win – and had won the past six meetings.

However that streak ended and the Bulldogs won this game and the District 4-2A Division I title, the school’s first district crown since 2017. The game was close late, with Stamford 6 points with 7 minutes to play. This was the first undefeated regular season for time since 1980.

11. Saginaw completes first undefeated season

The Rough Riders essentially locked up the District 4-5A title back on Oct. 10, winning 25-15 against Fort Worth Arlington Heights.

With a 7-0 mark in district play, Saginaw had already won a share of the title crown before playing Friday. They fought off a pesky Rangers team, down by possession in the third, to win the first-ever Battle of the Silver Spurs.

This is the first undefeated season for Saginaw, whose first varsity season in the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD was in 2006.

-- Cody Thorn | @sblivetx

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Cody Thorn
CODY THORN

Cody Thorn is a veteran journalist who covers high school sports across the state of Texas and Missouri. He is based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and has covered sports and news since 1999.

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