High School

10 things we learned in Texas high school football Week 13 — area playoffs

Frisco Reedy rallies from 38-points down to advance; overtime thrillers plentiful

Cody Thorn

Flour Bluff's Jayden Paluseo throws a pass during the game at Buccaneer Stadium on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Flour Bluff's Jayden Paluseo throws a pass during the game at Buccaneer Stadium on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, in Corpus Christi, Texas. / Angela Piazza/Caller-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Week 13 of the 2024 Texas high school football season is in the books, and though there were big upsets, plenty of storylines emerged. Highlights from TAPPS to Class 6A, with overtime thrillers and school records broken.

High School on SI examined 10-plus takeaways from the weekend in Texas high school football:

10 THINGS WE LEARNED IN WEEK 13

1. Resilient Reedy

A 45-7 lead in most football games seems to be a comfortable margin, even dare say get out the sharpie.

But, Frisco Rick Reedy High School pulled off a nearly impossible winning, scoring 42 unanswered to beat Georgetown, 49-42, on Friday in a Class 5A Division I area game in Corsicana.

Falling behind by 38 early in the second quarter, the Lions (10-2) pulled within 45-21 at halftime. 

Cade Hebel ran for a pair of seconds and Jake Ferner connected with Darren Nickerson for a touchdown. In the final minute, Triston Airy scored on a 7-yard run giving Reedy the lead for the first time and the win.

Georgetown lost a 28-0 lead last week and won 48-42 against Burleson Centennial in double overtime. 

FRISCO REEDY 49, GEORGETOWN 42

2. Tiger on the loose

Deondrae ‘Tiger’ Riden Jr. had one of his best high school games yet for DeSoto.

The Texas A&M pledge ran for a career-high 300 yards and his four touchdowns matched a career-high last week. 

In the 51-17 win over Wylie East on Thursday, Riden broke his previous high in yards which was 248, set in a Class 6A Division II semifinal last year against Southlake Carroll.

Riden broke the Eagles’ career-rushing record in the game, passing the mark held by Byron Hanspard since 1993. He went to Texas Tech, earning All-American honors, before a six-year career in the NFL. 

The Eagles (10-2) have now won six in a row since a loss to Duncanville on Oct. 11. The state champs play undefeated Willis (12-0) on Dec. 30. 

DESOTO 51, WYLIE EAST 17

3. Another OT game for Flour Bluff

In a back-and-forth game, Corpus Christi Flour Bluff and Comal Pieper went into overtime tied at 49.

Pieper had scored with 47 seconds left in regulation into OT and then the Warriors went up 56-49 on a touchdown run by Cayden Keeth.

The Hornets (11-1) needed to score to stay alive and did just that. After all, overtime games lately have been the norm — this was the third in the past four games. 

Quarterback Jayden Paluseo hit Jacob Cain for 14 yards to pull within one. Flour Bluff went for two and Paluseo hit Cameran Dickerson for the game-winning points. Paluseo threw for 443 yards and 5 scores. Dickerson had 193 yards receiving and 3 touchdowns.  

CORPUS CHRISTI FLOUR BLUFF 57, COMAL PIEPER 56 OT

4. Anderson is now No. 4 all-time

Dallas Parish Episcopal Sawyer Anderson moved into rare air with his performance in a 61-55 win against Plano Prestonwood Christian Academy on Saturday. He threw for 439 yards and a pair of scores and ran for 128 yards and 3 touchdowns.

With his 439 yards passing, the Purdue pledge surpassed the 14,000 yards mark — making him only the fourth player to ever achieve that mark in Texas history across all leagues and classifications.

Another big game in the semifinals this week against Frisco Legacy Christian could put him into second place all-time.

DALLAS PARISH EPISCOPAL 61, PLANO PRESTONWOOD CHRISTIAN ACADEMY 55

5. A Star at The Star

Heading into the Class 4A Division I Region II game, Alvarado had attempted only one field goal attempt all year. 

And that attempt was a miss.

With the game on the line, the Indians turned to kicker Isaiah Sanchez and he delivered in the game against Frisco Panther Creek at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco.

Sanchez kicked a 45-yard field goal in the second quarter and then a 28-yarder to send the game into overtime.

In double overtime, he kicked a 31-yarder that won it 47-44 and kept the Alvardo perfect season alive at 12-0.

This marks the first time since 2011 that Alvarado is playing past Thanksgiving, facing Sulphur Springs. Will they add another stone to the collection? 

ALVARADO 47, FRISCO PANTHER CREEK 44, 2 OT

6. Triple-Overtime Thriller

Glen Rose overcame a two-score deficit to pick up a 52-50 win over Seminole in a Class 4A Division II game in triple overtime.

Tied at 35 after regulations, both teams scored in the first overtime. 

Glen Rose scored first in the second overtime and Seminole answered to tie the game at 50. Going into the third overtime, Brodey Bowman made a tackle at the 1-yard line to stop Seminole.

Glen Rose (10-2) got a conversion pass from Canyon Evans to Josiah Groeneweg to win it. 

Evans threw for a school-record 516 yards, breaking Colt Plaster’s 2009 record by a yard and tied the school record with 7 touchdown passes. Eavan also passed Derek Thompson (7,878 yards) for career passing yards. Evans now has 8,225 yards.

And there was also a pretty impressive interception by Kaiden Shannon in the game for Glen Rose. 

GLEN ROSE 52, SEMINOLE 50 3 OT 

7. College Station rematch?

College Station A&M Consolidated escaped with a 10-3 win over Galveston Ball, while College Station won 49-35 against Lufkin. 

A&M Consolidated made a goal-line stand and then drove 99 yards for the game-winning score — which came from defensive tackle Puna Foketi on a 3-yard run with 3:39 left in the game.

The Tigers are now 12-0, the first 12-win season in 1993, which ended in the Class 5A quarterfinals against La Marque. Head coach Brandon Schmidt was a player on that La Marque team.

If A&M can beat La Porte and College Station wins against Angelton on Friday, the two schools will have a rematch in the Region III finals. The same scenario presented itself last year, but Comal Smithson Valley beat College Station, 26-21.

8. Staying perfect

Between 6A Division I and II, there’s two districts that have all four teams still playing.

In the Houston area, District 23-6A last week's winners were: 

Galena Park North Shore over Fort Bend Ridge Point, 44-28; Humble Atascocita defeated Pearland, 28-17; Humble Summer Creek won 49-7 against Manvel  and Humble Kingwood beat Fort Bend Elkins, 41-7.

District 29-6A featured San Antonio teams that won area games last week, with three of them being one-score games. 

Cibolo Steele prevailed 63-12 over PSJA; New Braunfels Canyon won 38-35 over Brownsville Veterans Memorial Buda Johnson secured a 23-20 win over Los Fresnos.

9. Eventual weekend

You could say Grayson Ridgon had a good weekend.

The Columbus running back finished with five touchdowns in a 48-28 win against Palestine Westwood on Friday in a Class 3A Division I area game.

The next day, he was in Raleigh, North Carolina for a visit to North Carolina State. On Nov. 25, he tweeted his commitment to the Wolfpack. According to 247Sports, he’s the first Texan in the 2025 class for Dave Doeren. There is no players on the Lone Star State on the roster this year for NC State. 

COLUMBUS 48, PALESTINE WESTWOOD 28

10. Longest season more than 50 years

Crowley, located in southwest Fort Worth, is back in the third round of the playoffs for the first time since 1971.

The Eagles went on the road Saturday and picked up a 26-21 win over Midland. Quarterback Caleb Williams threw a touchdown and ran for 212 yards. 

Just last week, Crowley won its first playoff game since 2013 and now reached the third round for only the second time in school history.

Crowley lost that quarterfinal game in 1971 and hasn’t been back yet. This is only the fourth time in the last 50 years that the Eagles have advanced to the area game.

Crowley (8-4) advances to the 6A Division II Region 1 semifinal against Denton Guyer (9-3) on Saturday in Grapevine. 

CROWLEY 26, MIDLAND 21

Honorable mention

  • Paradise quarterback Ayden Winter threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Luke Brown with 2 seconds left to help the Panthers rally for a 21-17 win over Bushland on Friday in a Class 3A Division. Paradise improved to 10-2 with the win, the third year in a row with at least 10 wins. Bushland ended the year 10-2 with two losses by a combined five points. 
  • Overton escaped with a 31-30 win over Mart on Friday, winning a Class 2A Division II area game. Mart, the state runner-up last year, had advanced to the third round of the playoffs the past seven seasons. 
  • Houston Strake Jesuit continues to win. The Crusaders beat Houston Heights, 36-15, in a Class 6A Division II playoff game on Saturday. Their win was the fifth in a row and bumped the record to 9-3 on the season. Strake had won only 11 games between the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons, combined. This is only the school’s third trip to the third round and they are 0-2 with losses in 2019 and 2015.
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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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