10 things we learned in Texas high school football Week 4

Instant analysis: 5-star Alabama commit Keelon Russell is orchestrating a master swan song, Texarkana Texas scores big win on road and more

Quinten Gibson lines in North Crowley's win over Rockwall in Week 4. / Photo by Michael Horbovetz, SBLive

Week 4 of the 2024 Texas high school football season is in the books and though there were no Top 10 shakeups, plenty storylines emerged.

• Top 25 Texas high school football rankings, Week 4 updates

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

10 THINGS WE LEARNED IN WEEK 4

1. Keelon Russell is in evolved form

Duncanville 5-star Alabama commit Keelon Russell unleashed a throw against St. Frances Academy on Sept 14, 2024 at Duncanville ISD Stadium. / Photo by Michael Horbovetz, SBLive

Keelon Russell is looking every bit like a three-year starter. Thr 5-star Alabama commit has accounted for 963 passing yards and 14 touchdowns on a 71.6 percent completion rate. Against Waxahachie, he connected 18 of 23 attempts for 351 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions. One can't argue he doesn't have weapons: Eight of those passes and three TDs went to Dakorien Moore, 3-star tight end Zach Turner had another great week with 95 yards and two TDs and Trenton Yancey caught a touchdown and finished with 76 receiving yards on three receptions.

2. Texarkana Texas High can beat you anywhere

Don't look now, but Texarakana Texas is set to continue climbing in the statewide ranks. The Tigers went to Arkansas and pulled off perhaps the most successful out-of-state result of the season of any UIL team, beating defending Arkansas 7A champ Fayetteville on the road, 55-54 on a game-winning two-point conversion to move to 4-0 on the season.

Watching the specific way Gibson had dominated through four games has been comparable to playing NCAA Football 25 with the difficulty turned down to easy. Through four games, he's accounted for 589 receiving yards on 24 catches for 13 receiving touchdowns and 15 TDs total. He had three of those scores in an upset of nationally ranked DeSoto and any questions as to whether or not he could keep this pace have since been quelled. Many of the 5-foot-9, 165-pound senior's yards have come after the catch, and . The Panthers, ranked No. 2 in Texas and nation's No. 7 team, have shown no signs of slowing. Though uncommitted, Gibson has receiver offers in recent weeks from TCU, UNLV and Colorado State among others.

4. Carthage makes a power play

Carthage (Texas) high school quarterback Jett Surratt surveys the field against Bullard in a 2023 football showdown. / Photo by Robbie Rakestraw, SBLive

Sound the siren in Class 4A. After losing to Kilgore in its opener, Carthage has rattled off three consecutive wins, the latest a statement 45-14 drubbing of Chapel Hill on the road. Carthage QB Jett Surratt accounted for 285 yards, five TDs and a pick on 20-for-27 passing and the Bulldogs held Texas commit Rickey Stewart to just 10 yards on five carries.

5. Austin Eastside wins for first time in 51 games

Entering Friday's bout with Schertz John Paul II, Austin Eastside hadn't won a game since 2017. It snapped that streak of 51 games on Friday night in a 49-0 win. The Panthers have posted one winless season after another — four of them 0-10 — dating back to its last win on Oct. 27, 2024, a 21-6 win over Somerset Academy Brooks.

It's been quite the week for A&M Consolidated, which debuted in SBLive's Texas Top 25 at No. 24 on the heels of an impressive win over Pflugerville Weiss this week. They then followed it up with a win over cross-town rival College Station on Friday, marking the first win in a series that started after College Station opened its doors in 2012. And they did it in epic fashion. Defensive lineman Vakapuna Foketi stripped the opposing running back in its own territory and hauled it all the way back for a go-ahead TD in the fourth quarter. Consol won 34-20.

7. Westlake rebounds

Westlake coach Tony Salazar talks after the 41-26 win over Steele at Lehnoff Stadium on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. / Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Austin Westlake put together one of the state's most imposing nonleague schedules. Which is why the home loss to then-No. 6 Atascocita in Week 3 — its first home loss since 2016 — wasn't by any means a death knell. Westlake overcame an early deficit by scoring 38 straight unanswered to bury No. 11 Cibolo-Steele in Schertz, a San Antonio suburb, on Friday nigAfter four weeks, the Chaps come out largely unblemished even after taking a loss. Grady Bartlett rushed 20 times for 124 yards and two touchdowns and Rees Wise accounted for three total TDs — two on the ground and another through the air (he also finished 15 of 19 passing).

• MORE: What makes national power Austin Westlake gel? 'A respect to the tradition'

8. No DJ Lagway? No problem

Jermaine Bishop rises to catch a pass during Willis' win over Tomball Memorial on Nov. 17, 2023. / Photo by Tom Dendy, SBLive

Willis coach Trent Miller took issue with a description of the Wilkats' thrilling win over The Woodlands as an upset. That presupposes Willis isn't the same power it was last year without 5-star DJ Lagway, now a freshman at Florida.
Miller won't deny: Moving on from Lagway, given the foundation he built, didn't happen right away: "They were riding the high from last year-end this town’s not used to having success like that," Miller told SBLive, "so they think it’s just going to happen. Well, no, that’s not how life works. And now you have a target on your back." Four weeks into the season, Willis is 4-0 and humming behind star wideout/defensive back Jermaine Bishop. The 4-star athlete has 530 receiving yards and six touchdown on just 23 catches in four games.

9. Southlake Carroll finds ways to win

Southlake Carroll running back Riley Wormley fights for yards against DeSoto in the 6A Division II Texas state semifinals in 2023. / Photo by Michael Horbovetz

Riley Wormley described it "surreal" when he made his debut in October as a junior after he was sidelined in an eligibility battle. And the USC is playing like he didn't have last year's, and won't have another September in Southlake Carroll threads. Wormley has rushed for 510 yards and eight touchdowns on the season, most recently 181 yards and five TDs in a 56-48 shootout with Trinity. Junior quarterback Angelo Renda connected 28 of 36 passes for 376 yards and five TD throws in the win.

10. How'd the Top 25 fare?

Highland Park (Texas) lost to Cherry Creek (Colorado) on Friday. / Photo by Robbie Rakestraw, SBLive

Two of Texas' six nationally ranked teams — Atascocita and North Shore — and four teams in the Texas Top 10 were on bye in Week 4 and those who played among them took care of business. Two Texas Top 25 teams lost to non-top 25 opponents: No. 13 Highland Park lost to Colorado power Cherry Creek in a 51-39 shootout and No. 21 Tyler Chapel Hill was smacked by Carthage, 45-14.

• How the top 25 Texas high school football teams fared in Week 4

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More Texas high school football Week 4:

• Top 25 Texas high school football rankings, Week 4 updates

• Top 20 active Texas high school football rivalries

• Nationally ranked DeSoto blasts Mesquite in district opener

• Dakorien Moore, Oregon commit and nation's No. 1 receiver, erupts for 3 TDs

• Nationally ranked Westlake pulls away from Steele in Central Texas showdown

• Big-man touchdown swings Texas high school football rivalry game

• Armed suspect arrested at Texas high school football game

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-- Andy Buhler | andy@scorebooklive.com | @sblivetx