DeSoto defeats Summer Creek: Live Texas high school football championship updates recap

Nationally ranked Eagles cap perfect season with repeat UIL Class 6A Division II state title

Nationally ranked DeSoto takes on Summer Creek on Saturday with hopes to repeat as Texas high school football state champions.

Can Summer Creek's run finish by unseating one of the nation's top-ranked teams in Arlington in its first state title appearance? Or will DeSoto make a defiant case as one of (if not the) the nation's top teams in 2023-24?

Is DeSoto nation's No. 1 team? Repeat Texas high school football state title triumph offers compelling case

The winner will be the 12th state champion crowned at UIL state championship week at AT&T Stadium with three games per day from Wednesday to Saturday. Port Neches-Groves upset two-time defending champ South Oak Cliff in 5A Division II and Duncanville beat North Shore in 6A Division I on Saturday.

Follow SBLive's Buck Ringgold (@Buck_SBLiveOkla) on the ground in Arlington for the latest live updates on the ground for every UIL football championship. The game is being televised by Bally Sports Southwest and can be accessed with FuboTV.

Here is a closer look at the UIL Class 6A Division II championship matchup:

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FINAL: DESOTO 74, SUMMER CREEK 14

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DeSoto's Deondrae "Tiger" Riden Jr. looks onward after a first half touchdown in the 6A Division II Texas state championship game / Photo by Tommy Hays

FINAL

-- DeSoto made it official, going back-to-back as 6A Division II state champs for the first time in program history. The Eagles accrued 553 yards of offense, DJ Bailey tossed for 281 yards and four touchdowns — 136 of those yards and a touchdown to Daylon Singleton — and Marvin Duffey gained for 151 rushing yards on 12 carries for DeSoto, all while holding Summer Creek to 150 yards of offense. 

- DEFENSIVE MVP: Keylan Abrams, DeSoto. The Purdue commit had a sack, an interception and six tackles.

- OFFENSIVE MVP: DJ Bailey, DeSoto. The Sam Houston pledge completed 16 of 22 pass attempts for 281 yards and four touchdowns, and a fifth on his feet.

FIRST HALF

-- Total domination. DeSoto blows the doors off of the final UIL state football title game of 2023 in the first two quarters, and takes a 46-7 lead into halftime. 

-- Bailey and Singleton are in sync. Bailey hits Singleton as the first quarter clock expires for a 52-yard touchdown reception, the third between the two in the game. (36-7, DeSoto | 0:00)

-- Summer Creek stops the bleeding. Tulsa commit Lloyd Avant scores on a 6-yard touchdown run. Summer Creek got the ball back after Kaleb Walker jumped on a DJ Bailey fumble on its own 24-yard line. (29-7, DeSoto | 1:09)

-- It's a massacre. Bailey takes a shot downfield and drops a dime in the lap of Singleton, who torched his defender on a go route in one-on-one coverage. For those keeping track, that's a 29-point shutout with 4:40 left in the first quarter. (29-0, DeSoto | 4:40)

-- DeSoto scores, again, and the early deficit builds. DJ Bailey hits Daylon Singleton over the middle for a 26-yard untouched TD connection. Singleton slipped behind the defense and glided in untouched. (22-0, DeSoto | 6:18)

-- Touchdown, DeSoto. That was faster. Darius 'DJ' Bailey runs a no-huddle and the Eagles run 4-star junior Deondrae "Tiger" Riden three consecutive times, who breaks loose on the third run and finds the endzone for a 14-yard TD run and it's a two-score game two minutes into this one. (15-0, DeSoto | 10:07)

-- Interception, DeSoto. Purdue commit Keylan Abrams gets his hands on a pass at the line, the Eagles pull down a tip-drill pick and have the ball right back inside the Summer Creek 25. Abrams is credited with the interception that put DeSoto inside Summer Creek territory. Abrams had one of the biggest plays of the semifinals last week when he stopped Southlake Carroll QB Graham Knowles at the goal line in the third quarter.

Top 10 plays of Texas high school football 2023 state semifinals

-- That was fast. DeSoto drives 82 yards in under a minute, Marvin Duffey scores a 52-yard touchdown run on the fifth play from scrimmage and the Eagles convert the two-point conversion. (8-0, DeSoto | 11:09)

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PHOTO GALLERY

All photos by Tommy Hays.

Photo by Tommy Hays

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PREGAME READING

7 p.m. Friday (CT) | AT&T Stadium, Arlington

DeSoto has a chance to complete one of the best seasons of any high school football team in the country this fall — a marker of a program with both its state championships in the last 10 years (2016, 2023), cementing itself as a true Texas high school power.

But the undefeated Eagles' repeat title efforts will have to go through a first-timer on the UIL championship stage — and a Southeast Texas wagon this fall.

Summer Creek's in its first UIL title, and its lone loss came to nationally ranked North Shore, which is playing in the 6A Division I right before them.

Stopping DeSoto isn't a simple undertaking. The Eagles have a dynamic multi-pronged ground game led by senior Marvin Duffey, 4-star junior Deondrae "Tiger" Riden and senior Jaden Trawick (554 yards on season), who busted loose for a 50-plus yard TD last weekend. 

COACHES

Claude Mathis, 13th season at DeSoto (two stints)

Kenny Harrison, 6th season at Summer Creek

UIL STATE PLAYOFF ROAD

DESOTO — Def. Harker Heights 50-10 in bi-districts; def. Wylie East 42-20 in area; def. Willis 65-31 in regional semifinals; def. Cedar Hill 59-16 in regional final; def. Southlake Carroll in state semifinals.

SUMMER CREEK — Def. Pasadena 48-0 in bi-districts; def. Clear Creek 42-0 in area round; def. Stratford 52-15 in regional semifinal; def. Fort Bend Hightower 35-31 in regional finals; def. Steele 38-14 in state semifinals.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

DESOTO

Darius "DJ" Bailey, QB, sr.

DeSoto's maestro, steadying force and signal-caller. Bailey's already led the eagles to a state title — and he's playing like he's determined to do it again. 

Deondrae "Tiger" Riden, running back, jr.

A 4-star recruit being pursued by the likes of Alabama and Georgia, Riden missed a chunk of the regular season after going down in the first game. He's surged back in the postseason and is coming off of a 254-yard, two-TD outing in the Eagles' semifinal win over Southlake Carroll.

Deondrae Riden Jr.'s monster outing leads DeSoto back to Texas high school football title: 'They unleashed me'

Antonio Pride Jr., wide receiver, sr.

The 5-foot-11, 165-pound receiver is Bailey's favorite target and has showed a nose for the endzone all season — 876 receiving yards, 12 touchdowns. 

SUMMER CREEK

Blake Thomas, QB, junior

Thomas has been prolific in his first year starting under center — with his arm and legs. He enters the title with 2,368 passing yards, 27 touchdowns and seven picks, as well as 137 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground. 

Lloyd Avant, running back, sr.

Tulsa commit is a productivity machine. He's accrued 2,068 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns on 6.3 yards per carry. 

Xavier Atkins, linebacker, sr.

LSU commit is a monster in the center of the defense. He's recorded 98 tackles (18 for loss), two interceptions and a pair of sacks. 

STAFF PREDICTION

DeSoto 42, Summer Creek 32

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

All photos by Tommy Hays.

Port Neches-Groves pulls off Texas high school football title upset, brings trophy 'back to the 409'