3 Takeaways: North Crowley Stuns Duncanville, Stars Shine Bright, and Texas’ 6A Power Shift Begins

North Crowley upsets defending champ Duncanville, Dakorien Moore and Quentin Gibson dominate, and the Duncanville-North Shore title streak ends

Quentin Gibson had two touchdown receptions to help North Crowley defeat Duncanville, 22-21. / Oladipo Awowale

High School On SI Texas gives you three takeaways from Saturday’s showdown that took place between defending Texas Class 6A Division I back-to-back state champion Duncanville and national upstart North Crowley in their 6A state semifinals showdown.

The stars showed up and showed out on the big stage

Coming into the game there was a big buzz surrounding Duncanville star receiver and Oregon commit Dakorien Moore and North Crowley star receiver and Colorado commit Quentin Gibson. As everyone wanted to see who is the best receiver in Texas and the nation. After their 48 minutes of action, the answer is you can’t go wrong either way as both stars put on a show.

When the dust settled Moore finished with seven catches for 138 yards and one of the top five best touchdown catch and runs I’ve ever seen a high school kid make in person. While Gibson hauled in five catches for 107 yards and two touchdowns which included a 49-yard back breaking touchdown on fourth and three where Gibson double-moved the defensive back so bad he was able to dance into the end zone. Gibson’s touchdown was huge as it gave North Crowley a 28-21 lead late in the third quarter.

On top of that, in the spirit of Heisman winner Travis Hunter, both star wideouts played corner at times including guarding each other on a couple of occasions despite rarely if ever playing defense.

North Crowley is the real deal

After beating opponents by an average of 37 points per a game this season, including beating national powerhouse and defending Class 6A Division II state champion Desoto by six points earlier this season, many viewed North Crowley as major underdogs heading into their showdown with Duncanville. Now with a 36-34 instant classic victory over Duncanville on their resume, North Crowley just needs to knock off perennial state powerhouse Austin Westlake at AT&T Stadium next Saturday night for a date with history.

A win will deliver North Crowley's first state title in football since 2003 and the program's first undefeated season. Its run will go down in the Texas history books as epic as North Crowley would have taken down three of the four teams who have been in the Top 5 of Texas polls with them all season. The Panthers will need another outstanding performance from their quarterback and University of North Texas commit Chris Jimerson Jr. who went 11-of-17 for 185 yards and 4 touchdowns while upsetting Duncanville.

There will be no Duncanville vs. Galena Park North Shore Round 6

For the first time since 2020 neither Duncanville nor state and national powerhouse Galena Park North Shore will be playing in the Class 6A Division I state championship game. Just like their rivals from up Dallas, the Mustangs were upset by Austin Westlake 35-10 to end their quest to reach their fourth consecutive state championship game.

If Duncanville and North Shore had both won Saturday, it would have been the first time in the history of UIL 11-man football that the same two teams squared off against each other in the state championship game four consecutive years no matter the classification.

The win is good omen for Westlake as they are the team to win the state title the last both North Shore and Duncanville went to the house before championship Saturday.

The Mustangs have nothing to hang their heads for as they were a game away from state, despite starting a lot of talented sophomores on defense. North Shore was still able to go undefeated in the regular season for the fifth season in a row and will be a candidate to be the best team in Texas and the nation next season.