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The stories that defined Texas high school football in the Dallas area in 2024

Published

12 months ago

January 4, 2025

The stories that defined Texas high school football in the Dallas area in 2024

As we turn the page on 2024, The Dallas Morning News is looking back at the stories that defined high school sports in the Dallas area over the past 12 months.

Our staff considers it a privilege to write about schools in the Dallas area, and our coverage goes far beyond gamers and stats. Every year, we get to tell stories of incredible triumphs, heartbreaking defeats, tragedy, resilience and hope. These are your stories. Thank you for allowing us to tell them.

Below are the stories that defined football in the Dallas area in 2024.

More of our year-in-review

— Boys, girls basketball

— Baseball, softball

— Boys, girls soccer

— Volleyball

— Track, golf, others

North Crowley head coach Ray Gates poses with his players after a victory over Austin Westlake in the Class 6A Division I state football championship game on Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Arlington.(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)

D-FW can claim Texas’ best high school football team in an otherwise down year for Dallas

ARLINGTON — North Crowley showed out on Saturday in its dazzling 50-21 victory over Austin Westlake in the 6A Division I state title game, winning the program’s second state championship and putting Fort Worth high school football on the map in front of 36,120 fans at AT&T Stadium.

Until North Crowley took the field at 7:30 p.m., there was a possibility the Dallas-Fort Worth area might boast only one state champion in 2024. Celina routed Kilgore 55-21 in the 4A Division I state championship to capture the program’s ninth state title and its first under coach Bill Elliott.

But North Texas teams came up short in the next three title games, the region’s worst showing at state since 2021, when South Oak Cliff became the first Dallas ISD school to win a recognized state championship since 1958, but Denton Guyer and Duncanville fell in the 6A state championship games.

Two-time state champion South Oak Cliff missed a last-second field goal, falling 38-35 to third-year program Richmond Randle in the 5A Division II state title game Friday night. It was SOC’s second straight loss in the state championship game.

“The future is still bright,” South Oak Cliff coach Jason Todd said. “We just gotta find out what’s going to get us over this hump.”

— Click or tap here to read the rest of Myah Taylor’s story —

More 2024 state coverage

— Texas high school football central: 2024 state championship game stories, photos and more

— Gunter grabs third straight crown in dominant 3A-II state title win over Woodville

— Celina routs Kilgore in 4A-I state final, joining elite Texas high school football club

— North Crowley becomes new king of Class 6A with state title win over Austin Westlake

— Celina is a state champion once again, thanks to Bowe Bentley and a little air superiority

— Quentin Gibson broke an NFL player’s Dallas-area record in North Crowley’s state title win

— North Crowley, coach Ray Gates didn’t ‘duck any smoke’ in bold state championship season

— Attendance down for UIL state title games at AT&T Stadium for second straight year

— Full 2024 statewide UIL Texas high school football playoff, state championship results

Conrad football coach Josh Ragsdale cheers on students in a beginner’s class at the 9th... — Conrad football coach Josh Ragsdale cheers on students in a beginner’s class at the 9th Street Gym, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in Garland. Ragsdale is working toward his black belt while learning forms of taekwondo in classes.(Chitose Suzuki / Staff Photographer)

Player’s death inspires Dallas football coach to finish goal: a black belt in karate

GARLAND — Josh Ragsdale thinks he resembles Will Ferrell.

Not from a physical standpoint, but during karate classes at the 9th Street Gym in Garland. That is where the 44-year-old Ragsdale towers over boys and girls a quarter of his age who are learning the same punches, kicks and self-defense moves — such as how to throw an attacker to the ground — as Conrad High School’s head football coach.

Picture Ferrell’s character Buddy in the movie Elf, except he’s wearing a traditional karate uniform called a gi and doing tornado kicks and fighting instead of making toys.

“I’m Elf,” Ragsdale said. “I’m the adult amongst a bunch of smaller folks, but it’s been neat for me to connect with them.”

— Click or tap here to read the rest of Greg Riddle’s story —

Kailer Pettijohn, left, Riley Pettijohn, and Cam Pettijohn pose for a photograph at the... — Kailer Pettijohn, left, Riley Pettijohn, and Cam Pettijohn pose for a photograph at the McKinney High School practice field in McKinney, TX, on Oct 14, 2024.(Jason Janik / Jason Janik)

More notable reads from 2024

— First-year DeSoto quarterback Kelden Ryan is rolling ahead of showdown with Duncanville

— Plano East starters had to sit and wait in 2023. It’s made all the difference this season

— Argyle Liberty Christian’s transformation spurred by brotherly bond of CJ, Cooper Witten

— With trip to state title on the line, Denton Ryan’s Quin Henigan was raised for the moment

— Dealt an unimaginable loss, Lewisville star RB Viron Ellison Jr. is focused on healing

— The Dallas Morning News’ 2023 Offensive Player of the Year: Duncanville’s Caden Durham

— With his leukemia in remission, Lovejoy’s Sam Reynolds signs to play college football

— Keelon Russell is latest football star to bolster Duncanville track’s state title hopes

— Texas high school coaches call for rule changes amid staggering number of transfers

— ‘Match.com for high school football’: How Dallas-area teams find out-of-state opponents

— ‘It’s pretty amazing’: How video, data technology is changing Texas high school football

— Legendary Ennis football coach Sam Harrell to retire as battle with MS becomes too much

— Duncanville’s Dakorien Moore on track for Oregon, then NFL, but first goal is a three-peat

— Coaches frustrated with how UIL determines punishment, player eligibility for schools

— Jesuit football ‘Buddy Walk’ tradition uplifts honorary team members with Down syndrome

— Why coaches like Todd Dodge returned to Texas high school football after brief retirement

— After his football career ended, Dallas’ Rawleigh Williams found a different NFL path

— Why Texas HS football dynasties are tough to achieve in state’s highest classification

— How football coaches prepare backup quarterbacks to be game-ready when starters go down

— A family affair: Inside the life of current Cedar Hill, future UT Coleman triplets

— There’s more to Byron Washington than being ‘Big Baby’, DeSoto’s powerful offensive tackle

— Generational Euless Trinity offensive line has size and athleticism

— Texas high school football living up to hype for some of state’s top newcomers this season

— Quentin Gibson’s life-changing senior season helping power North Crowley’s 6A playoff push

— What goes into the inexact science of rating a 3-, 4- or 5-star football recruit?

— With sons by his side, Bill Elliott has Celina near doorstep of state championship glory

— Rivals on Friday, friends off the field: DeSoto and Duncanville players share strong bonds

— The family business: How Riley, Kailer and Cam Pettijohn help anchor the McKinney defense

— How DeSoto’s Deondrae Riden Jr. followed football from the backyard to Texas A&M

— Like father, like son: Dallas-area players with NFL pedigree making impact on field

— Influx of Nigerian-born athletes bringing new culture to Texas high school football

— Which Dallas-area playoff teams are winning with old-school offenses?

— Texas’ thorough recruiting approach creating strong pipeline of Dallas-area wide receivers

— Parish Episcopal’s Sawyer Anderson closing in on passing record, eyeing fourth state title

— Does defense win championships? Dallas-area teams riding strong defenses to state semis

— 2024-2026 UIL realignment: Analysis, district lists and must-read stories from SportsDayHS

— How D-FW high schools host commercials for major brands, from Subway to State Farm

— Texas colleges spend big money on official visits for top high school football recruits

— The Dallas Morning News’ 2023 Defensive Player of the Year: DeSoto’s Keylan Abrams

— The Dallas Morning News’ 2023 All-area teams, football awards and more— Why Cedar Hill, other Dallas-area schools have been hit hardest by decreasing enrollment

— On Conrad High’s football team, no one will wear No. 12 again. Unless they earn it

— Following in footsteps of NFL veteran father gives Hebron’s Patrick Crayton Jr. focus

— Cameroon native Ben Ebeke catching on to American football at W.T. White

— After late-season injury last year, Plano East’s Travis Agee back better than ever

— Byron Nelson QB Grant Bizjack making own mark in rich athletic family legacy

— Father-son, coach-QB combo living out lifelong dream while leading unbeaten Richland

— Parish Episcopal’s Sawyer Anderson humble as he closes in on all-time passing mark

— When it comes to kicking, Plano East standout Blake Letourneau has been a sure thing

— Professional composure has made Sachse’s Brendon Haygood a record-setting running back

Find more high school sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

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Next Up – Texas Tech In NYC

Published

6 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Press Room

Date 12/20 || Time 8:00 || Venue Madison Square Garden || Video ESPN

With the exception of Michigan on February 21st, Duke will finish off non-conference play on Saturday with Texas Tech in Madison Square Garden.

Why the Garden? Well, first because Duke has a lot of alum in the area. They call it Cameron North for a reason. And second, playing in MSG always draws a lot of attention. Duke could play in United Center – and in fact did, facing off against Arkansas there on November 27th – and it doesn’t draw the sort of attention that MSG does.

Years ago, Texas Tech was an afterthought. Then Chris Beard made the Red Raiders a major power and now Grant McCasland has done very well there too. He has an interesting history.

Other than two-year stints at Northeastern JUCO as an assistant and Arkansas State as a head coach, McCasland’s career has been entirely in the Lone Star state. He’s also been at Midland College, Midwestern State, Baylor as an assistant, North Texas and now Texas Tech.

And he’s won everywhere. And this is really important to understand: it’s really hard to win at places like Midland, Midwestern State, Arkansas State and North Texas. His NCAA record is 263-109 (.707) and 142-32 (.816).

For perspective, Mike Krzyzewski’s career winning percentage at Duke is .766. We’re the last people to take anything from Coach K, but even he’d probably admit it’s easier to succeed at Duke than it is at the places McCasland has coached.

Texas Tech finished 28-9 last season (McCasland’s Texas Tech record: 55-21. Winning percentage .724) and so far this season, is 8-3. The losses have come against Illinois (81-77), Purdue (86-56) and Arkansas (93-86).

Arkansas is the only common opponent but Texas Tech also played Wake Forest, so presumably that video will be a two-for-one for scouting purposes.

Impressively, he’s not coaching the same way at Texas Tech as he did at North Texas. With the Mean Green, with less talent, he played a more deliberate style. In Lubbock, he’s opened things up a bit. His offense is a little freer or maybe less structured is a better way to put it, or maybe less deliberate. He has more room for error with Texas Tech.

The unquestioned star for Texas Tech is JT Toppin, a 6-9/230 lb. junior who is a legitimate Player of the Year candidate. Toppin is putting up 21.9 ppg, 10.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists. He’s got a 7-0+ wingspan and is also an excellent defender. He needs to work on his outside game but is widely seen as a future pro. He’ll almost certainly guard Duke’s star Cameron Boozer.

McCaslin also has a solid backcourt with Chris Anderson and Donovan Atwell. Anderson, a 6-3 sophomore from Atlanta, is getting 19.3 ppg, 3.5 apg and an impressive 7.5 assists.

Atwell, a 6-5 senior, is putting up 11.3 ppg, 3 rebounds, a half an assist and 1.3 steals.

LeJuan Watts, a 6-6 junior, averages 14 ppg, 5.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists.

Jaylen Petty is a 6-1 freshman who is getting 26 mpg, so obviously McCaslin trusts him. He’s putting up 7.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists.

Tyeree Bryan is a 6-5 senior who is getting 5.6 ppg and 3.4 rebounds.

The last guy in the rotation, Luke Bamgboye, is 6-11/220 but he is injured and most likely won’t play Saturday.

McCaslin, clearly, is a brilliant coach, but he has had some issues this year, not least of all defense.

Texas Tech has struggled on the defensive end, which is one thing against Purdue or Illinois, but it was a problem against Northern Colorado (the Rockies UNC), where the Bears scored 90 points on the Red Raiders, shooting 44% on threes and 56% overall.

The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal said this about the game against Northern Colorado: “McCasland hasn’t gotten what he needs defensively from, really, anybody else on the team. He pointed to the team’s lack of ability to guard 1-on-1, in the post, covering switches and working through screens. After a solid defensive showing against LSU and a close game against Arkansas, McCasland said the team took ‘a big step back’ on the defensive end.”

That’s a tough assessment from the hometown paper.

Our guess though is that McCasland will figure out some of his issues between Tuesday’s win over the Bears and Saturday’s trip to New York.

And if Duke plays as poorly as it did in the first half against Lipscomb, Texas Tech won’t have to play great defense. They’ll just pick off balls like the Bisons did with Duke’s 16 first-half turnovers.

Part of that is down to exam/holidays and a lack of continuity, and indeed, that could be the case for Texas Tech’s tough game against Northern Colorado (by the way, we forgot to mention that the Bears were missing their best player, Quinn Denker).

Duke has tended to start slow this year and make it up in the second half and at times they may have been to reliant on Cam Boozer.

But we’ve seen signs of change.

Caleb Foster is turning into a solid presence and a guy who can do things when they need to be done. He’s reliable, in other words. Isaiah Evans hasn’t been shooting that well, but he’s due for a big game that might come in New York. And if not, he’s defending well, rebounding well and even blocking shots. He’s been terrific.

So has Patrick Ngongba, who has sort of snuck up on people. Last year he became a reliable presence off the bench but this year, he looks much more like a warrior. He’s really come on. Then there’s Nik Khamenia, who is as tough a player as we’ve seen in Duke blue for a while.

Maliq Brown is, well, Maliq Brown. He’s just a great asset, especially on defense. We’d like to see Dame Sarr take a step up, along with Darren Harris and Cayden Boozer. All three are very capable of playing better and Duke will go up a level when they do.

New York is a funny place to play. The Garden has such an aura that it can intimidate some players. There are other players who thrive there under the bright lights. It’ll be interesting to see who does this time.

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North Texas man gives away 120 Christmas trees after slow sales

Published

18 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Press Room

North Texas man gives away 120 Christmas trees after slow sales

The first year selling trees didn’t go as planned for one North Texas man.

Tim Miller, co-owner of Hidden Honey Farm in Midlothian, still had more than half of his inventory earlier this week. But he made the best of a tough situation.

One after another, families kept Miller busy picking, preparing and packing up trees— just in time for Christmas.

All of a sudden, trees were flying off the lot. But that wasn’t the case just days before.

With more than 100 Douglas firs still standing, Miller said sales had come to a grinding halt.

“Four days straight with no one,” Miller said.

With Christmas quickly approaching, he had a decision to make.

“We have two options: We’re going to have to dispose of 100 plus trees, or I can give them away and somebody will get some use out of them, so that’s what we decided to do,” he said.

On Tuesday, Miller posted on Facebook: “Our first year of selling Christmas trees didn’t go as well as we had hoped for… If anyone doesn’t have a tree, or knows of someone who needs a tree, they are free for the taking.”

Families who otherwise couldn’t afford a tree began showing up—and word spread quickly.

“I thought, ‘Hey, I wanted to get a Christmas tree for our house anyway. Let’s go get one!’” said Miriam Beachy, holding her 1-year-old son Jeremiah.

Miller said the response was overwhelming, with donations pouring in from across the country.

“All over! Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, California, somehow or another, people have seen our post and said, you know, we’d like to help,” he said. “I had no idea we would get the results that we have.”

In just two days, all 120 trees found their “fir”-ever homes.

“It really felt like a gift,” Beachy said.

“The appreciation that they have, and I know there’s results I’ll never know of,” Miller added.

He’s still deciding whether to sell trees again next Christmas, but said after the feedback and support he’s received, he’s leaning toward it.

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Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire pitches his solutions for college football’s calendar

Published

1 day ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire pitches his solutions for college football’s calendar

Joey McGuire has worn many hats over his career through the high school and college coaching ranks, but he’s looking to add a new one: Commissioner of fixing the college football calendar.

The fourth-year head coach jokingly offered his name up for the self-imposed fake title Wednesday during a media availability, but his frustration with the current format is real. He believes every team should play Week 0, that a champion should be crowned by Jan. 1 and bowl games should be invitationals set for Week 1.

McGuire’s team had a historic season, winning a Big 12 title and earning a bye in the College Football Playoff. Its reward is 26 days of non-compete before playing in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Jan. 1. McGuire loves it for player health. He hates it because it makes football a two-semester sport.

“Texas high school playoffs are playing 16 games, and they’re crowning a state champion this weekend. FCS has 24 teams in their playoff and they’re crowning a national champion on January 5,” McGuire said. “People are so stuck on traditions and all that. I get that, man. I’m a traditionalist 100%. But guess what? It’s changed.”

By finishing the season on Jan. 1, teams would be able to seamlessly transition into the transfer portal, which opens on Jan. 2, he said. This doesn’t eliminate the unpredictable coaching changes that can happen at programs competing in the playoff, but McGuire argues that unfavorable personnel changing is inevitable regardless of calendar shifts.

Many programs with general managers can handle the current overlap of playoffs and the portal window. Some programs’ philosophies, such as Texas Tech’s, separate the responsibilities while in season. McGuire’s job in recruiting extends only as far as daily texts at this stage in the season, while general manager James Blanchard is working 20-plus-hour days on recruiting trails.

However, only 12 teams are playing for a national championship in December. The rest of the country is either finished with its season or competing in bowl games with a withered staff and roster due to opt-outs and the rapid coaching carousel.

McGuire has his solution ready for that problem.

“How about moving the bowl games to an invitation? And that would be week one, Aug. 23, and we’re playing bowl games Thursday, Friday, Saturday,” McGuire said. “ … You’re going to lose a home game, but you still would have a huge attraction TV-wise. It would be a big watch because you know everybody’s dying for college football week one.”

As McGuire stated, the invitational bowl game would erase a home game for teams. But McGuire wouldn’t be a successful commissioner if he didn’t have a solution to ensure teams could fill out their schedules as they pleased.

“We’ve got these kids all summer long. Camp doesn’t need to be a month long,” McGuire said. “We can play zero week, and you know rock and roll.”

Unfortunately for the hopeful-minded “commissioner,” changes in the college football calendar start with the networks, which he does not work with. However, McGuire said he will speak on the subject whenever given the chance because the conversation starts with him and other college football coaches being outspoken in a time of change.

Find more Texas Tech coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

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