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
High School Sports
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The latest news, analysis, predictions and more for each season.
— Boys, girls basketball
— Baseball, softball
— Boys, girls soccer
— Volleyball
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— 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.
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“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
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— 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
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— 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 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 —
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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
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— 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
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— 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
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— 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
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— 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
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— 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
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— Which Dallas-area playoff teams are winning with old-school offenses?
— 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
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— 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
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— 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
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— 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.
East Texas native Kacey Musgraves on Wednesday announced a May 1 release date for her seventh studio album, Middle of Nowhere. And the country-pop singer released the album’s first single, “Dry Spell,” along with an accompanying video.
The saucy track bemoans a 335-day dry spell since her last romantic encounter, with double entendres aplenty. Musgraves and Hannah Lux Davis co-directed the song’s cheeky video, which is set in a grocery store and is ripe with fruit-touching and wistful stares.
Kacey Musgraves’ new album, “Middle of Nowhere,” is due out May 1.
Lost Highway Records
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Musgraves was born in Sulphur Springs and raised in Golden, about 80 miles east of Dallas. She moved to Nashville in 2008.
The eight-time Grammy Award-winner had some help on Middle of Nowhere, which features guest appearances by Willie Nelson, Miranda Lambert, Billy Strings and Gregory Alan Isakov.
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Musgraves, who wrapped up her global “Deeper Well World Tour” in December, has emerged as one of the biggest stars in country music over the last decade-plus. Her debut album, 2013’s Same Trailer Different Park, won the Grammy for best country album, and she has topped the country charts multiple times since while earning critical acclaim.
Guitarist praised by ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons bringing blues show to Oak Cliff
Anson Funderburgh will join Shawn Pittman and Mike Morgan at the March 21 concert at The Kessler.
‘Dallas Blues Society Lost Recordings’ features long-forgotten gems
Recorded in 1989, the treasure trove of mostly Dallas musicians has finally been released.
HOUSTON – A North Texas man faced execution on Wednesday for fatally stabbing his girlfriend and her 8-year-old son nearly 13 years ago.
Cedric Ricks was sentenced to death for the May 2013 killings of 30-year-old Roxann Sanchez and her son Anthony Figueroa at their apartment in Bedford, a suburb in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Sanchez’s 12-year-old son, Marcus Figueroa, was injured during the attack.
Ricks, 51, was scheduled to receive a lethal injection after 6 p.m. CDT at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) north of Houston.
His attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution, arguing that prosecutors violated Ricks’ constitutional rights by eliminating potential jurors on the basis of race. Previous appeals by Ricks that alleged ineffective counsel and called for the suppression of evidence in the case have been denied.
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In a 1986 ruling known as Batson v. Kentucky, the Supreme Court determined that excluding jurors because of their race violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
“At trial, Ricks already suspected that the State had singled out minority jurors to exclude them from his jury,” Ricks’ attorneys said in their petition to the Supreme Court.
Ricks’ lawyers said that notes prosecutors kept during the jury selection process and which were not obtained until 2021 show that prosecutors singled out minority jurors.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office said court records show the prosecution’s decisions in jury selection were “race neutral” and lower courts have already concluded that prosecutors’ actions were not discriminatory.
Ricks “viciously stabbed his girlfriend Roxann and her eight-year-old son Anthony to death,” the attorney general’s office said. “The public has a strong interest in enforcement of Ricks’ sentence.”
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The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday denied Ricks’ request for a 90-day reprieve or to commute his death sentence.
Prosecutors said Ricks and Sanchez were arguing in their apartment when Sanchez’ two sons from a previous marriage — Anthony and Marcus Figueroa — tried to break up the fight.
Ricks grabbed a knife from the kitchen and began to stab Sanchez multiple times, according to court records.
Marcus Figueroa ran to his bedroom closet and tried to call police. After killing Anthony Figuerora, Ricks resumed stabbing Marcus Figueroa, who survived the attack by playing dead. Ricks did not injure his then 9-month-old son, Isaiah, according to court records.
Ricks fled and was later arrested in Oklahoma.
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During his trial, Ricks testified that he had anger issues and had been defending himself against the two boys after they had come to their mother’s defense.
“Explaining my rage, I was upset. Things happen. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. I wish I could bring them back, like, right now,” said Ricks, who also apologized for the killings.
A day before the stabbings, Ricks had appeared in court after having been charged with assaulting Sanchez during a previous incident.
If the execution is carried out, Ricks would be the second person put to death this year in Texas and the sixth person in the country. Texas has historically held more executions than any other state.
Charles “Sonny” Burton, a 75-year-old inmate in Alabama, had been scheduled to be executed on Thursday. But Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday commuted his death sentence, reducing it to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Burton had been sentenced to death for a fatal shooting during a 1991 robbery even though he didn’t pull the trigger.
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Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://x.com/juanlozano70
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The deadline for Texas families to apply for Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA), also known as school vouchers, is on March 17.
TEFA is the $1 billion program that provides families with taxpayer money to help pay for private school. A longtime priority of Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas Republicans were able to pass it through the Legislature in a special session in 2025 after years of opposition from a coalition of Democrats and some Republicans worried about it negatively impacting public schools.
In the period from when applications opened on Feb. 4 through March 8, more than 160,000 Texas families have applied for the vouchers. Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock expects the program to reach capacity in its first year.
Texas school voucher application data by income
According to data from the Comptroller’s Office, 79% of the applicants for TEFA are already in private school. Lawmakers who advocated for the program said it was designed to give public school and homeschooled students an opportunity to switch to a private education.
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After applications close, the Comptroller’s Office will allocate funding to eligible families through a lottery that prioritizes students with disabilities first. Eleven percent of all applicants, about 18,000, are students with disabilities from families at or below 500% of the Federal Poverty Level.
Next on the priority list is students from low- and middle-income families. Just 35% of applicants are from households that earn 200% or less of the Federal Poverty Level:
200% or less of the Federal Poverty Level ($66,000 or less for a family of 4): 35%
Between 200% and 500% of the Federal Poverty Level ($66,001-$164,999 for a family of 4): 36%
500% or more of the Federal Poverty Level: ($165,000 or more for a family of 4): 29%
The Comptroller’s Office will report the waitlist to the Texas Legislature to determine funding for future years.
Texas school voucher application data by grade
The highest share of applications are for students who will be entering pre-K in the fall. Nearly 21,000 applications, about 12.8%, are in that cohort. The number of applicants per grade level declines as the students get older:
Pre-K: 20,975
Kindergarten: 15,777
First grade: 13,654
Second grade: 13,035
Third grade: 12,922
Fourth grade: 12,449
Fifth grade: 12,273
Sixth grade: 12,262
Seventh grade: 10,953
Eighth grade: 9,600
Ninth grade: 9,464
Tenth grade: 7.921
Eleventh grade: 6,731
Twelfth grade: 5,347
Texas school voucher applications by school district
The Comptroller’s Office also released a list that broke down the number of applications submitted in each school district across the state.
How much money public school districts will miss out on will depend on how many enrolled or prospective students they lose to private school because of TEFA, since state funds follow the student. But since 79% of applicants are already in private school, the extent of the impact on public school funding may be limited.
Here are the North Texas school districts with the most TEFA applications from within their boundaries:
