ALLEN — Duncanville’s dynasty and bid for a historic state title three-peat is over.
And North Crowley will play for its first state title in just more than two decades after handing Gatorade National Football Player of the Year Keelon Russell the only playoff loss of his legendary high school career.
North Texas signee Chris Jimerson Jr. threw four touchdown passes, including a critical 49-yard scoring toss to Colorado signee Quentin Gibson early in the fourth quarter, as No. 9 North Crowley stunned No. 3 Duncanville 36-34 in a Class 6A Division I state semifinal. The matchup of nationally ranked teams drew a standing-room-only crowd at Allen’s jam-packed $59.6 million Eagle Stadium that seats 18,000.
When it was over, North Crowley players stormed the field in celebration and were joined by fans who spilled out of the stands.
North Crowley (15-0), which has a Fort Worth address, will be the first school from that city to play in a UIL state championship game in the top classification since Fort Worth Arlington Heights won state in the City classification in 1948. North Crowley won its only state title in 2003, but that was in 4A Division I.
Duncanville (13-1), which fell to 42-2 over the last three seasons, was trying to join Celina, Southlake Carroll, Allen and Highland Park as the only Dallas-area schools to three-peat. Duncanville was also trying to become the 20th school in UIL history to win three straight state titles.
North Crowley avenged a 52-10 loss to Duncanville in last year’s state semifinal and advanced to play four-time state champion Austin Westlake at 7 p.m. next Saturday at AT&T Stadium. Duncanville was playing in the state semifinals for the seventh consecutive season, and this one was a thriller.
Duncanville got a 6-yard touchdown run from JaQualon Armstrong with 7:52 left but failed on the two-point conversion as North Crowley retained a 29-27 lead. North Crowley then drove for a 1-yard touchdown run by Cornelius Warren on a fourth-and-goal play with 3:30 remaining, to make it 36-27. Warren finished with 42 carries for 178 yards and scored two touchdowns.
Duncanville wasn’t dead yet, as it needed just 30 seconds to drive for a touchdown and cut North Crowley’s lead to 36-34 on a 31-yard touchdown pass from Russell to Ayson Theus with 3:00 left. Duncanville had all three timeouts left and chose not to onside kick it, and it never got the ball back, as North Crowley picked up two first downs, the second one on a 2-yard run by Warren with less than two minutes left that clinched the win.
Russell, who finished 16-1 in the playoffs in his career, threw for 303 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for a score in his seventh 300-yard game of the season. Five-star Oregon signee Dakorien Moore, the nation’s No. 1-ranked wide receiver, had seven catches for 138 yards and a touchdown in the final game of his Duncanville career.
Westlake stunned Galena Park North Shore, ranked No. 6 in the nation, 35-10 in the other semifinal. 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 had played each other in the state championship game four consecutive years.
Duncanville trailed 15-0 early but took its first lead, 21-15, on a 58-yard touchdown pass from Russell to Moore with 9:50 left in the third quarter. It took North Crowley just more than two minutes to regain the lead, 22-21, on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Jimerson Jr. to Cam Hunter with 7:47 left in the third quarter.
It appeared that Duncanville was poised to retake the lead, but on a fourth-and-10 play at the North Crowley 25, Trenton Yancey was stopped a yard short of the first down after a 9-yard pass from Russell. North Crowley quickly extended its lead to 29-21 as Jimerson threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Gibson, who snuck behind the defense on a fourth-and-3 play.
Duncanville trailed 15-14 at halftime, and the only other game this season in which it was down in the second half was against nationally ranked St. Frances (Md.) Academy on Sept. 14, when Duncanville was down 16-7 in the third quarter and 24-21 in the fourth quarter. Duncanville rallied to win that one 28-24 as Russell threw a game-winning 22-yard touchdown pass to Zach Turner with 1:57 remaining.
North Crowley shocked Duncanville by racing to a 12-0 lead with two touchdowns in the first five minutes of the game — before Duncanville ran its first offensive play. Jimerson Jr. threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Gibson on a fourth-and-4 play to cap a game-opening 64-yard drive, then after North Crowley recovered an onside kick, Jimerson threw a 26-yard scoring pass to Warren.
That was Gibson’s 32nd touchdown catch of the season, tying him with former Frisco Lone Star phenom Marvin Mims — now an NFL Pro Bowler with the Denver Broncos — for sixth-most in a season in state history. Then in the fourth quarter, Gibson moved into a tie for fifth on that prestigious list with Cowboys three-time Pro Bowl receiver CeeDee Lamb, who had 33 touchdown catches for Richmond Foster in 2016.
North Crowley outgained Duncanville 170 yards to 4 in the first quarter, and Duncanville didn’t have a first down. North Crowley extended its lead to 15-0 on a 26-yard field goal by Diego Gonzalez on the first play of the second quarter, then forced a fumble by Moore that was recovered by Thomas Cook Jr. at the North Crowley 29 to end Duncanville’s first threat of the game.
Duncanville got right back in it with a 2-yard touchdown run by Armstrong, cutting North Crowley’s lead to 15-7 with 6:35 left in the second quarter. One of the game’s biggest plays occurred on North Crowley’s next possession when it tried a fake punt that was unsuccessful and gave Duncanville the ball at its 39, and Russell capped a 61-yard drive with a 14-yard touchdown run with 1:01 left in the half to make it 15-14.
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