The back-to-back reigning UIL 6A Division II state champions DeSoto were leading North Crowley 44-33 in the fourth quarter.
Then, the Panthers came back to upset the Eagles. For the first time in nearly two years, DeSoto saw a blemish to their record, when North Crowley came out on top 57-51 in a non-district game at Eagle Stadium. The upset snapped the third-longest active win streak in Texas high school football.
North Crowley started fast, recovering a fumble on kickoff, and scoring on a pass and catch from quarterback Chris Jimerson, Jr. to receiver Quentin Gibson, who took the ball into the end zone from 35 yards out. Gibson accounted for seven receptions for 180 yards and four scores from 35, 36, 36, and 33 yards.
The North Crowley run game were also firing on all four cylinders; Cornelius Warren ran for 153 yards and three touchdowns and Daniel Bray hauled it for 128 yards.
Still DeSoto continued keeping pace with the Panthers, led by quarterback Kelden Ryan, who accounted for six scores for the Eagles and five in the opening two quarters; the first half saw a total of 63 points scored between both teams. The Eagles scored on every possession until the team’s first punt of the game with 8:48 of the fourth quarter. Shortly after, the Panthers iced the contest with a 63-yard Bray scramble with 7:50 remaining.
“The pregame speech was, we are Buster Douglas going against Mike Tyson 37-0. Never been knocked down. And on Feb. 11, 1990, in Tokyo, Buster Douglas knocked down Mike Tyson in Round 10,” North Crowley coach Ray Gates told The Dallas Morning News. “We knew it was going to go four quarters, and we knew we were going to have to withstand their punches and we were going to have to throw our own. And we did it.”
North Crowley’s schedule doesn’t get any easier over the next two weeks; the Panthers will compete against two more state-ranked 6A teams in Denton Guyer and Rockwall. DeSoto looks to righten the ship against undefeated Miller.
