Saturday was a long time coming for Dallas ISD.
After South Oak Cliff knocked off Liberty Hill 23-14 in the 5A Division II State Title Game, the Golden Bears became the first Dallas ISD school to win a state title since 1958. That last title was won before integration as Booker T. Washington took home the Prairie View Interscholastic League title.
South Oak Cliff head coach Jason Todd said that his team was proud to carry the banner for the other 21 Dallas ISD schools as they took the field on Saturday morning.
“We felt like we were representing Dallas ISD, and that was a motto we had long before we started the playoffs,” Todd said. “We knew those other 21 high schools were on our back too. Not only the current teams, but the teams of the past too.”
With an official attendance of 42,275 at AT&T Stadium on Saturday morning, the support from Dallas for South Oak Cliff was visible. Junior defensive back Abdul Muhammad said he and his teammates were glad to be able to bring a trophy back to the city.
“It just means a lot,” Muhammad said. “The whole city was behind us, and we knew what we had to do. We came out there and finished what we started.”
Liberty Hill trailed 17-14 with five minutes to go in the fourth quarter, and it looked like the Panthers had come up with a big play as Andon Thomas picked up a first down on a fake punt attempt. However, the play was called back due to holding. Liberty Hill decided to attempt another fake punt, but this one fell incomplete.
That incompletion gifted South Oak Cliff great field position, which it took full advantage of as Qualon Farrar broke free for a 17-yard touchdown run with just over two minutes to go.
Afterwards, Liberty Hill head coach Kent Walker rued the errors his team made on the night as he reflected on his fake punt call.
“We just made too many mistakes,” Walker said. “We tried a fake punt and got the yardage and had a holding penalty. We tried another fake punt just because we knew we needed to try to keep the ball there, and that’s probably my fault. Hindsight, we probably should’ve punted the ball deep and made them earn it. But I’m proud of these kids, they fought their tails off today.”
Liberty Hill finished with 276 rushing yards in its vaunted slot-T offense, well below its season average of nearly 400 yards per game. Walker said afterwards that the South Oak Cliff defensive front challenged his team all game long.
“They’re definitely the fastest defense we’ve seen,” Walker said. “They’re so big up front, it made it very difficult for us to move [the ball]. That’s the best defense we saw all year.”
As fans filed into the stadium at the beginning of the game, South Oak Cliff looked to start proceedings with a bang, calling a deep shot to Jamyri Cauley on its first play. And even though that didn’t hit, the Golden Bears found the end zone nine plays later as Kevin Henry-Jennings connected with Corinthean Coleman on fourth down for a 17-yard score.
Henry-Jennings made key throws all game long and was named Offensive MVP after finishing with 144 passing yards and two touchdowns, while helping his team go three-for-three on fourth down.
And despite being unable to come up with the ball on the opening play, Cauley made amends on the third drive of the game for the Golden Bears, securing an impressive 27-yard touchdown reception in the back of the end zone with a defender draped all over him.
With South Oak Cliff up 14-0, Liberty Hill’s slot-T machine began churning out yards. The Panthers answered with an eight-play, 63-yard drive that was capped off by a 10-yard run by Thomas. Joe Pitchford then broke off a 62-yard run on the next Liberty Hill drive, setting up Thomas to score a short-yardage rushing touchdown to knot the score at 14 heading to the half.
The defenses then stood tall at the start of the start half as Liberty Hill missed a field goal attempt after a big third down stop by Muhammad, who won Defensive MVP, before the teams traded punts in a scoreless third quarter.
Diego Varela ended up scoring what would be the winning points for South Oak Cliff on a 29-yard field goal with eight minutes to go after a 13-play, 79-yard drive by the Golden Bears. That kick was followed by Liberty Hill’s fake punt, Farrar’s touchdown, and a lot of celebrating for fans in white shirts as the clock ticked to zero.
Liberty Hill, meanwhile, will have to wait at least another year for its first state title since 2007.
“It hurts the whole team,” Thomas said. “I’m sorry we couldn’t finish it, but that’s the way it goes. It just hurts a lot.”
But despite the defeat, it was a remarkable run for Liberty Hill (13-3) after the Panthers replaced all 11 starters offensively heading into this season and lost their opening game against Killeen Ellison.
“Obviously, 11 new starters, they had to get going,” senior defensive lineman Lloyd Johnson Jr. said of the offense. “It took time, but they definitely pulled through this whole season. Proud of them.”
Todd has grown up in Dallas ISD. He attended school at Dallas Lincoln before coaching there and at Skyline. His grandfather was a principal at South Oak Cliff for 14 years.
Todd said he is proud to be from Dallas and that he could basically be considered a Dallas ISD historian. With that perspective in the locker room, his players understood the magnitude of what they had just accomplished for Dallas ISD.
Henry-Jennings said he believes the Golden Bears showed Dallas ISD schools what it’s possible to achieve. Well, at least as long as your playoff path doesn’t include South Oak Cliff next season.
“We just put it on the table for the others to keep going for this,” Henry-Jennings said. “It means a lot for us. Next year we’ll be back.”
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