DeSoto shocks Duncanville in Texas high school football game of regular season
DESOTO, TEXAS - Move over, there's a new king of the Lone Star State.
Darius "DJ" Bailey threw for four touchdowns, junior Daylon Singleton had a career day and Marvin Duffey ran for two more scores as DeSoto thrashed district foe Duncanville 49-35 on Saturday in a battle between neighboring national powers.
The win puts the Eagles in front in the District 11-6A title chase, and what was billed as the Texas high school football game of the year lived up to the hype.
Going into Saturday, Duncanville had won 47 district games in a row and had not lost a game since the 2021 state championship.
>> DeSoto upsets Duncanville: Top plays, best performances (game thread)
The matchup between the top two ranked teams in Texas was originally scheduled for Friday night but was postponed to Saturday due to heavy rainfall.
It's DeSoto's first win over Duncanville since 2016. The Eagles lost twice at the hands of Duncanville in 2022 by three scores.
Both rosters are littered with Division I prospects, both offenses had explosive plays and moved the ball consistently. More than 900 yards of total offense was scored.
But DeSoto's defense scored two key turnovers — two second half fumbles — and scored quickly and often.
The Eagles built an early lead behind scoring plays on Singleton's first two touches.
The speedy 5-foot-11 junior (a 4-star SMU commit) took a deep ball the distance for a 76-yard touchdown in the first 15 seconds of the game, then returned a kickoff 98 yards for a second score to put DeSoto up 14-3 with 7:41 left in the first quarter.
He finished with a career-high 179 receiving yards on six catches and scored three total touchdowns — two through the air.
LSU commit Caden Durham helped Duncanville pull even. The running back scored long rushing touchdowns of 36 and 40 yards, and converted a two-point conversion out of the wildcat formation on the first to help ignite the Panthers' comeback efforts.
Durham finished with 135 rushing yards on 15 carries. DeSoto's rushing attack was two-pronged: senior Marvin Duffey carried the bulk of the load with 25 touches for 96 yards and two scores and Jaylin Jones took 15 carries for 74 yards.
Duncanville is the No. 5 team and DeSoto No. 7 in the SBLive/SI national high school football rankings.
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MORE DUNCANVILLE VS. DESOTO COVERAGE:
Antonio Pride hauls in a touchdown reception in No. 2 DeSoto's upset of Duncanville on Saturday.
Photo by Robbie Rakestraw
-- Andy Buhler | andy@scorebooklive.com | @sblivetx
