South Oak Cliff dominates Lovejoy to reach Texas high school football state semifinals
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - South Oak Cliff seemed to be written off early in the season.
The Bears lost a multitude of starters to graduation off of their back-to-back state title teams. They were routed in the season opener against Duncanville, then were crushed two weeks later by DeSoto.
And in the postseason, several high-caliber Metroplex teams were licking their chops, believing they were the ones to end the Bears' reign.
But a funny thing has happened. The Bears aren't going away, and with one more win, can find themselves right back down the road at AT&T Stadium aiming for a "three-peat."
"It would feel amazing; it would feel like history again, and all the hard work paid off during the summer," said senior tailback Khalil Ewell. "We just wanted to come out here and execute and give culture for the team."
South Oak Cliff continued its impressive postseason run by manhandling a strong Lucas Lovejoy team for the Class 5A Division II Region II title. Behind a pair of first-half touchdown runs from Danny Green, the Bears rolled to a 21-0 lead by halftime on their way to a 42-0 win at Choctaw Stadium.
And the Bears continue to play with a proverbial chip on their shoulder and show their opponents they're just as good as they were the past two seasons.
"Most definitely, I love proving people wrong," senior defensive lineman Kendrick Brown said. "That's just what it is.
"They counted us out because we lost to teams that were bigger than us anyway, but we still run 5A Division II."
While the Bears (12-2) started their season 1-2, it's easy to point out both losses came to the defending 6A Division I and 6A Division II state champions in Duncanville and DeSoto, respectively. However, the Bears weren't in either game by halftime.
SOC did rebound quite nicely, ending the regular season with seven straight wins, winning by an average margin of 43.3 points. Then the Bears opened postseason play with a businesslike win against Everman.
But they heard whispers that they might have met their match against an extremely talented Melissa squad in the area round, with the Cardinals loaded with standouts on both sides of the ball.
South Oak Cliff, however, was able to withstand the Cardinals' charge, claiming a 38-30 win. The next week didn't get any easier, taking on a Midlothian Heritage team that sported an undefeated record. But once again, the Bears' playoff pedigree came through as they survived, winning 42-31.
Then came Saturday, taking on a Lovejoy team eager for revenge after the Leopards lost to the Bears in last season's area round. Lovejoy came in with a ton of confidence, especially after beating Melissa on the road in the regular-season finale.
Things got off to a strong start for the Leopards (12-2) in the rematch, as RJ McIntosh came down with an interception on the game's opening series. But the Bears forced the Leopards to punt it away on their first drive, as well as on their second drive.
On the Bears' third possession, they broke through as Green took a handoff at his own 31-yard line. The senior tailback initially sprinted to his right before immediately cutting back the other way and eventually finding room down the left sideline for a 69-yard run with 2:46 left in the opening quarter, putting SOC up, 7-0.
The Bears forced another punt, and on their next offensive series, extended the lead, thanks to Green once more. After catching a 16-yard pass from quarterback William Little down to the Lovejoy 4, Green took a handoff on the next play and waltzed into the end zone, making it 14-0 a minute into the second quarter.
South Oak Cliff takes prides in run attack in three-peat Texas high school football title chase
Later in the first half, the Leopards attempted a fake punt near their 40 but a pass went incomplete. SOC took over and in five plays, made it 21-0 as Little found Ewell wide open in the end zone from 7 yards out.
"That was the (game-clincher) right there," Ewell said.
"I had a little slow start at first, but my team was able to keep me up and keep me going, and I just came out here and did what I do best, and give it my all."
The Bears' defense did the rest, especially in the third quarter, denying the Leopards two strong scoring chances.
Lovejoy faced a fourth-and-9 at the SOC 17. Quarterback Alexander Franklin initially went back to pass before finding running room up the middle. However, SOC defensive lineman Paul Blair came up to make the stop short of the sticks.
Later in the third, Lovejoy drove all the way down to the 1-yard line, where it faced fourth-and-goal. Running back Mikal Trotter took a snap from the wildcat formation, but was swarmed by a host of Bears mere inches short of the goal line, among them Brown and linebacker Jamarion Phillips.
"I had seen (Trotter) come in and then I just went to the three-man front because I knew that's what they (were going to do)," said Brown, who added he was able to get past one of Lovejoy's guards and converge on the play.
"We were able to stop the run, and then didn't let them pass the ball and we got a bunch of sacks. Then, we just stayed on it and continued like that throughout the game."
The Bears then proceeded to put together a 20-play 99-yard drive to put things out of reach. After Little threw a 33-yard pass to receiver Rickey Evans down to the Lovejoy 5, Ewell ran it in from there for his second score of the afternoon.
It was all academic at that point, and Green added another exclamation point by darting 39 yards into the end zone with 6:03 left for his third TD. More than two minutes later, it was 42-0 as Elijah Baesa caught a 28-yard TD pass, as the Bears' road to a "three-peat" remains intact.
Not to mention silencing even more doubters.
"It felt amazing because they did a lot of talking throughout the week, and so we got to shut them down and show them that they wasn't what they thought they were," Brown said.
SOC held Lovejoy to 215 total yards, 97 of which was on the ground. Green, meanwhile, had 187 yards rushing on 19 carries and his three TDs while Ewell added 78 yards on 16 carries to go with his two total TDs.
"I want to give a huge shout-out to my o-line; they came out here and dominated (Saturday)," Ewell said. "And a huge shout-out to the 'Death Row' defense, and they came out here and dominated as well; came out and executed, and we're moving on to next week."
Little completed 9-of-15 passes for 108 yards as the Bears finished with 401 total yards.
Next up for the Bears: A state semifinal against another big-time Metroplex foe in Frisco Emerson, boasting an electric offense led by quarterback and Oklahoma commit Michael Hawkins.
Just another challenge coming up for the Bears, and can they come through one more time to make it right back to AT&T Stadium?
Tune in next week to find out. And the Bears say, continue to doubt us at your own risk.
"It feels great, and they're going to keep doubting us and we're going to keep putting it on out there," Brown said.
-- Buck Ringgold | buck@scorebooklive.com | @SBLiveTX
Lead photo by Michael Horbovetz.
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