FRISCO – Saturday, December 10, the DeSoto Eagles defeated the Denton Guyer Wildcats 47-28 in blowout fashion at the Ford Center in Frisco in the 6A Division II state semifinals to reach the 2022 UIL Texas Football State Championship.
DeSoto dominated on both sides of the ball and showcased a nearly unstoppable run game.
The Eagle’s running game dominated as they rushed for 437 yards.
Sophomore running back Deondrae Riden carried the ball 28 times and ran for a whopping 224 yards and two touchdowns in the game.
DeSoto Quarterback Darius Bailey threw for 11 of 17 for 126 yards and a touchdown and ran for two scores.
But DeSoto’s defense didn’t let their offense hog all the glory as the defense sacked the Wildcats Quarterback five times and had one fumble recovery.
At one point DeSoto sacked Denton Guyer’s Quarterback Jackson Arnold on three consecutive plays to force a turnover on downs.
The Eagles beat a dominating Guyer team that went undefeated in the regular season and blew out Southlake Carrol 45-21 in a previous matchup.
DeSoto Head Coach Claude Mathis was happy to come out of Frisco with a win.
“I can’t explain how happy I am for our whole football team but to be doing this for my own kids especially my boys, but all these players they deserve this so much it’s unbelievable,” said Mathis speaking to Scorebook Live.
DeSoto (13-2) will play Austin Vandergrift (14-1) in the 6A Division II state championship game at 3 p.m. next Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
DeSoto is making its first trip to the state championship since its 6A Division II title win over Cibolo Steele in 2016.
It will be Mathis’ first.
He coached DeSoto from 2007-14, left to coach at SMU and Marshall from 2015-18, and returned in 2019.
Joshua Carter