Going into the final week of the Texas high school football regular season, 21 playoff spots were up for grabs across 23 Dallas-area UIL districts.
Only one Dallas-Fort Worth district — 4-5A Division II — had its seeding finalized as Week 11 began Thursday.
That made for a lot of stressful moments, especially in District 4-6A. And in District 6-6A, it required a lot of scoreboard watching.
In the game of the night Friday, Keller got a game-winning 4-yard touchdown run from Quintin Shropshire with 1:03 remaining and then intercepted a Hail Mary pass in the end zone on the game’s final play to beat Northwest Eaton 48-45 and earn the final playoff berth in 4-6A. An Eaton win would have created a four-way tie for fourth place, but instead, Keller rallied from a 10-point third-quarter deficit and will play defending Class 6A Division I state champion North Crowley in the first round of the playoffs.
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“I like to be in the situation where all we need to do is win,” Keller coach Carl Stralow said. “Eaton needed to win by 12, and they were chasing points there at the end. I didn’t care if the score was 83-81 or 3-0.”
Here are the other districts that had crazy finishes to the regular season:
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District 6-6A
Plano West, which was 0-10 last season and 1-19 the last two years, controlled its destiny in 6-6A as the week began, but it had to beat state No. 7-ranked Prosper on Thursday to avoid needing help to make the playoffs for the first time since 2020.
For three quarters, it looked like Plano West might pull off one of the biggest upsets in the state this season, as it led Prosper 28-27 going into the fourth quarter.
Watching that game intently was Prosper Rock Hill, which needed Plano West to lose to have a chance to make the playoffs for a second straight season in its sixth year of varsity football. Rock Hill got the help it needed, as Prosper outscored Plano West 35-0 in the fourth quarter and rallied to win 62-28.
That flip-flop put Rock Hill in control in the chase for 6-6A’s final playoff spot. With a win over McKinney on Friday, Rock Hill would own the tiebreaker over Plano West and Princeton for fourth place, but a loss would put Plano West in the playoffs.
The smallest school in District 6-6A, with an enrollment of 2,373, didn’t waste its opportunity. Rock Hill beat McKinney 38-12 as Nate Vincent threw for 345 yards and five touchdowns and Bryce Allen had 12 catches for 178 yards and four touchdowns.
The reward for Rock Hill, which was picked to finish sixth in 6-6A in the preseason, is a first-round 6A Division II matchup with District 5-6A champion Denton Guyer, ranked No. 11 in the state.
District 9-6A
Garland Naaman Forest beat South Garland 53-0 on Thursday but still needed help to make the playoffs. It got it when District 9-6A champion Wylie East held on to beat Wylie 36-28 on Friday, sending Naaman Forest to the postseason two years after it finished 1-9.
District 3-6A
A similar story took place in District 3-6A, in which Mansfield Lake Ridge finished second and made the playoffs after posting a 1-19 record the last two years and being picked to finish last in 3-6A this year.
Quarterback Deshawn Edwards threw for 357 yards and accounted for eight touchdowns (six passing, two rushing) as Lake Ridge beat Fort Worth Boswell 69-34 on Friday to finish the regular season 8-2 — the same number of wins it had the past five years combined — and earn a first-round playoff matchup with three-time state champion Euless Trinity.
District 8-6A
In District 8-6A, there was a possibility of a four-way tie for the final two playoff spots if Arlington Martin beat Arlington and Arlington Lamar and Haltom both lost.
Martin did its part to make that happen, beating Arlington 49-48 in overtime, but Lamar and Haltom took care of business to clinch postseason berths. Lamar routed Grand Prairie 47-8 as Khamill Pruitt had seven catches for 157 yards and a touchdown, and Haltom shut out Arlington Sam Houston 48-0 with Vudrico Roberson running for 152 yards and three touchdowns.
“The big game for us was last week. We really needed Bowie to beat Lamar, and that happened. What that did, is any potential tiebreakers we were going to come out on the positive end of the points,” said Haltom coach Jason Tucker, whose team will open the playoffs against Richardson.
District 6-5AI
One of the best stories in the Dallas area was North Mesquite making the playoffs for the first time since 2015 thanks to a 49-15 win over Carrollton R.L. Turner. North Mesquite was 21-68 the previous nine years but avoided a three-way tie for fourth place in District 6-5A Division I with its fourth straight win after a 1-3 district start.
This will be North Mesquite’s third playoff appearance in 23 years. It will play undefeated Frisco Lone Star in the first round.
“It was a lot of fun,” North Mesquite coach Tim Seder said of Thursday’s win. “That’s what makes it exciting. It makes you really appreciate it for sure, especially around here. It’s been a long time coming, and our kids have worked really hard and fought really hard. It’s pretty gratifying to really have to fight for it and earn it.”
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Top first-round pairings
The playoffs will feature plenty of intriguing matchups when they start Thursday.
In Class 6A Division I, five-time state champion Allen will play Lewisville in the first round for the fourth straight season. The winner of the previous three matchups went on to reach the regional final.
In 6A Division II, Prosper will host Hebron in the first round. Hebron placed fourth in District 5-6A, but it had the same finish last year and went on to reach the third round of the playoffs.
In 5A Division II, all of the 3-5A vs. 4-5A matchups will be among the best bi-district games in D-FW. Argyle plays Lovejoy, Mansfield Timberview faces Anna, Prosper Walnut Grove battles Arlington Seguin and Melissa meets Colleyville Heritage.