by Duncanville, TX – For the first time in a long time the Duncanville Panthers entered their home stadium as the underdog when the North Crowley Panthers rolled into town. The two are ranked No. 2 and 3 in the state of Texas but North Crowley also holds a top 20 ranking in the country, and it showed why on Friday night as they improved to 4-0 and showed why they are yet again a state championship contender.
The Rundown
The game started in Duncanville’s favor with little offensive production coming from the North Crowley side ending their first drive in a turnover on downs and Duncanville taking over on their own 41 yard line. Duncanville would turn the good field position into a touchdown drive capping it off with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Maximus Denison to Trenton Yancey. However North Crowley would respond in a matter of seconds needing only one play, a 78-yard rush by G’Yrell Smith, to bring the score back to even at 7-7. Duncanville would score again on the last possession of the first quarter with a 6-yard rushing touchdown from Brayden Arnold.
The second quarter was an explosion of offense with six of the seven offensive drives ending in touchdowns. The first being another rushing touchdown by Smith this time a 7-yarder to bring the score back to tied. Duncanville would then get the passing game going again with Denson going to Jairus Ingram from the 7-yard line. Flip sides once more and for a third time Smith found himself in the back of the end zone after a 28-yard rush. On the night Smith accumulated 170 yards on 17 rushing attempts leading the North Crowley running back room and the offense. Duncanville found themselves in an oddly familiar spot capping another drive in a touchdown this time from the 8-yard line on another connection between Denson and Ingram. This would end the scoring for Duncanville in the 1st half being forced to punt on their last drive while North Crowley would score twice more the first time on a 1-yard rush from Kiante Ingram and then following the Duncanville punt. They would finally put the passing game into play completing a 20-yards pass from Jacob Torres to Damarion Mays to take the lead into the locker room 35-28.
Both teams seemed to have figured something out in the locker room though because the third quarter was a punt-a-palooza with neither team producing much offense aside from a lone touchdown run from Ingram of North Crowley for his second of the day from the 3-yard line, but even then the extra point attempt was blocked by Duncanville leaving the score at 41-28.
The fourth would be a similar story with the special teams units running the game. The final North Crowley score would be because of the hands team recovering a muffed punt by the Duncanville returner. This would turn into an immediate touchdown on a 43-yard pass from Torres to Damarion Mays. Duncanville would also capitalize on this drive though scooping a fumble and taking it the other way for two points on the point after attempt. This drive would be the last scoring opportunity for either team ending the game on a turn over on downs and two punts with the final score being 47-30 in North Crowley’s favor.
North Crowley accumulated a total of 512 offensive yards being extremely efficient in the passing game with a 80% completion percentage and an average of 14.6 yards per attempt. The rushing game however was the star of the show, Smith and Ingram combined for 279 yards and 5 touchdowns on 40 attempts. The defense forced two turnovers during the game including an interception.
What’s Next
North Crowley will take on cross town rival Crowley (2-2, 1-0), who defeated Skyline 52-14 this week, Friday Sept 25 at 7 p.m.
Duncanville will look to turn around the young season taking on Red Oak (3-1, 1-0), who defeated Mansfield 23-20 this week, Friday Sept 25 at 7 p.m. Something to note is that Duncanville is only required to finish in the top 4 of the 11-6A district to advance into the playoffs.
