ARLINGTON – The Panthers scored three touchdowns in the first quarter and Caden Durham finished the game with 231 yards rushing as Duncanville beat North Shore 49-33 in the Class 6A Division 1 state championship on Saturday at AT&T Stadium.
Duncanville wins its second straight title and third overall.
It was the third straight year the two teams met at state and fifth in six seasons. North Shore won the first three contests in 2018, 2019 and 2021.
Duncanville (13-1) scored less than a minute in the game when the 4-star LSU commit Durham rushed in a 26-yard touchdown. D’andre Hardeman scored from 5 yards out to help North Shore (14-1) tie the game at 7 with 5:17 left in the first quarter.
Less than a minute later and Durham found the end zone again – from 72 yards.
Durham was voted state champ offensive MVP for the second straight season. He had 104 yards and three scores last year when Duncanville won 28-21.
Then the Panthers scored again with an SMU to LSU connection.
QB Keelon Russell (3 stars) hit #1 receiver Dakorien Moore (5 stars) on a 39-yard toss and it was 21-7 with 1:27 left in the opening period. Moore committed to LSU in August. He is rated the #1 WR for his class in the country by 247Sports. He’s also the #1 player in Texas for the 2025 class.
Two minutes later and Duncanville extended the margin to 28-7.
Durham punched in his third and final touchdown – from 92 yards – with 11:29 left in the second quarter. It was the second longest rushing TD in a 6A state championship game.
After a field goal by the Mustangs cut it to 28-10, Duncanville kept its foot on the gas. Russell found 3-star tight end Zach Turner on a 28-yard TD pass and it was 35-10 with 6:59 left before intermission. Turner has 13 offers with 11 from a Power Five school.
QB Kaleb Bailey and Chris Barnes scored on a 9-yard pass and catch for North Shore to get the Mustangs within 35-17 with five minutes to go. Duncanville would take that score into the break.
North Shore opened the third quarter with a kickoff return for six, but it was called back after the Mustangs were called for a hold. The Mustangs would score later in the quarter on a 35-yard field goal by Jonathan Soto to make it a two-possession game at 35-20 midway through the period.
Russell and Turner connected for a second time – on a 75-yard pass nearly four minutes later to push the Panthers’ lead to 42-20. Duncanville’s final score came on a 10-yard run by Russell with 6:29 left in the fourth.
Bailey threw two more TD passes for North Shore – 11 yards to Barnes and 28 yards to Jaylen Bocard – both in the fourth quarter. Bailey had 239 yards passing with three TDs and added a team high 126 yards on 17 carries.
Russell was 14 of 20 for 288 yards and three scores for Duncanville.
Ayson Theus had 106 yards on five catches while Moore added 62 on five.
Turner had 103 yards on three catches.
The Panthers out gained the Mustangs 538-449.
5-star UT commit Colin Simmons was voted defensive MVP for the second year in a row with eight tackles, three sacks and one forced fumble. Simmons, who is the #1 edge rusher in the country for 2024, recorded 4 1/2 tackles and two sacks last year against North Shore.
Mason Williams had a team high 10 tackles for the Panthers.
3-star UT commit Alex January posted nine tackles, two for loss and one sack. Ka’Davion Dotson-Walker had a pick and EJ McKinney recovered a fumble. Kevin Ford had three tackles for Duncanville. He’s the #1 player in Texas for the 2026 class.
