North Shore goes for IV
The North Shore Mustangs are looking to build on their case as the top public school program in the country with a chance at a fourth State title over Dallas rivals Duncanville in five years.
North Shore, a 6A Texas high school on the #EastSide of Houston, is playing for their sixth state championship this coming weekend.
The NS Mustangs won their first in 2003, had a lull before winning again in 2015 under promoted head coach Jon Kay (promoted in 2014, longtime defensive assistant prior), and then ripped off wins in 2018, 2019, and 2021.
In 2015 they juuuuust eked out a victory over the Sam Ehlinger Westlake Chaparrals in the State Final. Westlake missed a chip shot field goal which would have done the trick and then infamously ran a wide receiver reverse/pass for an overtime two-point conversion play rather than involving Ehlinger. The trick play failed and the Mustangs won their first title under Kay.
In 2018 and 2019 they played the Duncanville Panthers for the State Championship. The 2018 game was LEGENDARY with D-Ville quarterback Ja’Quinden Jackson (now a Utah Ute running back) running all over their defense but North Shore sophomore quarterback Dematrius Davis hitting a Hail Mary for the winning score with the time expiring on the clock.
Everyone was buzzed for what seemed to be an inevitable rematch in 2019 but Jackson tore his knee in the semifinal and D-Ville was clobbered without him.
The 2020 Mustangs were expected to get back with a senior Davis but lost in the semi-final to Westlake. In 2021 they rolled through the playoffs again and squared off against a healthy Duncanville for the title and won a defensive struggle, 17-10.
This year? Same basic story.
Westlake drew the Division 1 track (two biggest playoff eligible schools in a district enter the division 1 playoff, two smaller into the division II playoff) rather than Division II, putting them back in the path of North Shore. The Mustangs pummeled them last week 49-34. Guess who they’ll play in the State Final? Yeah, Duncanville.
I think there are good reasons Westlake has tended to be the tougher foil for them than Duncanville and has to do with the same reason North Shore has been absolutely dominant in the Jon Kay era with a shot at another Championship at the highest level of Texas high school football.
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