Defending Champs Fall in UIL Quarterfinals; TAPPS Winners Crowned: Week 14 in Texas high school football

Dallas Parish Episcopal Reclaims TAPPS Crown; Two UIL State Champions Lose

Jaylen Pile helped Dallas Parish Episcopal to win the TAPPS Division I title for the sixth time in the past seven years last week. Pile is a Michigan signee. / Cody Thorn

The penultimate week of Texas high school football is upon us. This week, from Thursday to Saturday, the UIL will hold state semifinal games to determine who advances to AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

For the private schools, the state championships were held last weekend in Waco.

We will look back at some key moments that stood out from the TAPPS state championship games and then review the quarterfinal results for UIL schools.

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TAPPS Champs

Dallas Parish Episcopal School is again the Division I champion in TAPPS, thanks to a 14-7 win against Plano Prestonwood Christian last Friday.

The game was a rematch of a game earlier this season that the Panthers won 38-35 on October 23. Junior Jonathon Phillips scored twice for Episcopal, who lost in the finals last year to Argyle Liberty Christian. Parish Episcopal had won five straight Division I state championships from 2019 to 2023.

Kingston Thornton had an interception late to seal the win.

Fort Worth All Saints secured a back-to-back title in Division II with a 34-16 win over Houston Second Baptist. Gavin Beard threw for 250 yards and 4 touchdowns, three of them going to Hudson Reasor.

Saturday saw Lubbock Christian School and Dallas First Baptist Academy win titles.

Lubbock Christian denied Dallas Christian a chance at winning five in a row with a 36-30 win.

Jackson Doyle’s pass to Keaton Lee for a 44-yard score gave Lubbock Christian the lead, 34-40. Doyle then hit Beckham Solis for the 2-point conversion to account for the final score in the Division III finals.

Dallas First Baptist won a rematch of last year’s Division IV finals, beating Bryan Brazos Christian, 62-44.

Senior Dylan Jones threw for 409 yards and 5 touchdowns for the Saints. Junior wide receiver Lincoln Schleif had 3 catches for 195 yards — all touchdowns.

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REMATCH HERE, REMATCH THERE

There were 40 quarterfinal games last weekend, 19 of them were regular season rematches and of that 16, were among district foes. In some cases, the results were flipped.

Some of the notable ones included East Bernard winning 34-31 against El Maton Tidehaven after losing 59-6 to the same team on Nov. 7.

On the other end of a surprising win was Aledo and the margin in beating Denton Ryan, 43-17. During the District 3-5A Division I game in October, Aledo escaped with a 15-14 win.

Duncanville avenged its only loss with a rematch win against Waxahachie, 35-27. Carthage barely survived Athens on October 17, winning 61-56. The second meeting was a 63-28 win for the Bulldogs.

In South Texas, Sinton got revenge for its only loss with a 45-42 win against Cuero. On October 17, the Gobblers beat Sinton, 56-55.

Cuero finished the year with two losses by a combined 4 points.

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STATE CHAMPIONS NO MORE

Two defending state champions saw a chance at a repeat end in the quarterfinals.

Allen beat North Crowley in a showdown in Denton, meaning there will be a new Class 6A Division I champion. Read about how that game transpired here.

Columbus, the Class 3A Division I champions, was knocked off 20-14 by Yoakum. That was another regular season rematch with the Cardinals winning 28-10 on Oct. 17.

This time around, the rushing attack of X’Zavier Barnett (80 yards, 2 TDs) and freshman Germarquis Robinson (71 yards, 1 TD) accounted for all of the scores.

Ganado was the first champion to be bounced, losing 40-13 to Refugio on Nov. 28.

State Champions still alive include Gordon (6-man Division 1), Jayton (6-man Division 2), Muenster (2A Division 2), Gunter (3A Division 1), Celina (Class 4A Division 1), Carthage (4A Division 2), Spring Branch Smithson Valley (Class 5A Division 1), Richmond Dr. Thomas E. Randle (Class 5A Division 2) and Austin Vandegrift (Class 6A Division 2).

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SOMETHING WILL GIVE

This week’s semifinal slate features some marquee matchups and some of those will feature a team that will suffer loss No. 1 on the season.

Here’s the game pitting 14-0 teams against each other this week:

• Class 5A Division I — Aledo vs. Frisco Lone Star

• Class 4A Division I — Stephenville vs. Celina

• Class 4A Division II — Brock vs. Carthage

• Class 2A Division II — Mount Enterprise vs. Shiner

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HELLO: WHO ARE YOU?

There are three teams making the semifinals for the first time in program history. Two of those streaks date back nearly 70 years.

• Houston C.E King — 1955

• Mount Enterprise — 1956

• Peaster — 2019

Stinnett West Texas is in the semifinals for the first time since 1995. The other teams left have made the finals this century. Melissa and Port Arthur Memorial are in the final four for the first time since 2011.

And an example of how being good the previous year is an indicator of future success — 20 of the 40 semifinalists were in this round in 2024.