Duncanville-DeSoto is neither the oldest nor the closest, but it is the best rivalry in Texas HS football

Duncanville-DeSoto isn't the oldest rivalry in the major leagues of Texas high school football. Denison-Sherman began at the turn of the century. “Battle for the Axe.” Also a first-class trophy. Duncanville-DeSoto isn't the closest rival either. Only 2 miles separate Lincoln and Madison, host of the South Dallas Super Bowl. Probably not the bitterest either. Could be Odessa Permian-Midland Legacy, infused with the West Texas maxim: “Raise families in Midland; Make hell in Odessa.”

But that preferably Is there a rivalry in Texas' biggest classification?

Duncanville-DeSoto if titles matter.

Heading into Friday's series resumption between the District 11-6A rivals at Eagle Stadium, both are two-time defending state champions. MaxPreps ranks Duncanville No. 1 and DeSoto fifth in Texas and fourth and 17th in the country, respectively.

By the way, you could roam this country from sea to sea and not find two better programs up close, just 9 miles apart on Cockrell Hill Road.

“I think so,” said David Barron, a former longtime editor-in-chief of Dave Campbell's Texas Football“This is the quintessential rivalry in Texas high school football.”

And if you think balance is a measure of rivalry, consider this: Of the 33 games Duncanville and DeSoto have played since 1972, DeSoto has won 17, according to TexasHighSchoolFootballHistory.com, regular season and playoffs combined oh so good nose -16.

For the last half dozen years or so, only Austin Westlake-Lake Travis has been comparable in terms of proximity and power options. Duncanville, DeSoto and Westlake have each achieved six top-25 finishes in the MaxPreps national rankings since their debut in 2004. Lake Travis has five. Southlake Carroll leads all Texas schools with seven schools.

Greg Tepper, Editor-in-Chief of Dave Campbell's Texas Football Duncanville-DeSoto hasn't looked like the state's traditional rivalries since 2011. El Campo and Bay City have played almost four times as often. Longview-Marshall is a rite of passage for generations of football families in East Texas.

Before Reginald Samples left Skyline and moved to the suburbs, DeSoto's biggest rival was actually Cedar Hill. “Battle for the Belt.” The change in priorities began shortly after Samples arrived in Duncanville in 2015.

In his first year, the Panthers posted a 2-8 record, which was hardly an exception. The program had been declining since Bob Alpert won the school's first state title in 1998.

The rehearsals didn't take long to get everything right. He has won at least 10 games every year since his debut, which didn't surprise Michael Hinojosa, the former Dallas ISD superintendent. He has known Samples since 1980, when he was the freshman coach at Adamson and Samples coached the freshmen at Madison.

“First of all, he’s like me,” Hinojosa said. “Forty-seven of my people have become superintendents. All of these great leaders know how to teach what they know. He's that kind of guy. Also very smart. Black kids who wanted something better? He was like the Pied Piper.

“He’s tough, but he’s like a father to these kids.”

Both Duncanville and DeSoto benefited, Hinojosa said, from the migration of middle-class South Oak Cliff, Kimball and Carter families to the southern suburbs. Claude Mathis was the first to take advantage of the talent shift south. He coached DeSoto from 2008 to 2014 before moving to SMU and then Marshall.

Since returning to DeSoto in 2019, he has picked up where he left off. In his 13th year with the Eagles over two seasons, he has a 140-29 record and 10 double-digit wins this season.

“Coach Samples is a lot more old-school,” Tepper said. “He wants to run the ball and win with defense, while coach Mathis is a little newer in my opinion.” He wants to be a little more dynamic offensively.

“You can just watch them on the sidelines. Mathis is very fiery, lively. Samples is very calm.”

The opposing coaches are friendly, but not necessarily friends. For one thing, Mathis is younger. Nor is it a branch of Samples' extensive coaching tree. Not that there aren't similarities.

Before both coaches won Class 6A Division I and II titles the past two years, they were on the verge of winning it all. So heartbreakingly close, in fact, that some wondered if they ever would.

Samples and Mathis also coach what Tepper says is as “top talent” as any coach in the country. Other, larger schools may have more depth but not as much cream at the top. Duncanville has five-star quarterback Keelon Russell throwing to five-star wide receiver Dakorien Moore.

Who else can claim double that?

“I would compare them to all public schools in America,” Tepper said.

Coaching, talent, proximity and winning – especially winning – have made this latecomer the state's top rival before the time normally required for the meet. The question is: Can both sides stick to their goal? What happens if it becomes one-sided? It helps that these are single-school towns. Historically, when all of a city's resources go into one school, it is easier to maintain quality at the state level.

For now, at least, Duncanville-DeSoto's reputation is safe.

“As long as they have these people at the top,” Tepper said, “they can keep doing this.”

Twitter/X: @KSherringtonDMN

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