South Oak Cliff beats Liberty Hill in 5A DII title game, secures Dallas ISD’s first state championship since 1958

ARLINGTON, Texas — When South Oak Cliff faced its second fourth-down situation on the opening drive of their first appearance in a Texas high school football state title game there was little doubt what to do next.

The Golden Bears trotted back onto the field and lined up in a shotgun on fourth and six against Liberty Hill.

Senior quarterback Kevin Henry-Jennings took the snap, scanned the field and connected with junior wide receiver Corinthian Coleman on a crossing route for a 17-yard touchdown pass.

“It set the tone,” Henry-Jennings said. “We just know to stay calm and confident in those big situations. 

Henry-Jennings and the Golden Bears set the tone then and there, converting on 100% of their fourth-down tries and never looking back en route to a 23-14 victory over the Panthers in the UIL’s Class 5A Division II State Championship game on Saturday afternoon at AT&T Stadium.

The victory marked the first football state title for any Dallas ISD school since 1958 and first in program history for South Oak Cliff. The last time a DISD program advanced to a Texas state championship game at any classification level was 2004.

“Man this means a lot,” Henry-Jennings said. “We did it for the whole Dallas community. We had them on our back and just kept pushing.”

“We felt like we were representing Dallas ISD and that was a motto we had long before we started the playoffs. We’re one school out of 22 high schools, and we know how those other 21 high schools were on our back too. Not only the current team, but the teams of the past,” South Oak Cliff head coach Jason Todd said.

“It just shows you if the right thing is going forward, I know we can get the whole city behind it. And that's what's big because it wasn't just a South Oak Cliff thing or only an Oak Cliff thing,” he added. “This is about Dallas, and putting Dallas back on the map and showing that we can play ball with anybody else in the state of Texas.”

Henry-Jennings, an SMU signee, and the Golden Bears thrived off the energy of a raucous crowd of 42,275 that included Dallas Mayor Eric Johns among many prominent DFW figures in attendance.

Henry-Jennings gave South Oak Cliff a multi-possession lead by firing a laser of a pass to sophomore wide receiver Jamyri Cauley, who made a diving grab in the back-left corner of the end zone for a spectacular 27-yard touchdown catch with 7:46 remaining in the second quarter.

“It obviously presented a great challenge,” Liberty Hill senior linebacker and running back Andon Thomas said. “They were really athletic and really fast. Props to them, they executed on offense and they had really great athletes.”

That’s when the Liberty Hill’s Slot-T offensive attack caught fire.

Thomas and sophomore Joe Pitchford helped the Panthers claw their way back into the contest before halftime with a colossal second quarter.

Thomas scored on a 10-yard rushing touchdown with 4:26 left in the first half to get Liberty Hill on the board. On the following drive, Pitchford reeled off a 62-yard run down the sideline to set up Thomas for a 1-yard touchdown run, his second, with 11 seconds to go before half.

“We had to make some adjustments at halftime,” Todd said. “That's a great team that we went against and a great offense. It's really hard to duplicate breaks. Our staff, they went back in that room, and they came up with a plan and the key was (to) execute.”

The Golden Bears, however, slammed the door shut during a dominant second half.

South Oak Cliff pitched a second-half defensive shutout that allowed the team to regain separation with a 29-yard field goal by Diego Varela after Liberty Hill twice missed on earlier field-goal attempts.

South Oak Cliff put the game on ice, though, during the late stages of the fourth quarter.

Senior running back Qualon Farrar, a North Texas signee, rumbled into the end zone for a go-ahead 17-yard touchdown run that put the Golden Bears ahead 23-14 after a missed PAT kick clanked off the uprights.

On the ensuing kickoff, sophomore defensive back Semaj'ere Gasaway jarred the ball loose from Liberty Hill’s returner. Junior receiver Taylor Starling recovered the fumble deep in Panthers’ territory to seal the win for South Oak Cliff.

“That was definitely the fastest defense we've seen and then they're so big up front, it made it very difficult for us to move them,” Walker said. “That's the best defense we've seen all year.”

Henry-Jennings was voted the game’s Offensive MVP after finishing with 114 yards and two touchdowns on 12-of-23 passing and completing passes to six different receivers, while Farrar and senior running back Ke’Undra Hollywood combined for 120 of SOC’s 126 rushing yards.

Thomas ended his day with 43 rushing yards and both of Liberty Hill’s touchdowns on seven carries. Pitchford tallied a team-high 158 yards on the ground on 20 touches, while senior back Noah Long also contributed 67 rushing yards on 16 carries.

Junior cornerback Abdul Muhammad was named the Defensive MVP after tallying a game-high 10 tackles and a pass deflection, while fellow defensive backs Kyron Chambers and Jayvon Thomas also racked up 7.0 and 7.5 tackles, respectively.

“It means a lot,” Muhammad said. “We knew what we had to, and we came out here and finished what we started.”

The season-ending defeat dropped Liberty Hill to 13-3 overall and marked their second straight loss in a state championship after the Panthers advanced to their first 5A DII state title game in program history a year after former head coach Jeff Walker, Kent’s brother, died during the 2020 season from a battle with cancer.

“I looked up at one point and I thought, ‘What a community, what a special place for us to be,’” Walker said. “(With that kind of crowd) here supporting these guys, it's amazing. With the hard work they put in, they also deserve it.”

South Oak Cliff improved to 15-1 on the season and clinched its first football state championship in school history.

For Todd and the Golden Bears, however, Saturday’s state title game meant much more than to their community and Dallas as a whole.

“I've been following Dallas football my whole life. I was at the stadium when Carter won the state championship in 1988. … My grandfather was a principal at South Oak Cliff for 14 years,” Todd said. 

“I've only coached in Dallas, I've only went to school in Dallas, so everything about me is Dallas born and bred. I'm proud to be from Dallas, and I'm proud to make sure we got over this hump and we got a state championship in Dallas.”