Denton Guyer continues unbeaten season with 42-21 win at McKinney
By Cody Thorn
MCKINNEY — Less than three minutes into the game, Class 6A No. 6 Denton Guyer held a two-score lead and never looked back in a 42-21 win against McKinney on Thursday night at MISD Stadium.
The unbeaten Wildcats got four touchdown passes from Oklahoma commit Jackson Arnold and the offense answered each time there was a pivotal moment in the District 5-6A contest.
Guyer scored only 12 seconds into the game on an 84-yard kickoff return by Peyton Bowen. After a quick five-play drive by McKinney (6-3, 4-2) ended in a punt, the Wildcats (9-0, 6-0) scored again.
Arnold hit Josiah Martin for a 33-yard touchdown with 9:19 left in the first quarter.
McKinney cut the deficit in half on an 8-yard touchdown run by quarterback Keldric Luster, an SMU commit, with 5:38 to go in the first. The quarterback connected with Sincere Blakely for a 42-yard gain and Blakely later ran for a 16-yard gain to get to the Wildcat 6-yard line.
The Lions had the ball with a chance to tie the game in a drive that started in the first quarter and spanned into the second. A 19-play drive ended with an incomplete pass at the Guyer 13-yard line.
Guyer, after weathering the scare, scored to expand the lead back to two scores, as Arnold connected with Martin for the second first-half touchdown. Martin, a junior with several Power Five offers, hauled in a 10-yard pass.
The first half ended with two interceptions - one by Bowen - and a fake punt attempt.
Luster, who ran for 108 yards, had 59 of those on a run early in the third. The Lions got in the red zone, but Bowen blocked a 25-yard field goal.
Just like they did earlier, the Wildcats took advantage of the close call - almost a recurring theme throughout the contest.
Arnold hit Landon Sides, an Incarnate Word commit, for an 84-yard score to push the lead to 28-7.
McKinney answered, but the Wildcats did as well.
Luster’s 4-yard touchdown run came with three seconds left in the third quarter - a 17-play drive that spanned 86 yards. Luke Wall (23 yards) and D’Kedrion Abrams (13) had big runs to keep the drive moving.
Two plays into the fourth quarter, Arnold hit Sides for a 50-yard score. That boosted the lead to 35-14, and the final score for the Wildcats was a 6-yard run for Arnold came late in the fourth.
Arnold, the University of Oklahoma pledge, threw for 324 yards and four scores and had the other touchdown on the ground. Sides and Martin both had two touchdowns, while Sides led the team with 183 yards on five catches.
Luster threw a touchdown to Makhi Frazier between the final two Guyer scores. Luster threw for 130 yards while running for 108 more and had three total scores.
Guyer hosts Prosper Rock Hill (3-5, 2-3) next week in looking to finish the regular season undefeated. The Wildcats are 9-0 for the first time in the past three years despite 39 wins in that span.
McKinney plays at Prosper (7-1, 4-1). The Lions have already exceeded the win totals of the past two seasons - four last year and five in 2020.
Check out SBLive's exclusive photo gallery from the game:
PHOTO GALLERY — DENTON GUYER 42, MCKINNEY 21
Video and photos by Robbie Rakestraw
