State 5A Football History
South Oak Cliff Golden Bears struck first eight minutes into the first quarter with Kelvion Riggins completing a twenty-five yard pass to Corinthean Coleman resulting in the first touchdown of the game for the Golden Bears. The score remained seven-aught at the end of the first quarter.
Going for a repeat performance, Kelvion Riggins reached out to Jamyri Cauley early in the second quarter for the Golden Bears, giving them a two touchdown lead. Diego Varela put the ball between the posts for the extra point giving the Golden Bears a fourteen point lead early in the second quarter.
Liberty Hill began their rally late in the second quarter with Andon Thomas running the ball in from ten yards out to put the first points on the board for the Panthers and Ethan Minix scoring the extra point making the score fourteen to seven in favor of the Golden Bears.
Joe Pitchford set up the next score with a run across the field ending up on the four yard line of South Oak Cliff with under a minute left in the second quarter. Andon Thomas finished the job, scoring on a short run from two yards out. Ethan Minix scored the extra point tying the score going into half-time.
The third quarter looked promising for the Panthers with them being able to start from a good field position, and forcing the Golden Bears to start deep within their own territory. The third quarter effectively ended with an excellent run by Ke'undrae Hollywood taking the ball to the 41 yard line of the Panthers.
The fourth quarter opened up from there with the Golden Bears driving the ball down within the twenty yard line of Liberty Hill. Unable to fully capitalize on the drive though, the Bears had to settle for a twenty yard field goal, though that did give them a slight edge early in the fourth quarter. Score, Bears seventeen, Panthers fourteen, with just under ten minutes to go.
The ensuing kickoff went in favor of SOC, forcing the Panthers to start deep in their own territory from their own ten yard line. Liberty Hill did manage to run down the clock pretty well, but did not make much progress in terms of yardage.
This allowed for the Bears to take possession of the ball after a missed fourth down conversion by the Panthers, giving them possession of the ball on the twenty-four yard line. Qualon Farrar managed to score on a fifteen yard run, but the extra point was missed, giving the Golden Bears a twenty-three to fourteen point lead with less than four minutes on the clock.
In what seems to be a little icing on the cake and equally prophetic about the history in the making, South Oak Cliff was able to recover a fumble and took possession of the ball on the twenty-seven yard line of Liberty Hill with around three minutes left in the game.
And the South Oak Cliff Golden Bears have beaten the odds and brought the State Championship back to Dallas.