ARLINGTON — A crowd of 45,769 watched South Oak Cliff beat Liberty Hill 23-14 in the Class 5A Division II state championship game at AT&T Stadium on Saturday. That is the 10th-largest crowd in state history, according to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football.
“It was crazy just looking up in the stands and seeing that you filled the whole Cowboys stadium,” SOC four-star junior defensive back Malik Muhammad said.
The next game, Duncanville vs. Galena Park North Shore, also drew an impressive crowd — 42,544.
By comparison, five of the first six college bowl games played this year had an attendance of less than 27,000.
The three largest-crowds in state history remain the 2013 Allen vs. Pearland state final (54,347), the 2014 Allen vs. Cypress Ranch state title game (52,308) and the 1977 Plano vs. Port Neches-Groves state championship game (49,953). Nine of the top 10 largest crowds in state history were for a game that had a Dallas-area team playing in it.
At the start of the South Oak Cliff game, the first two levels were just about full. In the second quarter, the third deck of AT&T Stadium was opened, and by halftime that was nearly filled up. Late in the third quarter, the fourth deck was opened.
Last year, the UIL limited the crowds to a maximum of about 17,000 at any time because of COVID-19, and the two 6A state finals drew a combined crowd of 24,309.
But in 2019, when there were no limitations, the crowds for 5A Division II (29,138), 6A Division I (47,818) and 6A Division II (35,278) were on par with or greater than many college bowl games.
— Greg Riddle
Adjusting to the Slot T
Not many teams run the Slot T offense anymore, but Liberty Hill executed it to near perfection in the first half of the Class 5A Division II state championship game. And it stuck with the run-dominant offense even after falling behind 14-0.
Liberty Hill ran for 208 yards on 26 carries in the first half and went into halftime tied 14-14 with South Oak Cliff. Liberty Hill didn’t throw a pass in the opening half.
SOC knew what was coming, but it couldn’t force a single negative run in the first half. Liberty Hill had eight runs of 10 or more yards in the half, with the highlight being a 62-yard run by Joe Pitchford to the SOC 4 that set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Andon Thomas with 11 seconds left in the half.
The second half was a different story.
Liberty Hill’s first negative play came with just under eight minutes remaining in the third quarter. On that drive, SOC held Liberty Hill to 30 yards on 10 carries, and Liberty Hill ended up missing a 34-yard field goal attempt to keep the game tied 14-14.
Liberty Hill finished with 276 rushing yards on 46 attempts while throwing only two passes. That’s only 68 yards on 20 carries in the second half.
“We had to make some adjustments at halftime,” SOC coach Jason Todd said. “We weren’t getting lined up and made some minor tweaks. We played against a great offense, and our staff went back [at halftime] and came out with a plan and the kid executed.”
Liberty Hill had only one run of more than 10 yards in the second half. After South Oak Cliff took a 17-14 lead with 8:25 left, Liberty Hill started its final drive at its 10-yard line, and six running plays only moved the ball to the Liberty Hill 34. After a holding call wiped out a 21-yard run, Liberty Hill tried a fake field goal on fourth-and-16 from its 24-yard line, and the pass fell incomplete.
What were the halftime adjustments?
“To stop their outside runs,” defensive back Malik Muhammad said. “We were more worried about the inside run, but at halftime we changed our alignment and we stopped their run.”
— Greg Riddle
DISD brass revels in win
Dallas ISD superintendent Michael Hinojosa posed for photos on the field after South Oak Cliff had wrapped up a 23-14 win over Liberty Hill in the Class 5A Division II state championship game. He was finally able to relax a little and enjoy the moment as SOC brought Dallas ISD its first state title since 1958.
“This is The Mecca. They told us we couldn’t do it, and we did it — and in first-class manner,” he said.
But it wasn’t a comfortable feeling during the first half, which ended with the score tied 14-14.
“I was so nervous I had to stay upstairs in the first half,” he said. “Then slowly but surely we came through and I came down [to the field] and wanted to enjoy it.”
Dallas ISD athletic director Silvia Salinas spent the entire game on the field and was helping hand out medals afterward. But like Hinojosa, there were a lot of nervous moments.
“This is everything to Dallas ISD and everything to the city of Dallas,” Salinas said. “I was so nervous, even when there was three minutes left. I was still super nervous. It’s not over until 48 minutes are over.”
— Greg Riddle
SOC’s aggressive defense
South Oak Cliff and Liberty Hill were both aggressive early. Liberty Hill tried an onside kick to open the game, which was unsuccessful, and it gave South Oak Cliff the ball at the Liberty Hill 46.
On its first drive, SOC went for it on fourth-and-6 at the Liberty Hill 42 and converted on an 8-yard run by quarterback Kevin Henry-Jennings. Six plays later, Henry-Jennings threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Corinthean Coleman on another fourth-and-6 play to give SOC a 7-0 lead.
On Liberty Hill’s second drive of the game, it lined up to go for it on fourth-and-3 at the SOC 13, only for a false-start penalty to push it back 5 yards and force Liberty Hill to settle for a 35-yard field goal attempt, which was no good.
Liberty Hill converted a fourth-and-2 at the SOC 28 on its first drive of the second half with a 10-yard run by Andon Thomas. But after reaching the SOC 17, Liberty Hill missed a 34-yard field goal attempt.
The biggest gamble came with Liberty Hill facing fourth-and-16 at its 24 and trailing 17-14 in the fourth quarter. Liberty Hill had its punter try a pass that fell incomplete. SOC took over with 4:39 remaining and needed just three plays to put the game away with a 17-yard touchdown run by North Texas signee Qualon Farrar.
“They showed on film that they do a lot of those things on special teams,” South Oak Cliff coach Jason Todd said. “We knew on special teams that there was not a play that we could take off.”
— Greg Riddle
Close calls
South Oak Cliff is the first Dallas ISD team to win a UIL state championship since Sunset in 1950.
Others, as Todd said postgame, have come close. Carter won in 1988, but its title was stripped by the UIL. Lincoln lost to Kilgore in 2004, in a 4A-II title game that went into double overtime.
Those are just the schools in the district. Lake Highlands, in Dallas city limits but part of Richardson ISD, beat Houston Yates in 1981 for the 5A title. Wilmer-Hutchins beat Austin Westlake for the 4A championship in 1990, but wasn’t part of Dallas ISD until 2006. Highland Park, a six-time state champion, is in University Park — surrounded by Dallas, but has its own school district.
“We came out, we balled out,” South Oak Cliff quarterback Kevin Henry-Jennings said. “It means a lot for all of Dallas.”
— Shawn McFarland
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More on South Oak Cliff’s state title win
— Golden victory! South Oak Cliff wins historic football title over Liberty Hill
— How SOC’s aggressive defense slowed down Liberty Hill’s Slot T offense
— South Oak Cliff didn’t just make history. It rewrote the narrative around inner-city schools
— ‘Yes, you will get a parade’: Reaction to South Oak Cliff’s historic state title victory
Find more high school sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
