Around the High School Football America Top 25: October 17, 2014

by Jeff Fisher

Aside from #14 Southlake Carroll‘s (Texas) come-from-behind 10-6 win over #17 Euless Trinity (Texas), no High School Football America Top 25 team tasted defeat Friday night.

Playing before 13,000 fans, Carroll (7-0, 3-0 District 7-6A) and Trinity (7-1, 3-1 District 7-6A) put-on a defensive battle that came down to gutsy call by Dragon head coach Hal Wasson with 5:16 left in the game.  With Trinity holding a 6-3 lead on two first half field goals, Southlake Carroll was faced with a fourth down at the Trinity 2 yard line.  Instead of going for a game-tying field goal, Wasson and his team went for the go ahead score. Running back Lil’ Jordan Humphrey wasn’t so little as he scored what turned-out to be the winning touchdown.  Humphrey finished the game with 106 yards on 28 carries.

Another big showdown was in Georgia’s Region 1-AAAAAA where unbeatens Colquitt County and Valdosta battled. #15 Colquitt County snapped a two-game losing streak to America’s winningest all-time football program with a 48-20 victory.

In Southern California, our two nationally-ranked Trinity League teams – #7 St. John Bosco and #18 Mater Dei – had their games go down to the wire.

Bosco junior running back Sean McGrew scored five touchdowns while rushing for 381 yards in a wild 49-44 win over previously unbeaten JSerra in a game that went back-and-forth.

Mater Dei, coming-off a four-point loss to Bosco last week, also had to come-from-behind against Servite, which began the season ranked #22 in our Top 25.  Mater Dei won 20-17 when running back Brandon LaMarche scored with 1:29 to go in the game.

In Florida, all four ranked teams – #3 Booker T. Washington, #8 Miami Central, #12 St. Thomas Aquinas and #25 Mainland picked-up easy victories.

Back to Texas where #5 DeSoto got ready for next week’s District 8-6A showdown with Cedar Hill with a 41-10 over South Grand Prairie.  The Eagles (7-0, 3-0 District 8-6A) were led by running back Larry Nixon who rushed for 220 yards and four touchdowns.  DeSoto and Cedar Hill will enter next Thursday battle with 3-0 district records.

#6 Bishop Gorman continued to roll past Nevada teams, beating Legacy 70-13. Legacy was the first in-state opponent to score on the Gaels.  Bishop Gorman has now outscored Nevada opponents 203-13.

#10 Don Bosco Prep (New Jersey) rebounded from its loss to Paramus Catholic by beating Passaic County Vo-Tech 38-0. PCVT entered the game 5-0.

#11 Bellevue pushed its win streak to 64 straight with a 37-0 shutout of Liberty. Both teams entered the game unbeaten in the 3A/2A KingCo standings.

#13 Buford‘s win streak is at 32 after a 51-12 win over Monroe Area. The Wolves are the only team in Georgia is have three separate win streaks of 30 games or more.  Buford holds the state record at 47 straight from 2001 to 2004.

In Mississippi, both ranked teams – #16 South Panola and #20 Starkville – posted strong performances. South Panola beat Tupelo 27-10 to set-up next week’s showdown in 6A Region 1 against Southaven (7-1). Both teams are 4-0 in the region.  Starkville’s defense posted its fourth straight shutout in a 28-0 win over Madison Central.

#19 Carmel (Indiana) finished a perfect regular season for the first time since 1986 with a come-from-behind 27-20 win over Lawrence Central.