Photo by Undre Smith/ossports
North Shore and Shadow Creek have two things in common. Both have competed in two consecutive state championship contest.
The 2020 scheduled reflected its opponents for opening day, yet it changed with the spreading of Covid-19. That left North Shore and Shadow Creek to face each other.
North Shore’s previous schedule would have it facing national power, De La Salle of Concord, California, while the Sharks would host private school power, St. Joseph Prep of Pennsylvania in a doubleheader at Galena Park ISD on August 29, 2020.
The Mustangs won back-to-back Class 6A Championships in the state’s largest classification. Last season, North Shore entered the finals as the No. 2 ranked team in the state behind top seed Duncanville. In the winding days, the epic matchup lost its luster when Mustangs Coach Jon Kay announced that five-star athletes, running back Zach Evans and receiver Shadrack Banks, would not play. In similarity, Duncanville’s four-star quarterback Ja’Quinden Jackson suffered a season-ending torn left ACL in its 56-14 semifinal win over Rockwall.
In 2018, the Mustangs snatched victory out of the jaws of the Duncanville Panthers when junior quarterback Dematrius Davis threw a Hail Mary to senior receiver AJ Carter with no time left to give North Shore its third title.
The road to state watched Shadow Creek claim its first title by edging Denton Ryan, 28-22 in a thriller that left fans gasping to the bitter end.
Denton Ryan’s star standout, Alabama commit Drew Sanders set his heart on receiving junior quarterback Seth Henigan’s Hail Mary pass before Shark’s defensive back TJ Marshall batted the ball down as time expired.
The Sharks, who recently moved up to Class 6A, advanced to the 2018 5A Finals in its first season, but suffered its first loss of the season, 27-17 to Highland Park.
The victory capped the third consecutive title for Highland Park.
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