Claude Mathis admits the DeSoto team that upended a seemingly unbeatable Southlake Carroll squad in the state semifinals last weekend isn’t the most talented group he’s coached.
The distinction might go to his 2023 DeSoto team, which beat Duncanville in district play and routed Humble Summer Creek 74-14 to break a UIL record for most points scored in a state championship game in the top classification.
And yet DeSoto, which started the season 0–2 and recently turned in enrollment numbers well below the 6A cutoff, will play Houston’s C.E. King in the 6A Division II state championship game Saturday at AT&T Stadium.
“Everybody knows the big names, but we’re not like we used to be in the past,” Mathis said. “We’re coaching our tails off and our kids are responding.”
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Mathis credits elite coaching to the rise of DeSoto, Duncanville and South Oak Cliff, three Southern Dallas schools within miles of each other that will compete for state titles this weekend. The last time that happened was 2022, with all three programs, led by Black head coaches, winning state championships.
The schools own a combined eight UIL state titles. But 10 years ago, that number was one, won by Duncanville in 1998. In previous decades, programs such as Allen, Aledo, Celina and Southlake Carroll ruled the state. Mathis also remembers hearing much about Austin Westlake during his playing days.
But the new guard is here, and it’s based in Dallas County.
“It’s our time right now,” South Oak Cliff coach Jason Todd said. “It goes in cycles sometimes, so you better embrace it when it’s your turn.”
South Oak Cliff won the 5A Division II state championship in 2021, becoming the first Dallas ISD school since 1958 to win a recognized state title in football and starting a run of five consecutive trips to AT&T Stadium, with a repeat win in 2022.
Todd has described South Oak Cliff’s run as the best story in Texas high school football history, which is full of rich folklore that includes the Odessa Permian dynasty and the legend of Kyler Murray at Allen.
“Those places were geared and set up to be successful and there’s a lot that went into it back in those times,” said Todd, who took over at SOC in 2015. “I think it’s the greatest story because nobody ever said this could happen here. You always had to leave these types of places, in people’s eyes, to go to other places to be successful. One-horse town, suburbs. You had to move away. But we can do it right here in the hood.”
More than just talent
South Oak Cliff, Duncanville and DeSoto have consistently churned out Division I talent. Numerous players have also gone on to the NFL. This year, the three programs have a combined 12 players among The Dallas Morning News’ top 100 recruits in the Class of 2026.
But Mathis said talent isn’t the sole reason for the rise of Southern Dallas, though critics often chalk it up to that.
“That’s why we work so hard to prove to people that we can coach, we’re smart, we know X’s and O’s, we have disciplined kids,” Mathis said. “We get that all the time. I hate that. That’s not true. You can’t just roll a ball out there and expect our kids to go win.”
South Oak Cliff, which plays Richmond Randle this week in a rematch of last year’s 5A Division II state championship game, has also garnered criticism during its historic run for its brash, unapologetic style. But Todd said he welcomes it.
“I kind of like being in a bad guy role,” Todd said. “I don’t care who doesn’t like us, but at the end of the day, you’re going to have to respect us.”
Coaches with deep ties
Todd learned under Duncanville’s legendary coach, Reginald Samples. Samples, a South Oak Cliff grad, was Todd’s high school coach at Lincoln. He has been a pioneer for Black coaches in Texas, including Todd, who worked for Samples when he was head coach at Lincoln and Skyline.
Samples took over as Duncanville’s coach in 2015, and his Skyline teams went 3-1 in the playoffs against Mathis-led DeSoto squads from 2008 to 2011. Mathis coached DeSoto from 2008-14 before leaving first for SMU, then Marshall, and began his second stint at DeSoto in 2019.
“Coach Todd is one of my kids. Coach Mathis and I have really grown,” Samples said. “It has always been a fierce rivalry, but we’ve grown and have a lot of respect for each other. I have seen his team get so much better, and I knew they would.”
This run with Duncanville, also not as talented a team as in years’ past, could be the last of Samples’ storied coaching career.
During his 24 years as a head coach in Dallas ISD, Samples turned struggling programs into championship contenders, going 232-70-1 at Lincoln and Skyline. He endured heartbreaking losses before finally winning an elusive state title with Duncanville in 2022. Samples won his second title with the program in 2023 and hopes to make it a third this Saturday in the 6A Division I game against Galena Park North Shore. He could retire after the season.
If Mathis, Samples and Todd all win state titles this weekend, they will each have three, the most of any Black head coach in Texas, adding to the collective dynasty that has formed in Southern Dallas.
“I think it’s awesome. I think it says a lot about our coaching,” Mathis said. “I think it says a lot about what we bring to the table and the kind of football programs that we do run.”
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