Here are five Dallas-area storylines to follow in Week 3 of the high school football regular season.

Game of the week

Defending Class 6A Division II state champion DeSoto wasn’t able to find a Week 2 opponent, but its Week 3 matchup will be the best in the Dallas area. After having an extra week to prepare, DeSoto will play back-to-back Class 5A Division II state champion South Oak Cliff at 6 p.m. Saturday at Kincaide Stadium.

It’s the third matchup of defending state champions from the Dallas area already this year. In Week 1, Duncanville beat South Oak Cliff 34-13 and Aledo beat Parish Episcopal 50-35.

DeSoto and South Oak Cliff played last year and DeSoto won 42-23 en route to winning its first state title since 2016. South Oak Cliff, with an entirely new secondary, will have to find a way to slow down DeSoto quarterback DJ Bailey, a Sam Houston State pledge who threw for 3,840 yards and 45 touchdowns last year and who had three TD passes in a 39-7 win over Allen in Week 1.

It remains to be seen if DeSoto will have four-star running back Deondrae “Tiger” Riden Jr., who dislocated his elbow in the season opener. Marvin Duffey and Jaden Trawick combined to run for 168 yards and a touchdown in that game.

South Oak Cliff (1-1) had an impressive victory Friday, winning 42-21 against a Lancaster team that was ranked No. 2 in the state in 5A Division I. Danny Green Jr. ran for 193 yards and three touchdowns against his former school, William Little threw a pair of touchdown passes and SOC held Lancaster to 61 yards passing.

Lancaster has a big game in Week 3, hosting Denton Guyer at 7 p.m. Friday.

Rough start for Allen

Is it time to panic in Allen?

The five-time state champion fell to 0-2 with Friday’s 45-28 loss to Houston C.E. King, and both losses have been at home. Allen’s $59.6 million Eagle Stadium opened in 2012, and Allen didn’t lose a game there until 2021.

Allen has been outscored 84-35 this year and is 7-7 in its last 14 games going back to the final game of 2021. This is a program that was 91-3 over a six-year span from 2012 to 2017.

Allen won four state titles in that stretch. That included three in a row with future No. 1 NFL draft pick Kyler Murray at quarterback while becoming one of the most prominent programs in the nation.

Last year’s 7-4 record was Allen’s most losses since an 8-4 season in 2002. Last year ended a stretch of 16 consecutive seasons with at least 10 wins.

Allen will try to avoid an 0-3 start when it hosts Arlington Martin (0-2) at 7 p.m. Friday. MaxPreps records only go back to 2004, but Allen never had an 0-3 start during that time.

Allen allowed C.E. King quarterback Darius Clark-James to throw for 368 yards and five touchdowns, and wide receiver Vincent Jones had nine catches for 236 yards and three touchdowns. That came a week after Allen’s defense allowed 536 yards — including 315 rushing — in a 39-7 loss to defending Class 6A Division II state champion DeSoto.

It doesn’t get any easier, as Allen will play three games in a row against McKinney, Denton Guyer and Prosper from Oct. 13 to Oct. 27. All of those teams were ranked in the top 10 in the area going into Week 2.

High-scoring offenses collide

Perhaps the highest-scoring game of Week 3 could be North Crowley at Lovejoy at 7 p.m. Friday. Both teams were state-ranked going into Week 2, North Crowley at No. 15 in 6A and Lovejoy at No. 5 in 5A Division II.

North Crowley (2-0) has scored 69 points in both games this season, and it is averaging 636.5 yards of total offense. North Crowley amassed 709 yards in a 69-14 rout of Arlington in Week 2 as Chris Jimerson threw for 268 yards and three touchdowns and running backs Ashton Searl and Cornelius Warren combined to run for 261 yards and three touchdowns.

Lovejoy (2-0) has been nearly as good, averaging 46 points and 575.5 yards of offense in wins over 2022 5A Division I state runner-up College Station and 5A Division II state semifinalist Argyle. Four-star wide receiver Parker Livingstone, a Texas pledge who has 304 receiving yards through two games, suffered a foot injury against Argyle on Friday and was in a boot. He said he hopes to play in Week 3, but if he can’t, look for another big game from four-star junior receiver Daylan McCutcheon, who has five touchdown catches this season.

North Crowley beat Lovejoy 28-20 last year as Warren ran for 182 yards and two scores. North Crowley held Lovejoy to 138 passing yards and intercepted two passes.

District showdown already

It is only Week 3, but the District 6-5A Division I title could be on the line when Frisco Reedy plays Frisco Lone Star at 7 p.m. Thursday at Toyota Stadium. Those were the top two teams in the district last year, and Reedy won the district title after beating Lone Star 13-7.

Lone Star (1-1) has one of the most versatile running backs in the area in sophomore Davian Groce, who had four carries for 110 yards and two touchdowns and caught three passes for 90 yards and two scores in Friday’s 42-7 win over Burleson. Groce, who already has 10 college offers, is a lot like former Lone Star standout Ashton Jeanty, who had a combined 2,646 yards and 41 touchdowns rushing and receiving in 2021 before going on to play at Boise State.

Big first step for Cedar Hill

New Cedar Hill coach Nick Ward earned his first win with the Longhorns by beating Arlington Martin 33-2. Quarterback Jaylon Thomas accounted for four touchdowns, and the Cedar Hill defense allowed just 73 total yards against a Martin team that was playing without injured quarterback Tristan Bittle.

It was an impressive bounce-back win for three-time state champion Cedar Hill after a 56-21 season-opening loss to state-ranked Rockwall. It also gave Cedar Hill some confidence heading into Friday’s home game against eight-time state champion Southlake Carroll, which has outscored its first two opponents 127-36.

This will be a matchup of one of the area’s best quarterbacks — Georgia Tech pledge Graham Knowles of Southlake Carroll — against Cedar Hill three-star cornerback Alexander Rodgers, who is committed to SMU. Knowles has accounted for eight touchdowns, and his top receiver has been Jacob Jordan, who has 13 catches for 227 yards and three scores.

On Twitter: @DMNGregRiddle

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