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Here are 10 Dallas-area players to watch during Week 3 of the 2023 Texas high school football season.
Triston Gooch, WR, Rockwall
Prosper at Rockwall, 7 p.m. Friday at Rockwall’s Wilkerson-Sanders Memorial Stadium
In his first season in the varsity rotation, Gooch had a standout performance in the narrow 60-59 loss to Jesuit where his opponent scored a game-winning touchdown and go-ahead two point conversion with 22 seconds left. Gooch led all receivers with 275 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 25 yards per catch. He also had three catches for 31 yards and a score in the Week 1 victory over Cedar Hill.
After Clemson signee Noble Johnson departed the Rockwall receiver room last year, Trey Brooks’ program needed someone to step up. Gooch, a junior — alongside senior Matthew Young — have both filled those gaps. Young has five touchdowns over the first two games.
They’ll both be needed as Rockwall is the underdog for the first time this season entering a top-20 area matchup with Prosper, which started its season 2-0.
Brandon Jones, S, South Oak Cliff
DeSoto at South Oak Cliff, 6 p.m. Saturday at Dallas ISD’s John Kincaide Stadium
As the only returning starter from South Oak Cliff’s state championship-winning defense, Jones has had to lead a much less experienced unit through the first two weeks of the season. After falling to Duncanville in Week 1, SOC came away with a big 42-21 win over Lancaster in Week 2.
It faces arguably its toughest offensive test yet in Week 3 against DeSoto, an offense led by Sam Houston State commit DJ Bailey and a number of top receivers like Daylon Singleton, Ethan Feaster and Tristan Bailey. The UNT commit will have his hands full with DeSoto’s passing game this weekend.
Julian Knox, CB, North Crowley
North Crowley at Lovejoy, 7 p.m. Friday at Lovejoy’s Leopard Stadium
Knox, the 45th-best recruit in his class in the Dallas area, has been used on both sides of the ball so far this season. While the TCU commit primarily plays cornerback, he has seen snaps at receiver as well, recording two catches for 42 yards in North Crowley’s first two wins of the season.
After steamrolling its first two opponents, North Crowley faces its biggest test of non-district play against No. 3 Lovejoy with an offense that is consistently putting up 500 total yards per game. Knox will be a key contributor on both offense and defense in that matchup.
Noah Lugo, QB, Northwest Eaton
Northwest Eaton at Hebron, 7 p.m. Friday at Hebron’s Brian Brazil Stadium
Lugo has carried his team to two victories against District 5-6A opponents to open the season, beating Denton Braswell in Week 1 and Little Elm in Week 2. The BYU commit has thrown for over 450 yards and five touchdowns so far this season, completing over 70% of his passes.
After going just 4-6 last season, Eaton is off to a much stronger start but faces a tough Week 3 matchup against a Hebron team that pulled off a big win against Jesuit in Week 1 before narrowly falling to Wylie in Week 2.
Logan McLaughlin, QB, Denton Guyer
Denton Guyer at Lancaster, 7 p.m. Friday at Lancaster’s Beverly D. Humphrey Tiger Stadium
McLaughlin has filled in for Oklahoma signee Jackson Arnold nicely in Weeks 1 and 2. While Guyer lost to Aledo in a shootout last week, he still completed 20 of his 27 passes for 314 yards and five touchdowns, proving himself as the solid starter for Reed Heim’s program this season.
McLaughlin will face arguably his toughest defensive test yet in Lancaster in Week 2. The Lancaster defense is led by the area’s No. 4 overall recruit — Clemson commit Corian Gipson at safety.
Davis Penn, RB, Southlake Carroll
Southlake Carroll at Cedar Hill, 7 p.m. Friday at Cedar Hill’s Longhorn Stadium
After running back Owen Allen departed for Air Force — following a career in which he rushed for over 7,500 total yards — Carroll had big shoes to fill. It was expected that Colleyville Heritage transfer Riley Wormley would step into the starting role, but he was ruled ineligible for transferring for athletic purposes by the UIL just weeks before the season. Then, sophomore Davis Penn’s number was called.
Penn has rushed for 225 yards and four touchdowns in his first two varsity starts. He has effectively filled the gap and helped lead Carroll to two dominant wins over El Paso Eastwood and Flower Mound Marcus.
Carroll will look for the young back to continue trending upwards against a Cedar Hill program coming off a big win against Arlington Martin.
Payton Pierce, LB, Lovejoy
North Crowley at Lovejoy, 7 p.m. Friday at Lovejoy’s Leopard Stadium
Pierce, the No. 9 recruit in the Dallas area’s Class of 2024, is one of the top linebackers in the nation. The Ohio State commit has been a force for Lovejoy on the defensive end for multiple seasons and contributed to Lovejoy’s first-half 35-0 shutout of Argyle last week.
Pierce also earned snaps at running back on Friday. After rushing for just nine total attempts in 2022, he had six carries for 19 yards and the game’s first touchdown in Friday’s win.
Against North Crowley, a top 6A program in the state, Lovejoy head coach Chris Ross will lean on Pierce again on both sides of the ball to limit North Crowley’s dominant offensive attack and help jumpstart its offense against a defense with multiple power conference commits.
Zhaiylen Scott, DL, Cedar Hill
Southlake Carroll at Cedar Hill, 7 p.m. Friday at Cedar Hill’s Longhorn Stadium
Cedar Hill has been in search of a notable win for two seasons now, and it earned that on Friday. The program, which is going through some rebuilding years, defeated No. 13 Arlington Martin 33-2 behind a strong rushing performance from Scott.
The defensive lineman with offers from SMU, Memphis, North Texas and others has stepped in at running back and led Cedar Hill with 103 yards on six carries and a touchdown Friday night. That was after he scored two touchdowns in the Week 1 loss to Rockwall.
Facing one of the state’s top teams in Southlake Carroll, Scott is another player who will be valuable on both sides of the ball — in finding points for Cedar Hill and limiting a Carroll offense that has scored upwards of 50 points per game this year.
Kellen Tasby, QB, Prestonwood Christian
Little Elm at Prestonwood Christian, 7 p.m. Friday at Prestonwood Christian’s Lions Stadium
Tulane commit and the area’s No. 82 overall recruit Kellen Tasby finds himself in a unique position this weekend — set to face his former team.
The 6-5, 195-pound quarterback transferred from Little Elm to Prestonwood Christian this offseason, and those two programs will square off for a non-district contest this week.
Tasby has started his TAPPS career strong, completing 54 of 97 passes for 546 yards and four touchdowns with one interception. He led his team to its first win of the season in Week 2 against Houston Second Baptist and will be hungry to defeat a UIL program and his former team in Week 3.
Jake Watson, QB, Flower Mound
Flower Mound at McKinney, 7 p.m. Friday at McKinney ISD Stadium
After winning just three games all of last season and none in non-district play, Flower Mound is off to a strong start in 2023, and Watson is a big reason why. The senior stepped into the starting role and strung together two solid performances against Keller Fossil Ridge in Week 1 and Lake Highlands with a 41-21 win over a team that is consistently ranked among the area’s best.
Watson showed his versatility as well, leading a dominant passing game in the Week 1 win, throwing for 224 yards and four touchdowns before rushing for 117 yards and four scores in Week 2. That was in addition to 161 yards passing and a touchdown against Lake Highlands.
Watson faces his toughest test yet against area-ranked McKinney with multiple power conference commits on its defense.
On Twitter: @Lassimak
Find more high school sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
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