There’s no sport more closely associated with Texas than high-school football. And in Texas high-school football, there are few names bigger than the DeSoto High School Eagles.
According to TexasHSFootball.com, the Dallas-area school was last year’s Class 6A Division II champions; that was the second-highest level of the sport in Texas. They were looking to repeat as champions this year in Class 5A Division I, which is now the second-highest level of the sport after some reclassification.
They’re still ranked No. 1. However, they’re also 0-1 — and the way they racked up their first loss went national in a very bad way.
They opened their season Saturday against St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Aquinas is another powerhouse in another state where high-school football reigns supreme. Respect was due on both sides, especially since it was nationally televised.
However, before the coin toss, it was clear that Aquinas wasn’t getting any love from DeSoto. Or, for that matter, even a handshake.
DeSoto (Texas) captains refused to shake hands with Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas captains.
It’s not only poor sportsmanship, it’s poor leadership from the coaches to allow this at this level.
St. Thomas took a 38-0 halftime lead and cruised to a 38-14 win.
DeSoto…
— Armando Salguero (@ArmandoSalguero) August 31, 2026
Do you watch football?
Yes: 56% (10 Votes)
No: 44% (8 Votes)
How’d that work out for them? Well, as the legendary sportscaster Warner Wolf would have said, let’s go to the videotape:
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In case you didn’t want to sit through the 11 minutes of highlights, such as they were, spoiler alert: Aquinas jumped out to a five-plus touchdown lead before halftime and then showed sportsmanship that DeSoto refused to by basically playing the mercy rule.
From TexasHSFootball.com:
The Florida powerhouse jumped ahead immediately when Pittsburgh commit Tyler Reid broke a 57-yard touchdown run.
From there, the mistakes piled up. Ohio State commit Jaden Carey returned an interception for a touchdown, St. Thomas Aquinas added another rushing score, and Notre Dame commit Zayden Gamble returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown. Julius Jones Jr. added another score before halftime, sending DeSoto to the locker room trailing 38-0.
The Eagles responded after the break. Texas Tech commit SaRod Baker scored on a short touchdown run and added the two-point conversion. Backup quarterback Patrick Harris Jr. later connected with Kendrick McCoy for DeSoto’s second score.
What’s amazing is that this is the second time that DeSoto has played an out-of-state opponent to start the year and the second time it’s gotten stomped.
Last year, Creekside High School in Georgia wasn’t as willing to play the mercy rule and racked up a 70-28 victory. DeSoto still won the championship, but that had to leave an ego mark.
But, no: Instead of learning a lesson in humility, DeSoto decided that they were going to be poor sports before they just got absolutely throttled. It was enough that the school was forced to apologize.
DeSoto Football has addressed the incident that occurred at the St. Thomas Aquinas football game. We view this as an opportunity for our young men to learn and grow from their mistakes.
We would like to formally apologize to the St. Thomas Aquinas community, coaching staff, and…
— DeSoto Football (@FootballDesoto) August 31, 2026
“DeSoto Football has addressed the incident that occurred at the St. Thomas Aquinas football game. We view this as an opportunity for our young men to learn and grow from their mistakes,” the official DeSoto football account on X said.
“We would like to formally apologize to the St. Thomas Aquinas community, coaching staff, and football team for what occurred. We take full responsibility for the conduct of our players and are committed to ensuring our student-athletes uphold the standards of sportsmanship and character that our program and community expect.”
Look, the kids are just kids. But this commenter got it perfectly right regarding the adults in the room:
Notice they didn’t address this before the social media backlash.
— Sansmire Shredder (@manley54) August 31, 2026
Indeed, only after it got social media backlash did this come out. TexasHSFootball.com said that “DeSoto ISD Athletic Director Dr. M.T. Tyeskie said the players involved would face consequences,” but what that would entail remained unclear. Whatever it is, it’s probably nothing that will involve risking another loss like this.
It got to the point where the DeSoto head coach praised the only captain who shook hands with them — SaRod Baker — “for shaking hands and holding his teammates accountable,” the outlet reported. Well, that’s some low standards.
That said, they’re still ranked No. 1, and there doesn’t appear to be any sort of accountability that will jeopardize that going forward. The kids learn from the adults, and the adults are setting a very poor example here even in accepting accountability on behalf of their team. Hopefully a bit of humiliation on national TV will teach them a lesson.
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