REGIONAL FINALS PREVIEW: Breaking down the biggest Texas high school football playoff games

Southlake Carroll (13-0) vs Duncanville (13-0), 2:30 p.m. Saturday at McKinney’s McKInney ISD Stadium: For the second straight season, Southlake Carroll and Duncanville meet up for the Region I title with unblemished records. Southlake Carroll rolled past Midland Lee, 49-27, last week in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated. The Dragons raced out to a 35-0 second quarter lead and put it on cruise control from that point on. Sophomore QB Quinn Ewers threw for 357 yards and four touchdowns and chipped in two rushing touchdowns to lead a Carroll offense that rolled up 550 yards of offense. Texas A&M commit TE Blake Smith was the recipient of three of those TD passes. Duncanville handled Arlington Martin last week, 45-17, as Texas commit QB Ja’Quinden Jackson accounted for 297 yards of offense and three rushing touchdowns. RB Trysten Smith ran for 130 yards and two touchdowns. The Panthers swarming defense got in the act with a defensive touchdown and Duncanville’s special teams came up with a key blocked punt that led to a touchdown as well. Injuries are a concern for DHS as Auburn commit DB Chris Thompson, the leader of the defense, left last week’s game with an injury and his status is unknown for this week. Duncanville annihilated Southlake Carroll a year ago but don’t expect the same kind of blowout. This Dragons offense is much more balanced and can keep the Duncanville defense guessing at times. The real question is going to be can the Dragons defense, specifically the front seven, handle Duncanville’s offense? The motion and misdirection the Panthers show is tough enough, but you add in their team speed and then the fact that they have an absolute dynamo at QB in Jackson orchestrating it all and it’s a tough challenge.

Stepp’s Pick: Duncanville by 14