A lot of people thought a high-flying Richardson Pearce passing attack would force Denison into a shootout but the Yellow Jackets corralled the Mustangs early.
Now Denison is facing a Dallas Conrad team which came into the playoffs with a losing record (the Chargers are now 5-5) and many see this as a cakewalk. You know what they say about throwing records out windows. I mean, it is the playoffs, right?
Still, Conrad is a new school and an even newer program in just its second year of varsity play. Out of the 64 teams left in the 4A playoffs, none have a worse record than Conrad and the Chargers are the only ones without a winning record.
The five victories are over Sunnyvale, Hillcrest, Thomas Jefferson, Bryan Adams and Dallas Pinkston and the five losses are to Fort Worth Trimble Tech, A. Maceo Smith, Woodrow Wilson, Dallas Samuell and Dallas Lincoln.
For the great unwashed, Sunnyvale is a first-year Class 2A program. Conrad beat them 25-15 in the season opener. A few weeks later Callisburg defeated Sunnyvale, 69-19. So take that for what it's worth.
The five Charger wins came against teams that won a combined 11 games -- five of those were by Pinkston.
Conrad, which is on a three-game winning streak, opened the playoffs with a 24-19 victory over Pinkston. Quarterback Janarius Haskins ran for 143 yards and a touchdown and threw another as Conrad built a 24-6 half-time lead.
Defensively the Chargers were led by Jaaron Staton, who returned an interception 45 yards for a score, and Conrad stopped Pinkston on its final two drives to hang on and advance.
Haskins is their leading rusher with 768 yards and nine touchdowns but his passing numbers aren't real pretty -- 31-of-88 for 312 yards and four touchdowns and four interceptions. No receiver has more than 10 catches or 100 yards.
Shafton Carter is option No. 2 with 170 yards and five touchdowns on 53 carries.
So there you have it.
Personally, I'd take Lauren Conrad over Dallas Conrad.