Another DISD football streak came to an end Friday.
South Oak Cliff used a menacing defense and a fourth-quarter field goal by Mario Valdez to shock Kimball, 16-14, in a District 14-4A clash at Sprague Stadium. The win not only put SOC (6-3, 5-0) in sole possession of first place in the district, but it also snapped Kimball's 34-game district winning streak.
"My kids worked their butts off," SOC coach Chris Gilbert said. "They put in work this week, and the coaching staff got them ready to go.
"They bought into everything the coaches told them, and look what it got them."
Kimball became the second DISD team in as many days to have its district winning streak come to a conclusion. Skyline beat Carter, 35-0, on Thursday, snapping its 33-game district winning streak.
In one of DISD's best games of the season, SOC used a fumble recovery midway through the fourth quarter by Chris Shepard to its advantage. Trailing 14-13, SOC's Valdez booted a 28-yard, go-ahead field goal with 5:14 left to play.
"Mario's always been good. He had been consistent from 40 yards out all spring," Gilbert said.
ERIC KAYNE / DMN
South Oak Cliff defensive end Arthur Jones wraps up Kimball quarterback Tashaun Gipson.
From there, SOC's defense went to work. Kimball (4-5, 4-1) fumbled on its next possession, as SOC's Kenneth Pinkard recovered with 3:10 left. After Kimball's defense held, SOC forced Kimball's offense to turn the ball over on downs with 25 seconds remaining.
SOC held Kimball to 218 yards. Kimball committed five turnovers.
"These guys [Kimball] are so good, and we knew it'd be tough, but it was all mental for us," Gilbert said. "We've always had the talent. We just needed to convince ourselves we could get the job done."
