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New powerhouses flexing their muscles: Mansfield Lake Ridge, Frisco Lone Star quick to get hang of winning

MANSFIELD -- In its first season of varsity football, Mansfield Lake Ridge didn't have many touchdowns to celebrate, so it had to revel in smaller accomplishments.

"We would get a first down and the band would play the fight song," coach Kirk Thor said.

That season, with just six seniors on the roster, Lake Ridge went 0-10 and was outscored 601-55. That was three years ago.

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"It was an eye-opener to watch what that team had to go through," said Lake Ridge senior center Anthony Narro, who was on the freshman team in 2012. "You never wanted to experience that, get blown out every game and not really have a chance. You didn't want the same thing to happen to you, so you knew you had to come out the next year and work your hardest."

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Frisco Lone Star started as a Class 3A school but only had about 35 varsity players its first season as it went 0-10 in 2010. Lone Star threw one touchdown pass in 231 pass attempts that season, was outscored 508-48, and it would get so far behind in games that Jeff Rayburn said a running clock was often used to get the blowouts over quicker.

"It wasn't necessarily about winning games that first year, it was about learning how to do things the right way," said Rayburn, who was Lone Star's offensive coordinator in 2010 and is now in his third season as the head coach. "We taught them how to compete, we taught them how to work, and ultimately it turned into how to win."

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Lake Ridge and Lone Star still have a lot of lopsided games, but they got so good so quickly that they are now the ones winning easily.

Lake Ridge (12-0) has outscored its opponents 638-279 this season, and the Eagles' closest game was a 30-13 win over Keller Fossil Ridge. Lone Star (11-1), whose only loss was to Frisco, has outscored its opponents 527-195. All but two of the Rangers' wins have been by 27 or more points.

Lake Ridge and Lone Star experienced similar breakthroughs, with each earning the first win in team history in the opening game of their second season. Both teams made the playoffs for the first time in their third season. And this season, Lake Ridge and Lone Star have both reached the third round of the playoffs for the second time.

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Fittingly, both teams will be part of a quadrupleheader at AT&T Stadium on Saturday. Lone Star will face Marshall (11-1) in a Class 5A Division II Region II semifinal at 10:30 a.m., and Lake Ridge will play Mesquite Poteet (9-3) in a 5A Division I Region II semifinal at 9 p.m.

This will be the first time that Lake Ridge has played at the home of the Dallas Cowboys. But even though the Eagles will be playing in an NFL stadium that seats 80,000 and features an HD video board that is 160 feet wide, don't expect to see jitters from a team that is in the regional semifinals for the second straight season.

And not just because Thor said he will let his players spend their first 45 minutes at the stadium taking pictures on their cellphones.

"We don't really get nervous. We don't make things bigger than what they are," said Lake Ridge senior quarterback Jett Duffey, who has committed to Texas Tech. "It's just another football game. It doesn't matter where we play."

Last week, Lake Ridge scored 11 touchdowns in a 77-51 rout of 2014 state semifinalist Tyler John Tyler. That was three more touchdowns than Lake Ridge scored the entire 2012 season.

"We knew we had to build a foundation and build a culture. We were pretty patient," Thor said. "We knew it would take a three- or four-year plan to get the foundation built.

"We have nine or 10 kids who are seniors now who started as sophomores. Those kids have grown up a lot. They remember the days as sophomores when they were 2-8. You grow a lot from adversity, and you learn how to work. The effort and attitude of our kids has been tremendous."

Duffey and senior running back Duke Carter starred as sophomores on that 2013 team that won twice and lost four games by a combined 12 points. Then they led Lake Ridge to its first winning record (8-5) last season.

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Duffey, ranked by Rivals.com as the 28th-best dual-threat quarterback in the nation in the Class of 2016, has accounted for 37 touchdowns and 3,121 yards of total offense this season. Carter has run for 1,521 yards and 26 touchdowns. And senior fullback Gerard McClain has scored 15 touchdowns as Lake Ridge leads Dallas-area 5A teams in scoring at 53.2 points per game.

"I moved here my sophomore year, the year they went 2-8," McClain said. "I always saw that everybody was working hard, no matter if they were a main player, a star player or a practice guy. Everybody wanted to win. So I knew that eventually, over time, with all of us on the same page, we would get to where we are."

Like Duffey, Lone Star junior Jason Shelley is in his third season as the starting quarterback on the varsity. Shelley, ranked by Rivals as the 52nd-best recruit in the state in the Class of 2017, has thrown for 2,652 yards and 32 touchdowns and run for 1,149 yards and 11 scores in 2015. Jaylen Dixon, Jrayton Fuksa and Coby Shelton all have more than 600 yards receiving, and they've combined for 25 touchdown receptions.

Shelley has accounted for 96 career touchdowns -- 52 more than Lone Star quarterbacks combined for from 2010 to 2012. Shelley, Baylor defensive back pledge Chris Miller and standout defensive linemen Kelvin Apari and Jake Ray played pivotal roles for the 2013 team that reached the regional semifinals. Lone Star is back in that same spot, but a lot has changed in two years.

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"At that point, those were the first playoff games we had won," Rayburn said. "I think the kids were just excited to be a part of that. There wasn't really a goal in mind.

"This year's team is a whole lot different. We've got senior leadership, and guys have been talking about the goals that we set. We expect to win each and every week, and expect to make a run at the whole thing."

Like its win total, Lone Star's roster has been growing. After starting with about 60 players in the entire program in 2010, Lone Star now has about 60 on varsity and 150 in the program.

There has also been consistency in the coaching staff, as about half of Lone Star's current coaches were on the original staff in 2010. The team has had the same defensive coordinator (Darren Kight) every year, and offensive coordinator Clint Surratt has been with the Rangers since their second season.

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The football talent in Mansfield ISD is spread out among five high schools, but Thor said, "I like the fact that we've got multiple high schools in the district. It gives more kids an opportunity." It hasn't hurt the district, as Mansfield and Lake Ridge are both still in the playoffs.

Lone Star is 26-9 over the last three years despite having the smallest enrollment of the seven Frisco ISD high schools currently playing varsity football. Even though the school district continues to add high schools, Rayburn said "We've been able to keep the kids here on campus that started with us, so that's been really beneficial."

"The upper-level talent has gotten so much better here in Frisco," Rayburn said. "With the growth here, people continue to move out this way. It's been amazing to see what we had our first year to what we have now. It's really astonishing to see the great talent that's coming through Frisco."

Twitter: @DMNGregRiddle

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More teams ascending

Other schools with surprising success

North Mesquite (10-2): The Stallions have already secured the school's first 10-win season since 1996. They've done it with a strong running game led by RBs Dreshawn Minnieweather (1,465 yards, 19 TDs) and Dominique McBride (1,212 yards, 13 TDs) and QB Ja'Quez Gooch (879 yards, 14 TDs). North Mesquite faces a huge challenge against Austin Westlake (11-1), which beat Southlake Carroll in its season opener and suffered its only loss to undefeated Austin Lake Travis.

Kaufman (11-1): The Lions are in the third round of the playoffs for the first time since 2008, when they advanced to a regional final in 3A Division II. Dre Prox was the star in last week's 15-10 win over Alvarado, catching five passes for 116 yards and two touchdowns. His 75-yard TD reception, on a short pass he turned into a huge gain, was the game-winner with 2:34 left. Kaufman's next foe, Texarkana Liberty Eylau (11-1), has won 11 straight since a season-opening loss to undefeated Gilmer.

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Matt Wixon

Terrell (11-1): From 2011 to 2013, the Tigers won four games in three seasons before the arrival of coach Mike Shields. Since then, Terrell has been on a tear, making the second round in 2014 and registering double-digit wins this season for the first time since 2005. Senior RB Dawonya Tucker is the heart of the offense, while senior safety Ja'Quavion Daniels had 133 tackles and four interceptions in the regular season. This week, Terrell gets Lancaster (9-3), led by former Terrell coach Chris Gilbert (2009-10).

Rowlett (10-2): The Eagles are no strangers to the playoffs, making the postseason in 11 consecutive seasons. But here's an incongruous fact: until last Saturday's 24-21 win over Skyline, Rowlett had never had a double-digit-win season in the school's 20-year history. Offensively, Rowlett is impressive, with QB and Arkansas State pledge Logan Bonner (3,359 passing yards, 29 TDs), RB Kobe Morrow (1,569 rushing yards, 20 TDs) and WR LaDarius Dickens (1,300 receiving yards, 14 TDs).

Corbett Smith