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Still perfect: Mansfield Lake Ridge gains 700+ yards in win over Poteet, coach keeps dancing

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ARLINGTON -- Dancing after wins hasn't made Mansfield Lake Ridge football coach Kirk Thor a national sensation like Clemson's Dabo Swinney, the coach of the nation's No. 1 college team. But like Swinney, Thor keeps getting to show off new moves as his undefeated high school team keeps winning games.

Lake Ridge continued to amass video game-like numbers Saturday night, running 89 offensive plays and gaining 775 yards in a 69-40 win over Mesquite Poteet in a regional semifinal at AT&T Stadium. Lake Ridge scored touchdowns on its final six drives of the first half and on four of its last five drives in the second half. In its fourth varsity season -- and just three years after going 0-10 -- Lake Ridge (13-0) advanced to the fourth round of the playoffs for the first time.

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Lake Ridge has scored in 24 consecutive quarters and has scored more than 60 points in all three playoff games. The Eagles have scored at least 47 points in all but one game this season, giving their coach plenty of opportunities to dance.

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"The kids said they had some dance they wanted me to do early in the year ... so we did it. Then it's one every week," Thor said. "Someone jumps up and says, 'Hey coach, what about this?' They want to see an old coach learn how to dance I guess."

Even though Saturday's game ended after midnight, Thor continued his dancing tradition after beating a Poteet team that was playing in a regional semifinal for the fourth time in six years. And even though Thor didn't know the name of his latest dance, he was happy to give his players a good laugh after the Eagles won the first game they had ever played at the 80,000-seat home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys.

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Lake Ridge will play Longview (11-2) in the Class 5A Division I Region II final at 9 p.m. next Saturday at AT&T Stadium. Lake Ridge beat Longview 37-35 in the second round of the playoffs last season.

Last week, Lake Ridge had only 35 passing yards and 11 pass attempts while running for 519 yards and 10 touchdowns in a 77-51 rout of Tyler John Tyler. On Saturday, senior running back Duke Carter and senior quarterback Jett Duffey combined to rush for 303 yards and six touchdowns, but Duffey also completed 25 of 40 passes for 452 yards and three touchdowns.

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"Last week, they let us run," Thor said. "This week, they were trying to stop the run, so we were able to throw."

Poteet (9-4) trailed 41-26 at halftime, but Kaleb Fletcher threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Walter Dawn Jr. and Kendrick Jones returned a punt 37 yards for a touchdown to get the Pirates within 41-40 with 7:40 left in the third quarter. Then, in a game in which Lake Ridge allowed 454 yards, it was the Eagles' defense that had a big hand in a game-ending 28-0 run by holding Poteet scoreless on its final five drives.

After an interception gave Poteet the ball at the Eagles' 41-yard line with a chance to take the lead, Lake Ridge held the Pirates to a 45-yard field goal attempt, which they missed. On the next three Poteet possessions, Lake Ridge stopped the Pirates on fourth down, including a goal line stand that ended with the Eagles throwing Dawn for a 3-yard loss on a fourth-and-goal run from the 2 early in the fourth quarter.

"We had some huge fourth-down stops that really changed the momentum of the game for us," Thor said. "We didn't play real well in the first half defensively, but we made some plays in the second half when we needed to."

After seeing its lead cut to 41-40, Lake Ridge regained control with touchdown runs of 8 and 29 yards by Carter on back-to-back possessions. The second of those came after Lake Ridge recovered an onside kick at Poteet's 47-yard line. Carter, who has committed to Louisiana-Monroe, has scored 32 touchdowns, including 13 in the playoffs.

The teams combined for 47 points in the second quarter and for 699 yards of offense in the first half. Duffey passed for 355 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 66 yards and a score in the first half. The Texas Tech pledge threw touchdown passes of 59 yards to Tyler Robinson, 41 yards to Zach Jackson and 36 yards to Donovan Boyce.

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Dawn ran for 127 yards and a touchdown and had eight catches for 135 yards and a score for Poteet. In a game full of big plays, Dawn produced the most spectacular highlight with a 52-yard touchdown run on which the senior did a spin move at midfield, then broke free from a pack of about six Lake Ridge defenders after it appeared he had been stopped at the 35-yard line.

Twitter @DMNGregRiddle