DESOTO — DeSoto football players danced and sang atop a makeshift float filled with balloons as music blared on a sunny Saturday afternoon. They were decked out in state championship T-shirts and wore the gold medals they earned back on Dec. 20 at the Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium.
This was finally their day to celebrate, along with the community that had backed them all season on their way to winning the Class 6A Division II state title. They watched as a fleet of Corvettes carrying dignitaries from the school district and city pulled up to lead the parade toward DeSoto High School, then many of the players hopped off the float to walk behind the sleek sports cars as the party had officially started.
“It’s just a celebration for us, telling us how hard we worked,” said Ethan “Boobie” Feaster, DeSoto’s All-American wide receiver who signed with USC. “It’s just a blessing, just a day for us to enjoy ourselves. I appreciate the community. The whole year they showed out every game, especially in the big games.”
It was quite a spectacle, as the cheerleaders and band were out in full force and were followed in the parade line by several three-wheel, open-air roadster Slingshots. All the while, fans stood by the road cheering as the procession went by.
“It’s awesome that in the four years I have been the superintendent, we have had three state championships,” DeSoto ISD Superintendent Usamah Rodgers said. “It has become a routine, but we don’t take it for granted. This championship really probably meant the most, because nobody saw it coming. But our kids believed in themselves and the coaches worked hard, so this celebration is huge because our students just demonstrated a lot of tenacity and grit.”
DeSoto has grown accustomed to celebrating football state championships. Four titles in 10 years will do that.
“It’s what we expect,” DeSoto ISD school board member Abe Cooper Jr. said. “It’s not easy, however we will never lower our standards.”
Championship parades like this never get old for a school that has built a dynasty despite a shrinking enrollment that will drop it from Class 6A to 5A Division I for football and to 5A for all other sports for at least the next two years.
“Just a great moment,” said Michael Green Jr., a 2006 DeSoto graduate who now works for DeSoto ISD. “DeSoto is a place about tradition, so this is one of the traditions we hold near and dear.”
The theme of the parade was “Started as underdogs. Finished as legends.” That was in reference to DeSoto starting the season 0-2 — including a season-opening 70-28 loss to Creekside (Ga.) — before winning 13 of the last 14 games and routing Houston C.E. King 55-27 in the state title game.
“They overcame so much. Everybody had counted them out,” DeSoto coach Claude Mathis said. “We had to dig deep. We could have easily lost control of this team, and we didn’t. Our kids kept believing in us, and it came together. They had a chance to build their own legacy, and they did it.”
Winning a third state title in four years wasn’t the only memorable moment for Mathis in 2025. He became one of two Black head coaches in state history to win three University Interscholastic League football state titles.
DeSoto will be favored to win state again next season after dropping out of the UIL’s top classification. But that won’t be the only reason why.
“It really lifts the community and gives the younger generation something to look forward to,” said Cooper, who is also the chaplain for the football team. “It shows that the sky is the limit, because we can go higher. We have so much in store with the classes that are coming up behind this class. It’s crazy scary how good they are.”
The parade
Find more high school sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.