The five biggest games in DFW this week

These are the five DFW games this week that our team rankings rate as the best matchups on the board, and the players to watch in each one. We rank every game by where the two programs sit on our state and national team boards, rewarding a close pairing of two strong teams over a lopsided one, with extra weight for ranked opponents and unbeaten records. We do not rank these games by recruiting or offer counts. State ranks, national ranks and records above are from our team-rankings board for September 5, the earliest snapshot on file; no rating run had published as of September 4, the day this article first ran. Every figure here comes from our canonical database.

1. Southlake Carroll at North Crowley

Southlake Carroll (Southlake, TX #2, 1-1, #27 nationally) visits North Crowley (Fort Worth, TX #1, 2-0, #26 nationally). Two of the state's top ten programs meeting close together on the board. 27 players across the two rosters hold at least one verified Division 1 offer, 421 Division 1 offers between them.

North Crowley players to watch:

  • Elijajuan Houston, ATH, class of 2027, 44 offers.
  • Damarion Mays, WR, class of 2028, 42 offers.

Southlake Carroll players to watch:

  • Brody Knowles, WR, class of 2027, 34 offers.
  • Tristan Dare, OL, class of 2027, 34 offers.

2. Cedar Hill at Duncanville

Cedar Hill (Cedar Hill, TX #196, 0-2, #2792 nationally) visits Duncanville (Duncanville, TX #6, 1-1, #54 nationally). A wide gap on the board this week, though both sides remain state ranked. 27 players across the two rosters hold at least one verified Division 1 offer, 376 Division 1 offers between them.

Duncanville players to watch:

  • Trenton Yancey, WR, class of 2027, 42 offers.
  • Kendrick Harris, WR, class of 2028, 34 offers.

Cedar Hill players to watch:

3. DeSoto at Allen

DeSoto (DeSoto, TX #10, 0-2, #81 nationally) visits Allen (Allen, TX #4, 2-0, #40 nationally). Two of the state's top ten programs meeting close together on the board. 21 players across the two rosters hold at least one verified Division 1 offer, 279 Division 1 offers between them.

Allen players to watch:

  • Ty Snell, QB, class of 2029, 35 offers.
  • Dominic Butler, ATH, class of 2028, 25 offers.

DeSoto players to watch:

  • SaRod Baker, RB, class of 2027, 43 offers.
  • K'Adrian Redmond, DL, class of 2027, 23 offers.

4. Denton Guyer at Melissa

Denton Guyer (Denton, TX #8, 2-0, #71 nationally) visits Melissa (Melissa, TX #12, 1-1, #115 nationally). Two of the state's top ten programs meeting close together on the board. 21 players across the two rosters hold at least one verified Division 1 offer, 278 Division 1 offers between them.

Melissa players to watch:

  • Zane Rowe, DL, class of 2027, 49 offers.
  • Khyren Haywood, DL, class of 2027, 36 offers.

Denton Guyer players to watch:

  • Special Henry, ATH, class of 2027, 19 offers.
  • Jeremiah Tabor, RB, class of 2028, 15 offers.

5. Byron Nelson at Lewisville

Byron Nelson (Trophy Club, TX #60, 0-2, #747 nationally) visits Lewisville (Lewisville, TX #64, 2-0, #836 nationally). A close pairing on the state board, separated by just a few spots. 15 players across the two rosters hold at least one verified Division 1 offer, 225 Division 1 offers between them.

Lewisville players to watch:

  • Taelyn Mayo, CB, class of 2027, 27 offers.
  • Landon Bogany, TE, class of 2027, 15 offers.

Byron Nelson players to watch:

  • William Green III, RB, class of 2029, 25 offers.
  • Nolan Hawkins, ATH, class of 2028, 13 offers.

How we picked these

Two top-10 DFW programs, South Oak Cliff and Frisco Lone Star, are not on the board because neither plays on 2026-09-04 or 2026-09-05. Three of the five games, Southlake Carroll at North Crowley, Denton Guyer at Melissa and Byron Nelson at Lewisville, were added from a visiting program's published schedule after no schedule row was on file. Three players were removed before the counts were set because their team history did not place them at the listed school for 2026.

We rank each week's DFW games by where the two programs sit on our team board: overall rating, state and national rank, record, and how far a team has moved this season. A close pairing of two strong, similarly rated teams rates above a lopsided one, and ranked opponents and unbeaten records add weight. We do not use recruiting or offer counts to make this selection; the Division 1 offer figures shown for each game are context, not the selection rule. Each player's own figure in the watch lists is their total verified offers on file, so a player's number can sit a notch above the Division 1 count shown for their team when a school outside that group has also offered. State ranks, national ranks and records were pulled from our team-rankings board for September 5, the closest snapshot on file to when this article ran; offer counts and roster attribution were pulled on 2026-09-04 from our own offer feed. Kickoff times are left off on purpose: no source we read published a time we could corroborate, so each game line prints the home city and state rather than an unverified time or an invented stadium. Home sites and dates come from each school's published schedule.

Full boards and every player page are at recruit-intel.io.

Editor's note, September 10: this piece was retitled and its selection note rewritten under our games-of-the-week standard; the games are chosen by our team rankings, not by offer counts.