Carthage linebacker De’Quives Beck earned defensive MVP honors in Carthage’s win over Waco La Vega Friday in the Class 4A Division II state title game in Arlington. (Michael Alfaro/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

ARLINGTON – Carthage found itself in a dogfight during Friday’s UIL 4A Division II state championship game at Arlington’s AT&T Stadium, and leaned on its dominant defense to pull out a hard-fought 28-14 win and its 10th state crown since 2008.

The Bulldogs’ unit limited a Waco La Vega offense that averaged 40.3 points per game to only 14 points. That effort helped finalize the team’s 15-1 season record in 2024.

The Pirates, meanwhile, dropped their year mark to 12-4.

Carthage’s defense faced Waco La Vega’s offense 12 times during the game, and kept the opposition in check in all but two of those situations. The Bulldogs earned 59 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, seven sacks and one interception, and only gave up 136 passing yards, 72 rushing yards and two touchdowns by game’s end.

“We win championships with defense,” Carthage athletic director and head football coach Scott Surratt said after his program’s outing on Friday. “[Defensive coordinator] Darren Preston’s the best. We dominated the game.”

Middle linebacker De’Quives Beck stepped up as one of the game’s biggest forces with 10 tackles, seven solo tackles, three and a half tackles for loss, one quarterback hurry, and one sack.

He joined a long list of Carthage UIL state championship game defensive MVPs that also includes Kendall Thompson (2010), Mario McCain (2013), Austin Russell (2016), Mykel Gates (2017), Cole Whitlock (2019), Brandon King (2020) and Jakerrian Roquemore (2022).

“We had to stay disciplined,” Beck said of Carthage’s extended defensive success against Waco La Vega on Friday. “We knew that we had to execute our plays and go hard. We had to keep smashing and never let up.”

Carthage set the tone early when it stopped Waco La Vega on fourth down during the Pirates’ first possession.

The Bulldogs then forced three straight Waco La Vega punts by the 8:40 mark of the second quarter. Their team also benefited from an early second quarter offensive scoring drive to take an early 7-0 lead.

The Carthage defense took a temporary step back during Waco La Vega’s following six-play, 60-yard scoring drive because Kourtney Parr produced a one-yard touchdown run and Giovanni Esqueda-Almanza kicked a successful extra point attempt at the 4:05 mark of the second quarter to tie Carthage 7-7 on the scoreboard.

But, the Bulldogs returned to form when Jaydon Lewis stepped in front of Parr’s pass to end Waco La Vega’s next possession with 1:55 remaining in the first half.

It was more of the same in the early part of the second half because the Carthage defense forced a Waco La Vega punt and fourth down stop in both the third and fourth quarters. That included Crawford’s significant eight-yard sack against Parr on third-and-15 at the 2:43 mark of the third period.

Crawford eventually finished with nine tackles, seven solo tackles, four tackles for loss, and two and a half sacks.

“It’s incredible,” Crawford said of Carthage’s defensive performance on Friday. “We knew we had a shot if we could get to [Parr]. Braylin [Allison also] broke up some big double teams [so] I could get back there.”

Allison contributed seven tackles, three tackles for loss, three solo tackles and one sack in the outing, while Leo Brown recorded seven tackles, four solo tackles and one pass breakup.

Carthage’s defensive performance was ultimately the difference in the outing, but Waco La Vega still squeezed out a late eight-play, 79-yard touchdown drive during the game’s final 2 minutes and 11 seconds to cut the gap to 28-14 with no time remaining.