New Diana Eagles. (Michel Alfaro/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

ARP — New Diana sophomore quarterback DeJuan Johnson passed for 233 yards and four touchdowns as the Eagles locked up the District 11-3A title with a 41-16 win over Arp on Friday at Bill Herrington Tiger Stadium.

New Diana, completing an amazing turnaround for a school that had only one win during the 2020 and 2021 football seasons.

New Diana head football coach Jason Pitts took over the program in 2022 and has quickly escalated the Eagles up the ladder, picking up two wins in his first season then leading them to an 8-3 record and a playoff appearance in 2023.

Fast forward to 2024 and New Diana is sitting unbeaten, atop 11-3A and ranked No. 4 in the state of Texas.

“This is big time to win the district championship,” Pitts said. “I’m just so happy for these kids who have seen the bottom of the bottom and these kids never experienced a playoff game until last season. The biggest thing was just getting them to believe and being bought in and they are starting to see the results of all their hard work.”

New Diana (9-0, 5-0) received the opening kickoff and quickly moved deep into Arp territory but the Tigers forced a fumble and recovered it at the 29 yard-line.

Arp (6-3, 3-2) proceeded to go on a nice drive that saw the Tigers move the ball 52 yards to the New Diana 19 yard-line. The Tigers chewed up over nine minutes on the clock but were turned away as the game remained scoreless late in the first quarter.

New Diana took a 7-0 on the first play of their next drive when DeJuan Johnson tossed a long pass that hit older brother Jaidyn Johnson in stride for a 70-yard touchdown to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead with 40 seconds left in the first quarter.

Arp struggled to get anything going on their next drive and the Tigers took a big gamble, deciding to go for a fourth-and-1 at their own 40 yard-line. But the New Diana defense stuffed the run to give the Eagles excellent position, late in the second quarter.

It took New Diana just two plays to stretch their lead to 13-0 when Davyon Mapps bounced off two defenders, then spun past another into the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown run.

New Diana continued to hit on all cylinders as DeJuan Johnson once again found Jaidyn Johnson for a 37-yard touchdown down the right side to give the Eagles a 20-0 halftime lead over Arp.

The Eagles aerial assault continued on their opening possession of the second half when DeJuan Johnson tossed a long pass to a wide-open Colt McDowell who waltzed his way for a 55-yard score to give New Diana a 27-0 lead early in the third quarter.

New Diana added to their lead late in the third quarter when Mapps found paydirt down the left side on a 27-yard touchdown to give the Eagles a 34-0 lead. Mapp finished the night with 101 yards rushing on just 10 carries.

Arp got on the scoreboard early in the fourth quarter when Josh Smith scored on a 17-yard touchdown run up the middle. Smith turned in a nice night with 180 yards rushing on 29 carries.

DeJuan Johnson continued to have a hot night for New Diana as he launched a long pass to Ja’Davian Sanders for a 47-yard score to give the Eagles a 41-8 lead, early in the fourth quarter. Johnson finished the night with 220 passing yards to go along with four touchdowns.

New Diana closes out the season at home with a chance to cap an undefeated season with a win over Elkhart, who has already been eliminated from the playoffs.

“We have a chance to become just the fifth football team in New Diana history to go undefeated if we can get the win next week,” Pitts said. “I think it’s been 33 years since the last time New Diana had an undefeated regular season. I told our kids I think they have the ability go all the way. Of course, a lot of things have to go your way and they need to have the mental capacity to endure a semester long grind of football. We are just going to keep taking it one game at a time to continue to get better each week.”

Arp has already locked up a playoff spot and will close the regular season on the road at New London West Rusk next week.