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The Frisco Wakeland Lady Wolverines would have felt guilty this season if they'd taken a possession off, had a lazy practice or failed to meet their obligations off the court.

A simple glance at their bench would remind them what it means to persevere against long odds.

Wakeland assistant coach Jenny Mills was diagnosed with breast cancer last summer and began chemotherapy just as basketball season began.

Despite her condition, Mills missed just one game this season.

"She handled it like a champ," said Wakeland head coach Darilyn Krempin. "She's one of the strongest people I know. I think a lot of it is because she kept on going and didn't allow it to hold her back."

The Lady Wolverines (23-10, 11-1 in District 9-4A) rallied behind their coach this season. After losing the star players from their powerhouse 2010-11 team, Wakeland had a relatively slower start to the season and some outsiders began questioning whether it was the same team it had been the past two years.

But after surviving a difficult nondistrict schedule, Wakeland closed the season by ripping off eight straight wins, capped by Tuesday night's 61-35 victory over Carrollton R.L. Turner to clinch the District 9-4A title.

According to Krempin, Wakeland's success has come because of its belief in the team mentality that's developed around the program because of Mills. The Lady Wolverines rarely have the same leading scorer twice in a row as Alana Aguirre, Faith Hunt, Bria Platenburg, Danielle Westerfield and Darian Dunn have all shared the load during district play.

"We've had the success we've had this year because of the real team, family bonding, because of the things outside of basketball," Krempin said. "It's been a really unique, cool, special season, not even because of anything to do with being district champions."

In turn, Mills has drawn strength from her team. Krempin said the assistant's condition has improved and that "the worst is behind her."

"She's doing great," Krempin said. "I think it's helped her get through it. I think it's good that it was during the season instead of during the summer when we're all away from each other and sitting around doing nothing."

Wakeland opens the playoffs at 7 p.m. Monday at Prosper High School against McKinney North.

Football may not be the only sport in which Frisco ISD sweeps District 9-4A.

Frisco's girls basketball teams currently occupy all four of the district's playoff spots, as Frisco Liberty, Frisco Wakeland, Frisco Centennial and Frisco Heritage are in line to make the playoffs in 9-4A.

In fact, those four teams look so strong that it may be moot that Frisco ISD's sweeps the district. The more intriguing question might be the order in which those teams finish.

Each of the four is a game ahead of the team behind it, with Liberty (16-10, 8-0) leading the way and Heritage (19-8, 5-3) sitting in fourth, two games ahead of Carrollton Newman Smith. Wakeland (17-10, 7-1) is second and Centennial (19-9, 6-2) is third.

Ironically, the order is the exact opposite in overall win percentage. Heritage leads in that category with a .703 win percentage and Liberty is fourth at .615, suggesting it could be a wild finish in the district.

But the pecking order within the district is pretty clear. None of the four non-playoff teams have yet to win against the four playoff teams, and of the four playoff teams, none of them have beaten a team currently ahead of them in the standings.

It’s fitting that the last playoff spot in District 9-4A comes down to Frisco Liberty and Frisco Heritage.

No two schools better exemplify the turbulent nature of athletics in Frisco ISD. Last year Liberty roared to an undefeated regular season while Heritage went winless in its first year of varsity play.

The opening of Heritage split Liberty’s current senior class, leaving the Redhawks short-handed for 2011. The split left little to separate the two, who are tied for fourth place heading into Week 10.

Liberty (6-3, 3-3) beat Heritage (4-5, 3-3) 20-7 in September and thus owns the tiebreaker should the two remain tied after Friday.

There’s a pretty good chance that happens. Liberty closes the season against Frisco (7-2, 5-1) while Heritage draws an even tougher assignment: Frisco Centennial (9-0, 6-0), the No. 5 team in the ESPNDallas.com Class 4A area rankings.

Whichever team gets in will have a tough bi-district matchup given that 9-4A plays 10-4A in the first round. Possible opponents for Liberty include Highland Park and Rockwall-Heath. Heritage would face Wylie East or Highland Park.

FRISCO, Texas -- Frisco Wakeland coach Marty Secord was quick to congratulate his team following its 13-7 win over Frisco Liberty on Friday but immediately set his sights on the playoffs.

With Wakeland peaking at the perfect time, Secord told his players to be ready for practice at 7 a.m. Saturday.

Wakeland (6-3, 4-2) and Liberty (6-3, 3-3) came into Friday's game tied for third place in District 9-4A.

The game was slow to develop on offense. Wakeland scored first with Zach Paul’s 25-yard field goal in the second quarter.

Liberty answered with only minutes left in the half, a 24-yard touchdown pass fron Conner Navalta to to Izaiah Robinson. But Wakeland struck again before halftime, taking a 10-7 on Nick West’s 8-yard pass to Dan Harrington.

"That helped us. We went into the dressing room feeling good," Secord said.

A third-quarter Wakefield field goal completed the scoring.

"We just needed to get our passing game together and hold onto the ball," West said. "We turned it over a bit too much, so we just have to work on the small things."


Wakeland is 2-2 against Frisco teams this season after its win against the defending district champion.

"Our defense played great. The offensive line was working hard and we just executed," West said. "It’s good for us as a team. We worked all off-season just to get in the playoffs and we just have to get ready now."

Although he did not know what the playoffs have in store, Secord said he is eager to find out.

"Whoever it is, we want to try to represent ourselves well. If you can’t be excited just about being in the playoffs … that’s enough to focus you right there," Secord said.

Wakeland will play R.L. Turner Thursday in the regular-season finale.

FRISCO LIBERTY (6-2, 3-2 9-4A) at FRISCO WAKELAND (5-3, 3-2)
7 p.m. Friday at Pizza Hut Park

When we saw them last: Frisco Liberty rebounded from its stunning loss to Carrollton Creekview by pounding Carrollton R.L. Turner 42-0. Frisco Wakeland got back in the win column last week following a tough loss to Frisco Centennial. The Wolverines didn’t give Creekview any time to savor its win over Liberty by thumping the Mustangs, 45-19.

2010 result: Liberty captured the 9-4A title by virtue of a 38-3 win over Wakeland. Wakeland didn’t have to deal with Liberty’s Jay Ajayi, who left the game at halftime, but the Wolverines committed four turnovers and two turnovers on downs in the game.

What’s at stake: With the 9-4A playoff berths looking more and more settled, this game could decide seeding in Division I in the district. That may or may not be a big concern. It’s possible Highland Park will go Division I, meaning the loser of this game would have to play the Scots in bi-district. Either way, one of these teams will face Rockwall-Heath.

Key matchup: Liberty is winning with its defense. The Redhawks allow just 12.5 points per game and have absolutely stifled their opposition’s running game. Wakeland is winning with its offense. The Wolverines average 35 points per game behind a passing game led by quarterback Nick West (1,762 yards, 13 touchdowns).

Players to watch: With Zach Smith out with an injury, Liberty quarterback Conner Navalta has been thrust into the spotlight. In Liberty’s win over R.L. Turner, he threw for five touchdowns. Wakeland’s Turner Smiley has become a great two-way player. He leads the team in receiving with 559 yards and four touchdowns and he returned an interception 100 yards for a touchdown last week against Creekview.

Prediction: Frisco Wakeland 35, Frisco Liberty 21.

Frisco Centennial head coach Mark Howard thought his team had a bright future in the fall of 2006.

His junior high feeder teams were rolling to undefeated records behind a class of 2011 that looked like one that could define his nascent program.

“I was licking my chops,” Howard said.

But the growth in Frisco that spawned the need to open the school where he coached didn’t slow down. In fact, it picked up.

To combat overcrowding at Frisco High and Centennial, the district opened two more high schools – Liberty and Wakeland. Liberty pulled students from Centennial when it opened, including much of the class of 2011 that Howard coveted so much.

He could do nothing but watch as the players he helped groom fueled long playoff runs at Liberty in 2009 and 2010.

“We lost them,” Howard said. “When you open new schools and kids break off and go to other schools, it’s tough.”

And so it goes for the Frisco ISD schools. The city’s rapid growth has led to rapid expansion in the school district. Since 2003, Frisco has opened five new high schools. A sixth is on its way in a few years.

The expansion has had a profound impact on athletics at each school. When new schools open, they take kids from existing schools where entire classes of students are cut. The total number of students suddenly drops. This often weakens the athletic programs, particularly football teams because they need so many players to be successful.

No team better exemplifies the highs and lows that expansion can create better than Liberty. In just its second year of varsity play in 2009, Liberty went three rounds deep in the playoffs behind the students it took from Centennial.

But when Frisco Heritage opened last year, it took students from Liberty, which doesn’t have a full senior class this year. While the Redhawks (5-2, 2-2) have still managed to stay competitive this season, they are clearly not what they were, having lost to Centennial and Carrollton Creekview in consecutive weeks.

It may get worse before it gets better for Liberty because Frisco’s seventh high school will pull from Liberty when it opens in a couple years, dealing Liberty two blows in a short period of time.

“When you lose half or more of a group of kids you’ve been coaching coming up through your feeder system, that’s hard to overcome quickly and have your numbers build back up,” said Frisco head coach Vance Gibson. “We’ve made it through that cycle.”

Frisco went through what Liberty is about to go through. Centennial pulled from Frisco when it opened in 2003. Just as numbers were beginning to come back up at Frisco, Wakeland opened in 2006, taking the better part of Frisco’s incoming junior and senior classes.

While this achieved the more important goal of opening a new high school with a full curriculum and easing overcrowding, it had a catastrophic impact on Frisco’s football team.

After making the playoffs in 2007, Frisco went 0-10 in 2008 and 2009.

“When Wakeland came in, our whole school’s numbers went down pretty dramatically,” Gibson said. “We were a really really small school compared to the people we were competing against.”

Frisco’s newest schools – Heritage and Lone Star – pulled from Liberty and Wakeland, respectively. This has allowed Frisco and Centennial to build its numbers back up while its competition in District 9-4A is either dealing with losing a class (Liberty and Wakeland) or is a brand new school (Heritage).

Not surprisingly, Frisco and Centennial have flourished as a result of not being picked on by expansion. The Titans (7-0, 4-0) are dominating opponents with their defense while no one has found a way to slow down Frisco’s (6-1, 4-0) running game yet.

The two teams meet for what may be the District 9-4A title at 7 p.m. Thursday at Pizza Hut Park.

“This our best team since we started the program,” said Howard, who’s been the coach at Centennial since it opened. “We’re treading in some water we’ve never crossed before.”

Frisco has emerged as one of the area’s best offenses this season, and the Raccoons have their running game to thank for it.

Frisco (5-1, 3-0 in District 9-4A) leads all 4A teams in rushing with more than 370 yards per game after switching to the Wing-T formation this year.

Head coach Vance Gibson said his team switched to the Wing-T to better take advantage of its existing personnel and to avoid having the offense based on one player.

The Raccoons suffered the pitfalls of having a quarterback-based offense in 2010. After losing its starter to injury early in the season, Frisco spent the rest of the year trying to find a suitable replacement under center and struggled as a result.

“Before district play, we’d already lost two quarterbacks,” Gibson said. “We were like a lot of people, a spread team. We were throwing the ball and before we got to district play we had no quarterback. We wanted to do something to make sure we weren’t necessarily in a quarterback-driven offense.”

Frisco’s success has vindicated the switch in more ways than one. Not only is Frisco’s offense among the best in the area, but it’s survived the loss of running back Carlos Harris.

Harris led the area in rushing before going down with an ankle injury during Frisco’s win over Frisco Wakeland (4-2, 2-1), but it hasn’t slowed down the Raccoons because they prepared a stable of backs including Ben Cole, Matt Nollman and Jordan Daniels.

Frisco went on to beat Wakeland and has defeated Carrollton R.L. Turner and Carrollton Newman Smith without Harris.

“That’s been the most satisfying thing about this season,” Gibson said. “We’ve had starters out for whatever reason and had kids who hadn’t had a lot of playing time in the past step up and do a phenomenal job.”

Harris started the game against Newman Smith last week but didn’t return after halftime because the ankle was still bothering him. Gibson said Harris is week-to-week and that the team won’t play him until he is 100 percent.

Frisco needs him as soon as possible given its remaining schedule. The Raccoons play at Frisco Centennial (6-0, 3-0) in two weeks and at Frisco Liberty (5-1, 2-1) to close the regular season. Those games will likely decide the 9-4A champion.

Frisco hosts Frisco Heritage (2-4, 1-2) on Friday.

“We expect this to be an extremely tough game,” Gibson said of his game against Heritage.

FRISCO, Texas -- Frisco Centennial showed all the reasons why it's undefeated and favored to win District 9-4A during the first half against Frisco Liberty on Friday.

Centennial's defense smothered Liberty in holding the Redhawks scoreless while dual-threat quarterback Lamar Jordan methodically moved the Titans offense on scoring drives.

Their utter domination in the first half was more than enough to propel the Titans to a 34-13 win at Pizza Hut Park.

"I've never beaten Liberty before in four years," Centennial defensive lineman Chase Appleby said. "It feels great. It feels better than making the playoffs, honestly."

But the second half showed that Centennial (6-0, 3-0 in 9-4A) might still have room to grow. The Titans offense didn't tally a first down after halftime, and two botched punt snaps led to turnovers on downs that set up Liberty in the red zone.

Those two plays allowed Liberty (5-1, 2-1) to gain momentum and score 10 quick points, giving the game a moderate amount of intrigue in the fourth quarter.

"Our game plan was to come out in the second half and to basically go for the jugular," Centennial head coach Mark Howard said. "You have to credit Liberty. They did what they had to do to make it game. It was almost like a tale of two halves."

But the Titans defense came through again. With Liberty trailing 31-10, Aaron Estes popped off a 31-yard run that gave the Redhawks a first-and-goal at the 2.

Centennial stuffed them. And when a personal foul penalty gave Liberty a fresh set of downs at the 4, the Titans stuffed them again to force a field goal. On Liberty's next drive, linebacker Ross Abraham came down with an interception to essentially seal the win for the Titans.

"We had those two bad snaps in the fourth quarter," Howard said. " We were good enough to overcome. Credit the defense."

An injury to quarterback Zach Smith early in the third quarter complicated things for Liberty. Backup Connor Navalta didn't have much luck against Centennial's defense, although the team's running game found life in the second half.

But it's not as if Liberty's offense was doing anything when Smith was behind center. Centennial mauled Liberty from the opening kickoff.

Liberty gained just 45 total yards in the first half, and those were offset by 45 penalty yards. Of Liberty's eight first-half possessions, six were three-and-outs, one was not a three-and-out only because of a facemask penalty and the other was an interception returned for a touchdown by Jordan Miller that gave Centennial a 17-0 lead in the second quarter.

Lakeylon Rice scored on a 2-yard run on Centennial's next possession to give the Titans a 24-0 halftime lead.

"Our defense is tough," Appleby said. "We're not the biggest, but we're the fastest and the strongest."

FRISCO LIBERTY (5-0, 2-0 9-4A) at No. 6 FRISCO CENTENNIAL (5-0, 2-0)
7 p.m. Friday at Pizza Hut Park

When we saw them last: Touchdowns runs by Stan Shepherd and Zach Smith in the third quarter helped Frisco Liberty squeeze past a much-improved Frisco Heritage team, 20-7. Liberty’s defense, which hasn’t given up more than 17 points this season, held Heritage to 11 rushing yards in the victory. Frisco Centennial registered another dominating win, this time a 51-7 victory over Carrollton Creekview. Centennial’s average margin of victory this is season is 34.4.

2010 result: Liberty had the game won by halftime thanks to an absurd performance from running back Jay Ajayi, who rushed for 292 yards and five touchdowns on 18 carries. With Liberty’s dogs called off in the second half, Centennial added a couple touchdowns to make it look respectable but still lost 41-27.

What’s at stake: A chance at winning the District 9-4A title. The winner still has to get by Frisco, but either Liberty or Centennial will come out of this game as the frontrunner for the 9-4A crown. Neither team has faced a strong opponent yet, so the game also serves as a measuring stick for how they might stack up against playoff teams from other districts.

Key matchup: With both teams playing outstanding defense this season, the onus is on both offenses to find a way to produce points. Liberty came into the year with just one returning starter on offense. While Centennial hasn’t had any trouble putting up points so far this year, its offense is set up by its phenomenal defense.

Players to watch: Centennial quarterback Lamar Jordan can make plays with his arms and his legs. He has 1,058 passing yards, 16 total touchdowns and two interceptions on the year. Liberty’s Aaron Estes received the unenviable task of replacing Jay Ajayi. He has 296 yards and a score so far this year.

Prediction: Frisco Centennial 24, Frisco Liberty 10.

The Carrollton schools are having a tough time competing against their Frisco ISD counterparts in District 9-4A this season.

Newman Smith (0-5, 0-2), Creekview (0-5, 0-2) and R.L. Turner (1-4, 0-2) have yet to win a game against a Frisco team this season, leaving the five Frisco teams in the top five spots in the standings.

A similar situation developed last year, but Newman Smith rebounded from a slow start to make the playoffs, preventing a sweep of the four 9-4A playoff spots for Frisco ISD.

It may be tougher for Trojans to rebound this year. Aside from their own issues, they face a tougher group of Frisco teams.

While Frisco Liberty (5-0, 2-0) and Frisco Wakeland (3-2, 1-1) may have taken a step back, Frisco (4-1, 2-0), Frisco Centennial (5-0, 2-0) and
Frisco Heritage (2-3, 1-1) have gotten better.

Newman Smith hasn’t played the latter three, but it already lost to Liberty (18-17) and Wakeland (38-24) despite getting quarterback Shawn Holmes back from injury.

This weekend’s games will be telling for the district. Newman Smith takes on resurgent Frisco, and Centennial hosts Liberty in a game that will go a long way toward crowning a 9-4A champion.

And if there’s any consolation for Carrollton ISD fans, they're guaranteed at least one win this week with R.L. Turner hosting Creekview.

Frisco Heritage may become the next Frisco ISD team to make a quick rise to prominence.

The school has its first full senior class via Frisco Liberty, and the team reached an important milestone last week by tallying its first district win in its brief history.

The Coyotes (2-2, 1-0 in 9-4A) took a 25-17 win from Carrollton Creekview after jumping to an early 17-0 lead.

The win could be a sign of things to come in a wide-open District 9-4A. Last year’s district powers -- Liberty and Carrollton Newman Smith -- both have question marks.

Newman Smith (0-4, 0-1) has yet to win a game, and Liberty (4-0, 1-0) doesn’t have a full senior class, ironically because it was divided by the opening of Heritage.

That could lead to a changing of the guard in the district, and as Liberty showed two years ago, anything is possible. In only its second year of existence, Liberty snuck into the playoffs in 2009 because of a tiebreaker and proceeded to go three rounds deep in the playoffs.

Heritage’s offense has shown marked improvement, becoming one of the better units in the area in Class 4A.

Quarterback Cole-Bailey Cantwell has thrown for 949 yards and 10 touchdowns, and the running game is led by Jacob Harrison (414 yards, four touchdowns) and Oscar Gomez (293 yards and two touchdowns).

DISTRICT 9-4A

• Carrollton Creekview (2-8, 2-5). Coach: Jay Cline.
• Carrollton Newman Smith (7-6, 4-3) lost in DI regional semifinals. Coach: Paul Ressa.
• Carrollton R.L. Turner (1-9, 1-6). Coach: Tyrone Larkins.
• Frisco (4-6, 3-4). Coach: Vance Gibson.
• Frisco Centennial (6-5, 5-2) lost in DII bi-district. Coach: Mark Howard
• Frisco Heritage (0-10, 0-7). Coach: Che Hendrix.
• Frisco Liberty (12-1, 7-0) lost in DII regional semifinals. Coach: Galen Zimmerman.
• Frisco Wakeland (8-3, 6-1) lost in DI bi-district. Coach: Marty Secord.

THE BIG QUESTION: How will Frisco ISD's expansion affect its football programs?

Nothing wreaks havoc on a high school football program like a school district opening a new school. It can destroy a championship team just as easily and quickly as it can produce it.

Given Frisco ISD's aggressive expansion in recent years, it's hard to project how things will shake out in 9-4A, an eight-school district with five Frisco teams.

Coming off two stellar seasons, Frisco Liberty would be the obvious favorite in 9-4A, but its current senior class was split in half by the opening of Frisco Heritage. Liberty has just one offensive starter returning.

While having a class split has an affect that's easy to predict, but other changes that come with opening schools are more subtle. Zoning lines are redrawn. Players get rerouted to other programs. Growing areas of town may or may not produce football talent.

Who's in line to benefit from Frisco's expansion? Are Frisco Wakeland and Frisco Centennial capable of taking the next step and supplanting Liberty as Frisco's top program? Is Heritage a young program waiting to explode?

One team that's bound to benefit is Carrollton Newman Smith, which can maintain its stability while the Frisco programs deal with change.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

QB Miquan Robinson, LB Chris Weatherd, WR Stephen Buckner, Carrollton Creekview; DB Shawn Holmes, DE Karl Thomas, WR Tripp Abbott, Carrollton Newman Smith; QB Garon Goodspeed, RB J.P. Patterson, LB Fernando Barrera, Carrollton R.L. Turner; QB Eric Allen, RB Carlos Harris, WR Jordan Anderson, Frisco; LB Nick Bush, DB Austin Schotts, QB Lamar Jordan, Frisco Centennial; DE Elie Nabushosi, RB Brandon Guilford, QB Cole-Bailey Cantwell, Frisco Heritage; QB Zach Smith, DB Izaiah Robinson, RB Alonte Ryan, Frisco Liberty; QB Nick West, WR Brad Sicula, RB Devaughn Childress, Frisco Wakeland.

DID YOU KNOW?

Frisco Heritage hopes to tally its first win in school history after going 0-10 in its inaugural season. Heritage already has a new head coach in Che Hendrix, but he has all 22 starters back to work with. ... Newman Smith reached the third round of the playoffs for the second straight year, no small feat for a program that hadn't made the playoffs since 1983 prior to the two-year run. ... Carrollton R.L. Turner has won two games in the last four seasons.

PROJECTED PLAYOFF TEAMS

1. Carrollton Newman Smith
2. Frisco Wakeland
3. Frisco Centennial
4. Frisco Liberty

Although district play wrapped up Tuesday for boys basketball, three playoff spots remain unsettled.

In District 7-5A, Justin Northwest and Keller Fossil Ridge finished in a tie for fourth place after splitting their regular-season series. The two teams will play a play-in game at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Keller Central.

Fossil Ridge forced a play-in game by beating Northwest, 66-58, in the regular-season finale on Tuesday.

The Panthers won their last three games to get into playoff positioning, including a 52-50 upset of Southlake Carroll to get the run started.

In District 9-5A, Richardson and Lake Highlands finished in a tie for fourth after Richardson beat Lake Highlands, 59-53, on Tuesday.

Richardson won three of its last four to force the play-in game. Conversely, Lake Highlands has lost four straight games. The two will play at 7 p.m. on Friday at Richardson Berkner.

Whichever teams win these two games won’t have much time to celebrate.

The winner between Northwest and Fossil Ridge will play Flower Mound Marcus, No. 1 in the ESPNDallas.com Class 5A area rankings.

The winner between Richardson and Lake Highlands will open the playoffs against No. 2 Garland Lakeview Centennial.

In District 9-4A, Carrollton Creekview failed to clinch the last playoff spot by losing to Frisco Centennial, 48-45, on Tuesday. Frisco Liberty won three of its last four to pull even with Creekview in fourth place.

The Creekview-Liberty play-in game will be 7 p.m. Friday at Frisco Lone Star.

After missing the postseason in 2009, Frisco Centennial clinched a playoff spot in District 9-4A with its 36-15 win over Carrollton Newman Smith last week.

Having a healthy Nick Foster for the entire season has helped the Titans (5-4, 4-2). The quarterback has missed at least a game in every season dating back to his seventh-grade year.

He’s been incredibly efficient in Centennial’s short passing game in 2010, completing 67 percent of his passes with 22 touchdowns and just four interceptions, three of which came off tipped balls.

“Nick is probably a very underrated, unheard of quarterback in the area,” said Centennial head coach Mark Howard. “One of Nick’s strong points is he’s very accurate. We have a real good short passing game, quick passing game, but Nick can throw it down field, too.”

Centennial has also improved dramatically on defense. The team switched to the 3-4 from the 3-3 stack because Howard felt his personnel better suited the 3-4. The Titans are giving up 27 points per game, down from 39.9 a year ago.

“It wasn’t an overnight success, but it definitely has proved to be a lot better and more effective for us, especially as the year’s gone on,” Howard said.

Centennial finishes the regular season against Frisco Heritage (0-9, 0-6) on Friday.

With Frisco Liberty, Frisco Wakeland and Centennial having clinched playoff berths, only one spot remains for either Newman Smith (4-5, 3-3), Frisco (4-5, 3-3) or Carrollton Creekview (2-7, 2-4).

Having beaten Frisco earlier in the year, Newman Smith can clinch the spot with a win over Creekview on Friday, but with multiple three-way tie scenarios, it gets muddy after that. District 9-4A employs the plus/minus 14-point tiebreaker.

FRISCO, Texas -- To see perfect models for how to start a football program at a new school, look no further than Frisco Liberty and Frisco Wakeland.

Both are already elite 4A programs despite opening in 2006, and they'd seemingly progressed equally heading into Friday's game for the Dstrict 9-4A title.

But Liberty proved to be quite a bit ahead of Wakeland, crushing the Wolverines, 38-3, at Pizza Hut Park, capturing the first district title in school history.

"We really went out and executed about as well as we have all year," said Liberty head coach Galen Zimmerman. "As great an offense Wakeland has, to hold them to three points is pretty good defense."

No. 4 Liberty (9-0, 6-0) forced four turnovers and two turnovers on downs. The Redhawks held Wakeland's explosive passing game to just 218 yards and was in Wakeland quarterback Tyler Kirkindoll's face the entire game.

And it set up a Liberty offense that lacked the leading 4A scorer in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in running back Jay Ajayi, who left the game in the second quarter.

Ajayi injured his left ankle, not the right ankle he injured earlier in the year. Zimmerman said holding out Ajayi, a Boise State recruit, for the rest of the game was mostly precautionary. In a quarter and a half of work, Ajayi ran for 84 yards.

Liberty scored two of its three third-quarter touchdowns off Wakeland (7-2, 5-1) turnovers. The big frame gave Liberty a 38-3 lead that No. 7 Wakeland wouldn't challenge.

Backup running back Ben Battiste did most of the damage for Liberty. He scored all three third-quarter touchdowns on runs of 11, 1 and 12 yards. He finished with 57 yards on 10 carries.

"I was nervous just because I'm the backup," Battiste said of going in for Ajayi. "The weight was on my shoulders, but in the end everyone played well together. The line and the tight ends really gave us those touchdowns."

Defensive back Stan Shepherd came down with two interceptions in the game, returning one 31 yards for a touchdown late in the first quarter to give Liberty a 14-0 lead.

"I ran down and they ran a little slant route," Shepherd said of his touchdown. "I stepped in front of it and took it."