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Carter-Riverside quarterback Jacob Galindo and running back Deandre Fields celebrate with each other after clinching a playoff berth during a district game at Scarborough-Handley Field in Fort Worth, Texas on November 7, 2025.
Special to the Star-Telegram
FORT WORTH
For the Fort Worth Carter-Riverside football team, the wait is finally over. It has been 30 years since the Eagles qualified for the playoffs.
Carter-Riverside took its first lead seconds before halftime, then held off Fort Worth Western Hills 36-34 to reach the postseason in the District 5-4A Division I finale on Friday at Scarborough-Handley Field. The last time the Eagles made the playoffs was in 1995, when they lost in the first round 48-0 to Denison.
“This means so much,” said Carter-Riverside coach David Lara. “I love it for our community and for our kids. We don’t have a lot of seniors right now, but the ones we have trusted us, and they worked really hard, and we earned it tonight.”
This is the seventh playoff appearance for Carter-Riverside (4-6 overall, 3-3 district) for a school that opened in 1931.
The Eagles attempted one pass on the night out of their Wing-T offense and rolled up 465 yards of offense, all on the ground. Running back Ryan Walters was just shy of 100 yards picking up 99 on 16 carries. Brothers Deandre Fields, a senior, and Bobby Fields, a freshman, racked up 192 yards on 18 carries and 180 yards on 10 carries respectively.
“We have multiple running backs so you can’t just focus on one of us or the others are going to show out,” said Deandre Fields, in his first year at Carter-Riverside after moving from Saginaw. “It’s not a one-person thing. My offensive line is doing great, our other running backs are doing great, and we just went to work.”
Lara singled out his offensive line of Elijah Pita, Hugo Salazar, Roberto Mateo, Edgar Cantu and Joseph Rosales. None of Lara’s offensive linemen are seniors.
The game was 7-7 after one quarter with a 3-yard run by lineman Anthony Rodriguez, who lined up in the backfield, for Western Hills (2-7, 1-5). Deandre Fields countered with a 3-yard for Carter-Riverside to tie the game with 27 seconds left in the opening frame.
The teams combined for 41 points in a wild second quarter. The Cougars got a 15-yard scoring pass from quarterback Tyler Johnston to Gabriel Christion, a 50-yard run by Josh Oliver and a 20-yard scamper from Rodney Hill.
The Eagles countered with a 61-yard romp by Deandre Fields and a pair of scoring runs by Bobby Fields of 59 and 17 yards, the latter with 9 seconds left before the intermission. Western Hills missed an extra point along the way allowing Carter-Riverside to take a 28-27 lead at the half that they never relinquished.
The Eagles took their first possession of the second half 79 yards in 10 plays, capped by a 1-yard run by Walters to up the lead to 36-27. Western Hills moved the ball down to the C-R 8 yard line on its ensuing drive, but lost the ball on downs there with 36 seconds left in the third quarter.
Carter-Riverside then took almost 8 minutes off the clock with a drive form its own 4 to the Western Hill 8, but a fumble gave the Cougars some life. Johnston hit Hill with a 6-yard scoring pass with 1:55 left to make it 36-34, but the ensuing onside kick was recovered by Alex Montiel for the Eagles.
Carter-Riverside faced a third and 11 at it own 46 with a minute and a half left in the game, but Bobby Fields iced the game with a 53-yard romp down to the Western Hills 1-yard line where the Eagles ran out the clock.
“We really never thought about going to the playoffs here at Carter-Riverside, it was just like we’re going to lose,” said Walters. “We knew that we were like a one-and-four team (in district), but this year we turned it around and finally started winning games. It’s a dream come true.”
Carter-Riverside lost in the bi-district round in Class 2A in 1941 and 1942 losing both times to Dallas Sunset, 14-0 and 27-7 respectively. The Eagles won their first playoff game in 1958 in the 4A bi-district round, 6-0, over Dallas Jefferson, but lost the next week to Highland Park 21-0.
Carter-Riverside went three rounds deep, to the state semifinals, the next year in 1959 with wins over Dallas Samuell, 27-6, a 6-0 win over Highland Park before bowing out 27-7 to Wichita Falls. The Eagles lost in a 4A zone playoff in 1983 to Brownwood 28-7.
Carter-Riverside has the daunting task of facing Alvarado (10-0), the No. 7 team in the state in Class 4A DI according to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, but Lara says he won’t change anything that has got his team this far.
“So this is our 10th game and every game I’ve told the kids that our effort and attitude is something that we can control,” said Lara. “We’re going to make sure that our attitude and effort are high and just let the scoreboard take care of itself. Whether we win big or lose big is something that the kids can control, and we’re going to focus on that.”
This story was originally published November 8, 2025 at 12:44 AM.
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Darren Lauber
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.png "Fort Worth Amon Carter-Riverside runs onto the field during a high school football game against Fort Worth Diamond Hill-Jarvis at Handley Field in Fort Worth, Texas, Friday, October 31, 2025. Carter-Riverside won 49-32.")