Player of the Week: Daingerfield’s Isaiah Parker

DAINGERFIELD, TX (KTAL/KMSS) — After a slow 0-3 start to the season, Daingerfield is back where they want to be, 3-0 in district and coming off a 82-14 win over Queen City.

In that game last week, quarterback Isaiah Parker threw 15-17 for 281 yards and six touchdowns.

“Favorite thing? Gotta be winning,” Parker said.

Parker is at a good place for that. Playing for one of the most storied programs in Texas high school football, winning is the standard. 

“It’s a lot of expectations, I mean it’s not much less than winning here in Dangerfield. They’re always expected to win,” Parker said.

With the goal of winning in mind, in preseason, the Daingerfield staff was exploring all options when it came to the quarterback position.

Parker had already shown some flashes of greatness last season.

“Last year he came in as a backup for Chase Johnson who was a big time quarterback for us. He set foot on the field and, I’m gonna be honest, that first time he went out there, in his first start last year, I was really shocked because he went out there, under pressure with great poise, under control, and really played a great game, that game and we ended up winning that game,” head coach Davin Nelson said.

But they wanted to see who would go the extra mile.

“He showed up. He was the one that was there every morning, really earned the job, really took control of the job, didn’t steal it away from anybody, but just like showed like, this is gonna be my job, and did a great job with it,” Nelson said. “Extremely proud of him and blessed to be able to have him and see him grow throughout the throughout the season so far.”

After securing the starting spot, the leadership piece came naturally.

“I feel like growing up I’ve always been the more leader of the team, the more mature person on the team, so I mean it’s kind of always been like that,” Parker said.

“You know how it is when you have a quarterback that’s up and down and screaming and hollering and then the team starts going up and down and screaming and hollering. So with him being, just even tone and even keel with still showing that sense of urgency, I think that’s a huge blessing for us.”

Averaging close to 200 yards per game, Parker gives credit to the guys that make his job easy.

“I kind of do whatever I want, it’s like everything’s kind of open depending on what their coverage is. I know where I’m going with the ball because I know my guys are gonna win it,” Parker said.

 Junior Reign Wallace leads the team in receiving yards, averaging 89.4 per game, followed by junior Ja’Kyrin Craver (54.4 y/g) and senior Mason Williams (53.7 y/g).

With that confidence, satisfying those big Daingerfield expectations is no challenge.

“You just go about it day by day, play by play, try not to think about it too much, just do your job, that assignment, that play, and it’ll all work out,” Parker said.

Parker and the Tiger’s next task is a big one, on the road, taking on district opponent Hooks. That game is on Friday, October 17. Kickoff is set for 7:30