Plano East High Running Back Ismail Mahdi On Landry Award Watch List

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - CBS 11 Sports will present the Landry Award to the top high school football player in North Texas this December.

The Landry Award player to watch this week is Plano East High School running back Ismail Mahdi.

The Plano East Running Back rushed for 262 yards and four touchdowns pacing the Panthers to a 34-17 win over Wylie last Friday, Sept 10.

"Ooooo! Man, I just felt it!" is how Mahdi summed up his night.

"We took it upon ourselves to say 'Hey, we are going to make this program great' so we stuck together." said Plano East guard Aaron Urias.

Sticking together was the key. The win was a long time coming.

The 34-17 victory was Plano East's first win since 2019.

"Getting that W, we was just like... loss of words!" said Mahdi. "It was just exciting."

Plano East Head Coach Joey McCullough agreed.

"It was big time for us getting the win. It was very rewarding for me to see the kids smiling, laughing and dancing."