Jerry World State Champs, Game 2...

So, for the second and final game of the area teams' state championships Stamford was playing Mart in the Class 1A Div. I championship game. Of all the games involving area teams this was going to be the toughest and probably the best game, and boy did it ever live up to its expectations. Mart opened up the game swinging for the fences, throwing deep and scoring on the first play from scrimmage. After that Stamford marched the ball down the field methodically and scored to tie it up.

Things went back and forth. Then Mart started taking over building a big lead. It looked like Stamford just wasn't going to be able to do it and was going to come up short of a title again for the second year in a row. In the second half though, Stamford's QB, Hagen Hutchinson took the game over on both sides of the ball. It was an incredible effort by someone who just wasn't going to give anything up. Stamford ended up taking the lead for good with just over 30 seconds left in the game, with a great touchdown by Hutchinson just powering his way through defenders for a touchdown. Then on Mart's final drive he sealed the game with an interception as time expired. It was a really great effort by someone who literally left everything on the field. During the scrum after the game you could see him just leaning on his teammates, completely spent. It was one of the best state championship games I've seen. And, close games like these always make for nice photos.

Jerry World State Champs, Game 1...

Now that I'm nearly a month behind... Munday played Teneha in the Class 1A Div. II state championship game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. It was a rematch of last year's state championship. Last year Teneha won the game pretty easily, however, most of their best players had graduated while the majority of Munday's starters were returning. Teneha was loaded with underclassmen and had lost 4 of their first 5 games of the season, but had started playing a lot better since. Munday on the other hand had pretty much been beating every team they played, and beating them convincingly.

This game opened up a lot like every one of Munday's other wins of the year, with the Moguls jumping out to a quick lead and showing the superior speed they had and not letting up. The defense was looking good too and it was obvious the results this year were going to be a lot different than last year. Both the offense and defense were looking great and Munday ended up winning 42-14. After watching most of our local teams lose in the state championship games last year it was nice to see things turns around this year with the third local team to win and one more game left.

First of the State Champs...

Stephenville High School had been a football power in Class 4A since before I moved here. They won four state titles while being coached by now Baylor head coach Art Briles. And the last few years they had been knocked out of the playoffs by the eventual state champs always in a close game. So, this year when they dropped down to Class 3A they were quickly thrust into the state championship conversations. After dropping their first game they had been on a tear. And especially through the playoffs the Yellow Jackets' offense was clicking on all cylinders.

The El Campo team they were playing was the typical pound the ball up the gut type of team that could give Stephenville's defense fits if it got rolling. But, the offense came out quick and set the tempo and Stephenville stacked the box to stop the run and jumped out to a quick lead. El Campo did come back and add a couple scores to get the game close again and went into the half with Stephenville up 35-21.

In the second half Stephenville proved without a doubt who the better team was. El Campo held there own for part of the third quarter, but towards the end of the quarter, the Yellow Jackets were pulling away with it and blew things wide open in the fourth quarter to win the game 70-35. The 70 points scored was also a record for most points scored in an 11-man state championship game. It was the school's 5th state title and the first in 13 years.

State Championship Battle: Good vs. Evil...

I've said this plenty of time before, there are only two times I believe in running up the score: 1) Video Games and 2) When the other team is intentionally trying to hurt or has hurt your players. So, when you look at a team's scores for the year and they are beating teams by 60-70 points every game including one that was 93-0. Refugio was gunning for a national scoring record and didn't care whether they were doing it with class or not.

In the Class 2A Division II state championship game Cisco and their ball control, ground and pound offense was basically going to have to play a perfect game to keep Refugio under control. On the first drive Refugio took the ball and looked pretty unstoppable on offense. Until they got to the red zone, the Cisco was able to stop them on a fourth down. The Cisco offense took over and pounded the ball with their zone read running game, and a really nice deep pass to set up the first score of the game, while at the same time chewing up the clock.

It was kind of funny watching the game. Cisco would get the ball and slowly move it down the field on long drives zapping the clock. The Refugio would get the ball and score in 2-3 plays. Cisco's pass defense just couldn't contain the receivers. The one thing that was missing, sort of like I was afraid may be a problem when I started shooting them three weeks earlier was the kicking game. PAT's were an adventure every time for Cisco, and on the first try of the day the kicker sent one wide. That was the difference at halftime with the score 14-12.

In the second half it looked like Cisco was about to fall apart and the 48 points Refugio needed to set the record was going down. A costly fumble on their first drive of the second half and a quick score, then a punt and another quick score and things were starting to look really bad. Refugio ended up going up 36-19 and was looking completely in control. Then in the fourth quarter on a kickoff Cisco returned a kickoff for 86 yards for a touchdown and on the the following kickoff Cisco pinned Refugio deep.

With the touchdown and pinning them deep the Cisco crowd returned and got loud, then another stop and a bad punt. Cisco got the ball back with good field position and was able to march the ball for another score and they were right back in the game with less than 5 minutes left. This was turning out to be a great game and looking like Cisco could shock the state. After the next kickoff it was obvious Cisco had the momentum and the crowd knew it too, and was getting louder. The crowd from the next game was even getting into and making noise. The Argyle fans were pulling out their propane tanks filled with ball bearings and making it nearly impossible to hear from the sideline... I guess no one likes to pull for a team that likes to run up the score.

The Cisco defense held in their own territory and forced Refugio to punt. Taking the snap inside their own 10 yard line, the Refugio punter ran the ball out the back of the end zone for a safety to close the score to 36-35. That was as close as things were going to get. After fair catching the free kick and moving the ball to mid-field Cisco faced 4th-and-3 with just over a minute left and came up about a foot short of the first down. Well, good doesn't always triumph over evil, but at least Cisco kept them 12 points short of the national scoring record. They were a fun team to cover for the past few weeks and as young as most of the team is there I wouldn't be surprised to see them back again.