Calallen head coach Phil Danaher, the winningest head coach in Texas high school football history, was hoping to capture that elusive first state title win as Calallen had a date with perennial powerhouse Aledo inside AT&T Stadium on Friday night. For Calallen though, a late effort would fall short as Aledo beat Calallen 24-16 to capture its sixth title in eight years.
In Calallen’s first appearance in the State Final since 2005 and second overall, Coach Danaher ranked this season as one of the best ones in his personal memory.
“It’s one of the greatest ones, this has to be one at the top you know. To play here, in this venue and play against a team like that and know that you had the opportunity to win.”
Calallen actually outgained Aledo in total yards, 229 yards to 191 yards and had more first downs than Aledo with a 15-8 advantage. Penalties would be an Achilles’ Heel for Calallen as they were penalized nine times for 66 yards.
Calallen kept the game competitive against Aledo despite not scoring till the second quarter on a 20-yard field goal to get the score to a feasible 7-3. Rhett Harris punched in the first score for Aledo and Quinn Davis booted a 35 yard field goal to have Aledo heading into the half with a 10-3 lead.
Offensive MVP Jase McClellan scored on a 59-yard touchdown, dragging three defenders heading into the goal line. Calallen quarterback Gaige Lamb would answer right back with a 32-yard score for Calallen to have them down by one score at 17-10.
After Donnie Evans put Aledo on top, 24-10, Calallen would try to muster a comeback to send the Calallen faithful that were part of the 25,983 people in attendance back to Corpus Christi with a victory.
“They’re Calallen, they’re going to be there. They’ll travel. Most all of the time when we played in playoff games we out number them. They just love Calallen football… the people they love it, that’s why they had the crowd they had,” said Coach Danaher.
Callalen drove the ball down the length of the field and punched the ball in with 1:24 left in the game to make it a 24-16 score after a missed extra point.
Calallen would attempt the onside kick but Aledo would recover and run the clock out to preserve the victory.
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