With the clock ticking down in the first half and the score knotted at 7, it looked like Gilmer was going to take the lead on China Spring heading into halftime of the 4A Division II State Title Game as the Buckeyes lined up for a 22-yard field goal.
However, the Cougars had other ideas.
Jacob Mott sprinted off the edge, blocking the kick, and the ball bounced right into the waiting arms of Gabe Watkins who took it 86 yards back to the house to give China Spring a 14-7 halftime lead.
“I’ve never been a part of anything like that,” China Spring head coach Brian Bell said of the momentum swing caused by the blocked kick. “That was pretty neat. We’ll remember that one for a long time.”
China Spring’s players said that they could feel how the momentum had swung entirely heading into the locker room for halftime.
“We were all kind of hyped,” China Spring senior linebacker Brayden Faulkner said. “It was an awesome moment. It was a good momentum booster, but we also had to jump back in and not get complacent and kind of focus on the next half.”
Following the blocked kick, Gilmer didn’t score at all in the second half as China Spring ran away with a 31-7 victory in the 4A Division II State Title Game.
Cougar quarterback Major Bowden was the star of the night as he finished with 191 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 34 carries, earning Offensive MVP honors. His backfield counterpart Isaiah Williams also contributed 56 yards on 13 carries.
Their performances were even more impressive considering Williams said the Gilmer defensive line was one of the toughest they’d faced all year.
“Our o-line and how Coach Bell really got us prepared for their defensive line,” Williams said when asked about the keys to the ground game’s success. “I think [GIlmer’s defensive line] was one of the biggest challenges of the year. I think [Bell’s] trust in the o-line and his trust in us having great ball security really helped with that.”
Gilmer struggled mightily after the break with just 37 yards of offense and one first down. Gilmer head coach Alan Metzel said the lack of offense came down to his team being unable to settle into a rhythm.
“In the second half, it was like we couldn’t get that first down,” Metzel said. “It was just like we couldn’t quite get the rhythm. Once you get to that sixth-seventh-eighth play, now you get something going. We couldn’t ever get there, and that’s on us. We just didn’t get it done”
Even before the blocked field goal, special teams loomed large in the first half as both teams ended their first drives with missed field goal attempts. That left the game scoreless early in the second quarter
Gilmer running back Ashton Haynes was the first to reach the blue turf of the Dallas Cowboys end zone on a two-yard run midway through the second quarter, but Bowden responded with a three-yard rushing touchdown of his own to even the game at 7.
With that Bowden touchdown, the blocked field goal touchdown, and a 22-yard field goal by Thomas Barr to open the third quarter, Brian Bell praised his team for dominating the “middle eight,” the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half.
“That’s something we preach is the middle eight,” Bell said. “It gave us momentum to start the second half and just proud of our guys for showing up and competing and playing well.”
As the half progressed, the Cougars continued to chew clock with Bowden, possessing the ball for nearly 17 minutes in the second half. 118 of Bowden’s 191 yards came after the interval as he added touchdowns of 14 and two yards in the fourth quarter to ice the game for China Spring.
Last year, Carthage obliterated Gilmer 70-14 for the 4A Division II title. And even though Friday didn’t end as they would have liked, Gilmer defensive end Matthew Burton said that making it to back-to-back title games and finishing this season 14-2 were accomplishments for him and his teammates to be proud of.
“After last year, our mindset was just to get back to this moment,” Burton said. “Of course, we wanted to win, to flip that and end it the right way and that didn’t happen. But I feel like it’s still an accomplishment. It’s so impressive to see how we grew every day in practice, and I’m forever grateful for it.”
On the other sideline, Friday will be a day that goes down in history for China Spring. Head coach Brian Bell was the backup quarterback on the last China Spring team that got to a state title game back in 2007. However, his team is now the first Cougar team to win a state title since 1978.
“China Spring means everything to me personally,” Bell said. “This community is just so awesome. We really don’t have a town. It’s just a group of people living in a certain area of Waco. So, this football season, to bring our community together, it’s special.”
And for the players on the field, Faulkner, who broke the single-season tackles record for China Spring on Friday, said a 16-0 season and a state title were a dream ending for all the seniors.
“We’ve kind of been dreaming about this since we were little kids,” Faulkner said. “Playing football with each other, seventh grade, we always dreamed about going to a state championship. There isn’t a better ending than going 16-0 your senior year. You can’t write it better than that.”
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