Ty Robinson’s ball clubs have become one of the more consistent teams in southeast Texas, winning seven games in now eight of his nine years at Woodville, but they could never seem to time up getting hot at the right moment for the playoffs, as they had never been past the area round. Well, that changed this season, as the Eagles would not only make it past the area round but make a dream run all the way to the state championship.
Woodville started off their season with a dominant 27-7 win over Orangefield but would then have a head-scratching 29-20 defeat at the hands of Anahuac to move to 1-1. The Eagles then seemed to find their stride, as they went through a dominant stretch, finishing off non-district play with a 39-14 win against Coldspring-Oakhurst and a 32-14 win over Diboll, and starting district play by smashing Trinity and Warren by a combined score of 111-6.
The 5-1 start would get Woodville a state ranking going into their matchup with district favorite Newton, which would pretty much decide the District 12-3A-DII champion. Newton took down Woodville 34-15, but once again, a loss seemed to have sparked something with this team, as the Eagles were about to go on their greatest run in school history.
Led by the superstar playmaking of senior running back Tayvion Hunter and sensational sophomore quarterback Luke Babin, Woodville dominated their last three district games to finish the season 8-2 and second in the district. That would match them up with Arp in the first round of the playoffs, and the Eagles walked out with a resounding 49-12 win, setting up a matchup with state-ranked Grand Saline in the area round. Woodville, once again, had a dominant performance, defeating Grand Saline 48-21, to advance past the area round for the first time in school history. Woodville continued their historic run by running through De Kalb 42-12 in the regional semifinals and Daingerfield, who had just dominated Newton, in the regional final with a 40-7 win.
For the first time ever, Woodville was in the state semifinals, and the only team standing in their way of AT&T Stadium was Tidehaven. The Eagles had to gut it out, but won a thriller over Tidehaven 28-21 for their first state championship appearance in school history. Woodville would take on back-to-back state champion Gunter for the title.
Coming in as huge underdogs, Woodville fell to Gunter 28-0, but the Eagles made history, and a lot of it this year. Having the most wins in school history, along with the first time making it to the regional semifinals, regional final, state semifinals, and state championship, should have the community of Woodville proud of this Eagle football team.
