Coltin Gonzales led Blum (13-2) to a 58-52 victory over McLean on Wednesday afternoon at AT&T Stadium in Arlington with 26 carries for 232 yards and five touchdowns, giving the Bobcats their first state championship.
Blum’s dethroning of the defending state champion Tigers makes the Bobcats the Class 1A, Division I 2019 champion and gives the program a huge upset victory.
McLean came out strong in the first quarter, putting up two unanswered scores early as senior Ben Crockett showed his offensive and defensive skills. He set the tone for the game with huge scores and huge tackles, but with a fake handoff and a Koby Clinkscales touchdown for Blum, the Bobcats got on the scoreboard first.
It was a back and forth game throughout the first half as Crockett continued to maintain the lead for McLean. Immediately answering, Dylan Vardeman scored on a 53-yard reception from Clinkscales for Blum to cut the lead to a one-possession game. After forcing a turnover, Blum’s Gonzales scored another touchdown, taking the 24-22 lead over McLean, and Blum went into halftime maintaining the two-point lead.
The third quarter saw two touchdowns from Blum’s Gonzales before McLean could score again with a Crockett run. McLean tried an onside kick, but failed to cover Blum players, and Trey Bullard picked up the ball for Blum and took it to the house to extend the Bobcats’ lead 46-30 over the Tigers.
McLean began a comeback run in the fourth quarter with a touchdown pass from Crockett to Jacob Watson. The touchdown was unanswered, and McLean scored again with a Heaton Helton reception from Crockett. McLean was down 46-44 with 3 minutes, 59 seconds left in the game.
Gonzales gave Blum a little bit of insurance with a touchdown just inside 3 minutes left in the game, and McLean’s Crockett gets outside of a tackle to tie the game at 52-52 with a little over 2 minutes remaining. Gonzales would end the scoring with a touchdown to secure the 58-52 win.
Defensive player of the game was awarded to Crockett, who gave credit to Blum for being “hard to block” during the game.
Crockett will go down as one of the best six-man players in state history and says he is “pretty honored to have that” by his name but wasn’t thinking about that right now.
When asked what comes next, Crockett said, “I’m not sure. Graduate high school.”
Offensive player of the game was awarded to Blum’s Gonzales.
