The South Oak Cliff Golden Bears and Head Coach Jason Todd come into their third state title game appearance in a row, looking to three-peat as state champions. The Port Neches-Groves Indians came back in the state title game for the 6th time in school history, looking to win their first title since 1975 and to revenge their championship game loss to the Golden Bears last year.
PNG took the opening drive and drove right down the field on, but a penalty, followed by a tackle for loss and a sack from the SOC defensive front, forced a 32-yard PNG field goal. The kick was good, and the Indians took a 3-0 lead 7:38 into the first quarter. On the kickoff, Marcell Gipson took the kick back 34 yards past midfield for the Golden Bears.
On the first South Oak Cliff drive, they drove down without much resistance until they got inside the 10. The Indians defense put up a fight for a couple of plays, but Danny Green was able to cash in the drive with a touchdown run to put SOC up, 7-3. On the next PNG drive, they faced a 4th and 1 from their own 33-yard line; they went for it and picked up the first down on a leap over the center by Shea Adams. Then, they faced a 4th and 5 and converted to get inside the 20-yard line. They faced another 4th down, 4th and 2 from the 3-yard line, and they kicked again with Gio Oceguera making the field goal. Two trips inside the 10-yard line for PNG and the SOC defense kept them out of the endzone both times.
On the next Golden Bears drive, the ball slipped out of William Little’s hands, and PNG recovered the ball at the SOC 14-yard line. However, the Golden Bears’ defense stepped up once again to force another field goal. The 31-yard field goal was good, and PNG took a 9-7 lead with 6:22 to go in the second.
SOC faced a 4th down of their own on their next drive, and they picked it up by inches at the 41-yard line with 5 minutes to go in the first half. The Golden Bears continued on a long drive, running the ball behind their great offensive line and running the clock. A controversial holding call then backed them up, and facing a third and 20 inside the final minute of the half, Khalil Ewell ran it for 12 yards. On 4th and 8 from the 12-yard line, they kicked to take the 10-9 lead going into halftime and finishing off a 13-play 6:03, long drive.
Second Half
The Golden Bears got the ball to start the second half, but another holding penalty on the offensive line set their drive back, and they were forced to punt. On the first drive of the half for the Indians, Connor Bailey got in a rhythm, connecting on several short passes to bring PNG past midfield, but the drive stalled out, and they punted back to SOC. 
Backed up inside their own 20, the SOC offense got to work. Little connected on two passes to get the Golden Bears past midfield. On the next play, Danny Green broke through the middle of the PNG defensive line and took it 44 yards for his second touchdown, getting him up to 95 yards with 5:17 to go in the 3rd quarter and giving SOC a 17-9 lead. Neither team was able to move the ball in their next drive. The third quarter came to an end with PNG converting on a third down with a 27-yard catch and run by Isaiah Nguyen, the first third-down conversion of the game for PNG, followed by a pass interference call on the next play to put PNG offense inside the 40-yard line going into the 4th quarter.
The PNG offense could not convert on third down to start the 4th quarter, and they went for it on 4th and 5, and Bailey connected with Shea Adams for the first down. Nguyen ran through a few SOC defenders to get the ball inside the 5, and Shea Adams ran the ball twice, getting to the 1-yard line. But, a false start penalty backed PNG up to the 6-yard line. PNG settled for a field goal to cut the lead to 17-12. This was the fourth time the Indians have had the ball first and goal and have had to settle for a field goal.
PNG surprised SOC with an onside kick on the kickoff and gained possession. The Indians quickly drove back down inside the 10. PNG again struggled to move the ball against the SOC defensive front, and then the controversial moment that would define this game occurred.
Pass Interference Call
PNG threw a pass to the front corner of the endzone that was incomplete, and pass interference was called with the flag being thrown after the play ended. The brief replay showed no pass interference on the play, but the replay only showed the last 1-2 seconds of the play. It is unclear if the penalty occurred elsewhere, if the officials meant to call holding as there appeared to be a slight jersey tug around the collar, or if it was a bad call. The call put the ball first and goal at the 2 for PNG, and play quickly resumed. SOC again stopped PNG twice, but another SOC penalty put the ball at the one-yard line, and Shea Adams punched it in for the go-ahead score with 3:32 to go. The two-point conversion was good, and PNG took a 20-17 lead.
The final SOC drive started off with a good run from Green and a great scramble for Little on the next play, where he broke three tackles. A few plays later, the Golden Bears faced a 4th and 1 from their own 39-yard line as the clock went down to 1:35 to go. Green picked up the 4th down to move the ball to the 40-yard line. PNG sacked Little and stripped the ball on the next play, but SOC recovered as the clock ran down to 1:06 to go. SOC jumped offsides on the next play, leading to a 3rd and 19. PNG sacked Little on the next play, setting up a 4th and 26. SOC tried a short pass and a hook and lateral, but PNG stopped them.
While most of the talk of this game will revolve around the pass interference call, a call that can be argued either way, it should be noted that this was a physical game, with several noncalls throughout the game on several pass attempts by both teams. There were certainly more calls against the Golden Bears, and the pass interference call late was pivotal, but credit must be given to how PNG converted on several 4th downs throughout the game, how they persevered to get the ball in the end zone to take the lead, and how their defense stepped up to close out the game.
Final Score: South Oak Cliff 17 / Port Neches-Groves 20
The Offensive MVP went to the Kicker, Gio Oceguera.
The Defensive MVP went to Max Scroogs.
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