As the pass floated towards the back of the end zone, Westbrook defender Jimmy Roberts knew he had to do knock it down, or do something, anything to make sure it wasn’t completed.
May was facing a fourth down from the Westbrook eight-yard line, trailing 72-66 and looking to take the lead.
But Roberts found a way to make the play, batting the ball out of May receiver Kaysen King’s hands in the back of the end zone, securing Westbrook’s first-ever state title in incredible fashion in the 1A Division I State Title Game on Wednesday at AT&T Stadium.
“We’re beyond excited,” said Homer Matlock, Westbrook’s head coach. “First time coming, we knew we had a really tough test against May, but we believed that we could compete. Going down the stretch, we kept believing that we could still pull it out.”
In a game with 138 combined points, Matlock and his staff wondered in the closing minute if they should let May score to give their offense a shot to have the ball last. However, they chose to believe in their defense.
“As coaches, we’re sitting there talking about whether we should let them score,” Matlock said. “As many times this season we’ve had that discussion, all the times we’ve put it in the hands of the defense. Jimmy made a really amazing play to knock that ball out there at the end to secure that state victory.”
May head coach Craig Steele faced an agonizing decision himself as he decided whether to try and score as quickly as possible or run the clock out and ensure his team had the ball last. He chose the latter.
“It’s one of those games that comes down to getting key stops,” Steele said. “We got down the field, and we had the option to either use timeouts and save time in case we didn’t score or take it down to the end. I thought we were exhausted, so I thought the right move was to take it down and hope we scored.”
Aside from the dramatic defensive stop by the Wildcats, Westbrook running back Cedric Ware was the star of the game, finishing with 304 rushing yards, 35 receiving yards, nine passing yards, and eight total touchdowns on the day. He also had 10 solo tackles, bringing home Offensive and Defensive MVP honors.
“Cedric, he had an amazing game today,” Matlock said. “Our [offensive] line just really started believing in themselves towards the end of the year and through the playoffs.”
And even though it was Westbrook’s first time in the title game, it certainly didn’t appear intimidated.
Ware opened the scoring just two minutes in on a 14-yard run. And even though May answered with a 50-yard rushing touchdown by Avery Williford on its second play, Westbrook used a 55-yard passing touchdown from Shammah Stark to Colton Waters and a 13-yard touchdown by Ware to jump out to a 22-8 lead.
This quick start played right into Westbrook’s game plan.
“Our scout was that sometimes May doesn’t get off to the fastest starts,” Matlock said. “We thought we might be able to catch them off guard a bit, and our kids answered that.”
However, after getting 45’d a year ago, May wasn’t going to let this year’s opportunity slip away. Kaden Halk made his presence known on a 57-yard rushing touchdown, while Blake Harrell connected with Williford for an 18-yard score on the first play of the second quarter to give May its first lead of the game, 24-22.
From there, the teams traded scores the rest of the half. Ware connected with Hadley White for a nine-yard passing touchdown and added a rushing touchdown of his own, while May used a 31-yard rushing touchdown by Williford and a successful 48-yard screen pass from Harrell to Halk to tie the game up at 38.
In the final minute of the half, there was more chaos as Harrell recovered from a bobbled snap to connect with King for a 41-yard touchdown while Stark found a wide open Aiden Sullivan for a 56-yard touchdown with just four seconds left to give Westbrook a 46-44 halftime lead.
The beginning of the second half was a copy and paste of the high-scoring first half as Halk and Williford scored for May, while Ware added two more touchdowns to tie the game at 60.
However, Westbrook turned the game on its head on the kickoff following Ware’s second touchdown. The Wildcats had been kicking onside all game, but they finally recovered one on their ninth attempt of the game.
It turned out to be one of the game’s deciding plays.
“It was huge,” Steele said. “Because they didn’t have to get a defensive stop when both teams were having trouble stopping each other.”
Ware scored on a 10-yard run following the onside kick and a one-yard touchdown run by him on the ensuing drive gave Westbrook a 72-60 lead it wouldn’t relinquish even as Halk added an eight-yard rushing touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
And although May fell to defeat in the state title game for the second year in a row, an emotional Steele was incredibly proud of what his players accomplished.
“That’s the hard part,” Steele said. “These kids work really hard, and they made it their mission to get back and change the outcome, and they literally came within an inch of doing that. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but I’m extremely proud of them, our program, our coaches, and our town.”
Matlock said he first took his son and some buddies to the state title games a couple years ago to give the Westbrook program a vision of what it was trying to accomplish. With the Wildcats’ first-ever state title now secured, Matlock said Wednesday was a program-defining day.
“The Bible says those without a vision perish,” Matlock said. “We got the vision, and these little kids sitting up in the bleachers now have vision. It’s huge for our school.”
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