Best State Championships I’ve Covered
After Stamford’s tough, thrilling 30-28 triple overtime loss to Ganado last week, I started thinking about some of the best state football championship games I’ve covered.
I counted up 27 that I have worked, not nearly as many as some veteran reporters out there, but still a pretty big number.
Here is a top 27 list of the games I have covered in my time at KRBC TV in Abilene, KBTX TV in Bryan/College Station, KOAM TV in Pittsburg, KS/Joplin, MO and with Big Country Blitz.
27 - Bishop McGuiness 31, Grove 0 - 2006 Oklahoma 4A state championship
The absolute coldest I have ever been shooting a game, one that had been pushed back a week because of ice storms.
Could not find the stadium.
Got there late.
I forgot my gloves in the car.
Highlights were late getting back to the station.
Team I covered got blown out.
Not my best night of football coverage!
26 - Brenham Christian 52, Dallas Tyler Street 12 - 2010 TAPPS 6-Man DI state championship
Brenham Christian, a school that no longer exists, won it all in Moody, Texas, of all places, to claim the state crown.
25 - Sterling City 68, May 22 - 2020 1A DI state championship
Sterling City was a great team, and the game was fine, but it was during COVID, and that threw a wrench into things.
I was under the assumption I would be doing sideline reports for KOXE radio’s coverage of the game, but when I got to the stadium, I found out no sideline reporters were allowed because of the pandemic. In fact, no shooters, video or photo, were allowed on the field, if I recall correctly. A couple UIL-paid photographers were on the field and everyone else shot from the lower stands. With radio work out the window, I was able to shoot the game from the stands.
24 - San Augustine 28, Jim Ned 7 - 2003 2A DI state championship
Also a very cold game, and the high-powered Colt McCoy-led Indian offense could not get rolling and lost to the Wolves in Ennis.
23 - Aledo 38, Brenham 10 - 2013 4A DII state championship
The Cubs were a bit of an underdog story to get to the game, but the powerful Bearcats put it on them and won going away.
22 - Smith Center 40, Pittsburg-St. Mary’s Colgan 14 - 2007 Kansas 2A-1A state championship
This was one of the longer days of football coverage in my life.
It started with a 3ish in the morning departure from Hamlin, Texas, and the Shira family Thanksgiving for a drive through some snow to Hays, Kansas.
Colgan ran into one of the great dynasties in the history of high school football, as the Redmen of Smith Center beat the Panthers for their 54th straight win. Their streak would reach 79 games before they fell in the 2009 playoffs. That 2007 team allowed just 20 points the whole season, six in the semifinals to St. Francis and 14 to Colgan in the championship. I highly recommend the book “Our Boys” by Joe Drape about the Smith Center program.
I was there to cover Colgan, who had a great team led by one of the greatest coaches and men I’ve met in my time in media, Chuck Smith.
After the game, the road trip continued with a four-ish hour drive across the state to my house on the east side of the state.
21 - Shiner 47, Hawley 12 - 2021 2A DI state championship
The Bearcats had their first taste of the state title game and ran into a buzzsaw from Shiner.
20 - Navasota 39, Gilmer 3 - 2012 3A DII state championship
The Rattlers absolutely thrashed one of the powers from East Texas to claim their first football state championship.
19 - Jayton 54, Oakwood 8 - 2024 1A DII state championship
Oakwood could not put up much of a fight last week against the powerful Jaybirds, who brought home the first football state title to Jayton in 39 years.
18 - Waskom 33, Franklin 21 - 2015 3A DII state championship
The Lions first trip to the state championship game was a loss, but the game has a few memories to me.
First, seeing media-averse Franklin head coach Mike Hedrick (rest in peace) being interviewed with a big ol’ chaw in his mouth on the field before the game by the Fox Sports Southwest sideline reporter.
Second, it was the third of three games I shot that day at Reliant Stadium in Houston. The first and only time I’ve had bruises on my shoulder from excessive heavy TV camera use.
17 - Westbrook 69, Abbott 24 - 2022 1A DI state championship
The Wildcats made it back-to-back titles with a dominating effort against Abbott.
16 - Benjamin 82, Oglesby 34 - 2023 1A DII state championship
The Grayson Ridgon experience was in full-effect as he put on a show in all phases of the game to lead the Mustangs to their second straigth state title.
15 - Gordon 70, Whiteface 24 - 2024 1A DI state championship
Whiteface looked like they’d be able to hang with Gordon for a while, but the Longhorns scored a flurry of points in the second quarter and put it away on the first play of the third quarter to cement themselves as the greatest six-man scoring defense among state champions in UIL history.
14 - Gordon 70, Westbrook 20 - 2023 1A DI state championship
The Longhorns slayed the giant, knocking off the back-to-back 1A Division I state champs.
13 - Benjamin 68, Loraine 20 - 2022 1A DII state championship
The cinderella Bulldogs gave Benjamin all they could handle, but the Rigdon led Mustangs were too much in the end.
12 - Albany 28, Mart 10 - 2023 2A DII state championship
The Lions made it back-to-back state titles with a dominating defensive performance to beat Mart for a second straight season.
11 - Hawley 54, Refugio 28 - 2022 2A DI state championship
The Bearcats bounced back from their 2021 state title loss in a big way, taking down state power Refugio in a game that was not as close as the final score indicates.
10 - Bremond 35, Albany 20 - 2015 2A DII state championship
The Tigers of Bremond got past Denney Faith’s Lions to claim their second of what would be three state titles in a row.
I will always remember this amazing touchdown run from Bremond quarterback Roshauud Paul.
9 - Brock 43, Cameron Yoe 33 - 2015 3A DI state championship
The Yoemen were arguably on their way to winning a third straight title before they lost Traion Smith, one of the best high school running backs I’ve ever seen, to a horrible knee injury in the first half of their loss to Brock.
Smith was the 3A state offensive player of the year in 2015, and sadly died in 2020 in a drowning accident.
I’ll also always remember being way too close to the Brock train whistle and losing my hearing, or so it seemed for part of the game.
Sidenote: Please ban trainwhistles at games or make the operators give a heads up to jumpy media folks on the sidlines, haha.
8 - Webb City 41, Helias Catholic 34 - 2008 Missouri Class 4 state championship
My first and only trip to cover a game at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, where Missouri powerhouse Webb City won another state title under legendary head coach John Roderique in a very close contest.
7 - Aledo 35, Brenham 21 - 2009 4A DII state championship
Brenham had a chance in the fourth quarter of this one at DKR in Austin, but the great Johnathan Gray of Aledo could not be stopped and helped lead the Bearcats to another title.
6 - Albany 41, Mart 21 - 2022 2A DII state championship
The game itself was not that close, as Albany upset the Panthers, but the memories of Coach Denney Faith brining home the state title after so many years on the sidelines in Albany will make this one memorable to me for years.
5 - Conroe Covenant 80, Abilene Christian 76 - 2023 TAPPS 6-Man DII state championship
The Panthers fell in an offensive shootout, coming short of the end zone from inside the ten yard line in the final minutes of the game.
4 - College Station 20, Aledo 19 - 2017 5A DII state championship
The Cougars were still a pretty young program and were able to pull off the upset of Aledo in a thriller at Jerry World.
3 - Westbrook 72, May 66 - 2021 1A DI state championship
You couldn’t ask for more from a six-man game in this one, as Westbrook knocked what could have been the game-tying touchdown catch away from the Tigers (in a play not without controversy, I’m sure May fans still think it was a complete pass) in the final seconds to win their first state championship.
2 - Ganado 30, Stamford 28 in 3 OT- 2024 2A DI state championship
The Bulldogs great season ended in disappointing fashion with their tough loss in the third overtime.
1 - Navasota 42, Argyle 35 in 2 OT - 2014 4A DI state championship
Maybe the only reason I have this one above the Stamford game is the fact that the team I covered won?
Basically 1A and 1B and I was blessed to see both games.
The Rattlers won their second title in three years in a game full of intensity and drama.
