Gordon gets past Westbrook to deny Wildcat three-peat

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ARLINGTON, Texas — Westbrook’s bid for a third straight state championship came up short in a 70-20 loss to Gordon in the 1A Division I state championship game at AT&T Stadium Wednesday afternoon.

The Longhorns outscored Westbrook 32-14 in the first quarter and almost put the game away via mercy rule before the half. The Wildcats (13-2) stayed alive, barely, down 64-20 at the break, and could not put any points on the board in their two third-quarter possessions.

Gordon (15-0) put the game away with a 16-yard Stryker Reed touchdown run with 3:45 left in the third quarter. Riley Reed ran for 100 yards and three touchdowns and was named the game’s offensive MVP.

“They’re really good,” said Westbrook head coach Homer Matlock. “No excuses; they got after us today. We didn’t execute like we should have executed. We were just out of sync a little bit today.”

The Longhorns speed and quick-strike offense proved to be too much for the Wildcat defense. Gordon scored on one-play drives three times in the contest.

Westbrook still racked up 243 yards rushing, led by Keegan Gilbreath’s 133 yards and a touchdown. Grayson Jeffrey ran for 65 yards and caught three passes for 42 yards. Jeffrey threw a key interception, however, on a broken play midway through the second quarter. Reed took it back 65 yards to put Gordon up 56-14 at that point.

Gordon’s Kaden Crowe was named the defensive MVP of the game. He totaled 8.5 tackles and one tackle for loss.

12 Westbrook seniors suited up for the final time, and boy, did they leave their mark on the Wildcat program. The seniors helped Westbrook go 48-9 over their four years with a loss in the semifinals, two state titles, and a state title game loss.

“When these guys were freshmen, we hadn’t won a playoff game in 20, 21 years or something,” said Matlock. “These guys came in, and they have never not played over Thanksgiving. They do things right. They bought into the weight room. They’re just really good kids that come from really good families. We’re going to be missing them big time.”

Gordon head coach Mike Reed won a pair of state titles at Throckmorton and now has one at his alma mater, delivering the first Longhorn state title since 1999. “Being back in Gordon and just the tradition it’s had, even though it’s been some hills and valleys since the late 90’s. It didn’t really take that long for water to sprout that thing going and it’s just an absolute community win today,” said Reed.