Photo by Brian McLean
BY NOLAN RUTH
X – @RealNolanRuth
ARLINGTON— The North Crowley Panthers went into AT&T Stadium on Saturday night and proved in front of 36,120 spectators that they are the best team in Texas by defeating the Austin Westlake Chaparrals in the 6A Division I state championship by a score of 50-21.
It is the second state title in the school’s history, and first since 2003 when they defeated Bay City 20-6 at Kyle Field in College Station.
The win puts an exclamation point on a meteoric rise the Panthers have seen over the last three years since Ray Gates took over after being the defensive coordinator at Cedar Hill under Carlos Lynn, now the head coach at Crowley High.
The North Crowley offense had a field day, with several key players making big plays from the start. The Panthers scored 28 points in the first half to get well ahead and never looked back.
Quentin Gibson was named Offensive MVP after catching seven passes for 181 yards and three touchdowns, most of which came in the first half.
Quarterback Chris Jimerson had a career game as well with 299 yards on 14 completions and four touchdowns, also adding a 44 yard touchdown run in the first quarter.
Finally, running back Cornelius Warren III brought it all together in the run game with 217 yards on 23 carries and a score.
North Crowley opened the game with a bang on the opening play. Warren took the handoff and pitched back to Jimerson for the flea flicker pass to a wide open Gibson who made a couple of jukes and took it 75 yards to paydirt.
Westlake responded on the ensuing drive and it appeared the game was going to be a barn-burner. The next drive was when Jimerson broke his touchdown run to put the Panthers up 14-7. Both teams then turned the ball over on downs in their next drives.
The Chaparrals were on their way to scoring early in the second quarter, but Derrick Gleason forced a fumble at the five yard line and North Crowley recovered. From that point, Westlake was not able to do much offensively.
After the fumble, the Panther offense went on a 12 play, 95 yard drive that took six and a half minutes off of the clock, capped off with a 44-yard connection from Jimerson to Gibson.
They added one more score just before the break with a pass from Jimerson to Daniel Bray, again from 44 yards out, to make the score 28-7 at halftime.
Bray found the end zone again on a one-yard run in the third quarter, and this time Westlake had a response. The Chaparrals gained some momentum with a good drive that resulted in quarterback Rees Wise scoring on a keeper from a yard out.
However, Warren dashed any hope Westlake had with a 75-yard touchdown run on the first play of the ensuing drive to make it 43-14. Both teams scored once more in the fourth quarter, but the game was well in hand and the Panthers claimed their first title in over two decades.
