BY BRIAN GOSSET
QB Casen Carney threw a 71-yard touchdown to Clayton Cunningham with over nine minutes left in the fourth quarter and Muenster hung on to beat Gruver in a Class 2A D2 state semifinal game on Thursday night.
Muenster will look to defend its 2A D2 title at 11 am Friday Dec. 19 at Arlington’s AT&T Stadium. The Hornets will face 14-0 Mount Enterprise or 14-0 Shiner in the championship.
Mount Enterprise and Shiner will Friday night.
Muenster (13-2) beat Shiner in the 2024 final. The Hornets also beat Tenaha in the 2017 champ game – the only two other appearances in program history.
Gruver (13-2) set up for a fourth and 18 with two minutes left, but came up well short. Muenster proceeded to run the clock out that clinched the program’s third title game all time.
Muenster took the lead mid first quarter when Garrett Hess had a scoop-six. Gruver scored shortly after on a TD catch from Brock Butler. But the extra point was no good leaving it 7-6.
Gruver took a 12-7 lead when Greyhounds recovered a Muenster fumble and then scored a 28-yard TD pass and catch from Briggs Satterfield to Butler with 11:32 in the second quarter.
The Hornets went up 14-12 with five minutes before halftime when Carney scored from the 1. Gruver regained the lead with five minutes left in the third quarter on a 1-yard TD from Satterfield.
Gruver led 18-14.
Muenster made a big stop and then followed with the long touchdown from Carney to Cunningham before its defense played big to hang on for the win.
