December 21, 2011
ARLINGTON — The Manvel Mavericks entered the 2011 Class 5A Division I state championship game against the Aledo Bearcats at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington with high hopes that they could bring back a state crown in only their fourth year of varsity competition.
Head coach Kirk Martin and his coaching staff knew that their players would have to play a near-perfect game against the two-time defending state champions who were in search of a three-peat.
Of the 18 teams playing for a state championship, Manvel was one of six teams that were making their first appearance in a state title game.
Also making a first-time appearance were Class 1A Manson; 2A Melissa and Hempstead; 3A Waco Midway and 5A Spring Dekaney. Mason beat Stamford 62-40; Melissa knocked off Hempstead 28-15; Waco Midway lost to Lake Travis 22-7, and Spring DeKaney beat defending 5A Division II state champion Cibolo Steele 34-14.
There were 3-of-6 newcomers who returned home with a gold medal and their first state crown.
Last year, La Marque faced Aledo and got blown out 69-34 as junior running back Johnathan Gray scored a state-record eight times against the Cougars.
Manvel knew that they had a staunch task of trying to stop the UT bound Gray who needed only one touchdown to break the national record of 204. The speedster was limited to only one touchdown by the Manvel defense. Gray scored on a 37-yard run with 6:49 left in the game to set the new national mark of 205 touchdowns scored in a career.
But the Bearcats had too many other weapons that sealed the three-peat 49-28.
Aledo scored first with 5:37 left in the opening period after forcing the Mavericks to punt on their first possession of the game.
Willie Gibson caught a screen pass on the sideline and then raced past the Manvel secondary for a 44-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
After Manvel was forced to punt on their second possession of the game, Aledo began their next drive at their own 7.
The Bearcats moved the ball to the Manvel 40, but Manvel's Jared Ambres came up with a big interception to give the Mavs the ball.
After Manvel QB Shane McCarley got loose on a keeper to the Aledo 35, the junior signal-caller tossed a short pass in the flat that was picked off by Todd Christian who returned the ball 70-yards for a touchdown to give the Bearcats a 14-0 advantage with 11:28 left in the second quarter.
It looked like the Bearcats were going to blow out the Mavs, like they did La Marque last year, but Manvel wasn't going to go down that easily as Mavs defense held the dangerous Gray to only 37 yards in the first 12 minutes of play.
With 7:18 left in the second quarter, Manvel answered the interception with a drive of their own capped off by a 13-yard run by Selwyn Green. Josh Martinez booted the extra point to close the gap to 14-7.
But the Bearcats scored two consecutive times as QB Matthew Bishop scored on an 8-yard keeper and Parker Brandham caught a 10-yard scoring pass from Bishop with 1:15 left before intermission for a commanding 28-7 lead and it appeared the Mavs were finished.
"It was a big stage, and I don't know if we had jitters or what it was, but we left some points out there. We throw a pick six, drop two touchdown passes — that's 21 points right there — and that's what we were down at the half," Martin said.
"So I really felt like it could have been a different ballgame had we come out and executed a little bit better on offense."
However, Manvel has a no-quit policy as Corey Seymour and McCarley hooked up twice on touchdown passes covering 14 and 29-yards to put the Mavericks back in the hunt and closing the gap to 28-21 with 1:45 remaining in the third period.
After Bishop scored on a 5-yard run for Aledo to up the lead to 35-21, Manvel came back as McCarley scored on a 1-yard run to pull within seven points 35-28 at the 9:35 mark of the fourth quarter.
That's when Gray would lead the Bearcats down the field and score his national record-setting 205th touchdown on a 37-yard run to increase the lead to 42-28 with 6:49 left in the game.
Aledo added one more score on a 10-yard pass from Bishop to Brandham to post the 49-28 final score with :50 seconds showing on the game clock.
Statistically, the game was close as Aledo outgained Manvel 458 to 393.
McCarley was 12-of-30 passing for 237 yards and two scores with one interception while picking up 83 yards on 10 carries giving him 320 total yards.
Green had seven carries for 45 yards and one score.
Austin Bennett had six catches for 107 yards and Seymour had six grabs for 85 yards and a pair of TDs.
Gray finished the game with 30 carries for 247 yards and one score.
Bishop was 14-of-17 passing for 182 yards and three TDs.
Manvel had an incredible season setting new standards all season long with their first undefeated regular season, first district championship, first regional title, and first appearance in the state finals.
When asked about his seniors, Martin said, "This is a special bunch and many of them are going to continue onto college. I am just so proud of them because they are an extra special bunch, and I am clearly excited for the future of this program."