In the most exciting high school football game that I have ever seen, last Saturday, in Jones/AT&T Stadium, in Lubbock, the Goldthwaite Eagles, finishing the season at 15-0, won the Class A, Division 1, State football, championship! They beat the number one ranked, Canadian Wildcats, 29-25. Canadian had won back-to-back state championships, while Goldthwaite, state ranked number three, hadn’t won one since 1994.

Pundits, sports writers and those in the “know”, said that Goldthwaite, in their “old fashioned” wishbone formation couldn’t keep up in a scoring race with the high tech, spread offense of Canadian. But, football is a funny thing! Goldthwaite gained more yardage both rushing and passing than Canadian, and, and, passed for three touchdowns! Goldthwaite also had the edge in time of possession thirty-three and a half minutes to fourteen and a half! Goldthwaite lost no fumbles, suffered one interception and had only three penalties, while Canadian lost two fumbles, had two passes intercepted and had seven penalties.

Goldthwaite opened the season with a shutout victory over Collinsville and I forgot to take my camera to the game, so I didn’t mention it on Outdoor Odyssey. Sensing this could be a good year for the team, I didn’t want to jinx them, so I didn’t mention any of their games, but with eight shutouts, it was hard not to. These shutouts weren’t against “patsies” but state ranked, excellent football teams.

And, by the way, our Grandson, Colton, Goldthwaite’s middle linebacker, led the team in tackles for this big game, for the season too and, as a sophomore, was chosen second team All State!