“This is unbelievable for our team, and community,” said Hamilton head coach Ryan Marwitz, who is now 40-14 in his fourth year coaching the Bulldogs. “We have put so much work in, like a lot of teams in this state, and this team was able to make it happen. This team earned it against a really good West Texas High team, and this is an unbelievable feeling.”

For West Texas High, head coach Jeff Smith and his team have made major strides since Smith’s return to the school. Just two short years ago during Smith’s first year, the Comanches finished 4-7. Last season, WT High was 7-4 and coming into this year, they weren’t picked to win their own district.

Smith and his team believed from the first day of fall workouts, and gave this community something to believe in, as the Comanches finished the year with a 14-1 overall record. The mark tied the school-record for wins in a season (14) and earned the program’s third trip to a state semifinal and the first since 1995.

“What an incredible ride and what a season these guys have had,” Smith said. “I think they’ll realize soon what the journey was about and what this season all meant. We just didn’t do enough in this game to win. We had some mistakes we couldn’t overcome and uncharacteristic things happened that we haven’t had happen all year. But, I’m excited about this year we had, even though it hurts. It’s been a heck of a run, and sometimes life doesn’t go your way.”

It couldn’t have been a better start for WT High on Thursday. The Comanches took advantage of the opening drive, going 11 plays in 67 yards. The drive resulted in an eight-yard touchdown run from Kelby Sherwood, giving WT High its only lead at 6-0 with 6:44 remaining in the first quarter.

From that point forward, WT High will have a lot of ‘what could have been’ questions on what could have been.

WT High ran 40 plays compared to Hamilton’s 20 in the first half. However, the Comanches were only able to produce six points.

In the second quarter, Hamilton did get on the board with a Carson Roberts 22-yard post pass to tight end Pierce Summers. The extra-point was good, and the Bulldogs took the advantage at 7-6 with 7:19 left until halftime.

Once again the Comanches went on the move, going 11 plays in 80 yards. This time, however, WT High was stopped on a pivotal drive inside the Hamilton five-yard line with under 30 seconds till the break. WT High had three drives in the first half that all went inside Hamilton’s 30-yard line, two of which were inside the 10. Unfortunately, the Comanches only came away with one score.

In the second half, Hamilton had all the momentum. The Bulldogs moved well on their opening drive and punched it in behind running back Hudson Haile for a two-yard score. Hamilton extended their lead to 14-6.

WT High made one final run at Hamilton late in the third. The Comanches, at least for a moment, seized back momentum — thanks to Sherwood finding a hole behind his blockers to score a 17-yard TD with just under a minute remaining in the stanza.

This is when the momentum flipped right back to Hamilton, not only for this play, but also for the rest of the game. On the two-point conversion, Comanche quarterback Cayde Winters fumbled the snap. Hamilton’s Colton De La Garza was right in position to scoop the fumble, turn on the speed and go 92 yards for a huge two-point swing. The two-point flip kept the Bulldogs up 16-12.

“Momentum is something that teams thrive on,” Smith said. “We had a chance to get inside the redzone and we didn’t punch it in. We had a chance to tie on the two-point conversion and we made a mistake. That’s not a good formula for us.”

Mariwitz echoed Smith’s comments.

“I tell the guys that when a team scores, you can’t get your head down,” Marwitz said. “The next play is so big and eventually, those points are going to add up one way or another. I couldn’t believe (Colton) De La Garza got that scoop on the fumble. I knew with his speed, no one was catching him.”

Hamilton went on to take over from there, scoring on the ensuing drive to open the fourth on a Roberts dart to Devin Eanes for a 10-yard touchdown. The score stretched Hamilton’s lead to double digits at 22-12.

“We just had to find some rhythm and we needed to start getting stops,” said Marwitz, whose team held WT High to a season-low 12 points. “We had success throwing the ball in the air and the defense showed up in the second half. We put an extra big body up front and I think everyone played with a lot of grit. We made big plays when we had to.”

Roberts put the Comanche defense in tough spots throughout the night, going 10-of-17 for 162 yards with a pair of touchdowns. Haile, who broke loose late for an 80-yard touchdown scamper that was the stamp on the victory, tallied 201 yards on 19 carries, and Eanes led the Hamilton receivers with seven catches for 110 yards with a TD.

Sherwood had a solid game for WT High, despite what looked like a leg injury in the second quarter. Sherwood ended the night with 70 yards on 16 carries.

Then, there’s Winters.

The heart and soul for the Comanches played in his final high school football game on Thursday. Winters has been the definition of an MVP for WT High during this incredible playoff run. Winters had to earn every yard, but did rack up 152 yards on 36 carries and threw for 152 yards.

Winters ended a stellar season by posting a total of 2,757 rushing yards with 44 touchdowns, while throwing for 1,441 yards to go with another 17 TDs to only one interception.

In five playoff games alone, Winters had a season in itself, putting up 983 yards on the ground with 13 scores.

“I feel like we exceeded some expectations,” Winters said. “I love this team and I wouldn’t want to play with anyone else next to me. We played our butts off, but just didn’t get it done. I think these seniors showed this is a team that accomplished a lot and put a belief back in the football program that we can play with anyone, and we can be right where we are. I’m hoping there is another team coming in the future that gets right back here or wins a state title.”

Hamilton 28, West Texas High 12

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Hamilton: Halle 19-201, Roberts 4-5, Eanes 1-13, Ricky Shank 1-11. West Texas High: Cayde Winters 36-152, Sherwood 16-70, Zach Bryant 1-2.

Passing – Hamilton: Roberts 10-17-0-162. West Texas High: Winters 16-24-0-139, Bryant 0-1-0-0.

Receiving – Hamilton: Eanes 7-110, Summers 3-52. West Texas High: Sherwood 6-40, TJ Riggs 3-34, Kooper Hernandez 3-34, Collin Bryant 2-12, Zach Bryant 2-10.