When Gunter quarterback Hudson Graham turned the ball over a second time late in the second quarter, head coach Jake Fieszel decided to go back to the basics. Gunter and Paul Pewitt were tied 22-22 heading into the half.

“We had a bad five minutes there – a pick-six, an interception, the onside kick,” Gunter coach Jake Fieszel said. “We told our kids at halftime that our plan hasn’t changed. Offensively, we have a really good plan. Defensively they only hit us when they went out of what they did.” 

Gunter lost two of the more productive players in program history when Dylan Jantz and Braiden Clopton graduated. But when the lights shone brightest against a Paul Pewitt team in the Class 3A Division II State Championship Game on Thursday night, only one phrase could describe Gunter’s offense: Pure machine-like efficiency.

The Tigers came out of the half and ran an eight-play, 76-yard drive for a touchdown in barely four minutes. 

The next drive, Gunter ran eight plays for 44 yards and a touchdown in 3:32. 

The next drive, Gunter ran three plays for 37 yards and a touchdown in 1:26. 

The next drive, Gunter ran eight plays for 45 yards and bled the last 6:36 off the clock. 

That was it. That was the ball game. Over that entire second half, Gunter didn’t have a single play go fewer than two yards until the game-ending kneel down. 

“I felt like we played perfect offense in the second half,” said Clayton Reed, who won Offensive MVP after rushing for 119 yards and two touchdowns and adding a 20-yard reception. “We’ve been playing together since we were kids and we just have that special bond that others don’t have.” 

Reed wasn’t the only big contributor. Senior Bryson Rigby posted 99 yards and a touchdown. Senior Peyton Lowe added 88 yards and a touchdown. Graham and freshman Ethan Sloan combined for 60 yards on eight carries. As a team, Gunter exploded for 361 yards on 6.7 yards per carry. 

Gunter’s pistol option offense spread Pewitt out wide, found every gap and attacked relentlessly. And now, for the second time in school history, Gunter is walking home with high school football’s top honor.

“All year long, our kids just continued to get better,” Fiezsel said. “Early in the year, we beat Daingerfield, but I didn’t think our kids had a lot more to grow.

“Obviously, we finished out tonight as state champions.”