The second full day or UIL 11-man state championships featured Aledo adding to their record setting state title total, a first-time state title winner in the Anna Coyotes and the Gilmer Buckeyes pulling off a slight upset in a classic 4A-Division II state title win over Bellville.  

Anna took home their first state title in school history with a dominant 26-0 win over Tyler Chapel Hill to bring home the Class 4A-Division II title. The Coyotes led by sophomore QB Ziondre Williams scored all 26 points in the first half and their defense led by LB CJ Miller totally suffocated one of the most explosive offensive attacks in all of East Texas. Seth Parr who took over at Anna in 2021 in three years took a program that had never won more than one playoff game in school history and brought them a state title. This will be Anna’s final game as a 4A program as the fast growing community in Collin County is moving to Class 5A-Division II this upcoming realignment.  

Gilmer on the strength of their defense which had struggled all year put together their best performance of the season in an upset 28-26 win over previously undefeated Bellville. RB Will Henderson, known as a speedster showed he can get tough yards and break tackles with an MVP performance for the Buckeyes. Gilmer won their first state title since 2014 when current UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor was the head coach. Gilmer also overcame plenty of off the field adversity after WR/DB Geremiah Noble’s mother and aunt were murdered just before the start of the playoffs, the tragedy certainly galvanized the team and community to rally around Geremiah.  

In the Friday night finale Aledo rolled to state title number twelve with a 51-8 obliteration of Smithson Valley as after falling behind 8-0 early, the Bearcats rattled of 51-straight points in front of the largest crowd of the weekend to date as 22,184 showed up to witness the Aledo victory under first year head coach Robby Jones. Aledo adds to their record for the most state titles in Texas High School Football history as well.   

The season will close out Saturday where three programs from the Southern Sector of Dallas County, South Oak Cliff, Duncanville and DeSoto will look to repeat as state champions.