THORNDALE, Texas -- Coach Mike Reed was thinking about failure in the moments after his Gordon Longhorns beat Thorndale 54-21 to extend their state-best winning streak to 34 games.
For his players, failure in football is a foreign concept. The back-to-back six-man state champions only played into the second half of two games last season, winning all by a 45-point mercy rule. The Longhorns won the 2024 Class 1A DII State Championship after running 17 offensive plays.
But by scheduling an 11-man game, the program’s first since 1946, against perennial playoff contender Thorndale, Reed had put his team’s reputation and streak on the line. Most of his players had not played an 11-man football game since elementary school. Their center was wearing No.11 and the right guard wore No. 25 because they didn’t have enough lineman jerseys.
“In a society that does everything aside from putting itself in a position to fail, we knew we were going to fail today at a lot of different things,” Reed said.
So why did Reed purposefully put his team in a position to fail?
Partly because he has two players pledged to Division I football programs who he wanted to get 11-man experience. His son, Stryker, is an Air Force commit, while teammate Ry Reed (no relation) is off to Army. A third player, Brayden Walters, has generated significant Division I interest.
Another factor was getting more kids playing time. It’s difficult to get everyone reps when every game ends before halftime.
But perhaps the most important reason: he needed to see how his kids would respond when the outcome was in doubt.
“That’s one of the big reasons we play this game, to fight through adversity and make ourselves better by having to struggle,” Walters said.
But Reed was not the only coach who risked it all on Friday night. Thorndale head coach John Kovar played a game in which many coaches saw a lot to lose and little to gain. Gordon is not a normal six-man program. The Longhorns have more DI athletes on one team than Thorndale will likely see all season.
Gordon was at a disadvantage on Friday night having never played an 11-man game and only suiting out 23 players. But Thorndale had its own disadvantages. Kovar’s staff could only study one 11-man scrimmage Gordon had played against Itasca. Both coaches had discussed pregame what formations they’d run because the circumstances were so unusual.
Admittedly, playing Gordon wasn’t Kovar’s first option. Non-district games are scheduled for a two-year block, but Thorndale had a team drop them late into the offseason. When Reed first reached out, Kovar discussed details while searching for an 11-man team. When he had no takers, and his two options were playing nine games or playing Gordon, there was one clear answer. He didn’t want to cheat his team out of a Friday night, and he knew they’d be a better team in the long run even if they lost.
“We’re a pretty good little 2A program,” Kovar said. “So, finally, I just said, ‘If we lose to this team, there’s a lot of 2A teams that are going to lose to this team.’”