ARLINGTON – Jordan Whittington wowed everyone that watched Cuero’s 40-28 victory over Texarkana Pleasant Grove Friday afternoon at AT&T Stadium.

The University of Texas signee’s record-setting performance that included 334 rushing yards and six total touchdowns with the Class 4A Division II title at stake won’t soon be forgotten.

But where does it rank among the all-time best performances with a state title on the line? Fox Sports Southwest’s Craig Way, a Texas High School Footbal Hall of Fame broadcaster who will call his 100th state championship game this weekend, put the accomplishment in perspective after watching from the broadcast area.

“If it’s not the top, it’s one of the top individual efforts I’ve ever seen,” Way said. “Not only in the total number – the 334 and six TDs and all of that stuff. But the way he carried himself when he was taking direct snaps from center, when he lined up at receiver, when he was playing in the secondary. He was a do-it-all machine.”

When asked what others stood out over the past decade, Way rattled off Eric Dickerson’s performance against Wylie in the 1978 2A title game when he rushed for 311 yards in a 42-20 victory. Then there was Jonathan Gray’s 325-yard outburst in a 69-34 rout of La Marque in 2010. 

Whittington’s performance overshadowed a strong second-half effort by Cuero’s defense, but one of the differences in Friday’s performance from those others is that the Gobblers needed every one of his yards. Cuero’s fourth state title wasn’t locked up until Whittington broke free for a 20-yard touchdown run with 2:54 remaining.

“If they were up big, we wouldn’t have seen him post those kind of numbers,” Way said. “Coach (Travis) Reeve would have had him out. The fact that they needed it, they needed every bit of it made a big difference.”

Another difference between what Whittington accomplished compared to past memorable title game feats is Dickerson and Gray were running backs. Whittington is a receiver who took the majority of second-half snaps from Cuero’s Wildcat formation.

In the Gobblers’ first 15 games, Whittington had totaled 31 rushing attempts. He nearly matched that against Pleasant Grove with 28 carries, averaging 11.9 yards per rush. 

Whittington made it look effortless at times, like when he broke free on a 69-yard touchdown on Cuero’s first offensive snap. But the senior also was the definition of perseverance, too.

A record that won’t show up in the UIL’s handbook but will probably stand for a long time is Whittington having three touchdowns overturned by replay. The biggest was right before half when a diving 26-yard catch was nullified after the ball move slightly among impact. 

It looked like Pleasant Grove had dodged a bullet, but quarterback Michael Barta still had a snap left before the bands played. Even though he was double-covered, Whittington rendered the controversial call obsolete by running a great route and making a successful pylon dive after his catch. 

Whittington’s touchdown run that gave Cuero its first lead with less than 10 minutes remaining was brought back to the 1-yard line because replay showed his knee was down. Didn’t matter.

The next time Cuero had the ball looking to push its lead to double digits, Whittington broke free down the home sideline but a sliver of his left foot touched white. Didn’t matter then either as the ensuing play was a 12-yard touchdown run.  

“They replayed them and I guess it wasn’t what it was so I had to go back and make it happen,” Whittington said. “That was my mentality.”

Cuero’s mentality in the second half, much to their coaching staff’s credit, was to get their best player the football as much as possible after a first half in which Whittington had gained 226 total yards on only nine touches. The Gobblers ran 38 plays in the second half and Whittington carried the ball on 21 of them. 

It made for a special afternoon as the future Longhorn swept MVP honors, collecting a team-high eight total tackles and breaking up a pass. His defensive performance won’t be remembered as much, but it was also crucial to the win.

And his offensive performance? It’ll go down as one of the best in state championship lore. People who witnessed it will tell their kids one day about the Cuero receiver who dethroned the defending champs by setting a state rushing record.