Blum football coach Cooper Thornhill knows a little something about pulling historic upsets. Four years ago, Thornhill was the defensive coordinator at Abbott when the Panthers pulled off one of the biggest six-man upsets in recent title game memory over Crowell.

But on Wednesday, Thornhill’s Blum team outdid themselves. The group came into its 1A Division I matchup against McLean as 17-point underdogs. SixManFootball.com projected McLean to mercy-rule the Panthers. Instead, in its 50th year of football, Blum held on to win its first state title. 

“There’s a knock on the six-man game that they don’t play defense,” said Abbott coach Terry Crawford. “They put together a game plan defensively that put them in a great position to win. I think we both thrive on no one giving us a chance.” 

It started with players doing all the little things right. They picked up after themselves in the locker room, helped each other out and believed in the message. Thornhill used the analogy of fatherhood – not everyone is going to see everything you do, but you have to do it right. 

By the time Blum hit the playoffs, Thornhill started to see this team taking on a similar personality to the epic Abbott team. 

“I could see it working that direction,” Thornhill said. The kids were believing and trusting each other...I knew it was fixing to happen. Maybe it’s overconfidence, but I knew it was fixing to happen with the way we were blocking, the way our running back was running, the way we were throwing. Our defense has kept us in games since week one – I knew they would give us a chance to win it.” 

The community of Blum, population 457, was the perfect place for this to happen. This is a community where the ties run deep. Quarterback Dylan Vardeman threw for 143 yards and two touchdowns in the win. His grandfather, David Stuart, was on the first Blum team 50 years ago, and was in the building to help put a state championship medal around his grandson’s neck. 

“Blum has had several teams where they’ve nearly got to this game,” Stuart said, specifically pointing to teams in 1979 and 2006 that he felt could have gone the distance if not for some bad luck. “It is tremendously special to get here 50 years later and to have a grandson who quarterbacked the team. Tremendously special.” 

Four years ago, Thornhill helped deliver Abbott its first state championship. On Wednesday, in front of nearly 4,000 fans at AT&T Stadium, he helped bring the title home to Blum. 

“It’s unreal,” Thornhill said. “This community deserves this.”