ARLINGTON --  Before they'd left AT&T Stadium after the 2022 state championship win, Adam Hill and Zane Waggoner turned to Albany head coach Denney Faith and held up two fingers. They knew then they'd be back in Jerry World next year. 

Albany repeated as Class 2A DII state champions in a rematch with Mart. In 2022 they gashed Mart for 311 rushing yards on 6.8 yards per carry. In 2023, they won 28-10 with a swarming defense.

Senior cornerback Cason Fairchild set the tone from the opening play when he intercepted a pass off Mart quarterback De'Montrel Medlock, who'd thrown one interception all season. With roughly two minutes remaining in the third quarter and Mart in the redzone, Fairchild blew up a screeen pass on 4th-and-2. 

And a front-seven headlined by Hill and Waggoner swarmed a normally explosive Mart offense all afternoon. Running back JD Bell came into Thursday afternoon with 2,236 rushing yards, but was stymied to just 56. Medlock was sacked five times. Waggoner took home the game's Defensive MVP honors with nine tackles and 1.5 sacks, while senior linebacker Jaxson Hoel notched 12 of his own with two sacks. 

"Our motto is, 'No daylight, no air,'" Hill said. "Get a bunch of bodies on the ball and keep swarming them every single play. Eventually, they're going to give up."

Albany needed the standout defensive performance to give its offense some breathing room. The Lions finished the first quarter with 13 yards on nine plays. But, eventually, their repeated sledgehammer blows to Marlin's brick wall of a front seven broke through, as Hill finished the afternoon with 132 hard-earned yards and two touchdowns.

"If we can win the physical battle, then all the other stuff will fall into place," Faith said.

Mart made it to the state championship behind explosive plays from Bell and Medlock. Head coach Kevin Hoffman acknowledged after the game both had not fully healed from injuries suffered in the state semifinals, but refused to make an excuse. Mart made a critical 4th-and-1 stop to give it's offense the ball back down 11 with roughly three minutes to play. Albany's defense stuffed them on a four-and-out.

"Anybody that knows anything about us and has seen us play all year knows that everything goes between our running game with (number) 2 and (number) 4," Hoffman said. "2 and 4 are obviously hurt. They gave me everything they had today."

After four decades of barely falling short of the state title, Faith has now gone back-to-back. It's the first time Albany's accomplished the feat since 1960-61, and Faith said he had multiple guys from those teams send him texts this week wishing them luck in joining the historic club. But while the hardware's nice, that was never what it was all about.

"I love state championships. I love rings. I love the medal. But more than that, I love these guys," Faith said.