At the time of this article, it had been 133 days since Hamilton won its first state championship game in program history. Surely, head coach Ryan Marwitz has received every congratulations he’ll get. That December night at AT&T Stadium was magical. But Marwitz is back to reality. 

This morning, he sauntered in front of the Bulldogs’ weight room, barking ‘Are we working hard enough to be a state champion?’ Now, his cell phone reception is cutting in and out because he’s driving across country roads to an area track meet.

But when Marwitz parks his car, the athletic director will start firing off texts. What’s the team bus’s ETA? Is Johnny going to run today with his knee sprain? Did y’all bring me an extra pregame sandwich? Sooner rather than later, he’ll come across someone who sent him a heartfelt congratulations for winning state – and realize he didn’t even see it in the flood of messages.

“I’ll text somebody and realize, ‘Oh gosh, they texted me that night!’” Marwitz said. “I’m like, ‘Sorry I didn’t get back to you. Thanks for that text!’”

It’s not fair to say Marwitz has moved on. He’s just moving forward. But these texts make him stop and reflect on just how hard what Hamilton accomplished was – and how important it was to this community.

In the Class 2A DI State Championship Game between Hamilton and Joaquin, the attendance of 7,582 was double that of the combined population of the two towns (3,828). The Hamilton side of AT&T Stadium looked like the Red Sea, which was fitting, since this event had also happened only once in multiple lifetimes. The Bulldogs have played football since before World War I, but never made the state championship game until 2025. On the victory bus ride back, Hamilton noticed flickering lights from police headlights and fire trucks 15 miles out of town. For a scary second, they wondered if there was a crash. But as the bus crept closer, they realized this was no accident. The Bulldogs were being escorted back to town like conquering heroes. Small businesses had already put up state championship signs outside their shops at 2:00 a.m.

“Our public school is the heart and soul of our community,” Hamilton ISD Facilities Manager Sonny DeLaGarza said. 

Many small towns in Texas revolve around their football teams. But Hamilton is one of the very few who revolve around every extracurricular the school offers. Whether it’s basketball, track, One Act Theatre plays, or even a Barbecue competition – if Hamilton’s participating, Bulldog Nation will show up. Lindsay High School head coach Casey Jones was at Hamilton from 2018 to 2021. He hired Marwitz onto his coaching staff, and Marwitz succeeded Jones after he left. 

“In my last couple of years there, we won the regional championship in track,” Jones said. “When I got this job (at Lindsay), that was one of the first things they mentioned to me. ‘Man, we couldn’t believe how many people from Hamilton were in the stands.’”

It feels like that’s everyone’s first reaction to seeing the Red Sea of Hamilton faithful. We couldn’t believe it. We didn’t know about it. Glen Rose head coach Cliff Watkins coached with Marwitz at Eastland High School. The pair still talks once a week over the phone. Watkins coaches in a town 45 minutes north of Hamilton, where one of his best friends in the coaching world is, but he can’t tell you much about it. And he’s far from the only one.

As Hamilton made its playoff run last year, DeLaGarza reached out to multiple media outlets to see if they could do a story about his Central Texas community. He’s lived here 26 years, and coached on Hamilton’s football team for 21 of them. He would’ve never asked for publicity when he was a coach. But now he’s moved into the facilities manager role, and his son, Colton, is a First Team All-State safety.  Sure, he’s still a little biased. But moving on from coaching, taking one step back from the program, has given DeLaGarza a different perspective about how special they have it.

“It’s really nice to have little ol’ Hamilton, America, be in the spotlight,” DeLaGarza said.

Because for so long, it hasn’t been. In a 111-year history, Hamilton has made just 20 playoff appearances. In the past two seasons under Marwitz, the Bulldogs have gone 28-3. Despite all that winning, the school still has an all-time losing record of 506-524-32. DeLaGarza was on staff for what was once Hamilton’s best season in program history: the 2001 team that went 11-1 and lost to Celina in the middle of their UIL 11-man record of 68 consecutive wins. But he was also on staff for a lot of teams that went 5-5, or 4-6, or 1-9. And, to him, the most important aspect of Hamilton’s story is that the town showed just as much support for those teams as it did for the state championship one. Last year, Hamilton’s championship season was the ultimate tribute to what kids can accomplish if they’re supported unconditionally.  

That December night, or, by this point, extremely early morning, Marwitz rewatched the Victory+ broadcast of Hamilton’s state championship at 2:00 a.m. Part of him wanted to hear what the announcers had to say about his football team. But, mostly, he wanted to hear what they had to say about his town. It’s fun to see people realize in real time what you’ve always known.