COLLEGE STATION — Technically, there’s not a trophy for winning the State 7-on-7 Tournament. But there is a pretty badass championship belt.

I get to do a lot of cool things for my job. One of the most rewarding is handing out that belt to the winning team. Over four years of bestowing the belt, I’ve learned to get out of dodge before getting swarmed in the triumphant mob.

But I’ve never seen a team take the belt as nonchalantly as Ganado did after beating West Rusk, 30-13, in the Division III title. Sure, they were respectful. Grateful. But there was no hype. It was almost like Ganado expected to take the belt from the moment they woke up on Friday morning.

It’s funny, because Ganado head coach Josh Ervin saw the same thing. In fact, he’s joked about it with the coaching staff before. Over five years, Ervin has elevated Ganado from a proud program in a little-known town to a Texas high school football juggernaut. The Indians are 47-10 under his watch, including a first-ever state championship in 2024. Somewhere along the way, this group stopped measuring themselves by wins and losses and began judging themselves according to their own impossible standard.    

 “We qualified at our own tournament when we went 3-0 in our SQT,” Ervin said. “Afterward, we’re not happy with how we played, because we didn’t play up to our standard. And we still went 3-0. I think that’s the biggest thing. It’s not really, ‘Did we win or lose?’ It’s ‘How did we play?’ Did we get better today? Are we executing at the level that I know we can execute at? Everything has just gone to the next level over the past few years.”

No one can better attest to the culture shift than senior Logan Bures. When he arrived on campus, Ervin was entering his second year as the program’s head coach. Now, he’s become one of the signature players of the Ervin era. Bures earned First Team All-State utility player as a sophomore on Ganado’s state championship team, then rushed for over 1,400 yards last season. You can now add Division III State Championship Game MVP to that stacked resume.

“It’s such a big difference from my freshman year to now,” Bures said. “Winning is expected way more than it was.”

Bures scored two receiving touchdowns and had another 45-yard catch in the state championship game. But he says his favorite play of the day was when his younger brother, sophomore Kole Bures, caught a touchdown pass, and the entire team swarmed him. Ganado football is a family affair for Bures. His cousin, Beau, is set to play middle linebacker as a freshman. In an effort to differentiate between the family members, Ganado’s coaches call Logan ‘Smoke.’ But Bures’s grandfather, Joey, says that the nickname actually came from an uncle long before Logan got to high school. 

“It’s hard to catch smoke,” Joey said.

And no one could throughout the entire weekend. But Bures was far from a one-man show. Landyn Arriaga won Quarterback of the Day for an efficient performance leading Ganado to the state championship. Perhaps his biggest play, however, came on defense, when he intercepted a West Rusk pass and took it to the house, giving Ganado an early 12-0 lead.

“My biggest takeaway from this two-day thing is the defense,” Ervin said. “I feel like our defense really came together, secondary-wise. We scored three defensive touchdowns, two in the championship game. That’s where I’ve seen the biggest improvement.” 

It seemed like Arriaga and Bures shared one mind all afternoon. Sure, there were countless touchdown passes. But the most impressive display of chemistry came in the state semifinal. Bures intercepted a pass and had one man to beat for a pick-six. Once he realized the opponent had the angle on him, he option-pitched it to Arriaga at the last moment for the score.

Except there’s one thing Bures and Arriaga disagree on. Ganado was on a mission this year after falling to Tidehaven in the state championship in 2025. Arriaga says this run was motivated by unfinished business, citing a conversation the team had the day before they left for College Station. Bures, however, insists those talks started much earlier.  

“We were having those conversations since we left College Station last year,” Bures said.

They’ll have a different conversation on the ride back to Ganado this weekend.