COLLEGE STATION -- Gavin Smith thought it was over.

Keller Central was driving down 21-20, five yards away from a Division I State 7-on-7 Championship. Then the air horn blew. Smith saw it all in slow motion from his wide receiver spot. The Allen players rushing the field in triumph. His head coach, Eric Vance, signaling from the stands that there should be more time on the clock. He’d started his own running clock on his iPhone, and it showed about 30 seconds left. The gravity of the situation began to seep in: how Keller Central, a 5-5 team that had never won a playoff game in school history, had come so close to beating TXHSFB dynasty Allen.

And then he saw the flag.

The air horn had emanated from the other field, signaling the end of the consolation championship. The refs signaled for the teams to keep playing. Allen’s entire team, in the midst of celebrating at midfield, all realized at the exact same time that they were about to be flagged for offside. Too late.

Keller Central had one untimed down. Quarterback Isaiah Taylor lined his team up in a quads formation and saw that Smith had a mismatch pre-snap. He locked eyes with Smith, a stare that said everything. When the ball was snapped, Taylor looked right to throw off the defense. When he turned back left, Smith was alone in the corner of the end zone. Taylor fired. Smith caught it. Ball game.

It all happened so fast that Smith could hardly describe what had happened. One moment, he was heartbroken. The next, holding a state championship belt for a picture with his teammates. But he did know one thing.

 “This is one of the best feelings I’ve ever had in my life,” he said.

It’s also one of the best things that could’ve happened for Keller Central’s football program at this moment in time. Vance, entering his third season at the helm, has a dynamic group of skill kids headlined by the Taylor brothers, Isaiah and Jeremiah. But the Chargers don’t have much of a winning tradition.

“This program has not just never won a state championship in State 7-on-7 or real football,” Vance said. “We’ve never won a playoff game in real football in the history of the school.”

The hardest part about beating a team like Allen is that you’re not just beating the group lined up in front of you; you’re facing the ghosts of state championships past. Coaches talk about the phenomenon that occurs when blue bloods like Allen play an upstart like Keller Central: their logo makes the game 7-0, or more, when it kicks off. But Keller Central proved to themselves that they can compete with these types of teams on Saturday during bracket play. The Chargers won two games on the final play – the championship against Allen, and the quarterfinal against Cypress Ranch.

“We don’t have to be perfect,” Vance said. “We’re building the confidence to where, even if we screw up, even if everything doesn’t look perfectly right, we have the confidence and energy where we’re going to make a play and turn things around.”

It’s easier to be confident when you have a two-way force like Isaiah Taylor on your team. Vance describes him as the type of kid who ‘can turn an average coach into a great one.’ Taylor had four touchdown passes and also had a crucial interception on a 4th down goal line play. The interception kept the score tied at 14-14, and was just as much of a game-winning play as the final pass to Smith.

Taylor said he was able to play at safety and quarterback for five games in the 90+ degree college heat, fighting off multiple cramps, because he was playing to send a message to the state.

“It shows that we’re on the come-up, and to expect us for next season,” Taylor said.

Perhaps the Chargers’ celebration was so hype not just because they won the 7-on-7 championship, but because they’d found out about their own team’s character.

“We’ve got grit,” Smith said. “Any adversity, no matter what it is, we’re going to go out there and ball until the clock runs out.”

And maybe then some, like an untimed down.