Wall football advances to state title, downing defending champs Gunter
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The Wall High School football team is headed back to the state championship at AT&T Stadium in Arlington after downing back-to-back-to-back state champion Gunter 28-25 on Friday at Art Briles Stadium in Stephenville.
The Hawks (14-0) head back to the state title game for the first time since 2013, when they beat New Boston 31-3 in the state semifinal.
Wall led early after scoring on their first drive of the game with a 25-yard field goal from Tyler Klinesmith. Wall scored its first touchdown on the board with a 13-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Landon York to Kellan Oliver.
The Hawks won the turnover battle 3-1, including a pivotal forced fumble from Dylan Sellers with 14 seconds left in the first half.
The Tigers (13-2) came out swinging in the third quarter, holding the Wall offense in check and scoring their first touchdown on a 4-yard run from freshman quarterback Tristan Barton, who was in for injured quarterback Knox Gage.
Gunter got on the scoreboard again with a safety after sacking York, cutting the Wall lead to 14-9 late in the third quarter. The Tigers finished with three sacks.
The momentum continued in Gunter’s favor in the second half as it scored on a 3-yard touchdown run from Jay Campiti, to take its first lead of the game at 17-14.
After amassing 20 yards of offense in the second half, the Hawks put together a 60-yard scoring drive, capped by a 34-yard touchdown pass from York to Robertson on fourth down.
On the ensuing drive, Barton fumbled the ball on a rollout near the endzone, which resulted in a scrum. However, the ball popped out of the scrum and into the end zone, where Wall’s Ben Taylor recovered it.
The Tigers put together another touchdown drive, scoring on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Barton to Rhys Dainauski, and Campini got his second 2-point conversion of the night on the following try, cutting the Wall lead to 28-25.
On the final drive, Wall knocked down a Gunter heave on fourth down and dethroned the Tigers after last year’s 42-32 loss in the state semifinal.
The Hawks will play Newton at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 18, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington for the Class 3A Division II state championship.
Paul Witwer covers high school sports and Angelo State University sports for The San Angelo Standard-Times. Reach him at sports@gosanangelo.com. Follow him on X @Paul_Witwer, Instagram and TikTok at pwitwer_sast.
This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: Wall football advances to state title, downing defending champs Gunter
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