Day 3 of Texas high school football state championships: Stephenville reigns — PHOTOS
Day three of the UIL Texas high school football state championships is over.
See a roundup of results from the action at AT&T Stadium in Arlington:
Stephenville wins state title in defensive duel
Ahead of their seventh state championship game appearances, the Stephenville Yellow Jackets had capitalized on all their chances, winning six state titles.
Stephenville (15-0) continued that streak with a 10-0 victory in a defensive duel to claim the program’s seventh state title and complete a perfect season in the Class 4A Division I championship on Friday at AT&T Stadium in front of 18,643 fans. Kilgore (14-2) was aiming for its second state championship in its fourth appearance.
Stephenville head coach Sterling Doty said the defense thrived behind a “war dog effort.” Four takeaways powered the shutout performance.
“The last several decades, Stephenville has been known for its high-flying offenses.” Doty said. “ … This was an old school football game, very physical. Just lean on that run game. Lean on that defense. This defense has kind of been that all year. That’s kind of the identity.”
The defense prides themselves on being war dogs. To the unit, it’s all about effort and intensity.
“Just going out there and being gritty, and being able to get to the next play,” defensive lineman Kolton Dearth said. “We’re going to come out, and we’re going to hit you in the face. That’s a war dog. That’s war dog mentality.
“We’re going to be meaner than you. We’re going to be more violent than you are.”
Stephenville, No. 2 in Dave Campbell’s final Class 4A DI state poll, dominated the time of possession in a scoreless first half, holding the ball for 15 minutes through two quarters, but struggled on third down, converting three of eight opportunities.
Stephenville linebacker Hudson Butchee, the Defensive Most Valuable Player, helped limit No. 3 Kilgore’s offensive production with an interception and a forced fumble to go along with 10 tackles.
“They don’t have a weakness,” Kilgore head coach Clint Fuller said. “Offensively, defensively, they’re very solid football team. There’s not a player or a position group that you can point to and go, ‘All right, we can attack them. So, we knew that going in. We knew that they were really good football team.”
In the first quarter, Kilgore responded to Butchee’s early takeaways with a fumble recovery of its own, and Bi’syn Williams returned to Jacket territory. To keep the game scoreless ahead of the half, Stephenville’s Willis Jackson seized an interception with Kilgore in the red zone.
“Throughout the whole season, I knew we had a special team for sure,” Butchee said. “From the jump, I knew that this was our year. This was destiny – to win the state title.”
After another defensive stop to start the third quarter, Stephenville finally broke through. Running back Zyler McClendon put his team in position with a 28-yard rush. Quarterback Trot Jordan fired a 40-yard TD strike down the right sideline to Adan Jergins.
Both teams traded punts, and Stephenville athlete Brighton DeVivo made it a two score contest with a 41-yard field goal. With Kilgore needing a response, Stephenville’s CJ Spellmeier notched a sack to force a turnover on downs.
The defense put the finishing touches on a masterful performance as Jackson notched his second interception, essentially sealing the contest.
“It’s great,” senior linebacker Caleb Taylor said of the shutout. “But we just came out with the mentality that we weren’t gonna let them score no matter what — offense was struggling. We just weren’t gonna give up those points, so didn’t put any pressure on them.”
Jordan took home Offensive MVP honors completing 6 of 15 passes for 78 yards and rushing for 86 yards on 17 carries.
“This group is such a special group for us, because again, we had nine starting sophomores – six on defense, three on offense,” Doty said. “The three-year starters for us … they’ll get the job done. It comes down to their leadership and just leaving the way out every single day.”
Stephenville wins state title — PHOTOS
Carthage claims 11th title, routs West Orange-Stark
Carthage scored on the second play from scrimmage and then scored three times in the final 3:57 of the first half en route to a 49-21 drubbing of West Orange-Stark in the Class 4A Division II championship game on Friday before 15,788 in attendance at AT&T Stadium.
It was the 11th state championship for Carthage (16-0), ranked No. 1 in the final 4A DII state poll by Dave Campbell’s, which puts the Bulldogs one behind Aledo for the most football state titles all time. Carthage has made 12 trips to title games, only losing in its first appearance back in 1991.
The Bulldogs went back to back, winning in 2024, and have won 5 titles in 7 years and 7 titles in the past 10 seasons. West Orange-Stark (12-4) has won four state championships in nine title-game appearances.
Carthage jumped out to quick lead behind Texas A&M signee KJ Edwards who took the second snap of the game up the middle for an 87-yard score. Edwards, the Offensive Most Valuable Player, finished the game with 153 yards on 12 carries.
The game was a stalemate from that point until late in the second quarter. Edwards scored again on an 11-yard run to make it 14-0 with 3:57 left in the half.
Carthage quarterback Jett Surratt, son of head coach Scott Surratt, then hit a pair of scoring passes. The first was a 77-yard bomb to Junior Henderson and the second was a 13-yarder to Bryston Price with 11 seconds remaining before the intermission.
Jett Surratt hit 20 of 28 passes for 232 yards and three touchdowns including a 1-yard toss to Carson Crawford with 4:34 left in the third quarter.
The Carthage defense did a stellar job of bottling up Mustangs’ star running back Khelvy Jefferson, not allowing him to break off any long runs. Jefferson, a junior, did manage 121 yards on 25 carries with his longest run being 14 yards.
The Defensive MVP was Carthage defensive back Tylin Williams who led the team with 11 tackles, 5 solo, and also blocked a punt and returned it 9 yards for a score.
The Mustangs didn’t score until after the Carthage starters had retired for the day and the Bulldogs were up 49-0. WO-S quarterback Kwalin Dugas took advantage of a pair of Carthage fumbles to toss a trio of touchdown passes.
Dugas hit Michael Turner III from 10 and 19 yards out and found Anterrion Fontenot for a 29-yard score, all in the final 3:42 of the game.
Smithson Valley shuts down Frisco Lone Star
After the show that Frisco Lone Star quarterback Trey Wright and wide out/running back Davian Groce put on last week against top-ranked Aledo, it was hard to imagine that they would be shut down against Smithson Valley.
But that is exactly what happened as the Smithson Valley Rangers pulled away from the Lone Star Rangers for a 28-6 win on Friday in the Class 5A Division I championship before 21,493 fans at AT&T Stadium.
Smithson Valley (15-1), No. 3 in the final Class 5A DI state poll according to Dave Campbell’s, claimed back-to-back state titles, its only two, in seven appearances. No. 2 Lone Star (15-1) is still seeking its first state title after two tries.
Lone Star’s only other state title game appearance came 10 years ago to the day and LS only scored 6 points on that occasion as well in a 22-6 loss to Cedar Park.
Lone Star has rolled on offense all season averaging 551.5 yards and 45.3 points per game and 50.4 ppg in the playoffs and had 637 total yards and scored 56 points last week against Aledo. But Smithson Valley’s defense was having none of it.
Lone Star finished with 230 total yards, but much of that came late in the game when the outcome was no longer in doubt. LS avoided a shut out when Wright hit Logan Brown with a 32-yard scoring pass with 41 seconds left in the game.
Both defenses played extremely well in the first half as Smithson Valley managed only two field goals of 35 and 27 yards by Trent Amaya. Wright did leave the game with a dinged ankle late in the first half, but did return in the second half.
Smithson Valley finally started to get things rolling in the third quarter. Quarterback Ty Knutson found a wide open Hunter Haug, the Offensive Most Valuable Player, for a 39-yard TD to go up 13-0 with 8:26 left in the period.
Haug had 130 all-purpose yards including 5 catches for 91 yards. Haug, who also doubles as a defensive back, had 4 solo tackles, a pass break up and forced a key fumble while the game was still in doubt.
Caleb Peagler capitalized on Haug’s forced fumble four plays later when he darted in from a yard out to make it 21-0 with 4:07 left.
Defensive MVP Colton Hornsby capped the scoring for Smithson Valley with a 23-yard interception return with 3:34 left. Hornsby had 11 tackles, 7 solo, with a sack.
This story was originally published December 19, 2025 at 1:56 PM.
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