North Crowley dominates Westlake to win Texas 6A-I state championship

Twenty-one years after North Crowley went on a magical run to its first and only state title, the 2024 team sits atop Texas high school football once more.

The Panthers, who defeated national powerhouse Duncanville in the semifinals, dominated Austin Westlake from start to finish in an 50-21 win on Saturday night to claim the 6A Division I championship. The Chaps, who won the 6A-I title in 2020 and 6A-II in both 2019 and 2021, had no answer for Crowley’s offense led by quarterback Chris Jimerson and Colorado receiver signee Quentin Gibson.

On the games opening play, the two connected on a flea-flicker that Gibson took for a 75-yard touchdown to go up 7-0. Westlake tied it less than two minutes later on a short touchdown run. But from there, the rout was on.

North Crowley scored 21 unanswered between the midway point of the first quarter and halftime, with Jimerson rushing for a 44-yard score, Gibson taking a screen pass for 44 yards on 3rd and 18, and Jimerson connecting with running back Daniel Bray for yet another 44-yard score to go up 28-7 with 42 seconds left in the half.

In total, North Crowley’s high-powered offense rolled up 367 yards in the first half, including 171 on the ground between Bray (Utah signee), Jimerson (North Texas signee) and Cornelius Warren (UNLV signee). Their four scoring plays came from 75 and 44, 44, and 44 yards.

Their domination continued into the second half, where Crowley marched 84 yards in nine plays on their first possession to extend the lead to 35-7. Westlake responded with a score of its own — a 1-yard run from QB Rees Wise — to cut the lead down to three scores again.

That didn’t last long though, as Warren scampered for a 75-yard touchdown on the first play of North Crowley’s next drive, pushing the lead to 43-14. The Chaps closed the gap to 43-21 with 8:20 to go on another short run from Wise, but could get no closer.

Jimerson and Gibson added more for good measure late in the fourth quarter, connecting on a 20-yard throw and catch to put North Crowley at or over 50 points for the 11th time in 15 games. The North Texas signee finished the game 14 of 23, throwing for 299 yards and four touchdowns, while rushing seven times for 63 yards and more score.

Gibson, who will go down as one of the state’s most productive receivers in recent memory, finishes his senior campaign with 93 catches, 2,009 yards and 36 touchdowns.

Changing of the guard in Texas high school football?

Saturday’s game marked the first time since 2020 that Duncanville didn’t play on the final weekend of the season. And it also ended their attempt for a third straight 6A-I title, something done only once in the past two decades by Allen from 2012-14.

The championship is the first for Fort Worth-area school since Crowley won all the way back in 2003. And while they weren’t first-time winners, there were a handful of those as well, signaling that a change might be afoot with the top schools in the state.

In 5A-Division II, Vandegrift upset Southlake Carroll 24-17 and claimed their title for the first time since the school opened in 2009. The Dragons have been one of Texas’ top programs over the past two decades, but haven’t won since 2011. Richmond Randle, meanwhile, took home its first ever 5A-II title by beating Dallas-area powerhouse DeSoto, the two-time defending champions.

Smithson Valley snagged its first 5A-Division I title in a win over Highland Park, and Columbus (3A-I) and Ganado (2A-I) also took home their first hardware as well.

With those wins, five of the 12 titles winners did so for the first time in school history. And North Crowley (21 years), Celina (17) and Jayton (40) each broke more than 15-year title droughts as well.