Wall Secures Win Over West Plains After Wild Finish

WALL, TX — The defending state champion Wall Hawks earned a statement victory over Class 4A Division I Canyon West Plains, 42-35, on a touchdown with only 33 seconds left in the game Friday at Clayton Weishuhn Field.

The Hawks trailed by 14 points in the fourth quarter against No. 10-ranked West Plains, but they found a way to win their 17th game in a row when quarterback Gunner King found Braylon Nelson in the back of the end zone for the last-minute win.

With a new quarterback and 15 other new starters, the Hawks just told the state of Texas that they can play with anyone. 

The Wolves took the opening kickoff and, on the first offensive play of the game, West Plains running back Slade Russell took it to the house from 77 yards out for a quick 7-0 lead.

On Wall’s first offensive drive, a pack of Wolves brought down King and forced a punt, putting the defense back on the field. After the first big play, the Hawks defense settled down, and Jaxson Kennedy got to Wolves quarterback Timber Russell on second down. Then, on the next play, the Hawks sent the house at Russell and got the sack, bringing the punt unit onto the field.

On the ensuing Hawks drive, they drove 62 yards in seven plays, ending on a 20-yard TD pass from King to Evan Boehle to tie the game, 7-7, with 5:45 left in the first quarter. West Plains took the field and just before the first quarter ended, Russell found Cash Lofton for a 7-yard TD to take back the lead, 14-7, with 47 seconds left.

With 10:37 left until the band took the field, King hit Hudson Surber for a 34-yard score to tie the game again at 14-14.

When West Plains took over, Timber Russell fumbled the ball to Wall in the red zone, but the Hawks fumbled the ball right back to West Plains when Gianni Peck snagged it out of the air with 5:21 left in the first half. Misfortune struck again as Wall would misjudge a punt and the Wolves would take over again. Russell found Nate Alvarez for a 34-yard TD to reclaim the lead, 21-14, with 1:29 left before halftime.

King looked like he had been slinging the ball his whole life and found his running back, Gunner Garza, for a huge play to set up a touchdown when King scampered in from four yards out to tie it up at 21-21 with 26 seconds in the second quarter.

With very little time on the clock, Russell was intercepted by Blaize Benson with just six second to go, and the game was tied at halftime.

Wall had a difficult time after the teams retook the field, and Slade Russell found the end zone again with 5:49 on the clock for a 28-21 lead. The Hawks started to get things going and made their way to the red zone, but King failed to secure a snap, and the Wolves took over again heading into the fourth quarter.

West Plains struck early when Russell found Kade Schneider for a long touchdown to give the Wolves a two-score lead, 35-21.

Things looked bleak, but this is Wall, Texas. Your defending state champions have played a lot of football, and even though they weren’t starters last season, they have experience and stayed the course.

Wall fought back and ended up tying the game, 35-35, after a successful two-point conversion attempt with 3:17 left in the game. West Plains had the football and a 2,000-yard rusher from one season ago in Slade Russell. Timber handed it off to him, and he started around the line on a play that looked similar to the one he scored the opening touchdown on. But the combination of Wall’s Brady Neal and Christian Camp forced a fumble that was recovered by Mason Steen, giving the Hawks a chance.

Cool under pressure, the Hawks started running clock, seemingly trying to set up a field goal. But Hawks head coach Craig Slaughter wanted a touchdown, and offensive coordinator Rob Londerholm said, “I’ve got something.

With 33 seconds left in the game and well within field goal range, King took the snap and found Nelson over two Wolf defenders for the go-ahead score, 42-35.

The Wolves would not be able to find the end zone and the Hawks emerged victorious, making Slaughter as proud of his team as ever.

“Dude, I’m so proud of our kids. We had some terrible mistakes that we'll get better at, but my goodness for those kids to fight out until the end, that was outstanding, so super proud of them,” Slaughter said.

It does come back to the quarterback, and King looked like a fine replacement for Landon York. West Plains is a tough task for anyone, more so for his first start. Despite some mistakes, King handled himself like a pro. It didn’t go unnoticed.

“We try to not put that pressure, but it’s Wall, Texas,” Slaughter said. “Our goal is huge, and we need that dude to play awesome, and my goodness did he make some plays. Just proud of him. He’s a dude. He was a dude last year, and this year, he’s Quarterback 1.”

Back to West Plains. The Wolves made it four rounds deep last season and lost to the eventual 4A-DII state champion, Stephenville. While they have a new head coach and, like Wall, were smacked by graduation, they are a very good program. With the realignment and Wall moving to 3A D-I, that had to be in the Hawks coaching staff’s mind to play great programs to get ready for the coming season and eventual postseason.

“Credit to our kids and community, it’s hard to find games in Wall,” said Slaughter.

One would assume that not many team want to take on the defending state champs, but West Plains rose to the occasion.

Slaughter said, “Those guys were looking for a game and our motto is, ‘We’ll play you.' Hats off to them for doing it, too. We both needed a game, and both teams got better right there. That was two big-time programs going at it. What a Week 1 football game.”

The No. 6-ranked Hawks should celebrate. They just beat a team that is an entire classification above them, and next week they’ll play Class 6A La Joya in Uvalde on Thursday, Sept. 3.