COLLEGE STATION -- The referees left the field and grabbed a shot of water in the waning moments before the State 7-on-7 Division III final. Left to their own devices, Gunter and Tidehaven clumped together for some pregame jabbering. The two teams knew each other well. They'd faced off six months earlier in the Class 3A Division II State Championship.

Tidehaven wanted to up the stakes after falling 30-14 in AT&T Stadium.

“They were making jokes, like it was double or nothing,” Gunter senior quarterback Preston Tarpley said. “If they won, they got our rings from last year. It was a fun joke. We respect them highly, they’re a really good team.”

Unfortunately for Tidehaven, Tarpley ensured they left with nothing.

Gunter's offense threw underneath most of the afternoon to combat Tidehaven's Cover Two defense. But with the score knotted at 14 and Gunter facing a pivotal third down, Tarpley saw Tidehaven audible into man coverage. So the senior dialed up a goal line play that'd worked three times already in Gunter's run to the title. 

Tarpley rolled left and hit receiver Dylan Tokarz on an out route for the game-winning touchdown.

“That was the best ball I threw all day,” Tarpley said. “Right through the defender’s hands, right into my guy’s stomach, and he was off to the races.”

It was a veteran play for a soon-to-be first-year starter. Tarpley is a Division I kicker recruit who's made 195 career extra points and 14 field goals for Gunter. This fall, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound senior will take over for Walker Overman, who led Gunter to back-to-back state titles. 

But Tarpley joined the rest of his teammates to make sure senior corner Reid Thomas Brackeen lifted the state championship belt. Brackeen was the defense's most valuable player throughout Saturday's bracket play. Brackeen and the defense had an audible of its own, switching from man coverage to zone coverage to stop Tidehaven's choice routes. Tidehaven was held scoreless after the move and managed two touchdowns all afternoon.

“He had a heck of a game at corner," Tarpley said of Brackeen. "The entire tournament, he was lockdown. Without him, I don’t know if we win some of those games.”

The tournament victory gives perennial 3A power Gunter momentum for a challenging three-game stretch to start the 2024 season. The Tigers face Houston Kinkaid before traveling to face state champion Anna and then Celina, who's gone 22–4 the past two seasons.