We coldly trudged to the car on Friday, moments after the final play of a 37-35 win for Gautier over Brookhaven High in the MHSAA 5A South State Championship game.

I had made the three-hour drive with my two kids and some of their friends, all passionate supporters of the football team via the student section long known as the “Red Nation.”

Pulling out quickly to beat the traffic and find a place to go and write a game story, the car was silent for a long time.

“Mr. Cliff,” one of them asked, “was that the best football game you’ve ever watched?”

My brain felt fried at that moment, trying to process a second half that had six lead changes and a final field goal attempt for BHS that missed after a lengthy delay while the officials conferred on the GHS sideline.

I don’t know about best, I replied, because I wanted Brookhaven High to win, but I can’t think of many more I’ve ever watched that were more exciting.

A recap of what happened and a look to the future for Brookhaven High football can’t go forward without acknowledging Gautier High and the resilience shown by the Gators, who were playing in the 5A South State game for a third straight year.

In 2022, the Gators lost to the eventual state champion Picayune on the road in the 5A semifinals and last year they lost on the road at Laurel in the same round, the same Laurel squad that eliminated BHS in the quarterfinals.

 The MHSAA and the Mississippi Association of Coaches (MAC) began handing out Mr. Football awards a few years ago and last year the 5A honor went to West Point running back Kahen Daniels, who ran for over 2,000 yards in 2023 and signed to play football at the University of Florida. Daniels and West Point went on to beat Laurel handily last year in the 5A championship game.

The 2024 honoree was Gautier quarterback Paul “Trey” Irving for 5A. I’d been keeping up with Gautier during the season, when it felt like Brookhaven High, and the Gators might be on a postseason collision course, and I knew that he’d thrown for 2,000 yards and run for almost 1,000 yards while leading GHS to a 10-1 regular season record. 

Irving isn’t going to sign with Florida or any other SEC schools, but he has received offers from many of the junior college programs in the state. Regardless of not having stars beside his name, he was the best player on the field Friday and showed that he’s the engine that has powered Gautier into the first state championship game in school history.

Standing around 6-foot, Irving isn’t a big guy, but he’s solidly built and doesn’t go down easily with contact. What impressed me the most was the way his eyes always stayed down field, looking for an open receiver or a checkdown throw to one of his backs, as his offensive line should also be commended for giving him time to throw.

The Brookhaven High defense has been a strength of the team all season and they battled with the Gators from the opening kickoff until the last play, forcing a turnover late with their effort when it looked like GHS was going to salt the game away

Irving finished 26-of-35 passing for 232 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 38 yards on nine carries.

The best passing team the Panthers have faced all season, the Gators had six different receivers catch balls, led by Kainen Rush with five catches for 66 yards and Sebo Gonzalez with seven catches for 53 yards. Rush caught two touchdowns and Gonzalez picked up a fumble at the one-yard line and ran it in for a score too.

Gautier running back Latrell Pogue carried the ball 10 times for 87 yards and two scores.

Irving didn’t throw the ball deep often but played the quarterback position like a point guard as he distributed the rock to a group of speedy skill players with room to run.

I’m not comparing Irving to Quinn Ewers, but the Gators kind of reminded me of the University of Texas with the way they attacked open space on the field and created mismatches for the defense with their routes and alignments.

They also know how to pull through late, as they beat Natchez High by six points in the first round, Wayne County by one point in the second round and BHS by two points in the third round of postseason play.

The matchup on Friday with West Point will be one of two opposing styles, as the Green Wave, winners of 12 state championships all-time, use a punishing ground game to get things done.

The Green Wave have played the tougher schedule of the two with their losses coming to 4A title participant Louisville (15-14), 7A Starkville (33-23), and the unbeaten 7A title participants from Tupelo High (35-14).

West Point head coach Chris Chambless retired after the Green Wave won the 5A title last season. In his tenure at the Clay County school, Chambless won seven state titles, including four in a row from 2016-2019.

I think it was in that stretch of four straight titles where I saw a tweet that was posted by the then Twitter account connected to the football team at West Point.

The Green Wave had just won a state championship on Friday, and the tweet was a video of the weight room on that following Monday. The caption said something about it being the first day of the offseason and max lifts being recorded.

The video showed a room filled with heavy iron plates and big, strong dudes, pushing each other to get even bigger and even stronger.

The message was clear, success at West Point is earned by outworking everyone else, as there were linemen and linebackers and running backs doing front-squats, gripping bars that quivered with stacks of 45-pound plates on each end.

This wasn’t some dudes going through the motions while looking at themselves in the mirror, this was the transformation of boys growing into men, ready for another championship run.

That’s what people mean when they talk about creating culture in athletics.

Brookhaven High has a culture under longtime head coach Tucker Peavey, who has twice taken BHS to the state title game, and the Panthers also have a roster that’s almost wholly returning after going 11-2 this season.

Hopefully, the sting of a close loss will be the fuel needed to keep the Panthers pushing forward into the 2025 season with an expectation of again being among the best in the 5A ranks.

They’ll have some good players to replace on defense in senior tackle Chrisitan Jones, senior linebacker William Buie, senior defensive back Rameriaze Edwards, and senior defensive back William Buie.

The offense is only losing a few experienced pieces in offensive lineman Colt Piper and wide receivers Samarion Buckley and Devion Brown. Buckley had two catches for 41 yards and Brown caught three passes for 30 yards against GHS.

BHS sophomore quarterback Jaden Allen finished 12-of-23 passing for 193 yards and two scores against Gautier. Allen also rushed 18 times for 80 yards.

Junior wide receiver Timmothy Smith caught both those scores and finished with 87 yards on five catches at Gautier. Junior Dreamus Harron Jr. caught two passes for 35 yards.

Junior defensive end Jeremy Bibbs led the BHS defense with 11 tackles and two sacks in the loss. Junior EJ Ratliff, who also rushed for a score, made nine tackles for the Panthers.

Bibbs, Ratliff, Harron Jr., Smith, Kemarjae Lee, Fabian Washington II, Randy Jones, Zacarias Richardson, DJ Washington, and Caiden Quarles, the Panthers have a plethora of rising seniors returning as starters along with a bevy of younger players that gained valuable experience this season.

The hope is that those guys are hungry to lead, to push each other, and to do what’s necessary to earn the first state title in program history since the 2004 season.

The theme for the student section changed from week to week and on Friday, it was “pajamas.” Which came in handy, as everyone was ready to go to sleep on the three-hour, late night ride home, hoping to wake up and realize that it has all been a dream and the Panthers would be playing for a state title again on Friday.

That didn’t happen though, but hopefully the returnees for Brookhaven High woke up on Saturday, ready to get better and get back to work, ready for another special season like the one experienced in 2024 for Ole Brook football.

Sports editor Cliff Furr can be reached at sports@dailyleader.com.