ANOTHER ONE! | KHS football is the Goudarzi & Young, LLP / ETBlitz.com Team of the Week!

There’s no mystery this week – absolutely none – about the team that’ll be honored in this spot.

The Kilgore High School Bulldogs have won the honor a handful of times this season; that tends to happen when you’ve won 95 percent of your games and your two losses are by a combined six points.

But the Bulldogs did something Friday night that they haven’t done since 2013, and something they’d done only twice before.

They qualified for the University Interscholastic League State Championship.

For that, Kilgore is once again the Goudarzi & Young, LLP / ETBlitz.com Team of the Week.

Kilgore went all the way to Randall Reed Stadium in New Caney, overcame a constant rain, scored early on a muffed punt attempt, had another elite performance by the defense and the passing game, and in all honesty dominated La Vernia, 38-13.

Now, the Bulldogs – 13-2 and winners of nine straight games – will play Celina (15-0) this Friday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington for the 4A, Division I state championship.

Kilgore set the tone early in the game. The defense threw La Vernia running back Sean Garza for a loss of 4 yards on first down, then Garza and quarterback Keegan Hajek were both held to virtually nothing on second and third downs. La Vernia punted – but the ball went over Luke Green’s head. He chased it down, but Bi’Syn Williams and other Bulldogs were all over him, and Kilgore recovered at the Bears’ 8-yard-line.

La Vernia did manage to keep Kilgore out of the end zone on that short drive: Eddie Jiminez got the Ragin’ Red onto the scoreboard with a 22-yard field goal, and gave Kilgore an early 3-0 lead that it would never relinquish.

Lakeyleon Graves sacked Hajek on the next La Vernia possession, forcing another punt, and this one was a bad one, just 23 yards. Then after the teams traded possessions, Kilgore wound up with the ball at exactly midfield on the 50.

This time, the Bulldogs wouldn’t be denied. On second down, quarterback Kayson Brooks hit Graves for a 19-yard gain and out of bounds at the LV 29. Two plays later, Brooks bolted downfield and scored, the first touchdown of the night, and Kilgore led 10-0 late in the first quarter.

Another LV possession, another punt – that’s usually what happens when you face Kilgore’s defense.

Brooks found running back Rayshaun Williams for a big play, an 18-yard pass play, to get the drive off to a great start, and when it looked like it had completely stalled – Kilgore had fourth and 6 at the LV 30-yard-line – the Bulldogs went for it on fourth down, but not the first down. They went for all of it, and got it: Brooks found Graves right at the 25, just short of the first down marker, and Brooks did the rest, juking Bears’ defenders out of their shoes and scooting into the end zone for another score.

Kilgore had stretched its lead to 17-0 with just over 10 minutes left in the half, and in spite of the Bears scoring literally just before the first-half clock ran out to get within 10 (17-7), it never felt like La Vernia really threatened.

Jiminez did miss a short field goal midway through the third quarter, but in that mess the game was being played in, few could blame him.

The ‘Dogs would get points before the end of the quarter, anyway. Javon Towns made a grab from Brooks and took it 21 yards, just inside the La Vernia 20, and then Jacory Walton made a catch at the Bears’ 9 to set up first and goal.

Isaiah Watters scored the first of two touchdowns just a couple of plays later, and with just under four minutes left in the third, the Bulldogs led 24-7.

That pretty much slammed the door on any comeback hopes the Bears had, but just to be sure, Kilgore would add two more: a 59-yard catch and run by Jayden Sanders, the University of Michigan signee, on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Later, after an interception by Ja’Kalen Sheffield, Kilgore would get into the end zone once more, a 3-yard run by Watters, and that would finish the scoring for the game, 38-13.

It’s Kilgore’s third trip in its history to a football state championship game. The Bulldogs won it all – like, all of their games – in 2004, a 16-0 season and a 4A, DII state championship, taking down Dallas Lincoln in double overtime on Dec. 18, 2004, at Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco.

That great Kilgore team returned a lot of starters in the 2005 season, and overcame some hurdles, but ultimately lost to La Marque in a physical battle in Conroe that most will tell you was decided by a bad call. Kilgore wound up with an 11-2 record.

The program navigated from longtime coach Mike Vallery, who retired, to Mike Wood in fall, 2010, and Kilgore was back in the state championship three years later, in the 2013 season. That year – the year that Cody Murphy / Wody Lynn released “Respect the K” (Kilgore Bulldogs head to Semi-Finals (“Respect the K, 2013”) – Kilgore made it to the state championship game, but lost there to Carthage, and finished the season 14-1.

By the way, he has another song, written specifically for the 2024 Bulldogs, right here: “Respect (the K),” 2024).

Since then, several good seasons: a third-round playoff exit in 2017, a fourth-round exit in 2020 to Lindale in a game at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, and in 2021, coach Clint Fuller took the reins of the program, as Wood embraced the role of being solely the athletic director.

Fuller, who came from Pleasant Grove as its defensive coordinator, had great success and won championships there, and arrived at Kilgore as one of its favorite sons: his father, Phil, was the longtime defensive coordinator at Kilgore College when Clint was growing up, and now he was brought in to do exactly what he’s done: WIN.

Kilgore went 11-2 and won a district championship in Fuller’s first season (2021); went to the fourth round in 2022, only to lose to Chapel Hill for a second straight year; and then won district again in ’23, and lost another close one to Chapel Hill, this time at Longview’s Lobo Stadium, finishing 12-2.

This season, with a renewed determination after that 21-19 loss at Lobo, Kilgore has stormed through its 2024 schedule. They began with a win at No. 1-ranked Carthage (that remains Carthage’s only loss, even now, the week they also are about to play for a state title), and there were two losses (close ones) to Gilmer and Henderson. Those were the only speed bumps.

Kilgore spanked Chapel Hill twice, and Chapel Hill was no factor in the Bulldogs’ plans this season.

And as we begin UIL State Championship Week, Kilgore has the luxury now of shifting its focus to just one thing: beating Celina for the Class 4A, Division I state championship.

That’s what happens when you have a top-notch organization and top-notch leadership.

Another entity with top-notch leadership is the practice of Goudarzi & Young.

With offices in Gilmer and in Longview, and an excellent website, Goudarzi & Young, L.L.P. – Tyler & Longview Personal Injury Lawyers, they’re easily-accessed by East Texans. And they’re not afraid to take on opponents who appear to be much larger than the average individual.

Their hours are 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. each day. Reach them by phone at (903) 843-2544, or toll-free at (800) 256-5169, or by emailing goudarziyoung@goudarzi-young.com.

Founded in 1997 by Brent Goudarzi, he and partner, Marty Young are second-to-none, not just in Texas but in the nation, in their areas of practice: car and 18-wheeler accidents, insurance claims, property and product injuries, oilfield injuries, burn injuries, and wrongful death.

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Congratulations for the second straight week to the Kilgore Bulldogs, headed to the 4A-DI state championship game as the Goudarzi & Young / ETBlitz.com Team of the Week!