ARLINGTON —Paetow has had faith in its offensive line all season.

The Panthers have run over teams all season thanks in large part to that offensive line and Paetow head coach B.J. Gotte knew he could trust them in any situation.

So with the game on the line, no matter the circumstance, Gotte knew he could call on his big men one more time.

“I had confidence in those guys up front, I always will have confidence in those lineman,” Gotte said.

Paetow faced the biggest game of its history on Friday against College Station in the Class 5A-Division I state championship at AT&T Stadium. On the biggest play of Paetow’s history Gotte trusted his offensive line one more time.

Paetow faced a fourth-and-one from the College Station 3-yard line in overtime and Gotte called for a quarterback sneak. Senior quarterback CJ Dumas fell forward with the ball, barely crossing the line to gain, but giving Paetow a first down and bringing them just two yards away from a state championship.

The crowd waited breathlessly as the officials went to replay to determine the call but eventually they gave Paetow the first down.

On the next play, Jacob Brown handed the Panthers their first ever state title with a two-yard touchdown run.

“We were kind of up and down offensively and hot and cold tonight,” Gotte said. “And College Station’s offense was just so explosive, that you never know when they were going to bust one. It was fourth and a yard and it was just a decision of, if we can’t get a yard then I don’t know. We just decided to go for it and keep the game in our hands.”

Things started as badly as they could for Paetow, on the first play from scrimmage College Station scored on an 80-yard touchdown pass from Jett Huff to Traylen Suel.

Paetow and College Station traded punts but the Panthers responded to tie things, putting together a 14 play, 63 yard drive that ended with a Bryan Del Cid 7-yard touchdown run.

“There wasn’t any change after that first play,” Gotte said “They kept their composure and we talked about things like that in a meeting yesterday. I said ‘look, obviously we want to come out and start fast, and if we start fast and we are playing well, that’s great, but theres a chance we won’t either. They may bust us and if we do, that’s fine, you can’t let one big play totally derail what we’re doing.’ They hit us and I just looked at the guys and said ok, lets go score. It’s ok, and I’m proud of the way they kept their composure.”

College Station didn’t take long to respond as they went on their own 11 play drive, scoring on a 23-yard run by Marquise Collins. But Paetow had the answer once again, driving down the field and capping off a drive with a Gene Kendall 1-yard touchdown.

College Station threatened again heading into halftime, but Kentrell Webb came up with a huge interception near Paetow’s endzone to keep things tied after two quarters.

“They were in their goal line package and the receiver tried to set me up with an inside route, my alignment was inside so once he broke back outside and the quarterback threw it outside late I knew I could make a play on the ball. It just set the team up exactly where we needed. We set the offense up and they set us up when we need it.”

The defense carried that momentum they gained by the interception and ran with it early in the second half. Paetow’s offense was unable to come away with points on it’s first drive of the half and College Station drove the ball into Katy territory once again, but Tyler Silves got free to the quarterback, sacked him and forced a fumble and Alex Kilgore returned the fumble to inside the College Station 20-yard line.

“That’s what we do, we’re playmakers,” Webb said. “We have playmakers all around the defense, there’s no weak spots on the defense or the offense. Everyone is so talented and we have fun and we just have so much fun playing the game.”

Paetow’s offense responded, as CJ Dumas scored on a 1-yard run and gave the Panthers their first lead of the game. But College Station responded immediately with a 71-yard run from Collins to tie things up. Paetow went three-and-out but held College Station from scoring to take it into overtime.

From there the Panthers found a way to become state champs.

The Panthers were aggressive all day on fourth down, converting three out of six tries.

“I was kind of lost when they reviewed it and everything because they had just measured it,” Dumas said. “I knew that I got the first down though and I knew that it was going to be a first down. It was so great to be able to get that first down and I knew we were going to punch it in once we got the first down.”

With the win Paetow became the first school in Katy ISD outside of Katy high school to win a state championship. But that doesn’t matter to the players or coaches.

This win is about Paetow, not about anyone or anything else.

“I’m just so happy for our kids, so happy for our community and happy for our coaches,” Gotte said. “For these seniors who started with us in eighth grade when the school was brand new. For them to work as hard as we work and bought into what we did. To see them finish up their career as champions is such a cool thing as a coach.”

Paetow 27, College Station 24

First quarter

College Station: Jett Huff 80 pass to Traylen Suel (Dawson Schremp kick) 11:40

Second quarter

Paetow: Bryan Del Cid 7 run (Anthony Fuentes kick) 11:54

College Station: Marquise Collins 23 run (Schremp kick) 8:08

Paetow: Gene Kendall 1 run (Fuentes kick) 2:28

Fourth quarter

Paetow: CJ Dumas 1 run (Fuentes kick) 11:32

College Station: Collins 71 run (Schremp kick) 4:04

Overtime

College Station: Schremp 24 field goal

Paetow: Jacob Brown 2 run

Team stats

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Paetow: Jacob Brown, 33-112-1; Kole Wilson, 1-25; Bryan Del Cid, 4-23-1; Damyrion Phillips, 8-22; Gene Kendall, 3-9-1; CJ Dumas, 6-7; College Station: Marquise Collins, 23-192-2; Nate Palmer, 3-2; Jett Huff, 3-(-4)

Passing – Paetow: CJ Dumas, 16-23-165-0-0; College Station: Jett Huff, 18-23-215-1-1

Receiving – Paetow: Kole Wilson, 9-94; Brandon Shanks, 1-31; Justin Stevenson, 3-24; Jason Blue, 2-9; College Station: Traylen Suel, 11-169-1; Bradley Jones, 2-23; Dalton Carnes, 3-13; Houston Thomas, 1-7; Marquise Collins, 1-3