Gunter cracks Tidehaven's vaunted defense, wins Texas high school football title behind undersized QB
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - Undoubtedly, Walker Overman has heard the phrase bestowed on him at times.
Whenever he lines up behind center, getting ready to take the snap, the 5-foot-7 senior quarterback from Gunter bends both of his knees so low that they are barely off the ground. At times, it makes opponents difficult to see him, especially because they don’t know what he’s going to do.
He might break loose out of nowhere for a keeper. Or he might throw a quick release to one of his receivers. And it makes the Tiger offense even more dangerous to try to stop.
So inevitably, whenever he’s lined up prepared for the next snap from scrimmage, Overman indeed is a “Crouching Tiger.” He chuckles when asked if he’s heard that before.
“Crouching Tiger; yeah,” Overman said. “I have (heard it before).
“It’s just kind of like triple option (when learning how he developed his pre-snap stance); I’ve got to jump forward sometimes and they might not be able to see me behind the line of scrimmage. … I started doing it at work, so I kept going with it.”
In his final appearance in Gunter’s blue and white, Overman not only wanted to be a crouching Tiger, he also wanted to be a code-breaker. He definitely helped Gunter solve a vaunted Tidehaven defense in a 30-14 win for the UIL Class 3A Division II championship Thursday night at AT&T Stadium.
Tidehaven’s Tigers brought with them a defensive unit that had shut out eight opponents already earlier this season and allowed less than 6 points a contest.
On the other side of the coin, perhaps Tidehaven’s defense hadn’t seen an offense like Gunter’s — a unit that was producing nearly 10 times the average points allowed by Tidehaven (Gunter averaging 58.2 points per game) going into Thursday’s title contest.
So Overman was definitely feeling it. And he and his Gunter teammates dictated the tempo.
Gunter racked up 413 yards of total offense in its win, successfully repeating as state champs. Overman was overly responsible for 321 of those yards, rushing for 172 yards on 24 carries with a TD while completing 10-of-15 passes for 149 yards, including a pivotal third-quarter TD.
“(It was) just making plays, throwing it to our receivers that are selfless players,” said Overman, named the Most Outstanding Player postgame. “They don’t get the ball that much, but whenever they do, they make plays and our offensive line just pushing the ball, pushing the line of scrimmage, that’s what won it.”
Gunter quarterback Walker Overman
A run of 17 straight points in the first half after Gunter spotted Tidehaven a 7-0 lead. Two drives with a combined 24 plays and 133 yards, followed by a relatively quick three-play drive set up by a turnover.
Gunter believed it was a matter of time before it was going to impose its will during the stretch drive. Those Tigers had to wait, however.
Tidewater’s Tigers were living up to their defensive billing at the outset of the second half, forcing Gunter to punt the ball away on each of its first two series.
But on Gunter’s third try of the fourth quarter, Overman essentially said, “Just watch us now.”
A sprint keeper to his left for a first down, which prompted a fellow scribe in the luxurious and cavernous press box to exclaim, “It’s like trying to catch a rabbit; he is quick.”
Then a pass for another first down. An illegal chop block penalty seemed to quell momentum.
Again, Overman reverted back to “watch this” mode.
A pass on the right side to senior receiver Cannon Lemberg. Then Lemberg made a hard cut to his left and was off to the races.
He pointed excitedly in the direction of teammate Dylan Tokarz, who helped spring Lemberg loose and was running alongside Lemberg during his last 20 yards or so en route to crossing the goal line. The play went for 68 yards. It finished off an 87-yard drive that took just five plays.
Checkmate.
“I couldn’t really see Walker but I saw the ball come over the line,” said Lemberg, who has committed to play next season at Stephen F. Austin. “I got the ball, saw some grass, made a few cuts and I saw that end zone.
“I was pointing to my buddy Dylan. He was in front of me and I was telling him who to block because I could outrun that guy but I needed him to go downfield and help me out.”
The sprint to the races by Lemberg - who caught five passes for 99 yards - impressed his quarterback.
“That was amazing,” Overman said. “I hadn’t seen him run that long in a long time, but he freaking booked it. That’s the kind of player he is, he’s just going to make plays.”
For good measure, Gunter’s defense did their part to insure a repeat performance. Gunter kept Tidehaven off the scoreboard in the second half, including forcing a turnover on downs with 9:01 left, though aided by a costly dropped pass on the drive that may have been a Tidehaven TD.
Gunter also held Tidehaven to 279 total yards - 89 of those coming after halftime. Lineman Major Thornhill was named the Outstanding Defensive Player after finishing with eight tackles, three tackles for loss and a fourth-quarter sack.
With less than six minutes left, Overman nearly had a TD after running a keeper up the middle. But after a lengthy review, it was determined Overman’s knee went down a millimeter of an inch from the goal line.
No worries. Overman went back into his familiar crouch behind center. Junior tailback Brock Boddie, who had two TDs to his credit already, gave Overman a final nudge into the end zone, with Gunter extending its advantage to 16 points.
“He goes 100 percent all of the time, no matter the score, whether we’re winning by 50 or losing by 50,” Boddie said of Overman.
If they didn’t feel it then, they sure felt it now. Gunter was well on its way to back-to-back crowns and the fourth title in program history. Not to mention three titles in a span of five seasons.
“Our coach implemented a good game plan throughout the week and we just executed to the best of our ability and it helped,” said Boddie, who rushed for 74 yards in Thursday’s win. “I felt like we were able to control the line of scrimmage; our o-line has done a great job all year and they continued to do that (Thursday).”
And having a player taking snaps behind the line of scrimmage such as Overman helps a lot, too.
“Man, I have never seen anybody have more fun than him playing the sport of football,” Lemberg said of Overman. “And to have him on the field with you just raises everybody’s spirits. … I couldn’t ask for a better quarterback.
“(Tidehaven) did have a great defense, that’s props to them. But start with Walker and the o-line, they’re just fantastic, just picking apart their defense, and whomever gets the ball in their hands on offense, they’re going to do something with it.”
But in the afterglow of another Gunter title triumph, it may have been bittersweet. When Overman began walking up the tunnel off the field well after the game was over, when he had finished the last of his countless interviews, he might have made his final exit on a football field.
He admitted following the game that, in all likelihood, he played his last game. Overman now plans to become a firefighter and attend a firefighting academy.
But he knows the mark he and his fellow teammates left at Gunter High School.
“I think going back-to-back is something really special because it’s never been done in school history, and going out on top with my seniors and all of us, it’s just the best feeling in the world,” he said.
“It’s amazing. Playing here, best community in the world, not losing a football game in Gunter, Texas. … It’s something special.”
With that said, Overman walked up the tunnel one final time.
Walking tall, and standing tall.
-- Buck Ringgold | buck@scorebooklive.com | @SBLiveTX
