Friday night at Yellowjacket Stadium, the Mountain View Yellowjackets wrapped up a perfect season, and won the 2022 Class 3A/4A 8-Man Club Division State Championship with a 52-32 victory over the Fountain Lake Cobras.
The game was close in the first half with each team scoring on their first two possessions. Mountain View scored on a 17-yard run by junior Levi Rorie, and a 16-yard run by senior Trampas Stubbs. Fountain Lake got two rushing touchdowns from Abram Davis. With the score tied at 14, Stubbs intercepted a Fountain Lake pass returning it 59 yards for a touchdown to give Mountain View a 20-14 lead with 7:22 to go in the second quarter.
Mountain View got the ball to start the second half still holding a six point advantage. The Yellowjackets were facing a 4th-and-7, when Mountain View called for a fake punt that was perfectly executed by Rorie for a gain of 23 yards. The next play Stubbs rambled 44 yards for the touchdown. The two point conversion was good on a pass from Stubbs to Jace Tinkle giving Mountain View a 28-14 lead early in the third quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, Fountain Lake was unable to secure the kick, and the ball was recovered by Landon Goins for the Yellowjackets. Nine plays later, Stubbs scored on a two yard run, Tinkle ran in the two point conversion as Mountain View took a commanding 36-14 lead.
Fountain Lake answered quickly on their next possession scoring on the first play, a 57-yard touchdown pass from Destyn Fields to Abe Rose to close the gap to 36-20. Fountain Lake would get the ball back on a turnover by the Yellowjackets, however Mountain View would get the ball back and score when Maverick Woods forced a Cobra fumble that was recovered by Goins who returned it 13 yards for a touchdown, the second defensive score of the night. The two point conversion was good on a run by Stubbs, and Mountain View led 44-20 with 43 seconds to go in the third quarter.
After the Cobras scored on a pass from Fields to Evan East to cut into the Yellowjacket lead, Mountain View put the game out of reach with a 32-yard touchdown run from Stubbs. He also ran in the two point conversion giving Mountain View a 52-26 lead. Fountain Lake would add a late touchdown for the final margin of 52-32.
Mountain View was led by Stubbs who had 229 total yards on the night and five total touchdowns, four offensive and one defensive. Rorie added 91 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown, Drew Shelton added 31 yards rushing and 34 yards passing, while Tinkle had one receiving touchdown. Fountain Lake was led by Davis who had 147 yards rushing and two rushing touchdowns, all in the first half before exiting the game with an injury. Fields had 170 yards of passing and three passing touchdowns.
Defensively the Yellowjackets were led by Goins who had 21 tackles, who had an interception and two fumble recoveries one for a touchdown. Jesy Decker added 20 tackles, Stubbs 16 tackles, and a interception for a touchdown. Tinkle and Jack Newton each had 10 tackles, Kenner Gray had eight tackles, and Racyn Dunnagan seven tackles.
Mountain View finished the season with a state championship and a perfect 10-0 record. Both are firsts for the Yellowjacket football program.
“I’m very happy for this group of young men. They played great all year long making big play after big play. These guys didn’t listen to any of the outside noise. They just played football. I’m really lucky I work with a great group of coaches. We are very thankful for all of the support from everyone in the community,” Yellowjackets Head Coach Michael Gray said.
Fountain Lake’s season ended with a record of 7-3. Two of the three losses came to Mountain View, who defeated the Cobras 30-27 back on Oct. 14.
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