Mansfield (December 18, 2010) -- Jakeem Hoffman ran for 146 yards and two touchdowns to lead Mart to the Texas 1A Division I championship with a 28-7 victory over Goldthwaite on Saturday. This is Mart's fifth state championship.
The game turned on three plays just before halftime.
With the score tied 7-7, Goldthwaite appeared to score a 49-yard
touchdown on a pass from Tyler Horton to Jonathon Williams.
However, a penalty for an illegal block moved the ball back to
Mart's 20-yard line.
Two plays later, the Panthers' Cody Cobbs sacked Horton, forcing
a fumble. Taylor Justice picked up the ball and ran 68 yards for a
touchdown and a 14-7 lead.
"Any time you've got two teams of equal talent and equal caliber turnovers and mistakes in the game are always key," said Mart head coach Rusty Nail.
The Eagles (12-3) had taken a 7-0 lead on James Harden's 2-yard
touchdown run in the first quarter.
Mart scored the final 28 points.
After the win Nail talked about what he told his team before the game:
"There are no loses when you get here. There are losers and there are runners-up and if we sell out I think we have a good chance to be champions and we did just that."
