Waco — When Groveton’s Rodney Thomas had carried for the last time Saturday at Floyd Casey Stadium, he was a beaten man, yet victorious.

The De Leon Bearcats, on the other hand, were probably wondering how they managed to lose to the unbeaten Indians following one of the most electrifying halves of football this season.



In a setting conducive to nothing but enjoying the great indoors, Groveton rallied to upend the previously unbeaten Bearcats 25-19 in the Class 2A state football championship game.



Despite a frigid temperature of 16 degrees and a wind chill factor of minus-8 degrees, De Leon staged an unlikely comeback from 10 points down in the second half to lead 19-7 with 9:47 remaining.



But when Groveton quarterback Gerald Farley optioned left, turned the corner and raced 46 yards for a touchdown with 7:40 left, the game, for all intents and purposes, was finally over.



Thomas ran for the two-point conversion and later made a one-armed tackle on De Leon’s Jason Clark to blunt the Bearcats’ final scoring drive.



"It was the best defense I’ve played against this year," said Thomas, who rushed 35 times for 220 yards and scored two touchdowns.



"After they went ahead of us, we just had to dig down deep. I never thought about the conditions out there. It’s one of those things you have to put out of your mind."



Forty-one of the game’s 44 points were scored in the second half, and after Thomas scored on a 19-yard run on Groveton’s first possession of the third quarter, it appeared the Indians would get the bulk of those.



However, De Leon - which didn’t even manage a single first down in the opening half - finally got the spark it needed when Greg George burst 62 yards for a touchdown on De Leon’s first play from scrimmage in the third quarter.



With Casey Stone’s PAT, De Leon was back in the contest at 10-7 just 1:30 into the second half.



Fifteen seconds later, the Bearcats were hanging on for dear life again as Thomas returned the ensuing kickoff 82 yards for a touchdown, shaking off tacklers right and left.



"The kickoff return killed us," De Leon head coach Grady West would say later.



But, in fact, it just seemed to provide another challenge for the Bearcat offense which responded with a 13-play touchdown drive.



A 10-yard run by George on a fourth-and-one play from the 15 gave De Leon first-and-goal at the 5. Three plays later, George barreled in from 2 yards out.



Stone’s PAT kick was wide, leaving the score at 17-13, but the Bearcats had solved their offensive woes with a two-back set of George and Clark that was successfully hammering away at the Indians.



"We went to the veer because we wanted to get them out of that 4-4 stack," West said of the Groveton defense. "We were able to have success with it."



Ironically, though, it was that seldom-used tool in the De Leon offense - the forward pass - that gave it the lead.



Facing third-and-seven from the 26-yard line, Bearcat quarterback Aaron Saldivar dropped back and heaved the ball on a post pattern to Brandon O’Donald.



The well-defensed pass was tipped by Groveton’s Lee Phipps at the Indian 45, but O’Donald maintained his concentration and hauled the ball in with one hand at the 43.



He then left the fallen Phipps in his tracks and raced to the end zone untouched. A two-point conversion pass failed but De Leon had the lead for the first time at 19-17.



"I knew there would probably be more points scored," said O’Donald, suggesting that his TD catch might not be the game-winner. "Our guys played well, but they were punishing our defense.



"I was excited (about the catch). I knew I had to catch it. I just hoped we could stop them."



It was on the ensuing Groveton possession, though, that the Indians got the game-winner.



Groveton drove 63 yards in five plays with Farley doing the honors. De Leon, though, got the ball back at midfield with 7:34 left and drove to the Groveton 35 before Thomas made his jersey-tackle of Clark.



De Leon’s hopes of victory subsequently ended on a fourth-down incompletion, and later, a free-lance fake punt that resulted in a 12-yard gain by Groveton’s Aaron Terry for the game’s final first down.



"Thomas is as good as they say he is," West said. "He’s as good as I’ve ever seen."



De Leon, in not making a first down in the opening half, managed just 25 yards rushing and minus-2 passing.



Each team lost two fumbles in the opening half, and one of the Bearcats’ miscues led to Groveton’s 3-0 lead at intermission.



Bearcat George, who had recovered a fumble earlier in the half, coughed one up at the De Leon 29-yard line and the Indians’ Eric Roberts recovered on the first play of the second quarter.



Thomas and Roberts powered ahead for 5 yards each for a Groveton first down at the 19-yard line before De Leon’s defense stiffened.



In three plays, Groveton managed to move the ball down to the 14 before settling for Joey Newberry’s 31-yard field goal at the 10:31 mark.



The ball looked like a wounded duck after it left Newberry’s foot, but found its way between the uprights for the first half’s only points.



Two possessions later, the Bearcats had a golden opportunity to go into halftime with at least a tie but De Leon’s struggling offense would be denied one more time.



Groveton had the ball at its 49-yard line when the Bearcats’ David Cisneroz recovered a Roberts fumble at the Indians’ 36.



After the ball was jarred loose, Cisneroz won a race to the ball to give the Bearcat offense ideal field position.



But after Bearcat running back Clark gained 1 yard on first down, De Leon quarterback Saldivar was wrapped up back at the 47 while attempting to pass.



Split end Trey Weaver was then unable to haul in a Saldivar pass at the 32 and De Leon was forced to punt.



Groveton, starting its next drive at the 16-yard line, held the ball for 10 plays and consumed all but the final 46 seconds of the half.



Thomas, unable to display his explosive ability on the icy, rock-solid field, gained 83 yards on 19 carries in the half.



Clark, with 21 yards on five attempts, was De Leon’s leading rusher. Saldivar completed 1 of 2 passes for minus-2 yards.

De Leon 0 0 13 6 - 19

Groveton 0 3 14 8 - 25

Second Quarter

Groveton - Joey Newberry 31 FG

Third Quarter

Groveton - Rodney Thomas 19 run (Newberry kick)

De Leon - Greg George 62 run (Casey Stone kick)

Groveton - Thomas 82 kickoff return (Newberry kick)

De Leon - George 2 run (kick failed)

Fourth Quarter

De Leon - Brandon O’Donald 74 pass from Aaron Saldivar (pass failed)

Groveton - Gerald Farley 46 run (Thomas run)

DHS GHS

First downs 8 15

Rushes-yards 38-161 60-318

Passing yards 72 27

Comp-Att-Int 2-5-0 1-2-0

Punts 4-28 2-24

Fumbles-lost 2-2 3-2

Penalties-yards 0-0 8-50

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING- De Leon: George 24-123, Jason Clark 15-45, Eric Golden 1-4, Saldivar 3-(-11); Groveton: Rodney Thomas 35-220, Gerald Farley 17-83, Aaron Terry 1-12, Vashawn Roger 1-6, Terry Roberts 4-(-2).



PASSING- De Leon: Saldivar 2-4-0 72 yards, Brandon O’Donald 0-1-0; Groveton: Farley 1-2-0 27 yards.

RECEIVING- De Leon: O’Donald 1-74, Clark 1-(-2); Groveton: Terry 1-27.