The Graham Steers are area champions after their defeat of the Lubbock Cooper Liberty Patriots in a back and forth matchup where Graham pulled away for the victory.

Head coach Clay McChristian talked after the game Friday, Nov. 21 about being proud of his team’s fight.

“That’s a good ball club over there (the Patriots). They’re 10-1 for a reason. I was just proud of the way our kids battled. Our offense battled tonight, our defense battled tonight, we gave up some plays early on but against a good team that’s going to happen,” McChristian said.

Both teams went into the half scoring 14 points on two scores. Going into the second half, Graham was going to have to give it their all.

The Patriots opened the second half scoring with a rushing touchdown to put Graham down by seven 21-14.

However, quarterback Jace Gill immediately responded with a long touchdown run down the left side of the field to tie the game once again 21 all.

It looked like the Patriots were driving to score again, but the Steers kept Lubbock out of the endzone with Santiago Zamora picking up a big pass breakup on 3rd and 8 and Jordan Alexander intercepting a ball in the endzone to keep things tied going into the fourth quarter.

Graham opened the fourth quarter with a touchdown drive after a big catch and run from Mike Garcia, a solid reception from Braxton Braim and Gill keeping the drive alive with a run up the middle on fourth down.

Dylan Cox capped off the drive by punching it into the endzone to give the Steers the lead 28-21. Lubbock Cooper Liberty went on to score and tie things again though, so the game came down to a big final offensive drive for Graham.

After missing a few passes to Brodie Martin, Gill found Walker Bennett for a first down and after a few missed passes connected with receiver Brodie Martin on the right side of the field to take it into Patriots territory.

On 4th and 7 the Steers made a gutsy play call and went for it which paid off as Gill hit Braim on the right side of the field for a first down. A couple plays later, Gill hit a wide open Thomason Burkett in the endzone to give Graham the lead 35-28.

Back to back sacks from Landon Bass and Burkett sealed the game for the Steers.

Graham’s next playoff matchup is at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 28 against Midland Greenwood at the Mustang Bowl in Sweetwater.