ARLINGTON — With four quarters of football between them and a fourth state championship in six years, the Westlake defense lined up for the first play from scrimmage.

North Crowley running back Cornelius Warren III received the handoff and immediately pitched it back to quarterback Chris Jimerson. After dancing in the pocket and narrowly avoiding a sack, Jimerson launched the ball downfield to wide receiver Quentin Gibson, who hauled it in down the left sideline. He cut across the field and found the end zone for a 75-yard touchdown.

Westlake (14-2) let up big play after big play all night, falling to North Crowley (16-0), 50-21, Saturday night at the AT&T Stadium in the UIL 6A-DI state championship. The Chaps couldn’t contain the high-powered Panther offense, letting Gibson grab 181 yards and three touchdowns on seven receptions. The defense gave up five touchdowns of 40 or more yards, three of them coming on third downs.

“It’s not the result we wanted, but hats off to North Crowley,” head coach Tony Salazar said.  “They did an outstanding job tonight. They were the better football team, and that’s what happens in the great game of football. Sometimes there’s great nights and big nights and fun nights, and sometimes it humbles you.”

Following the opening touchdown, Westlake grinded out a five-play, 57-yard touchdown drive in which they never threw the ball. That was their only scoring drive in the first half.

Gibson soon found space again for North Crowley, breaking free for a 24-yard gain on third-and-14. The catch flipped the momentum back toward North Crowley. On the very next play, Jimerson found open real estate too, dodging multiple Chaps en route to a 44-yard touchdown run, giving the Panthers back a lead they never gave up.

“Everybody has to tackle well to win this game, with how fast and gifted these running backs are,” senior linebacker Elliott Schaper said earlier in the week.

Westlake did that when North Crowley got the ball back on their own 27 yard-line after a turnover on downs. Warren III and Jimerson gashed the Chaps defensive line for chunk yardage. But a false start pushed them behind the sticks, and the Chaparral defense finally got the stop that they were looking for when they dropped Jimerson in the backfield on fourth-and-seven.

Just when it looked like Westlake regained its footing, churning out a lengthy drive that carried them into the second quarter, the Panthers made a crucial play again. They stripped the ball from senior running back Grady Bartlett in the red zone – the only turnover of the game for either side.

The Panthers took over at their own five.

“[The fumble] was no doubt a big, big change,” Salazar said. “We were about to be in a tie football game right there and right back in this thing a couple minutes before halftime, and then lo and behold, it’s a fumble.”

65 rushing yards later, North Crowley faced second-and-seven. Jimerson rolled out left and was searching for room when Schaper cracked him for a one yard loss. Then on third-and-eight, the Panthers got a 10-yard holding penalty.

Like many other times throughout the night, when the Chaps defense needed to get off of the field, they couldn’t deliver. Gibson caught a screen pass, and turned it into a 44-yard touchdown catch, adding onto the five catches for 148 yards and two touchdowns that he had in the first half and putting the Panthers up 21-7.

On the next North Crowley possession the Chaps forced a third-and-six around midfield. Again, they couldn’t get off the field, giving up another 44-yard touchdown.

This time, running back Daniel Bray scampered in and put the Panthers up by 21 points going into the half. Not much changed after the break with North Crowley piling on 22 more points.

The Chaps were no match for the offensive juggernaut that they faced in North Crowley. A formerly stout defense that was averaging 12.3 opponent points per game was routinely picked apart by the Panthers offense, who put up 50 points and only punted once.

The Chaparral offense performed in parts of the game, but they weren’t able to put any points on the board in the second quarter, which is where the North Crowley offense did a lot of their damage. Junior quarterback Rees Wise put up a season-high 103 yards rushing and two rushing touchdowns. He added 155 yards through the air and didn’t give up a single turnover, something the Westlake coaches stressed leading up to the game.

“This year you saw down the stretch. [Rees] really took care of the football,” Salazar said. “As you saw during our playoff run, that was our motto, was taking care of the football and to not turn it over.”

The rushing game delivered the Chaps all three of their touchdowns. Past Wise, Bartlett rushed the ball 10 times for 70 yards and a touchdown. As a team, Westlake ran the ball 33 times and averaged 5.7 yards per carry.

The Chaps bring back three offensive and four defensive starters next year. Salazar will try to build on his first state championship game appearance as a head coach.

“These boys have learned how to work,” Salazar said. “They never cut corners. They’re usually the most prepared football team, and tonight might have been a little bit different, or maybe it was just them, but we’ll see the tape later on. That doesn’t take away from what our boys achieved and what our coaches did this season, we beat a lot of really good football teams.”