Friday, December 15th, hundreds of fans travelled to AT&T Stadium to support the Bellville Brahmas in the UIL 4A State Championship against the Gilmer Buckeyes. The Brahmas showed up for an intense game, but with the loss of a field goal in the first half and a two-point conversion in the second half, the Buckeyes managed to grasp their fourth state title.
The first half of the match-up was an impressive display of the two teams, maintaining a call and response scoring that kept everyone on their toes. The unsuccessful conversion in the beginning off the second quarter was a shock to the system in gutwrenching similarity to the prior Bellville vs. Wimberly game. Before the end of the second quarter, both the Brahmas and Buckeyes scored a touchdown, bringing the score to 28-20 into the second half.
The third quarter kept eagle eyed fans involved, the game turning defense heavy with a final touchdown by the Brahmas in the end of third quarter. A final attempt to even the score with a two-point conversion was stopped by Gilmer leaving the game at 28-26. No time outs left in the end of the fourth quarter, Bellville loses the ball to Gilmer and loses the State Championship for the third time.
The recent success of Bellville shows impresssive growth for the football program, as the last time the Bellville Brahmas travelled to the State Championship was in 1977. In 2012, they were close with their advancement to the State final, but lost in a 24-7 game against Navasota.
The state loss does not represent the star studded season for the Brahmas, their road to state is defined by a perfect record, several of the games the opposing team never scored. Stafford, LaMarque, West Columbia, Sealy, Wharton and Madisonville were no match for the Brahmas this year. The Brahmas scored a grand total of 819 points throughout the season, with only 139 points against.
Though the Brahmas end their 2023 football season runner-up, the team has demonstrated pure excellence throughout the year. The district realignments for the 2024 season are sure to bring back excited fans and interesting opponents for Bellville.
