Gilmer egdes Bellville in Texas high school football championship behind sprinter's maestro swan song

Will Henderson, state champion sprinter, explodes to give Gilmer edge in UIL Class 4A Division II state football title

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - Will Henderson put on a show in his final high school football game.

The Gilmer senior ran for a season-high 27 carries and the last of those helped get the first down needed to run out the clock in the Class 4A Division II championship game on Friday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

A kneel down later following an 11-yard run on 4th-and-6 locked up a 28-26 win over Bellville. He finished with 227 yards, the third most this season for the uncommitted recruit.

After helping Gilmer win the Class 4A track title in May — on two winning relays — Henderson added the first title for the Buckeyes (13-3) since current UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor was at the helm.

This is the school’s fourth title, following the ones Traylor won in 2004, 2009 and 2014.

Gilmer coach Alan Metzel praised Henderson, who wears rec specs that gave flashbacks to Chris Sabo or Horace Grant.

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“Will is just not a track guy; you saw that today,” Metzel said. “He gets the dirty yards. He gets the broken tackle yards. He gets I got to get 3 and I will get 6 yards.”

Traylor and many of his coaching staff were on the sideline for this game to witness the production of Henderson, who had a 65-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

UTSA is one of 10 offers for Henderson, who also holds offers from Lamar, Arkansas, Louisiana Tech, Memphis, Oklahoma State, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, Texas State, Lamar and Austin Peay.

Photos by Tommy Hays

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Photo by Tommy Hays

Photo by Tommy Hays

Photo by Tommy Hays

The Buckeyes have relied heavily on Henderson all year. He entered with 264 carries — the rest of the team combined had 266 touches.

For Metzel, Henderson’s game was a throwback to the coaching style of Traylor.

“It goes back the philosophy of when I was coaching with him (Coach Traylor) in the early 2000s,” Metzel said. “Players not plays. Players not plays. Who is the dude? Get that person the ball and give him a chance. That is what you saw tonight.”

When asked in the postgame press conference if he was worried about Henderson getting tired, he referenced one of the greatest players to wear the Cowboys' blue star on his helmet.

“Games like tonight … like the Emmitt Smith and the New York Giants,” Metzel said. “He had his shoulder hurt and they were like ‘Well, we are giving it to you anyway.’ You just give it to THE guy.”

Henderson ended the season with the all-time single-season record for yards with 2,737 and his 35 touchdowns were also a record.

The soft-spoken Henderson was asked if he thought he would leave as the record holder.

“To be honest, I always thought I would do it,” he said. “I just had to do it.”

-- Cody Thorn | @sblivetx