ARLINGTON, TX — The Mart Panthers have built one of the most dominant dynasties in all of high school football.
Wednesday night, they were going for history and a fourth consecutive title in the UIL State Championship.
When 25 Sports talked to Mart Head Coach Kevin Hoffman before the game, he quoted Mike Tyson, saying "Everyone's got a plan until they get punched in the mouth."
At the time, he was talking about how Mart was forced to change their championship routine in light of a global pandemic.
But Wednesday night, Mart got punched again, and punched hard.
It was a race for the fourth straignt.
Roddrell Freeman was trying to go his whole high school career without a playoff loss. But it was Windthorst punching first.
The Trojans, who were the underdogs, took the lead 7-0.
The Mart faithful tried to get them back in it, with Freeman doing his part.
The senior got a head of steam around the right edge and found the end zone to tie the game 7-7.
The Panthers played catch-up all first half, but Freeman was the best player on the field.
Just before halftime, he went 65-yards into the end zone for the score. Mart would take a seven point lead into the second half.
But with less than 30 seconds left, Windthorst got the score, went for two and pulled a historic upset over the Panthers.
Their bid for four in a row came up just shy, with the final score coming down to 22-21.
