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ARLINGTON — Chapel Hill’s goals were all encompassing in the 2023 football season.

First was to get past the state semifinals and to the state championship game after falling in the state semifinals in each of the two previous seasons. The Bulldogs completed the first step with a 56-33 win over San Antonio Davenport in the Class 4A Division I semifinals last week to earn their spot in the state final.

To accomplish the entire task, Chapel Hill wanted to win a state championship.

But in Friday’s championship bout at AT&T Stadium, the Bulldogs dug a deep hole early and could never recover as Anna took a 26-0 victory in the Class 4A Division I Championship Game.

“It’s like I tell the kids, football happens sometimes,” Chapel Hill head football coach Jeff Riordan said “You can’t beat a good team and have an off night. We were off tonight. We made a lot of mistakes, a lot of execution things. We just didn’t play our best football tonight. That was a great team. Anna is an unbelievable football team, well-coached.”

While the journey to get to this point has been special, the Bulldogs still have a goal they want to accomplish and will now try to do that in 2024.

“It’s one of those things, this is my fifth year here,” Riordan said. “It was a quick turnaround. Year two, we went to the third round and played over Thanksgiving, The last two years, we made it to the state semis. And this year, we got to play at Cowboys stadium and all that entails. It’s just a wonderful experience for our town, for our community, for our administration, for all of these players and coaches and trainers. To be able to get here is awesome.

“First of all, I wanted to thank those seniors who were in the eighth grade when I first got here. They believed in everything that we were doing and everything that I told them, and it got them here. I am super proud of them. I wanted to make that first clear that I was super proud of that senior class. Then I told the underclassmen, hey this senior class got us here, but this is ultimately not the goal. It hasn’t been the goal, the goal is ultimately to get gold and not silver and to win a state championship, but it takes what it takes. We’ve got to go back to work. We know what it tastes like. We know how to get here, but now we’ve got to figure out how to win the big one.”

Anna got the ball first and went right down the field and scored on a 6-yard run by Edward Chumley. After forcing a three-and-out for Chapel Hill, the Coyotes pushed the score to 10-0 on a 22-yard field goal by Camden Schlicht.

Anna added to its lead early in the second quarter, using a 2-yard touchdown run by Chumley to make the score 17-0. A 13-yard pass from Ziondre Williams to Chumley gave the Coyotes a 24-0 lead with 5:25 left in the first half. In the final minute of the half, Chapel Hill was backed up to its end zone, and a high snap went out of the back of the end zone for a safety to put the score at 26-0, which was the score at halftime.

“We put ourselves in some bad positions early in the game field position wise,” Riordan said. “We just couldn’t overcome it. When you’re playing the best teams in the state of Texas, you can’t be off. I felt like today, we just couldn’t get going like we normally get going, and those things led to what happened.”

Neither team scored in the second half, but Chapel Hill was able to get down to the Anna 2-yard line early in the fourth quarter but was unable to score.

“We came out in the second half, and I thought we played better football than they did in the second half,” Riordan said. “We moved the ball all over the field and couldn’t get it in the end zone. The defense shut them out. I was proud of our kids for not quitting, coming out in the second half and probably with the fumble and the turnover on downs, I thought we should’ve had 14 points in the second half, and our defense shut them down.”

Chapel Hill (13-3) finished with 206 yards — 106 on the ground. Rickey Stewart had 14 carries for 66 yards. Demetrius Brisbon was 11 of 22 passing for 76 yards with 35 yards rushing on 11 carries.

Offensive MVP Chumley had 16 carries for 71 yards and two touchdowns and three receptions for 31 yards and a score for Anna (15-1). Williams was 17 of 25 for 170 yards and a touchdown. CJ Miller had 15 tackles and was the defensive MVP.

Anna 26, Chapel Hill 0

Anna   10  16  0  0 — 26

Chapel Hill   0  0  0  0 — 0

First Quarter

A — Edward Chumley 6 run (Camden Schlicht kick), 8:37

A — Schlicht 22 FG, 0:52

Second Quarter

A —Chumley 2 run (Schlicht kick), 8:35

A — Chumley 13 pass from Ziondre Williams (Schlicht kick), 5:25

A — Safety, 0:36

          A     CH

First Downs     15     14

Rushes-Yards  29-90   35-106

Passing Yards     170     100

Total Yards     260     206

Co-Att-Int   17-25-0   15-27-0

Punts-Ave.   3-39.0   4-34.8

Fumbles-Lost   1-0    4-1

Penalties-Yards   2-10    7-39

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING_Anna, Edward Chumley 16-71, Ziondre Williams 9-19, George Rogers 2-5, Zhavier Bennett 1-(-1), Jacob Emmers 1-(-4). Chapel Hill, Rickey Stewart 14-66, Demetrius Brisbon 11-35, Ja’borian Cook 5-16, Jayvin Mayfield 1-2, Tyrell Gause 1-(-1), Darrius Dean 1-(-2), Team 2-(-10).

PASSING_Anna, Ziondre Williams 17-25-0 170. Chapel Hill, Demetrius Brisbon 11-22-0 76, Connor Griffin 4-5-0 24.

RECEIVING_Anna, Sean Steens 7-5, Jabari Finnie 3-65, Edward Chumley 3-31, Jacob Emmers 2-14, Erik Bowen 1-9, George Rogers 1-(-3). Chapel Hill, Damarcion Blaylock 6-40, Darrius Dean 5-41, Jayvin Mayfield 2-12, Braylon Dean 1-8, Rickey Stewart 1-(-1).